The Burden of Land

The true currency in Vesperin is trade routes. This is an adage any young debutante in the wealthy elite would have heard many times in their pampered rearing. For some, especially those unburdened with worries of hunger or heat, this is true. In the tumult of Vesperin's history arose the peculiar circumstances that make it the oligarchy that it is today and set the stage on which this particular line is so often uttered. Another piece of sage advice that an oligarch in waiting might receive is that when circumstance raises the value of one thing, all too often the value of another will fall.
The burden of land is a phrase that begs the question, "when has land ever been a burden?". In many realms an individuals power and the land that they control go hand in hand. Indeed there is no king without a kingdom. Vesperin differs in that there is no kingdom without its merchant oligarchy. Curiously though, for historical reasons, there is still land owning nobility in Vesperin. Make no mistake, as a ruling class they are severely hamstrung. From the fields a man might look upon a lord in their ivory mansion and see a blessed, lazy life. In truth, the life of a lord is limited by design. It is law in a Vesperin that a land owner may not own a company or business of any sort, nor me he partake in trade on any licensed or unlicensed trade route. This and other restrictions means that the nobility often find that the most they can do is collect their taxes, indulge their vices and appease the merchant lords. To most men and women this is the easiet life imaginable. But there there are those that harbor the beast ambition. Those that feel it rumbling hungrily, that always seek to climb and would claw at any cage. Especially a gilded one.
Thus the life of a Lord and the land he should posses truly represents a burden to some. This has proved a cruel punishment available to the Golden lords of Vesperin for use against those that grow too ambitious for their liking. Indeed should one earn the ire of a Golden lord, you might find your trading company bought from under you, a noble title placed upon your name. It will dawn on you that the next chapter of your life will be a frustrating one, as you sit in the countryside slowly accumulating the wealth to buy back your company and a trade route.
All too often big dreams die with the fires of youth as men and women grow fat in their mansion traps. This is the Burden of Land.