Elven Merchants

Many elven tribes enrich their lives as nomads by becoming merchants. As tireless runners and desert wanderers, they are well suited to caravan life, but elves are too restless to establish a permanent headquarters. Instead, the tribe itself serves as the headquarters, with the chief acting as a patriarch. The chief's advisory council, composed of a senior member from each family, handles the administrative functions such as keeping of accounts, keeping track of inventory, and setting prices Most tribes are not wealthy enough to build or maintain bartering emporiums in the cities. Instead, they rent dilapidated buildings or erect semipermanent stalls on the outskirts of the trading quarter. These bazaars, commonly referred to as the elven market, often have unusual and rare goods for sale from all corners of Athas. In most cities, the elven market is a disreputable place. Unlike other merchants, elves abide by no code of ethics. People who buy there usually assume they are purchasing stolen property or goods of inferior quality. The elven market is also the primary source of banned goods, such as spell components and other equipment necessary for a wizard to practice his craft. Although elves sell to all comers with no questions asked, they are adept at detecting the presence of templars and the sorcerer-king's agents (generally through the use of psionics). As a templar passes through the elven market, I have never failed to be amazed at how quickly banned goods disappear in front of him and reappear after he passes. Despite the elves, expertise at deceiving (or fleeing) the templars, many of them are enslaved for selling banned goods. When this happens, most elves are rarely concerned. They simply wait for the first opportunity to escape, then run into the desert and rejoin their tribe. If this proves impossible, they bide their time by trying to flatter their masters into promoting them into artistic status - which I believe is the reason so many noble homes are decorated with tasteless paintings and worthless sculptures. Most templars will not admit it, but elves rarely remain in captivity for long. Their tribes are extremely close-knit, and they would not think of leaving one of their members in peril. To secure the release of even the lowest-ranking tribe members, they have been known to offer exorbitant bribes (though I have yet to hear of any tribe actually paying such a debt). Most often, they simply help the slave escape and, if possible, assassinate the accusing templar, then leave the city with all their tribe members and omit it from their caravan routes for a few years. Usually, a tribe stays at a city for only a month or so. Unless it leaves under dubious circumstances, a handful of its members stay behind to conduct business at the bazaar. They usually live together in the same building from which they conduct their business. Often, this band contains a considerable number of thieves who employ their talents to add to the store of valuable merchandise that the tribe will sell in another city. By the time the tribe returns - anywhere from six months to several years later - these elves are more than ready to leave the city and return to the wandering life. Any half-elf children that happened to have been conceived during this time are left in the city, as they would find an unwelcome reception within the tribe. Outside the city, elven merchant tribes do not maintain trading posts. Instead, they conduct their business as they wander the Athasian deserts, stopping here to graze, there to bargain, and anywhere to steal. In most cultures, few sights are more agitating than that of a tribe of elves camped nearby. The next few days are certain to be filled with seedy entertainment, hard bargaining, and a small but steady outflow of stolen property. I was once with an elven tribe when another elven tribe camped nearby. On the first night, my host tribe arranged an evening of entertainment for the purpose of luring the other tribe away from its camp. While their guests were enjoying the party, my hosts sent a contingent of thieves to rob the guests, camp. The guests reciprocated the next night, stealing back not only their own property, but a considerable amount of my host's (and my own) property as well. These affairs continued for about a week, with the parties growing progressively more wild and ribald each night, until finally both tribes claimed that they had gotten the better of the contest and parted ways. In truth, I don't know who won the contest; I lost a precious rusty steel dagger and four copper coins, but my share of the host tribe's booty was a shiny helmet of bronze! Lest anyone make the mistake of thinking it is easy to join an elven tribe, I should point out the circumstances by which I came to be among them. Before being accepted as an equal, I had traveled with the tribe for two years and single-handedly saved the chief's daughter from being eaten by a pack of wild thri-kreen. Still, the experience was worth the effort, hardship, and risk and I would not have passed it up for anything on Athas. Elven caravans are notoriously light and fast. The elves prefer to travel by foot, carrying their personal belongings in a sack slung over their shoulders. Cargo is transported on kanks, the only beasts of burden capable of keeping up with an elf if he breaks into a full run. During my time with the elves, I rode a kank whenever we were on the road.