"No noticeable loss of profit! What kind of tradesmen would we be if we were not available to our customers at any hour at which they cared to call? This is the Empire, my boy, not Estalia or Tilea. We are civilised folk, and industrious too. Can you possibly think that life is difficult because you must sometimes stand at a counter for fifteen hours in a day? What of the folk who toil in the fields and the forges? What of the men who load and unload the barges, or the men who go up to the forests to cut wood and burn charcoal? Our life, Reinmar, is extraordinarily good and easy by comparison with the great majority of Men, and it is honest toil that has made it so. We are not aristocrats, to be sure, but there is a dignity and purpose in trade which cannot be valued too highly. Carpenters make chairs, cobblers make boots and tanners make saddles, but tradesmen make money. There are men abroad in the world who resent tradesmen and affect to despise them as usurers in disguise, but it is our great fortune to live in Eilhart, where even the common folk recognise that no finer thing can be said of any man than: he makes money. And of all the wares in which a man might trade, there is none finer than wine. Cheap wine makes life tolerable to the poor, and good wine is the best of all the pleasures available to the comfortably off."
A look at a hard day of work among the businesses of the Old World.
Businesses represent those private, commercial enterprises engaged in by many of the men and women of the Old World -- including retired adventurers.
So what's an adventurer to do after they've lost an arm to a Daemon? Get prosthetics and keep fighting, of course! But many heroes lose this kind of resolve after staring down a band of Chaos Warriors or watching their friends get mauled by an army of Squigs. Some just put their swords down and go home. So the question becomes, what's an Old Worlder to do after a life of high adventure? Many go into business for themselves.[1a]
Businesses are usually rated in four categories, from poor through best. Poor businesses are unprofitable ventures such as opening a bookshop where no one reads or becoming a fish monger in a landlocked community. Certainly, such enterprises may be profitable in other areas, such as a city with a high literacy rate or a coastal community, respectively, but generally these businesses provide a surplus of goods that no one wants or needs.[1a]
Businesses considered common fulfill a need that is generally handled by other competitors. A common business would be a fishmonger in a fishing village. Plenty of people make a living doing these kinds of things, but no one does it better than the rest.[1a]
Good businesses are those that fill an economic niche without much in the way of competition. An example would be becoming one of two wainwrights in a town that is a regular stop along a coaching route.[1a]
The best category of Old World business reflects a monopoly, where a business has cornered the market on a particular good that people require in their daily lives.[1a]
Purchasing or founding a business includes choosing the name of the business, who its customers will be, and any necessary tools or other materials to carry out the enterprise's function. Obviously, the prices do not include such things as the building, a forge, carts or wagons -- those are sold separately.[1a]
Guilds[]
Guilds dictate how commerce works in various areas and facilitate the flow of trade across the Old World. Each trade in the various Old World nations of Men has a guild, so there is a Teamster Guild, a Smith Guild, and even a Barber Surgeon Guild. Heading up these organisations are the Guild Masters, master merchants and calculating thieves who are waging a quiet war with the nobility for complete economic and political control over the Empire of Man.[1a]
Anyone who would open a business must first register with the appropriate guild, if there is one in the location where the business will be established. The guilds set the prices for all commodities produced by their labourers. Those have no control over how much or little they sell their merchandise; such decisions always come down from above. In addition, all tradesmen pay dues to their guild, which equals about 10% of the take each week.[1a]
Income[]
A successful business generates income. An owner is expected to employ a staff of workers to help in the selling and manufacturing process, allowing the proprietor to leave their business in their staff's hands for short periods of time. However, someone that would run a business must spend at least three days of every week overseeing the operation. If they shirks their duties, the business will start to crumble.[1a]
Types of Businesses[]
A wide range of business opportunities exist in the Old World. What follows is a list of possible businesses that any individual might pursue.[1a]
Artisanal Businesses[]
An artisan or craftsman is the name for any tradesman of the Old World who creates a finished product from raw materials. This category of business includes tanners, armourers, weaponsmiths, tinsmiths, potters, and even apothecaries, as well as most of the artisans described below. A skilled craftsman on average earns 15 shillings per week, though the higher the skill, the better the pay.
- Accountant/Exciseman - Accountants serve to manage finances and keep books for other businessmen and nobles. Also included in this category are tax collectors or excisemen, who are often private businessmen hired by the local government to collect taxes for the sovereign, of which they are allowed to keep a small percentage. These businesses thrive in large cities but are rarely, if ever, found in communities with populations of 1,000 or less.[1a]
- Armoury - An armourer is a metalsmith who specialises in crafting armour. His skill with a variety of materials, such as leather working, tailoring, and forging help explain the high prices for armour in the Old World.[1b]
- Blacksmith/Metal Smith - Blacksmiths work with iron and sometimes other metals to make useful items like tools, pots, horseshoes, and ploughs. Though talented, if a customer needs more delicate work, a tinsmith, silversmith, goldsmith, armourer, weaponsmith and so on may be more suited to their needs.[1c]
- Bowyer - Bowyers are craftsmen that make bows. Fletchers, a closely associated trade, make arrows. Many bowyers are also fletchers.[1c]
- Butcher - Butchers take animal carcasses and carve them into cuts. Butchers tend towards red meats, while poulterers deal with chicken and other fowl.[1c]
- Carpenter/Joiner/Fitter/Sawyer - Carpenters specialise in cutting wood and making basic wooden items. Joiners and fitters are specialists who make better furniture and quality products. A sawyer is one who cuts boards.[1c]
- Cartwright/Wainright - These businesses specialise in making and repairing wagons, carts, and coaches.[1c]
- Chandler - Chandlers make candles and soap, usually using animal or Human fat for their base materials. Chandlers often compete with glue makers in harvesting the dead on the city streets.[1c]
- Coach Service - Any business that carries passengers from one location to the next counts as a coach service. An example of a coach service would be the Four Seasons, who not only do a brisk business with their coach service but also with the coaching inns they also own.[1c]
- Cobbler - A cobbler is a craftsman who specialises in repairing boots and shoes.[1c]
- Cooper - A cooper is an individual who makes barrels of all sizes.[1c]
- Cutler - A cutler is a craftsman who makes knives and other cutlery.[1c]
- Distillery - A distillery is a business that distils hard spirits like whiskey or schnapps.[1c]
- Draper - Drapers are sellers of cloth and other fabrics.[1c]
- Dress Maker/Seamstress/Tailor - These small shops specialise in making clothing for women and men. In addition to making fine garb, they also make or sell small accessories. There are a variety of other professions that produce different parts of clothing from button makers to hatters and shoemakers.[1c]
- Dyer - An unpleasant trade, dyers work with harsh dyes extracted from minerals, chemicals, or even the waste or other body parts of different creatures. Dyers are usually, along with tanners, relegated to the poorer districts because of the foul smells their operations often produce.[1c]
- Merchant/Trader/Exporter/Importer - Merchants and traders specialise in importing or exporting high-demand commodities. These individuals rarely produce anything of their own; instead, they serve to distribute goods to those who could otherwise not get them.[1c]
- Ferrier - A ferrier is an individual who operates a small boat to cross rivers or lakes where bridges do not exist.[1c]
- Foundry - Housing ironmongers and other metalworkers, a foundry smelts raw ore into workable ingots.[1c]
- Furrier - A furrier specialises in taking animal hides and turning them into apparel.[1d]
- Glass Blower/Glazier - Glass blowers craft glassware, and glaziers finish the objects, adding minor details such as frosting and etching.[1d]
- Glue Maker - Another vile profession, glue makers render organic by-products into glue. Many prowl the streets in the early mornings looking for the dead that always turn up in the alleys. Like tanners and dyers, glue makers are relegated to the bad parts of any town.[1d]
- Harness Maker/Saddler - A person who sets up a business to make gear for animals has a good life ahead. While they deal with leather and other hides, nobles pay good prices for an ornate saddle.[1d]
- Horse trader - Horse traders deal in horseflesh. They breed horses to supply them to all manner of customers from knights to peasants.[1d]
- Mason - Masons are builders of both walls and homes and are skilled at all forms of stonework.[1d] A mason is more than a mere stone cutter, for they add craft to the role and are able to form grand shapes from their chosen material. Masons are highly sought-after, skilled craftsmen who chisel stone into wondrous creations. The Old World is full of grand edifices with mighty stone pillars or friezes of outstanding merit, often depicting holy symbols or the gods themselves. All are created by master masons.[2]
- Painter - Painters are different from artists in that these individuals paint walls, buildings, fences, and wagons. Many can also work with plaster and wallpaper.[1d]
- Perfumery - Cities in the Old World exude all manner of horrific stenches. Hence, perfumeries are quite successful anywhere where there are a lot of people. Ironically, perfumeries produce some of the worst odours of all enterprises.[1d]
- Slaughterhouse - A slaughterhouse is a grisly place where animals are butchered for meat; slaughterhouses are undesirable and thoroughly unpleasant. Old Worlders have enough death in their lives without being subject to the awful sound, stink, and sights of one of these charnel houses.[1d]
- Tanner - Another undesirable business relegated to the outskirts or least desirable neighborhoods of any town, tanners stink because of the use of animal waste products in their work. The smell of hide rendering is something most need only experience once.[1d]
- Slater/Tiler - A slater works with slate, especially shingles. A tiler specialises in making and setting clay or stone tiles.[1d]
- Stone Cutter - A stone cutter fashions large hunks of stone, for ease of transport and in preparation for construction.[2]
- Weaponsmith - Weaponsmiths manufacture weapons.[1d]
- Weaver/Fuller - Weavers take raw textiles like wool and flax and weave fabric from them. The best weavers work with exotic materials like silk, gold thread, and rare cotton. A fuller shrinks or thickens cloth.[1d]
- Wheelwright - A wheelwright makes and repairs wheels. Many set up shops near lesser roadside taverns or in coaching inns.[1d]
Agricultural Businesses[]
- Carter/Driver/Teamster/Wagoner - These individuals drive carts, wagons, and coaches from one location to the next. They usually work directly for merchants or are part of a large coach service organisation.[1c]
- Dairy - A dairy collects milk from cows and goats to make butter and a variety of cheeses in addition to selling the milk.[1c]
- Farmer - A farmer in the context of an agricultural business is a person engaged in agriculture to sell the produce on a market, rather than just for their own and their family's subsistence like a peasant. This is a relatively new innovation in the economy of the Old World.
- Fishmonger - A fishmonger is one who sells fish in the marketplaces. Their prices tend to fall as the day grows long.[1c]
- Vintner - The art of winemaking was gifted to Men from the High Elves. While the swill created by tiny producers is lacking in flavour, it nevertheless finds customers -- usually being bought and watered down by unscrupulous landlords in the Empire's more disreputable establishments.[2a]
- Rat Catcher - Big, juicy, fat rats skitter through the sewers of many Old World towns and cities. Pestilent beasts, they can be vicious. When hungry, they might drag a child right off the streets, leaving nothing more than a shoe. Braving these terrors of the night are the rat catchers; grizzled men and women armed with a sharp stick and a small, vicious dog, they can ferret out hundreds of these filthy varmints. Better still, the crown sometimes places a bounty on rats, a whole quarter-penny per rat.[1d]
- Thatcher - A thatcher is a person who fixes roofs. Most thatchers also know how to install wood or slate shingles.[1d]
Innkeeper Businesses[]
Innkeepers own and run the establishments that allow the economy of the Old World to flourish. Many innkeeping families have owned their establishment for generations. They cater to all customers, regardless of social class, so long as they can pay.
In a time when the majority of folk are insular, innkeepers have learned information is valuable and they're usually good for news from afar. A number of innkeepers supplement their incomes by making introductions between customers. This varies from finding agreeable companionship for their guests to putting interested parties in contact with those who can permanently remove troublemakers with no questions asked.
- Fruitier - A fruitier is one who sells fruits. These are usually small operations and many expand their goods to include any produce.[1c]
- Hostel/Inn - Innkeepers provide lodging and food to travellers.[1d]
- Stable - A stable is a place to tend and keep steeds.[1d]
- Tavern - A tavern is a bar. As all things go, some bars are nice and quiet, while others are vile and dangerous. It's best to know a bar by reputation before dropping in for a quick pint.[1d]
Service Businesses[]
- Apothecary/Herbalist - An apothecary or herbalist is one who grows and gathers herbs to mix into remedies, simples, and concoctions. For those who can't afford a physician, they may turn to an herbalist for a drug to cure their pains. Particularly shady apothecaries sometimes deal in poisons.[1b]
- Bakery - Bakeries are shops that specialise in baking breads, cakes, pastries, or any other bread-like food.[1b]
- Bookstore - These rare dealers sell old books. As they only need to sell a single book a year to pay their expenses, they tend to keep odd hours. Furthermore, few respectable people read, so irreverent scholars, dark priests, and wizards often haunt these shops.[1c]
- Coffee House/Tearoom - Among the elite, coffee houses and tearooms are gaining popularity. Here, away from the raucousness of a tavern, merchants can run shoulders with nobles. In addition to selling the obvious beverages, these locations also sell light meals.[1c]
- General Store/Pawn Broker - These large shops are small marketplaces that exist to collect goods from various manufacturers and sell them. Prices here are slightly higher, but the time it saves for having to track down a rope-maker, a leatherworker, and a chandler is often worth it. A pawn broker is similar to a general store, except that he makes a loan like a bank in exchange for ownership of an item. Should the person not pay back the high interest debt, the pawn broker can resell the merchandise.[1d]
- Kennel - A kennel breeds dogs of all kinds. Better kennels specialise in a single breed.[1d]
- Launderer - Launderers are businesses that clean and repair clothing.[1d]
- Salon - Need a bath, oil treatment, or corns scraped from a big toe? The salon is for you. Certainly, many of these establishments offer more than what they claim, but as long as no one complains, the salons stay open until dawn. Finer establishments cater to wealthy noble women.[1d]
- Scrivener - Scribes and scriveners fill a particular niche in Old World society. As most people can't read or write, the Cult of Sigmar prefers the common people to listen and learn rather than read and learn. Scriveners are employed by wizards, scholars, lawyers, and anyone else who needs copies made of texts, scrolls, or books. Illuminators, those scribes with a bit of artistic flair, cloister themselves away, illustrating holy texts with an intricate level of detail.[1d]
Specialist Businesses[]
A specialist is any commoner with a specialised, economic skill set. Often, this category of business includes surgeons but can also include hedge wizards, priests, burghers, and even cartographers.
Among people in the Old World, specialists enjoy the highest income, aside from great artificers, wizards, and nobles. And given their higher status, they command respect akin to that enjoyed by some of the highest-ranking people in Human society.
- Artist - Artists specialise in creating beauty from painting, sculpture, or even music. An artist with a sponsor can move through the highest circles in the Old World, especially with the current trends of appreciating art for art's sake in the Empire and the southern realms like Estalia and Tilea.[1b]
- Bank/Moneychanger - Banks hold money and make loans. It's rarely safe to walk the streets with a big bag full of gold or silver. Hence, for a slight fee, a bank will hold gold, silver, or even pennies. With this held money, they can make loans at exorbitant interest rates. Moneychangers are like banks in that, for a price, they exchange coins of one nationality for coins of a different nationality.[1b]
- Barber - Barbers do much more than cut hair. Barbers are surgeons, doctors, and general physicians. If you have an ingrown toenail, you'd see the barber to cut it out. If you need a stump cauterised, a barber is your man. Skilled barbers become physicians, one of the most esteemed citizens in any city.[1c]
- Cartographer - A cartographer is a person who makes and sells maps.[1c]
- Gambling House - Gambling houses are extremely common in the Old World. These are places to lose money and wits, for women and alcohol are free flowing.[1d]
- Jeweller - A jeweller is a catch-all category for anyone who makes jewellery. A gemner cuts and sets the stone, while a goldsmith or silversmith makes the ring, necklace, or bracelet that act as the mounts for the stones.[1d]
- Lawyer - Lawyers are a new and expanding class in the Old World. As the bureaucracy grows, so too does the need for lawyers. Even in the infancy of their trade, they are universally reviled.[1d]
- Physician - For those who can afford a better-trained healer, the physician is a good alternative to a barber.[1d]
- Surgeon - Almost as bad as a slaughterhouse, surgeons, especially those with a mind for advancing "science," are both the most feared and respected scholars in all the lands. The shrieks of the insane at the hands of one of these professed men of learning are enough to drive anyone mad. The worst are the vivisectionists, men who take criminals and cut them apart to study exactly how people are put together.[1d]
- Theatre - This is a place where actors perform. Most theatres are poor, being little more than travelling shows, while others are elaborate buildings replete with numerous stages and sets, costumes, and lighting.[1d]