A Brief History of Spice Trade in the Southern Regions
Chapter XVII of "Analysis of the Economic Trade Between Civilizations" by Abraham O. R. Tellius
Spices such as cloves, mace, sugar, and salt have become invaluable goods in Anthem's economic trade. In the fine city of Velathiri, one could buy three gallons of the finest wine and a brand new battle-axe at the local blacksmith for the same price as a pound of cinnamon. They have become something of a polarizing topic in the present day, an invisible border between social classes, a topic of struggle between the wealthy and the poor. Part of the reason why spices have become so exuberant in price is the lack of suppliers; no vendor would ever carry them in a public marketplace without the fear of being robbed and murdered in broad daylight by those searching for the lucrative goods. In fact, this criminal activity surrounding spice has created something of an unlawful trade for them, a criminal underworld concerning mere flakes of mace, mere grains of sugar, a topic that will be touched upon further in this chapter.
However, the main topic concerns not the criminal connotation of the spice trade, but how the trade of spices effects the Southern regions, the Southern Bog and the sprawling Tejis Desert, both of which were barren wastelands before the trade came into place, but are now hotbeds for countless droves of nomadic merchants, oasis-side shantytowns, and burglars. This chapter aims to explain the exact specificities of the spice trade in the South, the civilizations, towns, and races involved, and the connections it has created across the world.
It is important to take notice of the fact that this analysis is an incomplete one. The South makes up a quarter of Anthem's landmass and is widely known for being sparsely populated and harsh in nature. In particular, the desert is notorious for being a sprawling landmass almost devoid of water or vegetation, and many attempts to map it are partial or incomplete, whether due to lack of resources, inclement weather, or lootings. Today, our estimate of activity within the Tejis Desert is little more than an educated guess, and as such, our knowledge of trade in the desert could change drastically upon further exploration. In ten to twenty years, this chapter may become terribly outdated. However, this study strives for accuracy in all areas and is generally accepted by expert cartographers and geographers to be relatively factual.
Early History of Spice Trade:There is no definitive time-frame for when spices were first discovered, but most historians estimate that they were first found roughly five thousand years ago, near the area presently known as the city of Tevasheem. During this prehistoric time period, humans were still extremely primitive, and lived a very simple, small-village lifestyle of hunting and gathering, mostly living off the many trees. Many of these spices grew upon nearby trees, in the form of flowers, seeds, bark, and other small growths. It did not take long for early humans to begin cultivating these spices for use. However, despite the rich soils and intensive care of these spices, there was very little success in growing them due to the abundant rainfall, which would often leach soil of nutrients and cause the delicate crops to deteriorate. However, as farming technology advanced and human settlements become larger and more interconnected, the farming of spices improved and the trading of spices became an option.
Spices were highly sought after due to certain customs and beliefs at the time. Many believed spices were rare, exotic foodstuffs and many were eager to purchase them. Some organizations and vendors went as far as to claim they had special attributes, special powers that could be granted to an individual upon consumption. While this has been widely described as a myth and an attempt to sell more wares, several individuals who purchased the spices from these vendors claimed that they experienced heightened physical and intellectual capabilities. Indeed, it seemed like spices were special goods, things of value, things of prestige. And soon, cities and kingdoms outside of the Western Heartlands were requesting spices. In particular, those in the Urban Center and the Northern Reaches.
However, this posed several issues. Reaching cities in the Northern and Eastern regions required lengthy days on horseback through the snowy mountain ranges bisecting Anthem, which at the time, was uncharted and relatively unknown to most creatures aside from Giants. As a result, many human traders became lost in the dense web of mountain peaks and forests, often having trouble locating food and shelter in the harsh, snowy climates. Many were inadequately prepared for the cold climate, as well as inadequately prepared for if their food supplies ran out, and many starve or froze to death without proper shelter from the winds.
To make matters worse, ogres and trolls ran rampant in the mountains, and would often prey on unguarded horses in the case of ogres, and wagons in the case of humans. It is estimated that hundreds of spice traders were killed by ogres alone, and very few made it to their intended destinations. Those that did charged dozens of Ducats for mere ounces of spices, and hundreds for pounds. One pound of sugar was worth just as much as a purebred war horse from a reputable stable, and prices were only growing steeper. Something had to change.
The Role of the Tejis Desert:It wasn't until roughly three centuries ago that a wealthy merchant and amateur cartographer named Marc Copollo found a more efficient travel route across Anthem for the delivery of spices. Copollo was a wealthy merchant from Velathiri with his own shipping company, a company that employed traders on horseback to travel in between cities in the Western Heartlands to perform deliveries for him, mostly dealing in salt. Salt was a commodity at the time in the Western Heartlands, as many merchants required the salt for use in preserving meat and other foodstuffs for long journeys. However, he too was tired of how the mountains limited his trade routes, and eventually, he attempted to plot a route across the Tejis Desert that would circumvent the mountains and help him reach the Urban Center and Eastern Archiplego much safer and more efficiently.
Hiring a team of bodyguards, Copollo went south from Velathiri by barge to the city of Mathmor in the Southern Bog. From there, he used the low foothills of mountains to guide him to a large river, which eventually lead to the small city of Torbah. After leaving Torbah, he moved directly to the northwest, hugging the coastline and eventually coming out on the other side of Anthem's spine of mountains. The path formed a deep crescent cutting across the North-Central area of the Tejis Desert and stayed close to distinguishing features in the landscape, such as an unnamed mountain range in the Southern regions, and the mighty river that the Torbah is based upon. After the journey was complete and Copollo made a small fortune selling his wares, he authored and published the volume "A Journey Across Tejis", which is now a staple in the world of geography. The volume detailed a several-month-long journey across the Tejis Desert, one that was undertaken by a mixture of river barge and horseback through the Bog, and by camel and caravan across the desert. This was instrumental to the cartography of the Tejis, as it provided eyewitness accounts of the climate, geology, and demographic structure of the Tejis.
According to the findings of Copollo (and many other traders' accounts), sand and dust storms often racked the landscape, which was very flat aside from occasional sand dunes and fields of cacti. Water was mostly contained to a sparsely placed oasis, one which usually had a poor shantytown grouped around the edges, a place rife with burglars, as well as livestock and the human slave trade. Many nomads lived in the desert, roaming by camel while carrying handmade goods such as clothing, silks, carpets, and shoes. Even more commonplace was nomadic thief gangs, ones that traveled by donkey or mule and attacked any caravan in sight in the hopes of stealing valuable goods. To prevent being robbed, Copollo carefully hid spices in hidden compartments of the walls of his caravan, a technique which would be emulated by many traders who took his route in the future.
In any case, even if it was not the most efficient route, it was certainly groundbreaking. Droves of merchants traveled to the bog and desert in hopes of making their own fortunes from the lucrative trade. Soon, outposts and stables were set up along the trade route to officially mark the various desert routes, usually in the form of small inns, taverns, and camel stables. The routes became more developed over time, eventually being collected under the singular term; "The Spice Roads". While Copollo's original route was the main and most developed route, other faster routes were created, albeit with more mountainous regions and fewer safe dwellings across the route. Torbah and Mathmor grew massively in size due to the burgeoning trade routes, and they became prime destinations for the shipping of spices. When a merchant didn't want to go through the hassle of travelling through the desert, they would travel by boat from Mathmor or Torbah, using the various rivers and coastlines to trade spices. Soon, shipping lanes were created alongside the usual caravan land routes, oftentimes resulting in even more profit for the lucky entrepreneurs who created their shipping companies.
However, criminal activity became omnipresent and attached to the very connotation of spices. Looters were common across the desert, usually poor citizens from oasis villages that made their salaries looting spices and fabrics from merchants, and selling them in their local villages for high prices. The more determined ones would travel to the Eastern Islands and sell them there in a wider, more expansive market, often cheaper than the merchants than they looted from. In the ocean, pirating became a great business, with seafarers plundering and often destroying peaceful merchant ships, and selling them all across Anthem. Occasionally, they would be hired by kingdoms to destroy rival kingdom's ships, crippling their economies to a severe degree. Even in the cities, spice vendors were often robbed and had their homes looted, and the spices were consumed or sold in the more disreputable markets. Author Ann R. Ule's work of literature "The Associations of Illegal Robbery and the Anthem Spice Trade" details the heavy prevalence of so-called "Back-Alley Markets", places where individual dealers often buy and sell cheap, stolen goods, particularly spices.
Impact of Spice Trade on the Wider Southern Region:The spice trade is arguably the most deeply interconnected economic trade network within Anthem. Many kingdoms and states, such as Ashar, Nur, Velathiri, Torbah, and Mathmor can attribute their size and wealth to the spice trade bringing economic investment, populations, and employment contracts for freelance workers into their townships, opening dwellings and inns for travellers, and generally increasing the hospitality of many regions, particularly in the Southern Bog and Desert. According to shipping records in Velathiri, seven thousand pounds of spices were shipped from Velathiri to Torbah alone and assuming they are sold at roughly 30 Ducats a pound (the typical market average within the Tejis Desert), this means that spice trade from Velathiri to Torbah alone equated to two-hundred-and-one thousand Ducats.
It is clear that the Tejis Desert would be nearly inhospitable without the trade. However, some argue that it has become even
more difficult to make a living. The trade has shifted much of the labor force within villages to innkeeping, cleaning, and other forms of service, and it is more difficult for laborers to find work. As well, it has put a significant toll on the various oases in which these villages are based upon, often draining them of water supplies and causing damage to water quality. Several doctors such as K. Enjeong have documented the case of oasis water causing various diseases of the stomach and bowels. However, due to environmental and population concerns, very little research has been done to the matter aside from poorly trained and low-level Tejis medical professionals and midwives. In any case, it is undeniable that the spice trade routes have blossomed into something much larger than Copollo's original dream.
Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:45 am
