Pelagcola

Overview

The people who farm and gather the underwater rice known as Pelagoka, called traditionally Pelagcola, are currently one of the most important groups in the Queendom of Vreabia. Awake and working from the break of dawn, we know this job for its lung breaking work and little thanks.

Required Attributes

Because of the location of the Pelagoka, the farmers have to dive deep and stay down there for extended periods of time. This requires a powerful set of lungs with a large capacity to hold their breath. They can, of course, train this over time, but those with natural talents in these areas often thrive in the profession. The ability to swim well is also tantamount to succeeding in the role, often having to fight currents to get to the seabed.
Traditionally families train their children in the practice, showing them where the best seabeds are, what the best harvesting practices are and how to cut it without damaging its ability to regrow.

Payment and Benefits

The farmers usually only work 3-4 plots across a region. Considered by many to be ‘their plot's’, they stay within a family across generations. This gives the farmers a sense of stability for them and their children, as long as the crop persists. In a day’s work they gather as much as they can carry in their Ryuks, cutting the fully grown stalks from the nodules they grow from. This allows the plant to regrow overtime, creating a renewable resource they can continue to harvest time and time again.
From this they take as much of the crop as they need to feed their families and prepare the rest for sale. They take by cart to the nearest large settlement and sell them wholesale to merchant contacts. Typically, they get paid a fraction of the price the merchants will mark up and sell on the rice for. The merchants paying as little as they can and selling it for as much as they can get away with, keeping the farmers poorer and beholden to them. It also makes them somewhat rich in the cities and towns.

Demand and Social Status

The population of the nation is growing at a constant rate, the need for staple foods such as the pelegoka and the levin growing alongside it. This keeps the prices for both rising at a steady rate as demand is high. However, this mainly benefits the merchants and not the farmers of the products.
Feeding the nation is an important job, but it is also a difficult and thankless one. Many people in the towns and cities don’t consider where their rice or animal fodder comes from past the merchant’s stall. They just see people from smaller villages or rural locations diving all day and look down on them. If they see them at all.

Tools and Hazards

There are two major items they need to perform their job.
Their Ryuk, which is a tube worn on the front with a grate or grille on the bottom. They put the harvested plant stalks into this while underwater and when they finish and leave the sea, all the water drains from the bottom as they walk. Usually made by by the farmer themselves out of woven pelagoka straw, they size them so they hold as much as that person can carry.
The second item is an Opak, a sickle with a loop at the base of the handle so they can attach it to their wrist. This stops them from losing it while underwater. Serrated finely, the inside edge of the sickle can cut through the plant matter with minimal effort. The top of the sickle has a sharp spike that is used for defence against any underwater animals.
The primary danger they face underwater is drowning. The more experienced pelagcola know the risks and work to mitigate them but the younger less experienced members have pushed their limits and lung capacity causing them to black out under water. If you don’t have a partner watching your back, this can quickly be fatal.
Most pelagoka grows in shallower waters but there are still dangerous fauna found there. Since many species of fish use the growing plants as a place to hide, they can sometimes find smaller shallows sharks hunting these fish. They might not attack a farmer to kill them, but mistakes have happened.