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Trader Customs

jatay3

SOC-13
Trading games can be spiced up by having colorful customs. For instance East Asian gem merchants have a ceremonial drink of tea(some use Pepsi instead-go figure). Coffee merchants always sell bags of beens at a candlelight auction(bid until the flame goes out).
Simmilar things can be thought of for Traveller.
 
Will there be different free trader customs for the different kinds of freight arrangements? One for Ex-Works, one for Free Alongside Ship, etc.?

One shot of whisky for Ex-Works, two shots of whisky with dash of Solacola for Free Alongside Ship?

By the time you get down the list to Delivered Free Domicile, it'll be three shots of whisky, the first with a dash of mint julip, the second with orange juice, and the third on the rocks (using genuine Vlandian Ice™).


Wait a minute! The buyer and seller are on different worlds. Hmm, how to arrange a custom for that? Long range gift giving? White-elphant jokes? Match-Box Futura™ Line of die-cast Free Trader, Fat Trader, Far Trader, and special collectors Lanthanium Petal class vessels?


What were your thougts on the matter, jatay3?
 
the toast thing would be a good example except whiskey won't work until after the deal is closed for you need to be sharp to deal; though there are advantages in the other guy being drunk(heh,heh). Seriously it's not a bad idea.
There is no reason why there couldn't be customs for the trader in one port to another. I can't think of any for the momment though. Come to think of it exchangeing tiny model starships isn't a bad idea. They could be ornemental pieces of moderate value-silver gilt model starships for that matter.
So joking aside those aren't bad ideas.
 
The fine art of the haggle comes to mind citizen jatay3...in Arabic cultures, he/she who doesn't haggle deserves to pay Full price. [Note this has basis in reality but aughta transpose into game play fo goof RP-ing play!]

--relationships are important in this setting, if the chap selling knows you, this works in buyer's favor. If you've bought from him before, this eases haggling, but promotes social interaction as well. Stereotyping? Hardly--this holds true even today.

Another SF trader custom, the book it is in escapes my desert-addled brain at present--and forgive my spelling...rishathra. The offer of sex with one of the trader's spouses/ concubines, or herself/ himself depending on gender of buyer.

Okay--maybe not for most PG-13 campaigns, but there it is.

Tamer versions--having dinner at the merchant's domicile, then discuss business afterwards!

Exhanging of gifts is another tradition among merchants

If yer running a trade mainly campaign you'll have more time for RP-ing than shooting and whodunits..but anythig that promotes player interaction with the NPC (mayhap a reoccuring trader him/herself) and moves yer plot is good shtuff.

Slainte!
 
Originally posted by Liam Devlin:
Another SF trader custom, the book it is in escapes my desert-addled brain at present--and forgive my spelling...rishathra. The offer of sex with one of the trader's spouses/ concubines, or herself/ himself depending on gender of buyer.
You're remembering Larry Niven's grand masterpiece: Ringworld.
 
Knowing the culture you are trading with (having history, psychology, xenology, language skills for a species/culture) probably makes a big difference. It is very easy for the uneducated and the ignorant to offend in foreign lands. Liaison looks like a really sweet skill for Traders. So, it is knowing that in some parts of the world, you haggle for items because they *expect* that and if you don't, you are not seen to value the item. In other places, if you haggle, you insult the seller who is only charging you a fair price. You have to know the difference to be a good trader, and that involves education.

But these sorts of situations can make excellent trade-game scenarios.

Also, you can add to that the customs of Free Traders - they cross the stars like our sailors cross the seas, and we have traditions for crossing various Tropics of Latitude and various Meridians of Longitude - the international dateline, the equator, tropic of cancer, tropic of ??? (I forget the other one). Plus there are traditions on doing certain things, like sailing around the Cape of Horn or crossing through certain canals or narrow passages. There is no reason free traders would not have such traditions, and I'd include among them:

First jump
After having engaged a pirate
First landfall
Crossing a rift
Perhaps crossing a sector or subsector boundary
First misjump (if you survive)
Recieving your first bonus (something tells me buying the rest of the crew drinks falls in here)
The end of a loop (arriving back at your home port)(first loop might have an extra special meaning)
Comissioning a new ship
Taking a new ship out the first time
Jumping a new ship the first time
Getting a promotion

These are all the sorts of things which may result in some form of ceremony.

Just as added trader trivia, I'll post a link to something I wrote, some slang and professional attitudes....

Slang
Professional and Cultural Attitudes
 
Originally posted by kaladorn:
Knowing the culture you are trading with (having history, psychology, xenology, language skills for a species/culture) probably makes a big difference. It is very easy for the uneducated and the ignorant to offend in foreign lands. Liaison looks like a really sweet skill for Traders. So, it is knowing that in some parts of the world, you haggle for items because they *expect* that and if you don't, you are not seen to value the item. In other places, if you haggle, you insult the seller who is only charging you a fair price. You have to know the difference to be a good trader, and that involves education.

But these sorts of situations can make excellent trade-game scenarios.


Excellent examples Marquis kaladorn! My Dad's navy experiences with crossing said things and traditions make good RL examples--TY for reminding us all!

Also, you can add to that the customs of Free Traders - they cross the stars like our sailors cross the seas, and we have traditions for crossing various Tropics of Latitude and various Meridians of Longitude - the international dateline, the equator, tropic of cancer, tropic of ??? (I forget the other one). Plus there are traditions on doing certain things, like sailing around the Cape of Horn or crossing through certain canals or narrow passages. There is no reason free traders would not have such traditions, and I'd include among them:

First jump
After having engaged a pirate
First landfall
Crossing a rift
Perhaps crossing a sector or subsector boundary
First misjump (if you survive)
Recieving your first bonus (something tells me buying the rest of the crew drinks falls in here)
The end of a loop (arriving back at your home port)(first loop might have an extra special meaning)
Comissioning a new ship
Taking a new ship out the first time
Jumping a new ship the first time
Getting a promotion

These are all the sorts of things which may result in some form of ceremony.

Just as added trader trivia, I'll post a link to something I wrote, some slang and professional attitudes....

Slang
Professional and Cultural Attitudes
-------------------------------------------------

Add to this a successful trade deal celebration [Starport bars and the entry point of many a follow on adventure!]

New crew person initiation

Crew person farewell snd off
 
Thank you for this "thread" I will use several of these suggestions....

MY suggestion is to read ANY and ALL you can find concerning the ancient "Silk Road" its extreamly interesting. you can even bring up a lot on your computer for free!!! just punch in "silk road" for starters...

have fun!!
 
There may be important customs derived from the pre-star-faring trading days. Things that will lead the First Officer to say things like, "I am NOT doing that!" And, will lead to considerable problems if you don't hire a local broker that knows these things....

kaladorn, stupendous points! But, generally a promotion involves the simple act of buying drinks. And, I would say the only sector lines that would matter would be, say, the first sector/subsector line you crossed. And, there would be a great deal of secrecy entailed in what goes on during these important cultural events. (So no prying, you bloody Wogs!)
 
Oooh. Just realized that last line from previous post might be taken wrong. I am speaking to all you soft, slimey creatures uninitiated into King Neptune's kingdom. It is not a cultural slur.
 
I am speaking to all you soft, slimey creatures uninitiated into King Neptune's kingdom
--------------------
Would it still be Neptune? Isn't the sky Jove's juristection(lightning bolts and all)? Someone better studied than I can tell.
Or perhaps Mercury: traders, bandits, and TRAVELLERS.
Maybe they rub mercury on "soft slimey creatures" to leave a scar(the metal Mercury is corrosive isn't it?).
Swordies are all Tolkienites so Swordie spacers would make their initiation in honor of the valar Manwe(sky)or Varda(stars-I think)or of Earendil(the half-elven hero that got made into the evening star as a reward for his bravery.
 
Jove may rule the skies, but Neptune still rules the deeps. I am a trusty shellback of Neptune (three times over) in RL. And, I fought Jove and won regularly for several years. So, anger me not!

(Mercury?! I don't think it would leave a scar, but it would give your autodoc quite a workout getting you over the heavy metal poisoning!)
 
GOD rules the "Heavens....the "real" one....
--------------------------
quite so, but sailors and spacers know that they are telling fairy tales, so their is nothing wrong with playing. The church has always been tolerant of those who told myths as myths, as opposed to teaching them as truth.
It is like the meat that had been offered in temples, in the book Galatians. I am not likly to be tempted to really worship Jove, nor are many others here. If I have given offense I apoligize for I did not seek to.
 
Originally posted by RainOfSteel:
If Jove rules the skies, and Nuptune the deeps, then who is said to rule the stars?
Striking out on a limb, that be Pluto. Kind dark out there, like the underworld ya know!
 
Nah, Mercury metal isn't so poisonous; dentists used to wash their hands in the stuff, practically, and they didn't go mad. It's the oxides and other compounds that are bad for you.
 
How about a ceremony in a port for the first ship to leave in a year? First to arrive? Arrival of an expected ship, or convoy(in certain Central Asian towns the whole town gets excited when a truck convoy arrives-as they must have when it was camals).
A ceremonial "Wedding of the Stars" at a notable trading port like Tizon, or Skull?
A custom of always leaving a tip at a barrel at the corner of the market, for the floaters(idea was inspired by the old jewish custom of always leaving part of the crop unreaped so the poor can get it if they will).
People from a given planet painting their starships in a certain color pattern(their is a tribe along the modern-day Silk Road that has a fancy for really bright colors, perhaps gaudy to a western eye, for their trucks. They are great traders, much like the ancient camel caravaners except they use trucks).
A guild or fraternity of merchants whose symbol is a golden scale?
A ceremony which gives prizes to the best merchants of the year: biggest net(slightly boring, but obvious), boldest enterprenuer(more interesting)etc.
A code for how much each merchant is allowed to spy on each others "fishing hole", or whatever. There is extensive commercial espionage and the government tolerates it, not least because it gives experience to the different clans for when the state needs a source to recruit secret-service agents from.
However all is kept within the boundries of "the rules". For instance burgleing a rivals home or tapping his home PC is a no-no. Likewise a clan that calls to many things "personal" is considered to be "cheating"-especially if it doesn't reduce it's own attempt to get rivals secrets.
I once imagined that their was a society where it was considered polite for each clan once it attained a certain degree of wealth, to start switching into politics, to sponser art, to sponser new traders, but most important to make room for up and comers(not because I consider "biggness" to be evil in and of itself, but because it is often unaesthetic, and I like the idea of newcomers having a chance). Interestingly they do something like that on Tizon; I wasn't inspired by that, it came independantly.
A feast is given at the guildhall everytime a free trader gains free-and-clear status.
At my church our pastor has a thing about avoiding debt. So we have a painting(an amateur painting but reasonably pretty) covered by a brick wall. Every time we take $1000 off the principal of our building payment a brick is ceremonially chiseled out with great clapping of hands. I thought it worth mentioning because it sounded like something that could be adapted.
 
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