Weirdmonger
Weirdmongers are explorers, traders, and treasure hunters who specialize acquiring and selling strange and unusual goods. Some operate as peddlers, traveling the world (and sometimes other worlds) in search of curiosities that they can sell to wizards, nobles, and others with unusual tastes and needs. Others act as suppliers and procurement specialists for one or more individuals or organizations, seeking out specific rare goods for their employer or client. While most weirdmongers make their living selling the things they find, at least one--Baron Furkza--has made a career of charging people just to view the curiosities he's acquired through his travels.
Career
Qualifications
The primary requirements for successful weirdmonering are the courage (or foolishness) required to face the uncanny and the unknown and the shrewdness to distinguish between simple curiosities and valuable oddities. A deep client list of people with unusual and diversified needs is also helpful.
Career Progression
Weirdmongering is typically a profession that people find themselves in, not a trade they set out to master. Adventurers who primarily consider themselves simple explorers, scholars, or thieves often build reputations as weirdmongers quite unintentionally, only personally identifying as such once they realize the demand and profitability of the work. Although most weirdmongers are self-taught, it's not unheard of for them to take on apprentices to whom they can pass on their trade or recruit allies to assist them in their work.
Payment & Reimbursement
Weirdmongers hired to obtain specific items usually negotiate the details of the contract before agreeing to the job. Such agreements may include up-front reimbursement for expenses, non-refundable down payments, and bonus pay for the acquisition of related goods or particularly high-quality products. When selling oddities that they have acquired, weirdmongers enjoy a less advantaged position and must rely on salesmanship. In some cases, the pool of potential buyers for an item is extremely limited and far-flung, and customers who know this will often point it out when haggling in hopes of getting a better price. Unless they're low on cash, weirdmongers tend to prefer to trade their goods for other oddities rather than sell them.
Other Benefits
Aside from entrepreneurial independence, the main benefit of weirdmongering is the sheer breadth and novelty of experience that it offers. If you're looking for adventure, there are few professions that offer it in more variety and quantity. Weirdmongers who build a reputation for themselves can also earn the favor or even friendship of extremely powerful and influential people (and sometimes entities that aren't people).
Perception
Purpose
The weirdmonger is a supernatural procurement specialist, seeking out rare, unusual, or dangerous-to-acquire items for wizards, the wealthy, and others who don't want to get their hands dirty.
Social Status
Many see Weirdmongers as swashbuckling adventurers, always ready to charge boldly into the unknown. Just as many believe they're witless fools who ignorantly meddle with things they can't possibly understand. The one thing most people agree on is that a sense of impending doom seems to accompany most Weirdmongers, as if there's only so many times one person can tempt fate and survive to tell the tale.
Demographics
While many adventurers engage in work similar to weirdmongers, only a handful make a full-time occupation of it.
History
The tradition of people seeking out strange and unusual items is as old as humanity, but traditionally such quests were one-time affairs with a specific purpose, like finding a rare plant to cure an ill relative, or searching for an ancient scroll containing lost magical knowledge. The practice of engaging in such ventures with profit as the primary motive is more recent. The first known use of the term "Weirdmonger" was in reference to Vlatko the Smoke Thief, who lived 800 years ago.
Operations
Tools
The tools required for weirdmongering vary considerably depending on the item (or items) being sought and their likely locations. An expedition into a ruined city to retrieve a legendary sword calls for light sources, ropes, and other standard exploring supplies; A journey to another plane of existence in search of some elemental substance may require a host of enchanted items to protect the weirdmonger from the dangers of the place, allow them to communicate with the locals, and provide them with a way to return home. Weirdmongers who are simply traveling to exotic or remote locales in search of potentially marketable curiosities usually make use of a wagons or pack animals to carry supplies and acquisitions. In addition to standard travel and camping gear, a weirdmonger's kit often includes a variety of tools for harvesting rare plant and animal products, prying gemstones or minerals loose from stone, breaking into ruined or abandoned structures, and exploring underground locales. The weirdmonger also carries a wide assortment of bags, jars, baskets, barrels, and even cages for storing their finds until they can be sold or traded.
Provided Services
The most highly sought-after weirdmongers are those who are willing to travel to other dimensions in search of materials and items that do not exist on Noma-Lum. For this reason, weirdmongers are usually eager to acquire information about continuous, recurring, or summonable portals to other realms of existence. While Soulfaring does not involve physical travel, and therefore does not allow for the acquisition of goods (unless delivery can be negotiated), weirdmongers sometimes take soul journeys in order to gather information for a physical trip to another reality.
While their focus is on physical goods, weirdmongers frequently acquire useful information during their travels. The do not give this information way for free, and many weirdmongers maintain relationships with whisperers and other knowledge brokers for when they acquire information that is not likely to be of interest to their clients. While weirdmongers rarely take contracts to seek out information--there are usually others better-suited to the task--they will sometimes take on fact-finding missions that fall within their areas of expertise.
While their focus is on physical goods, weirdmongers frequently acquire useful information during their travels. The do not give this information way for free, and many weirdmongers maintain relationships with whisperers and other knowledge brokers for when they acquire information that is not likely to be of interest to their clients. While weirdmongers rarely take contracts to seek out information--there are usually others better-suited to the task--they will sometimes take on fact-finding missions that fall within their areas of expertise.
Dangers & Hazards
Weirdmongers travel to dangerous places, encounter dangerous creatures, and deal with dangerous people, so the number strange and gruesome ways in which a weirdmonger could meet their end are too numerous to list.
Alternative Names
Oddmonger, Curiosity Merchant, Oddity Trader
Type
Raw Materials Gathering
Demand
Items collected by weirdmongers range from widely sought-after to highly specialized.
Legality
While weirdmongers sometimes engage in illegal acts (like breaking and entering or graverobbing), neither Khezvaran or imperial law prohibits weirdmongering.
Famous in the Field
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