Slaver's Bay

[Poach]

After a long journey at sea, leaving King's Landing behind, the flotilla of Karhold ships reached Mereen, one of the great cities of Slaver's Bay. It was here that Lord Karstark intended to source the labour he wanted, the labour that the Small Council wouldn't give him from the streets of King's Landing. Corlys Velaryon, a cowardly hand-wringer, had swung the Council's decision in favour of letting the peasants live in their hovels until they drenched the streets in blood. Idiots.

"You want slaves, Lord Karstark?" asked the nobleman of Mereen that Caron had arranged to meet, a man who owned a great many slaves and made his money in selling them on, "are they not illegal in your homeland?"

"Let me worry about that, good ser," came the calm response, "Karhold is far away from everywhere else: no Lord Stark is ever going to go walking through my forests asking every peasant he passes whether they were bought or not."

This Karstark was playing a dangerous game, but what did it matter as long as money changed hands here? Slaves for coin, what happened to them after the trade was not in the interests of Mereen's Masters.

[Poach]

[OOC: Ok then. I'll play the Slaver myself and just ask for a moderator's decision at the end.]

"Very well, Lord Karstark," said the Master, leaning back in his chair, "What is it you seek? Soldiers? Women?"

"I need the majority of the stock to be useful aboard ships," said Caron in a businesslike tone, "I have many ships and few native sailors. That needs remedied."

"Of course, of course," came the warm reply, "We have many slaves employed on our own ships, filling your hold with men who can be trusted on a ship shant be difficult, anything else?"

"Yes, I need a small number for forestry and carpentry work, they need not be educated at all," said Caron dismissively, "I have vast forests and many drydocks, but lack the manpower to fell the trees and craft the hulls. Masters I have many of, ship designers and engineers I have enough of, but labour I am short of. Finally, I need some women, for those men. Can't have them breeding with Northern women."

"Very well," said the Master, "I believe we can do business."

[Pontifex Maximus]

ooc: We are currently cooking up a little bit of a system for slaves, one that I am currently pretty satisfied with. We have not overlooked this, give us a little more time

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

"Very well," said the Master, "I believe we can do business. Would you like a tour of the slaves we have available for purchase?"

[Poach]

[OOC: Pushing this along because I have stuff I want to do after this as well that might bring me into conflict with the Starks.]

"Of course." said Caron as the two rose from their seats.

The pair, accompanied by several of the Master's guards and some of Caron's own senior men, made their way down to a large open compound, where men in the employ of the Master were already pushing slaves into line for inspection. While no straight line of a manner that good soldiers might create, it allowed the party to walk down and inspect the produce on offer.

As per Caron's wish, the lot produced were of a hardy sort, better suited to labour than as servants inside a manor or brothel: large, ugly, stupid. They stopped in the section that the Master informed him were the ones usually sold to those Masters who operated shipping concerns.

"You there, your skills?" asked Caron, waiting as the translator spoke to the slave.

"He says he has served aboard transport vessels, Lord Karstark, shipping goods between cities of the bay." came the delayed response from the translator. Asking a few more random slaves some questions, including specifics of working aboard ships to ensure the slaves weren't simply spouting a script, satisfied Caron that this batch did indeed know the basic tasks required for a life at sea. Another group were questioned and knew nothing at all, but were large men, useful for the logging operations Caron had in mind. The women he didn't care about, they were a mix of young women ranging up to mid-thirties, none of them particularly attractive (that stock generally being kept for buyers interested in female beauty...), but all suitable for childbearing in some form.

"These suit my requirements." ​said Caron to the Master after viewing the last group produced by the Master's slave handlers.

[Shankbot de Bodemloze]

The master nodded, his eyes gleaming with the thought of the coming gold, "How many slaves would you like to purchase? 500 slaves will cost you 15,000, but you can purchase more if you wish. The only limit is your gold, Lord Karstark."

[Poach]

[OOC: see the mod thread, relevant discussion surrounding this is happening there.]