Rufus the lone Redcap [INTERSAGA]
Type: Purveyor (Transportation, Hospitality, Vis, Books, Mundane Wealth, Votes) and Purchaser (Supernatural Goods & Services).
N.B. this is probably a less "interesting" or "artful" entry than others in the thread. On the other hand, it's realistic - more precisely, it's real in the sense that this is a PC in our saga, actually willing to trade according to the terms below. If PCs in your saga would be interested in a trade, message me, and if we reach an agreement our troupes can both consider the trade to have happened in our respective sagas. Hence the [INTERSAGA] tag.
Description: A very basic booth with a simple Trade & Transport sign. A few well-bound books are positioned in an orderly manner on the table, behind which a man with a red cap sits reading. Should anyone approach the booth, he glances up and nods with a friendly smile, perhaps adding a few words of wit. He's quick to strike a conversation and turns out to be quite a gossip.
Background: You probably have heard that this jovial Redcap has a strained relationship with his House, as he insists that he will deliver messages, trade etc. on his own terms rather than "jumping when they tell me to jump, if you know what I mean". He can offer a disparate set of goods and services.
Goods and Services on offer:
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Transportation services. Rufus commands a magic ship that flies as fast as the wind. "Not a Hermes portal, no, but I can still fly from Scotland to Cyprus and back in less than a week!". It can transport people, or bulk goods. He'll move stuff for free between any pair of friendly covenants in the Tribunal or in neighbouring ones, as part of his Redcap service, if given a year's notice and up to one more year to complete the delivery. Shorter lead times and/or other destinations (including very distant ones: "Sogdiana? Sure!") require payment, negotiable and highly variable.
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Access to the finest Summa ever written on Creo (it's the Exceptional Book Boon from Covenants, p.20), that his home covenant owns. Any magus can stay at the covenant as a guest and study from the book as long as the guest likes; as a token of gratitude, the guest is supposed to spend a season helping the covenant at some non-dangerous task to be agreed upon. Alternatively, the guest can bring as a gift a sound Art tractatus per season of studying (or an excellent tractatus per two seasons). The gifts will be accepted under a variant of the "Cow and Calf" oath, that allows Rufus covenant to make a new copy of a book but solely to replace an older copy (which must then be destroyed).
Obviously, copying the summa or even just memorizing it is not allowed. Accomodation at, and transportation to and from the covenant are free, and the covenant is well-known for its excellent cuisine. -
Votes! If there is any issue on which your covenant would like support at the local or Grand Tribunal, a "convergence of interests" can probably be arranged. Rufus approaches the subject in a very roundabout way, and only offers to trade votes if he's fully convinced (he has a good Folk Ken score) that he's dealing with someone not offended in any way by the practice. If so, the deal terms are the following. He can arrange most motions to be supported or opposed (abstain is also ok) by up to a dozen votes, occasionally more. Some motions can only be supported by fewer votes, sometimes none, due to previous commitments. For every two votes (or fraction thereof) asked and received, three votes will be asked for (all together, or split between different motions). Rufus understands that not everyone will be able to support everything, so a vote asked can be refused up to three times; each refusal will convert two votes refused or fraction thereof into three more due on a different issue. On the third refusal, votes due will be paid back with seasons of non-dangerous service, one for every five votes due or fraction thereof (one for every ten from particularly skilled magi, or one for every three from sufficiently skilled apprentices).
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Mundane wealth. If a covenant is cash-strapped, income equivalent to a Lesser Source of Income can be arranged. This is completely free, "to foster goodwill between our covenants". If a covenant needs more than that, it can be negotiated. Rufus will not just deliver money: he will deliver those goods that money would have purchased (supplies, lab equipment etc.), avoiding inflation and procurement difficulties.
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Mundane books. Rufus' covenant has a large mundane library, including on topics potentially of interest to magi (such as Finesse, Concentration, Magic Theory). He's very happy to trade copies under the variant of Cow and Calf above, for ... anything interesting.
Goods sought: Rufus is willing to exchange the good and services above, or outright pay Creo vis, for interesting supernatural stuff (including enchanted devices, True names, magical beasts, mystical texts, Lab texts with interesting experimentation results, and perhaps servants with supernatural abilities). He is particularly interested in stuff that is not Hermetic, or at least not "vanilla" Hermetic. He's rumored to have paid no less than three rooks for a strange relic. How much vis can you extract from him for some bauble you have found and have no use for?