FrivYeti/RanavirEconomy
Back to Ranavir
The city of Ranavir has all of the standard professions of a city of its size - a guardforce, blacksmiths and tavern-keepers, dancers and thieves and so on. However, it remains primarily an agricultural community, with a decent minority of the population involved in the quarries, or in entering the dangerous Southern desert in search of a variety of resources. These three economies provide the driving force for the city; unfortunately, the lack of extensive resources and the general remoteness of the nation (combined, until recently, with the Fair Folk controlling it), means that caravans are not so common as they might be in other regions.
The bulk of Ranavir's wealth lies in the hands of its titular nobility; however, a decent portion of it makes its way to the poor and disenfranchised. Peasants work the land for the nobility, but they are not bound to it; they must be paid and treated at least fairly well, or else they will refuse to work on a given noble's lands. The large number of nobles prevents one from holding a monopoly, especially with the peasantry in close proximity.
Farming
Farming remains the primary industry in Ranavir. Most of the city's farms lie to the north of the city, although a few are also clustered around Kyube Lake. These farms are owned exclusively by the nobility, and are worked on by a large portion of the city's population; all told, between farm workers and their families, the farms account for the livelihood of over 6,000 people. The farms are roughly divided into three groups, although individual farms may contain more than one of the areas of food production.
The first major farming initiative are cactus farms. These farms grow a variety of catcus fruits, as well as a small amount of peyote which is traded to the Guild when their caravans come to town. The catcus farms also sell cactus meat and milk for use in a number of local dishes, and make up a sizeable portion of the city's general food supplies. Cactus farms have the added advantage of required relatively little water for most of the year, allowing them to stretch farther from the lake than any other crop. And as a side benefit (which King Bastion intends to exploit), it is difficult to bringing regimented armies through the cactus farms, due to the unpleasantness of trying to march through cactus needles.
The second common farms are the gissle farms. Gissles are a local animal, native to the region, which proved domesticable and useful in arid environments. In appearance, they resemble a cross between a small camel and a portly cow, are coloured a sandy brown, and have fairly ugly features. Gissles are generally placid, and survive mainly by living off the meats of certain types of cacti; they also require relatively little water, making them useful to domesticate. They are too small for labour, however, so extras are made into meat. Unfortunately, gissle meat is tough, dry, and generally among the least pleasant meats out there; apply a -1 internal penalty to anyone cooking using primarily gissle meat. Gissle milk has no such flaw, and gissle milks and cheeses, while somewhat bitter, are one of the exports of Ranavir. In fact, Kallis Round, a soft cheese made exclusively by workers at the Kallis farms, is renowned enough that Guild caravans are always sure to pick some up for discerning eaters in the Lap. Gissle meat is, however, inexpensive and fairly nutritious; the poor often use it as their primary source of protein, despite its taste.
Finally, there are the date, fig, and nuts farms that surround Kyube Lake. These farms are generally smaller than their neighbours, their fruits are reserved for slightly richer locals, and not enough is produced for any serious exports to take place. Despite this, the farms are popular, especially given that they have far more shade around them than the much less pleasant cactus farms to the north.
Mining
Mining and quarrying are both much less common practices than that of farming, but Ranavir often needs more stone for their buildings and more iron for their forges. The mines themselves are not very close to the city; instead, they are almost ten miles away, into the eastern hills - it takes a solid three hours to reach them or return. Because of this, miners typically spend their time on rotation, taking all of their time off at once to come into town for a few days at a time to spend their earnings. The quarries are typically closed when the autumn rains come, as it is too dangerous to work the stone in storms, so it is then that the quarriers tend to spend most of their time in town. In general, stone and iron are the only things mined in the east, but very occasionally miners will come across a vein of copper or gold; these lucky workers are always rewarded by the overseers, because such finds mean money for the mines, and the mineowners are wise enough to let a small portion of that trickle down to their workers.
Mining does not paying significantly better than farming, and it is more difficult work, but miners have more free time than the farmers do, and this keeps strong men and women interested in working the mines and quarries. In total, over a thousand people spend much of their time in the east, and Ranavir becomes a more exciting place in the fall when they return to town.
Desert-Goers
The third great group in Ranavir are the desert-goers. They have a myriad of jobs - some are hunters, stalking the dunes for sandswimmers and lizards to sell their meat and skins in the Market. Others travel into the Wyld lands to the south, seaching the dunes for rare firedust deposits to sell to the Guild. Still others chart the passages in the deserts; a thankless job, but if they can find a route to allow a caravan freer passage, even to a small city such as this, it will reward them well.
Desert-goers form their own subgroup within the city's social structure. They are rarely controlled by the nobility in the way that the miners and farmers are, although some of them are sponsored, and their journeys are, without a doubt, more dangerous. However, a successful desert-goer can make tidy profits, and they deal more with merchants than anyone except a few of the nobles; indeed, it could be argued that without the benefits that the desert-goers bring, few merchant caravans would even bother coming to Ranavir. Because of this, people respect them - but also tend to feel that they're a little bit crazy. Few farmers want their children marrying a desert-goer, despite the aura of mystery that lies around them. Even desert-goers who are simple hunters like to play up that mystique, and increasingly ridiculous tales can be heard at night in the bars as each tries to one-up the others. In total, there are close to a thousand desert-goers in the city.
The Rest
Of course, Ranavir is a large city, and it needs bureaucrats, guards, cleaners, and the like. About two hundred people and fifty in total are employed in maintaining the city, in a variety of positions. The guardforce is relatively small, divided into two groups - the fifty-man City Guard and the twenty-man Royal Guard. The City Guard handles most domestic issues, and arrests perpetrators, while the Royal Guard defends the King and the palace (once it is complete, at any rate). The Royal Guard is made up of the soldiers who came with the King when he arrived in Ranavir, and they are loyal to the last to him. There is also the justice department, made up of a few judges and their assistants.
Ranavir's bureacracy is relatively small, numbering around fifty men that manage accounts, handle payrolls, and generally maintain the structure of the nation. The other hundred people in the city's service are street-sweepers and maintainers, who help keep the city's infrastructure intact.
Then, of course, there is everyone else. Close to two thousand people in Ranavir serve whatever jobs they wish - there are twenty or thirty fishermen, a number of blacksmiths, architechts, a handful of savants, a few thaumaturges, entertainers, and those who cannot afford any job at all (although their numbers are small).
