5. THE COUNCIL OF FARMER-GROCERS
Master: Zelderan Guthel (0 level fighter, Master Provisioner)
Headquarters: The Market Hall, #42, Traders’ Way, Castle
Ward
Livery: cloaks or sashes of bright green; in early summer,
fresh floral blossoms worn at the left shoulder
Entrance: 1 gp/year, or 25 gp for life membership; none
refused
Dues: 5 sp/month
Contact: the Master, or “the Voice of the Master”, Baalbaas
Partall (0 level fighter), The Market Hall

This guild is a consortium whose membership changes
annually with the fortunes of harvest (memberships
expire in Hammer, the dead of winter (our January), and
run for one year, except for twenty or so life memberships,
which are without exception held by very wealthy
farmers with vast landholdings). The Council determines
prices for raw grain, arranges milling and warehouse
facilities in the City (both of which it controls; the milling
business provides the Guild with its bread-and-butter
operating money, and when warehouses are emptied in
winter, with no crops available to replace them until first
harvest, the Guild rents the space to other merchants).
The Guild also receives regular funds from the Lords in
return for keeping the City’s granaries and icehouses full
of provisions, to feed the Castle and the Palace, and have
emergency food on hand in case of siege or crop disaster.
The Guild arranges market stall space for its members
(although individual members must pay the daily fees),
and provides cartage for spoiled food to the refuse
dumps south of the City.