Avenna pearl forager

General introduction

With Grópius Avenna Porrótor discovering the so called Avenna pearl produced by the Avennas Oyster and it becoming a popular and sought after commodity for the Tarrabaenian upper class, several dozen people tried to get their share and had themselves hired as foragers for the pearls. While the job was better paying than most other fishery related jobs, the rough climate at the Mukebahari bay and the emotional weight of being far from home was a considerable price to pay.

History

Avenna pearl foragers existed for about 200 years after the discovery of the Avennas Oyster. By then the oyster became not only rare, but was actually nowhere to be found anymore. This rendered this profession obsolete. The decline of the oyster and the foragers began around fifty years before the end. Less and less oysters were found and a profession, that had originally fed about fourty to sixty families slowly died away. The last family foraging Avennas oysters was the Lutilius family or at least that is the last name mentioned in the old registers of the Avenna family.

Tasks and role in society

The first pearl foragers were mostly people pushed into the profession by need. The trip beyond the Sévo Mountains was seen as somewhat dangerous and rumours about horrible weather and barren landscapes scared those who could get other jobs away. This conception soon changed, when the Avennas Oyster proved to be a luxurious source of revenue. Of course most of that remained in the hands of the Avenna family, bu nonetheless were the foragers well payed as to make up for the move into unknown territory far away from the commodities and safety of the homeland.

Some of the families engaging in foraging the oysters used their surplus of money to buy land and become a bit better established. Overall this caused some shifts in society and let - on average - the gap between the rich and the poor become a little bit smaller. This especially pertained to the Avenna familys home province Bicantia, which historically used to play a rather minor role in the Confederation of Tarrabaenia. The influx of pearls though led to traders heading to and from Bicantia more often as well as to the establishment of workshops for art and jewellery. This provided Bicantia with a small golden age, at least as long as the pearls were still to be found.

Type

Agricultural / Fishing / Forestry