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nGreatcentral City

n4 a.m. Sunday, November 13, 2095

n*

n'You cannot trade in a Village.'

nThat was the main difference between the designations of town and village in Zushkenar.

nA village cannot convene a market.

nIt was true for the races Eli knew best, except the sirens who gleefully flouted convention anyway. Also, their floating cities were a secret, so they traded from small floating villages. Or did they call those 'towns'?

nBut human, vargvir, and draculkar kept the distinction.

nThe exchange between caravans in Gremut was only technically legal, allowed because the village wasn't gaining taxes from it.

nBut more significantly in Redlands, it also meant there were no shops that had an Orddet's terminal, and therefore not a part of the Orddet's transport network.

nHe'd have to pay more to get things delivered.

nBundled in a thick puffy fur-lined parka, with a blanket over his legs, Eli browsed the craftmaster forums.

nThe craftmasters had great stakes in trade, or they won't advance in their craft.

nThey should know a bit more about the economic and social world of Redlands than battlers.

nSo far, he'd found that the differences between town and village were pretty much universal in the game.

nThen there was the fact that apart from not having markets, villages didn't have banks, trade company branches, and temples.

nNot having temples meant not having hospitals, libraries, and contract negotiators.

nOh, and protection. The draculkar nation Civil Guards were pretty much adherents to Dagad of Destruction, deity of protection whose symbol was a winged silver snake. The snake was even on the Guard emblem.

nThe administration of a village was elected, generally to judge disputes. In draculkar terms, that meant the oldest that wasn't infirm headed the village, being the wisest.

nThe administration was informal, however, and the elected leaders could be changed at any time if the village was under the umbrella of a town or estate.

nOr if a village was taken over by a guildclan.

nIf he remembered correctly, a guildclan was designed in the Redlands social rankings to be halfway between mercenary soldier company and noble family. Joining a guildclan afforded every member this social status, especially if they failed the registration rolls to become a noble.

nIf wielded right, that status meant more tolerance from the upper class, and more respect from the commoners. Some guilds in Zushkenar had indeed wielded that small influence, and became warlords.

nSocial status.

nThat was the reason for the connected name, instead of just calling it a guild or a clan.

nA guildclan warleader could create towns for their guild, if they wanted, if they could afford it.

nThe chartering of a town in Craftmasters was a right only given to the leaders of nations.

nEli frowned.

nA headache was forming behind his eyes.

nThere were conflicting reports on whether or not a noble could build a town.

nThey couldn't?

nNobles and castle-lords in Zushkenar had castle towns, after all.

nA few hours digging through dross and convoluted play-strategies, plus cross-referencing with the battlers forums and the official data, he got the answer.

nHe sat back with a disgruntled expression.

nApparently nobility was different for different races.

nHe didn't know that.

nHis last life had been a commoner, alright? When would he need to know noble ranks in the nine races?

nCommoner of knightly ancestry, to be precise, but that hadn't helped anything, had it.

nActually, he'd been allowed to own forest land because of it, but he hadn't a chance to take advantage of that privilege before he returned to the past.

nIf it was just Craftmasters, he could divide social classes into royal-noble-commoner-outcast. But the Masters of War expansion revamped the social ranking system and the creation of lords among the players.

nIt was now more complicated, with actual named ranks instead of just social levels.

nCraftmasters could quest for noble status when the lands they held reached a certain area limit, or if they gained control of a castle manor.

nWarmasters had the ability to gain noble status at 'birth', winning the rank from the registration process. The ability to quest for noble status was removed.

nFrom the forums of his last life though, the title 'castle-lord' could be acquired with control of castles, keeps, and forts.

nIt was currently listed as a noble title in human, vargvir, draculkar, and mafmet races.

nIn the human-led territories, the castle-lords ranked above barons and knights.

nActually, in the dwarvir race, the equivalent of castle-lord was baron – because all their nobles held strongholds. The dwarviran guildclans who won control of castles were ennobled.

nEli blinked, took his glasses off and massaged the edges of his eyes.

nWhat.

nHe just wanted to know how towns were built in Redlands!

nWhen did it get to the minutiae of different races' noble ranks?

nFor that matter, where was the draculkar version?

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"I need a break.

"

nHe threw his glasses back on and stood, stretched the kinks out.

nGlanced at the clock, grimaced.

nIt was eight in the morning, on a Sunday.

nHis aunt didn't require him to go to Sunday mass with her, but what kind of great-nephew would he be, to not accompany her for just one hour sitting in a church?

nEli regretted still, that he hadn't visited her in the years before she died.

nHe'd been given this chance to make it up. This life wasn't going to pass like the last time.

nFrost clung to the glass panes, sparkling as he drew the curtains. The weak sun was out this morning, which meant his aunt would take the morning mass, and not the afternoon or evening ones.

nEli turned, only to stumble on the edge of a chair. Gah! He glared at the furniture.

nWhy was it that he still hadn't acclimated to the layout of the apartment?

nOne last surly look at the offending chair, he headed to the bathroom.

nThe second morning mass started at 9 a.m.

nHe divested himself of clothing and entered the shower.

nWarm water cascaded down his body, soothing.

nHe stood there, head bowed against the pressure of the water.

nWas he really thinking of staying in Cerkanst?

nNo.

nLocation aside, he didn't have the resources and manpower of a whole guild.

nA thin smile slanted over his face.

nOr was this the universe telling him he should make his own guildclan?

nHa.

nHaha.

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