Trade Cathedral

The Trade Cathedral is the main trading hub in Caramiza's capital Bealuki. In this building licensed merchants can offer to sell or buy large quantities of various goods from other merchants for daily changing values and settlte contracts and disputes with one of the many Tauschwarte. The Trade Cathedral was once an actual cathedral dedicated to Maned and houses the famous Handelsgut Bell.

History

The cathedral was originally created as a house of worship to Maned, orderd by Erzzeuge Mariann Goldenfluss in 1472. The cathedral was meant to be a symbol of Caramiza's church being independent of the other nation's churches, as initially decreed by Erzzeuge Johannes Greenweid almost twohundred years prior. After almost 30 years of construction the cathedral was finished and was the place to house the famous Handelsgut Bell.
Due to the quickly increasing demand of a Tauschwart's services in regulating trade as well as the Handelsgut Bell's well known properties in enabling fair trade agreements, the cathedral transformed into a place of trade during the 16th century. In 1543, Regent Hendrik II. and Erzzeuge Marius Birkwald declared the cathedral an independent place of trade.

Repurpose and Usage

"Selling three sacks of wheat grain for only 5 silver the kilo. Blessed be Maned!"

The cathedral's interior was subsequently transformed in the following decades. The multiple niches in the main room have become trading stands, dedicated to specific types of goods. For example, right next to the entry on your left you will be able to trade grains and fruits, on the right however metals and raw materials. Anyone with the license to enter the cathedral's floor is allowed to make offers but has to stick to the dedicated areas.
The back rooms of the cathedral are for arbitration of disputes. They are usually not publicly accessible but for a single room. This room can be entered by anyone from outside through a special door if they are seeking the services of a Tauschwart. This door was originally the priest's personal back-entrance to the cathedral.
The gallery of the cathedral is open to the public. They may not participate in trading directly and are not allowed to speak too loud or even shout down to the trading floor, but are allowed to throw down papers with offers to their licensed merchants, so they could try to fulfill this trade.
While the Trade Cathedral is the first of its kind, other places of trade have been created in Teymtstrom and most recently in Walkust.

Additional Information

Delayed Construction

The construction of the cathedral was meant to highlight the two centuries of independence's celebration in 1495 but missed that mark by almost ten years. As a consequence, Mariann Goldenfluss stepped down as Erzzeuge in 1496.

Dispute over independent Tauschwarte

During the first ten years after the completion of the cathedral, there was a dispute if the church-independent Tauschwarte were allowed to conduct business within the religious building. A court of church and government ruled for it and famously turned over the decision of the current Erzzeuge.

Trading Blackboards

Initially, people made offers and fulfilled them by writing them on a blackboard personally. After several nasty incidents with multiple broken noses however, this task was later fulfilled by a dedicated Tauschwart.

No Amateur Traders Allowed

Licensing of the merchants became necessary after the great Tuna-Oil Speculation Bubble caused the ruin of thousands of amateur speculators and almost caused Caramiza's economy to collapse.

Taxation for Church and State

Both church and government earn a portion of the trade as transaction fees. However, after some unrest among the merchants due to too much bureaucracy, the fees are now collected by the Tauschwart and split towards church and government. The ratio of this split, as well as the height of the fee, is a constant topic of debate within the councils.

Trading of not yet existing ressources

Even though most of the economy is state-regulated, each merchant has the right to trade anything above their quotas freely. However, several speculators started to sell the possibilities of acquiring the possible extra production above the quotas, without being clear how much this might be. These Quota-Options are seen highly critical by the government's economists.