Longshoremens Guild
While Obsidian Bay controls miles of farmland outside of its walls, it has always relied on the sea for a good portion of its food. Residents eat at least three meals a week consisting of some sort of fish, and much of that is supplied by the Longshoreman's Guild, which has a near-monopoly on the fish trade.
Contents
Overview
- City: Obsidian Bay
- Country: Domain of Obsidian Bay
- Leader: Tarrek Farsea
- Roster: 350
While Obsidian Bay controls miles of farmland outside of its walls, it has always relied on the sea for a good portion of its food. Residents eat at least three meals a week consisting of some sort of fish, and much of that is supplied by the Longshoreman's Guild, which has a near-monopoly on the fish trade.
Guild Organization
The guild has two classes of members – eldershoremen and longshoremen. The eldershoremen are those who own their own ships. Common longshoremen are those who server on any ship belonging to the guild.
At present the guild is made up of about a two dozen large fishing ships, and twice that number of smaller ones. All told there are about 48 eldershoremen and it is these men who rule the guild, and it is they -- not the common longshoremen -- who elect the guildmaster.
The guild has about 300 members, and these men do not generally bemoan their secondary status. The captains treat them well and they get good pay, both of which go a long way toward smoothing over any disagreements. However every few years some of the more agitated and charismatic longshoremen attempt to rally their fellows in an attempt to change the guild’s decades-old way of doing things. Usually they gain a strong minority following, strong enough to attract the attention of their superiors.
In the past the elders have neutralized these challenges in a variety of ways –- buying off the rebel leaders by giving them their own ship, giving into their demands or even (in extreme cases) arranging for unfortunate accidents to happen at sea.
Guild Leadership
The current master of the Longshoremen Guild is Tarrek Farsea, the captain of the Deep Angler. He’s a master seaman and a capable warrior who was elected to his position in Ready-reat CY 588 after the previous guildmaster -– Equiter Callson -– retired.
Farsea is a patient man who taught many of the guild’s captains how to sail the mighty Azure Sea. As a result, he has the respect of almost all of the captains, and a good portion of the common folk as well. He is methodical and to some extent plodding – he does not want to rock the boat, and would rather the guild keep doing the things it’s always done. He served in the Navy for several years as the first mate on the flagship Griffin’s Grasp. He was greatly upset by the death of Lord Admiral Sterrick Jacobia during the fall of Obsidian Bay.
He has one vocal critic in the guild –- Orren Nethander, captain of Nethander’s Dream. Nethander’s a young, charismatic firebrand who wants the guild to take on new, riskier ventures, like fishing in deeper waters, hunting more exotic fish, taking more on adventurer charters and challenging other ocean-going guilds in new business ventures. Few of the other stolid captains follow him, but he has a nice-sized following among the common longshoremen.
Allies and Enemies
The guild has close ties to the Navy of Obsidian Bay, and its not uncommon for some of its captains, and even the common longshoremen, to have served on a Navy ship in the past.
The guild has no true enemies, although a certain amount of animosity exists between it and the Farmers Guild and Matterhorn Guild. The guilds have gotten into pricing wars in the past, dueling with each other over the cost of staple foods in attempts to sway the tastes of the Obsidian consumers. Cries of "how can we expect to break even on pickerel when those inland fools sell their beef at half what we can?" have often field the guild’s hall in the Wharf District. These hostilities occasionally break out into fist fights, but they rarely escalate into all out conflict.
It has been rumored in the past that the mercantile Darksea Guild has an interest in taking over the Longshoremens Guild in order to gain more power over the city's shipping, but to date nothing has come of these speculations.
People
- Equiter Callson: Retired master of the Longshoremens Guild
- Tarrek Farsea, Guildmaster: The current master of the Longshoremens Guild and captain of the Deep Angler.
- Orren Nethander, captain of Nethander’s Dream. He's young, charismatic firebrand who wants the guild to take on new, riskier ventures.
- Luca "Squinty" Meyer, the poor eyed proprietor of Squinty's Supplies.
Sites
- Longshoremens Guildhall: The guild hall for Obsidian Bay's maritine workers, including sailors, wharf workers, and fishermen.
Organizations
- Church of Procan, Obsidian Bay: Quite a few members of the Longshoremens Guild worship the god of the sea.
Statblocks
- There are no entries available in the database.
