#merchants guild

[vigilskeep]

Do you understand how Kirkwall politics work? Ik theres a viscount but like…is it just viscount and Templar’s? Three people?

i don't know a lot off the top of my head but let's take a look!

kirkwall is ruled by a viscount. it does seem to be a hereditary position, but if the viscount has no heirs or the line is otherwise removed from power, kirkwall's nobility have the right to elect a new viscount. so there's definitely an established noble class who have a powerful say in what happens. world of thedas lists the amells, the threnholds, and the reinhardts as the most powerful hightown houses at the start of the dragon age, but both the amells and threnholds collapsed before da2. (prior to their collapse, the amells were one of the foremost noble families in the whole free marches, with four centuries of history to their bloodline.) we interact with families like the harrimanns and de launcets in da2 and leandra mentions the reinhardts still being around.

viscounts' lines don't seem particularly long-lasting; marlowe dumar is the first in his. his predecessor perrin threnhold inherited the role from his father, but the father was also first in his short-lived line and "took power through a campaign of intimidation" rather than just, like, inheriting it. (this is confirmed by a codex stating the threnholds only came to power less than a week after maric retook the fereldan throne.) the implication is that saemus dumar would have been a potential heir to marlowe had he lived, but i don't remember anyone taking this possibility seriously in the game and given his politics i'm sure the nobility and templars alike would never remotely consider allowing it

the title of viscount was introduced by the orlesians, who ruled kirkwall from 7:60 storm to 8:05 blessed after liberating it from a four-year qunari occupation. they also introduced the kirkwall city guard, a force answerable to the viscount. the people of kirkwall threw out the orlesians but kept the title and the associated guard.

the templars have no official control of the city. however, the viscount's office is effectively so weak by the time of da2 that it is impossible to hold without templar support. this is because of what happened under viscount dumar's predecessor, viscount perrin threnhold. brother genitivi refers to perrin as "even worse" than his "vicious thug" father. perrin used those ancient chains in kirkwall's harbour to block orlesian ships and charge exorbitantly heavy taxes on them. this was naturally a poorly received move in orlais but also in kirkwall, as it limited trade, the lifeblood of the city. divine beatrix iii, who the codex claims was acting "as a friend to the emperor", ordered the templars to pressure the viscount into stopping, despite knight-commander guylian having refused similar requests from kirkwall's nobles and insisting even to the divine that their place was to protect the city from magic not from itself. perrin responded by hiring a mercenary army—odd that it wasn't the city guard, possibly implying they turned against him in favour of the nobles?—that ultimately stormed the gallows and executed guylian, with the intention of expelling the templars entirely from the city. in the end perrin was arrested, and presumably executed, if his successor being gifted his blood-encrusted signet ring as a threat is anything to go by. this seems to have been well received in kirkwall; the templars "were hailed as heroes". guylian was replaced with meredith, who personally directly appointed marlowe dumar

meredith's choice is an interesting one. the dumars were noble, but considerably modest compared to other noble families, with some of their income from trade that the dumars personally oversaw (traditional noble income tending to come from landowning, with actually having a job being looked down upon). marlowe's wife wasn't noble or an arranged match, only the daughter of a prosperous cartographer. meredith told marlowe that he chose him because he was "humble" as opposed to the "entitled degenerates" she considered the rest of the nobility, but it's obvious this wasn't merely her respecting the value of hard work. she openly threatened him on instalment to the office she had chosen him for. instead of appointing a strong viscount who could restore the office, allowing the templars to step back, meredith had none of guylian's scruples, and appointed a weak one the templars would continue to control. "the knight-commander's influence was evident in almost every one of marlowe's decisions."

this turned into more of an essay on recent kirkwall history than an explanation, but hopefully some of it's helpful in fleshing out the landscape. as a further note as well as the nobility i would expect merchants, guilds, etc. to hold massive influence in a city built on trade. there's a reason for example that the dwarven merchants' guild is visibly extremely well-established in kirkwall with its own large area in hightown; not the most trustworthy source but varric also claims they have "fingers in all these pies" in the lowtown market and own every tavern in hightown. i very much doubt human merchants are letting the dwarves have all the fun so it can be reasonably assumed they hold similar influence

[educationaldm]

For any murder hobos or thieves that mess with merchants...

I like this idea, and I certainly have a powerful Merchants Guild in my world.

[critterbitter]

Au where Emmet gets eebie jeebied into Hisui right before the events of Pokemon Arceus and ends up hunting down a shriveled onion with time powers with the world’s worst tour guide. ((Also at some point learns Ingo is living in the mountains this entire time.))

(Same au as the emmet and elektross get tossed into the past! I will simply never officially nail the timeline down beyond growing it like a barnacle cloister.)

Masterlist of my submas stuff

[juicepan]

A warm thanks to all my Zero followers and the Zero Members of the Merchants Guild generously funding and Bankrolling my stolen /X/ memes! Let's keep on growing as a community! Without all of you and the voices in my Head this wouldn't be possible <3

[esprei]

reference sheet for volo in the dystopian!AU! ✨ he'll likely get some kind of cover for battle (can't be running around looking just like the emperor, after all!) and also tie up that long braid so it won't get in the way! but more on that later :D moment of silence for his merchant outfit, though... not only does it get a bit torn up, it's also a little out of place in terms of attire for this new world he's found himself in so... into the closet it goes! but hey, his boots are still okay :D

[sb-zn-shn]

None of these words are in the PokéBible ¬△¬!

[spotted-owl-sketches]

Day 28 friends

In which Volo accidentally kidnapped adopted by the wolf pack. If you want a nonsense au this is it baby. Why have one faller protag when you can have four! Now start howling, pretty boy

[xxinkyshadowxx]

i had a wonderful idea

[musubiki]

updated TCWG relationship chart (pre-timeskip)

[mistfallengw2]

A legendary fine norn ask game

1. How are they building their legend? What do they want it to be? Are they being successful? What's their greatest achievement? Do they really care for it?

2. How do they feel about norn society's expectations and traditions? Are they comfortable in norn society? Is there anything they wish was different?

3. What's their family like? Are they still around? Do they like them and get along? Are there any particular expectations coming from them? Is there anyone noteworthy in the family?

4. Where are they from? Were they born in Hoelbrak, in one of the many homesteads and villages, or somewhere not in the Shiverpeaks? Did they like the place? Did they travel often or stayed long in the same place?

5. Which Spirit of the Wild do they have a connection to? How was the connection forged? How does their Spirit influence them? What do they think of their Spirit? Do they revere any other Spirit?

6. Can they shapeshift into Spirit Form? What does it look like? Can they do only one kind or more? Is there anything unique to it? If they can't, what's the reason behind it?

7. What are their thoughts on Jormag and the Sons of Svanir? Have they ever had to deal with either directly?

8. Are they a good hunter? Do they like it or is it just out of necessity? What's their most impressive prey? Do they keep trophies from their hunts? Do they prefer to hunt alone or with others? What weapons do they use, if any? Have they ever taken part in a Great Hunt?

9. Do they enjoy moots? What's their favorite part? Is there anything they don't like? Was one ever thrown in their honor?

10. Did anyone mentor them or did they learn things by themselves? Would they have wanted a teacher or a different one? Was there something they wished someone had taught them before they had to learn by themselves?

11. Do they have a job/occupation? Did they ever change it? Are they happy with it?

12. Are they close with anyone or do they keep everyone at arm's length? Do they make more enemies/rivals or friends? Are they involved in any drama? Do they have any meaningful friendship or bond?

13. Do/did they have a pet or a companion of sorts? If not, would they want one?

14. Do they have any heirlooms? Are there legends behind them or do they only have sentimental value? Or did they earn/find someone else's?

15. [Free space for 3 pieces of trivia about your norn!]

[eev583]

Ginter: Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on in here?!

Rei: It’s kind of complicated, but Volo—

Ginter: Got it. Forget I asked.

[solarkindred]

Eldritch recognition.

[esprei]

reference page for emperor!volo from my dystopian au he's... a bit extra

[jetaloen]

volo meeting rohan's dad

[racefortheironthrone]

Please tell me more about neighbourhood PMCs in renaissance Italy

It would be my pleasure! (My research into this owes a lot to the excellent Power and Imagination: City-States in Renaissance Italy by Lauro Martines.)

The first thing to note that, unlike the condottieri, these were not private military companies. Rather, the neighborhood military companies (in the sense of a military unit, rather than a profit-making entity) were self-defense organizations formed as part of a centuries-long political struggle for control over the urban commune between the signorile (the urban chivalry)/nobilita (the urban nobility) and the populo (the guilded middle class, who claimed to speak on behalf of "the people").

This conflict followed much the same logic that had given rise to the medieval commune in the first place. Legally, the communes had started as mutual defense pacts between the signorile and the cives (the free citizens of the city) against the rural feudal nobility, which had given these groups the military and political muscle to push out the marquises and viscounts and barons and claim exclusive authority over the tax system, the judicial system, and the military.

So it made sense that, once they had vanquished their enemies and established the commune as the sovereign, both sides would use the same tactic in their struggle over which of them would rule the commune that ruled the city. The signorile and nobilita formed themselves into consorteria or "tower societies," by which ancient families allied with one another (complete with dynastic marriage alliances!) to build and garrison the towers with the knights, squires, men-at-arms, and bravi of their households. These phallic castle substitutes were incredibly formidable within the context of urban warfare, as relatively small numbers of men with crossbows could rain down hell on besiegers from the upper windows and bridges between towers, even as the poor bastards on the ground tried to force the heavy doors down below.

To combat noble domination of communal government, achieve direct representation on the political councils, establish equity of taxation and regulate interest rates, and enforce legal equality between nobility and citizenry, the populo formed themselves into guilds to build alliances between merchants and artisans in the same industries. However, these amateur soldiers struggled to fight on even footing with fully-trained and well-equipped professional soldiers, and the guild militias were frequently defeated.

To solve their military dilemma, the populo engaged in political coalition-building with the oldest units of the urban commune: the neighborhoods. When the cities of medieval Italy were originally founded, they had been rather decentralized transplantations of the rural villages, where before people had any conception of a city-wide collective their primary allegiance was to their neighborhood. As can still be seen in the Palio di Siena to this day, these contrade built a strong identity based on local street gangs, the parish church, their traditional heraldry, and their traditional rivalries with the stronzi in the next contrade over. And whether they were maggiori, minori, or unguilded laborers, everyone in the city was a member of their contrade.

As Martines describes, the populo both recruited from (and borrowed the traditions of) the contrade to form their armed neighborhood companies into a force that would have the manpower, the discipline, and the morale to take on the consorteria:

"Every company had its distinctive banner and every house in the city was administratively under the sign of a company. A dragon, a whip, a serpent, a bull, a bounding horse, a lion, a ladder: these, in different colors and on contrasting fields, were some of the leitmotifs of the twenty different banners. They were emblazoned on individual shields and helmets. Rigorous regulations required guildsmen to keep their arms near at hand, above all in troubled times. The call to arms for the twenty companies was the ringing of a special bell, posted near the main public square. A standard-bearer, flanked by four lieutenants, was in command of each company."

To knit these companies organized by neighborhood into a single cohesive force, the lawyers' guilds within the populo created a state within a state, complete with written constitutions, guild charters, legal codes, legislative and executive councils. Under these constitutions, the populo's councils would elect a capitano del popolo, a professional soldier from outside the city who would serve as a politically-neutral commander, with a direct chain of command over the gonfaloniere and lieutenants of the neighborhood companies, to lead the populo against their noble would-be overlords.

And in commune after commune, the neighborhood companies made war against the consorteria, taking the towers one by one and turning them into fortresses of the populo. The victorious guilds turned their newly-won military might into political hegemony over the commune, stripping the nobilita of their power and privilege and forcing them either into submission or exile. Then they directed their veteran neighborhood companies outward to seize control of the rural hinterland from the feudal aristocracy, until the city had become city-state.

(Ironically, in the process, the populo gave birth to the condottieri, as the nobility who had lost their landed wealth and political power took their one remaining asset - their military training and equipment - and became professional mercenaries. But that's a story for another time...)

[raisans-art]

Volo makes it down the subway line! What he finds at the end? Cupid and a concussion!

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Dear Emmet has no idea the power he holds

Full speed ahead to even more intense crushing!

Enjoy!