Andaperna Tradespeople Guild

Description

The Andaperna Tradespeople Guild is an association of craftsmen as well as traders in the Andaperna region. It was founded in the year 992 of the Era of the Earth. This makes it one of the most long-lasting and continuously active institutions on all of Samthô. The purpose of the guild is to enable trade with everyday goods and household appliances within the entire Andaperna region, regardless of current political circumstances. The guild was formed to deal with the ever shifting power dynamics between the peoples of that region and their individual city states. Constant wars and shifting borders, different currencies and taxes and duties made especially long distance trade a difficult endeavour. Now the members of the Andaperna Tradespeople Guild are free to cross borders as they please but are forbidden to trade anything but a certain set of wares the various governments could agree on. This set contains mostly ceramics of all kinds, textiles, wooden wares like bowls or spoons, jewellery, leatherwares, toys and so on. All kinds of weapons, metals suit for weaponsmithing, tools, wood that exceeds certain measurements, food, salt and building materials are explicitly exempted from these trade concessions.

History

Though the current name of the guild was adapted only in 2651 of the Era of the Earth, the guild prides itself having its roots deeper in the past. Indeed a first attempt of craftsmen to evade at least the dangers of getting between the fronts of the incessantly warring city states was made in 992 of the Era of the Earth, when the crockers of the city state Tin Qaziqa and of the city state Hohorpa went on strike. The political entanglements of both states with neighbouring states and the state of confusion brought about by a constant change between cold and open war made trade neigh impossible and left most craftsmen in a dire situation. Soon the spoonmakers and vase painters joined the strike. It did not take long until the citizens were out of storage vessels, dishes and cutlery, wine and oil trade came to a halt as there were no transport vessels available and the warehouses got into trouble as they ran out of storage vessels. How exactly the craftsmen of the two enemy city states coordinated their strike lies in the dark, but their governments were forced to act. The craftsmen then founded the first association to negotiate their terms. This association was called 'Union of the crockers and spoonmakers'. Later events like this started repeating in different areas throughout Andaperna. Soon these unions and associations took notice of each other and started banding together to extend their sphere of influence. The latest regional associations joined the Andaperna Tradespeople Guild shortly after the all encompassing name it has today was accepted, completing it in the year 2677 of the Era of the Earth.

Type

Guild, Merchant