The Sacred Seal of Troin

The Sacred Seal of Troin or the guild of Treasure and Coin, is not a guild you can join, simply because you are a merchant or a wealthy person. It has been a closed guild for over a thousand years already, but it is a great place to trade, especially for adventurers.

In the year 3265 the Sacred Seal of Troin was formed by six wealthy merchant families. One of these families was from Gnome origin, one was from Dwarf origin, one was a Elf family and the last three where all human families. They agreed that all the offices of the guild, would always have a board consisting of six, one Gnome, one Dwarf, one Elf and three Humans. To this day, this tradition is honored.

In the beginning, the guild of Treasure and Coin was no more then a normal trading guild and people of different races where allowed to join the guild. However in the year 4217 a riot broke out, as some of the human families that had joined later on, found that three humans in the board, was too little. The dispute lasted for six years and in the end, the rebelling humans where expelled. They formed the guild of the coin, which is rumored not to exist anymore. Others say there remain a number of guild houses.
Ever since this time, the guild has not been very open to new joining families. Only when a family dies out, a new one is admitted. Another way to gain entrance into the guild is to find support and join the guild with six families at the same time. Of course, one family must be Gnome, one family must be Dwarf, one family must be Elf and three families must be Human.
As is clear from the above, family lines and family ties are extremely important for 'The Seal'. Among the guild members the number of half-elf, half-dwarf, half-gnome, half-humans and quarter-breeds is extremely high.

Even though the rules of the guild state that at all times it should be possible that families join the guild, there still is the ballot and since some of the families have grown to considerable size, there have not been new families joining the guild in the last fifteen hundred years.

The purpose of the guild was only trading at first, but these days, the guild has expanded its business and so for most people, the guild is the place to sell items they have no need for anymore, but also the guild has gone into the market of sending coin from one place to another. The addition to the pallet of services the guild has started to support, is the exchange of money for I-Owe-You's. Under some circumstances, it may not be a good idea to carry a lot of coins with you. However it might be no problem to carry a note of paper that is worth a decent amount of money.
Originally these I-Owe-You's where issued to specific people and often they could only be exchanged back to coin at the same office or at an office where members of the same families where running business. This has changed dramatically. The statements that are most popular these days, may be exchanged for coin by anybody at any office of the Seal.

To determine the price of a statement, the most important variable is without a doubt the value of the statement. The base price is one percent of the chosen value, however this gives you a very low level of service. Below, you find the extra services and their effect on the price. Note that the price will never go below the base price and there also is a fixed limit for the lowest possible price. Most of the time this will be fifteen silver pieces. Someone wants a statement for 100 gold pieces. The base price is 1% of this amount, 1 gold piece, but the minimum price is 15 silver pieces, so he still pays 15 silver pieces for the statement.
Extra Services for a statement:

Pay statement fee at exchange: Writing costs have to be paid up front (1/2% of the value). At the exchange of the statement for gold pieces, another extra fee of 1/2 percent will be due.

Exchangeable by anybody: 1% extra charge (Normally only the person buying the statement may exchange it for coin.)

Exchangeable at any office: 1% extra charge (Normally exchange is only possible at the office where the statement was written.)

Exchangeable within a day: 1% extra charge (Normally, when exchanging, the issuing office is contacted for verification. This process takes at least five days. Only after verification the statement will be paid out. This time will of course not be needed when the issuing office is on the same island.)
Example: A person wants a statement worth five hundred gold coins, payable to anybody and anywhere in the world. The other party is willing to wait a few days, before receiving the money. The fee paid to the Seal is: 1% (base price) + 2% (extra services) = 3%. So for the bargain price of 15 gold pieces (plus five hundred gold pieces) a person may walk into any office of the Seal and collect five hundred gold pieces.

Among adventurers the guild is known mostly because they are often the only ones who can bring enough money to the table to pay for the treasures they have found.

The Teolin Setting
Copyright 2001-2005 Ylorea's Adventuring
Last update 14-12-2003