Post by SouthWestern Traders on Apr 5, 2018 6:15:03 GMT
[T20]
War left behind the cowardly and the brave alike. Deserters, pardoned as they might be, found themselves in a foreign land and the way home was long and hard. The wounded and maimed who were unable to travel with their brothers in arms back home were sometimes left behind, somehow forgotten in the quagmire that followed conflict. Those who had survived this long were typically the resourceful type, but very few of them could consider themselves successful, and though many certainly yearned to go home, home was but a distant dream.
It was not those who had been brought home, returned to their hovels and families, nor those who had found new homes through strength or love. This was a story of those who wished to cross a sea, but lacked the means to do so. The sad truth was that no pardon could forgive their transgression against their fellow man, and that time did not heal all wounds.
Yet not all hope was gone. There were some who saw the value in the aforementioned resourcefulness and knew how to tap into it. Through their connections in the guild, they could provide transport back to Albion. Most importantly they could offer work to the new class of outcasts. Perhaps some day they would be welcomed once more into their families. For the time being, however, they would be indebted and also be in need of a place to rest and food to eat, something many outcasts would find difficult to find back in lands where they were known as deserters, or viewed as useless, damaged goods.
The work was menial, to be sure. The workshops in Gawant and Dumonia alike afforded these men only tough, monotonous, back-breaking work, and the pay was poor, except for those with exceptional skills. Room and board was considered part of the pay, and so failure to work might very well increase a man’s debt to the point that he was guaranteed a life in near perpetual servitude. Yet despite those challenges, there were many left behind more than willing to take up such offers.
Now, the deserters themselves were practically excluded guild membership, and most of the injured had little cause to join. Thus the number of guilders was not substantially bolstered, but the wealth of those willing to work with these men was. The quality of the labor was excellent by all accounts, while the costs remained low, and the motivation for these men was inherent. Indeed, there was no need to abuse these men to encourage them to work hard, for those who were lazy would soon find their debt growing, eventually to be turned over to the authorities as paupers. But for those who worked hard, there was hope ahead. The hope of not just freedom, for they had tasted that in Hibernia, but of family and familiar bonds restored once more.
In this way, the workshops of Gawant and Dumonia were greatly bolstered, their output and efficiency improved, their capacity to build and maintain kept at high standards, and the influence of the guilders who owned them remained high as ever, with people ready and willing to meet them regularly in the hopes of being in their good graces, thus affording them great access to the varied news of the realms.
War left behind the cowardly and the brave alike. Deserters, pardoned as they might be, found themselves in a foreign land and the way home was long and hard. The wounded and maimed who were unable to travel with their brothers in arms back home were sometimes left behind, somehow forgotten in the quagmire that followed conflict. Those who had survived this long were typically the resourceful type, but very few of them could consider themselves successful, and though many certainly yearned to go home, home was but a distant dream.
It was not those who had been brought home, returned to their hovels and families, nor those who had found new homes through strength or love. This was a story of those who wished to cross a sea, but lacked the means to do so. The sad truth was that no pardon could forgive their transgression against their fellow man, and that time did not heal all wounds.
Yet not all hope was gone. There were some who saw the value in the aforementioned resourcefulness and knew how to tap into it. Through their connections in the guild, they could provide transport back to Albion. Most importantly they could offer work to the new class of outcasts. Perhaps some day they would be welcomed once more into their families. For the time being, however, they would be indebted and also be in need of a place to rest and food to eat, something many outcasts would find difficult to find back in lands where they were known as deserters, or viewed as useless, damaged goods.
The work was menial, to be sure. The workshops in Gawant and Dumonia alike afforded these men only tough, monotonous, back-breaking work, and the pay was poor, except for those with exceptional skills. Room and board was considered part of the pay, and so failure to work might very well increase a man’s debt to the point that he was guaranteed a life in near perpetual servitude. Yet despite those challenges, there were many left behind more than willing to take up such offers.
Now, the deserters themselves were practically excluded guild membership, and most of the injured had little cause to join. Thus the number of guilders was not substantially bolstered, but the wealth of those willing to work with these men was. The quality of the labor was excellent by all accounts, while the costs remained low, and the motivation for these men was inherent. Indeed, there was no need to abuse these men to encourage them to work hard, for those who were lazy would soon find their debt growing, eventually to be turned over to the authorities as paupers. But for those who worked hard, there was hope ahead. The hope of not just freedom, for they had tasted that in Hibernia, but of family and familiar bonds restored once more.
In this way, the workshops of Gawant and Dumonia were greatly bolstered, their output and efficiency improved, their capacity to build and maintain kept at high standards, and the influence of the guilders who owned them remained high as ever, with people ready and willing to meet them regularly in the hopes of being in their good graces, thus affording them great access to the varied news of the realms.