The Farryer's guild
The City of Marleven was left bereft of its two bridges after its defeat by the forces of the Realm 120 years ago, each one a marvel of Dwarven Engineering from an older time. While of obvious use in peace time connecting the city to the High Trade Road to the lands of the East, the bridges provided a fairly safe and easy route for escape when the city proper was sacked, and after fighting off several difficult counterattacks in foggy conditions against committed and well-reinforced insurgents of the old freehold, the Count ordered both the bridges destroyed, and the stones taken out of the water from the foundations in the muck below by magical means.
While more than ample time has passed for new bridges to be built in their place, an enterprising Ferryer guild arose in the point of need that found much more favor with the aristocracy as it permitted ample or even increased trade, reducing banditry effectively to zero, while being of no use at all to an invasion force; These are the ferry-drivers and their logistical support in the Farrier's guild. Ferry boats make it easy to transport goods and people in manageable increments, while permitting constant traffic and the easy collection of tax, while reducing the transit of unknown or dangerous goods (or people). Any smuggling that's permitted to happen, happens through the Farryers, and in this way the Counts and Countesses of Marleven are able to maintain much tighter and more effective control over legal as well as illicit trades to a great degree. Contraband still travels overland, but the eastern side is a less popular point of entry than the west, facing the heart of the realms. This is a known quantity and the city guards, specifically the Marleven Special Peacekeepers, can be deployed accordingly.
After 6 generations of Ferrymen and Ferrywomen, the Ferryer faction has risen to become one of the most powerful voices in the public space as well as the local criminal underworld. The Countess has to ensure that the transit rates for normal travelers and merchants remain reasonable, and rather than cut her own taxes to ensure the Ferryers are happy with their income, it's much easier to turn a semi-blind eye to anything that they collect from less aboveboard dealings with the criminal elements in town, primarily the Drover's League (and she deals with them in much the same way, for the same reasons). Occasionally a Ferryer exceeds their mandate and hangs for it, and occasionally the Ferryers choke trade in the city by going on strike, though this is a terribly risky endeavor in a land with no real labor protections to speak of.
Structure
The Ferryers consist of three basic types:
- Logistical Managers, who handle the scheduling and allocation of boats, based on capacity and anticipated needs, as well as the building, repairing and decommissioning of river craft. At the level of organized crime, these are the bosses, but the guild is not a criminal guild; it is however thoroughly infested with criminal elements, despite providing a legitimate service.
- Ferrymen and Ferrywomen, highly skilled boat handlers who do the actual driving according to the logistical scheduling. Occasionally they're small-time smugglers themselves but generally are not freelancers; they do as directed by the logistics managers.
- Shipwrights, who build, repair and decommission ships. usually not actively criminal but may take bribes/hush money to stay quiet about what they see and overhear.
- The riverboats usually have a customs officer on board or at the debark/embark point for smaller craft, who handles inspections, taxes, and mercantile certification. This person generally is not a criminal per se, but as a member of the royal decree they can be much worse to deal with than a mere criminal. These are appointed agents of state and tend to be lower-ranking members of Internal Justice, Countess Marjoleine's personal secret police.
- Stevedores, the dockworkers who load and unload cargo. Sometimes these people are members of the Drovers' League, and sometimes the Drovers' league people are criminals. But more often than not they're just hard working day laborers trying to keep out of trouble.
Culture
The Ferryers are proud of their heritage, and their symbol - a stylized single-masted ship with a two-directional arrow on the hull - is found in various motifs all over the city of Marleven (but only on buildings less than 120 years old). Each Ninthmonth when the river is generally at its lowest, they hold a three-day ferryboat racing event called the Lightning Tiller. in addition to various ferryboat loading and speed transit events that serve to remind would-be competitors that there's no hope to get in the game against them, the festival brings in visitors from the Borderland region for feasting and drinking as well as the spectacle on the river.
Public Agenda
The public face of the Ferrymasters is completely task-focused, on delivering safe and convenient transport that's so much better than crowded, expensive, dangerous bridges that no one ever thinks they should just go ahead and rebuild them. Every time the people have tried to get a bridge built, there have been accidents and the funds have dried up and it's just too hard to accomplish...
Assets
- 6 small ferries, with a single ferryer and drover aboard who work as oarsmen and space for 2 laden carts and 8 additional people. These generally embark and debark every half hour from each shore and make a straight transit from south to north and back. The customs agents work on the dock on each side rather than on the ship itself. The crossing fare is 2 silver per person south to north (coming into town) and 4 silver per person north to south (leaving town).
- 8 river longboats, with a ferryer at each end, two drovers, and a customs agent. These are deep-bellied two-deck barques, with a mast and split sail used when heading back to the western shore against the current. These are cargo vessels that must be reserved or can be used ad-hoc but won't leave either shore until the holds are full, with fares paid based on weight of transited goods, 1 silver per 40 pounds coming and 1 silver per 20 pounds leaving. The ship can safely hold about 1,200 pounds of cargo, so a full load is 30 gold coming and 60 gold going.
- 12 river barges, as well as 2 sets of docks on either bank of the Indigo river, and a section of warehouses and shipwright facilities on the north bank, in Marleven Lower City. As with the longboats, these should be scheduled in advance but there is usually an ad-hoc boat filling up on either side. The river barges have 4 ferryers and 3 drovers each as well as the customs agent, but these are broad single-deck ships that can safely transport up to 3,200 pounds at the same rate as the longboats. This works out to 80 gold coming and 160 gold going.
- Offices in Ferryer Town for making shipping and logistics arrangements with the Ferryer and Drovers as needed for the transport of goods across the river from the east; the west side has an equivalent office in the warehouse district.
- Several small warehouses designed for storage for no longer than a week on the western shore. Space is available for rent in Ferryer Town to collect goods to a central location for transport but these are largely self-service.
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