Horse Coper
Horse copers (horse salesman) are notorious for being smarmy and dishonest. It seems every stable has a grinning coper offering "the very best horse flesh on the market, sire," descended from "the strongest bloodlines of the Ostermarker Veldt, sire." As horses are central to Kislevite life, the market is incredibly competitive, and buyers have a hard time finding a reliable dealer, especially as most will try any underhanded trick to ensure a sale. Some disreputable copers happily paint rotten teeth white, pass off diseased nags as "shy," and proudly boast infertile stallions will "sire a line o' beauties, sire." Indeed, the only place horse copers never sell to is the knacker's yards, though it is a good source for stock.[1a]
A Day in the Life[]
Horse copers have a reputation for dishonesty, and they will certainly take advantage of anyone they see as a mark or from "out of town". Regular customers will know better, and will make sure they are getting first quality animals or they'll take their business to someone else.[2a]
Horse copers also know that they would lead a short life indeed if they swindled everyone to whom they sold a horse, so they learn – sometimes the hard way – to be selective in targeting their marks. Copers have few friends and many enemies, and as a consequence many of them live a semi-nomadic existence, picking up stakes and moving on as soon as their welcome has been worn out (or possibly a little bit before!).[2a]
A crooked horse coper who is caught can expect mob justice to rule; he and his family will be stripped of everything but the clothes on their backs, and driven out of the village into the cold, to survive as best they can in punishment for the coper's misdeeds. If the coper is lucky, he will be confronted by a chekist, and forced to pay recompense to those he swindled.[2a]
Little Known Facts[]
Kislevite horse copers stand out as the most unscrupulous, conniving, obsequious merchants ever known in the old world. Even a person knowledgeable in the ways of horse trading needs to be careful; if the coper plans to pack up and leave town soon, he has little to lose by unloading a sick or unfit animal on an innocent traveller or an unfamiliar face.[2a]
The phrase, "As good as a coper's word" is meant to convey a lack of honesty.[2a]
The phrase "A coper's change" comes from the tendency of some copers to substitute worthless metal slugs for a small fraction of the coins in a handful of change given on a transaction, meaning "you're in for an unpleasant surprise".[2a]