Gutter

This colloquial term for those sailors harvesting sea monster parts on the Gutting Docks of Freeport is universally considered a dirty job.

Career

Qualifications

No qualifications are necessary to become a gutter besides a strong constitution and lack of other career options.

Career Progression

Most gutters are killed or injured before they get a chance to rise through any ranks, but there are many veteran gutters who move up to slightly-less-disgusting jobs. Theoretically it's possible to become a fore(wo)man or director of the Gutting Docks, but this doesn't happen often in practice: ususally the fore(wo)men of the Gutting Docks are League Captains who either wish to retire or have been injured and cannot sail.

Payment & Reimbursement

Being a League-sponsored profession, gutters do get paid fairly well for their work, with injury and life insurance policies available for those who have families or dependents, though usually gutters are young unattached men who are simply working long enough to pay their initial membership fee into the League of Independent Sailors

Perception

Purpose

The black market for sea monster parts is enormous: be it for folk medicine purposes, raw materials for crafting armor and weapons, or as spell components for esoteric magic, there is no shortage of buyers for pieces of dangerous sea monsters. And while Captain Ruggdrak Horgath's Black Harpoons actually hunt the beasts and risk their lives against these vicious creatures, they can't be bothered to render, skin and process the parts themselves. That's where the Gutter's Guild comes in.
Using a combination of large and complicated machinery, and more precision hand tools, the Gutters of the Stingray Atoll harvest the monsters that the Black Harpoons bring in, and take those pieces to the markets to be bought and sold, and later transported to all the far-flung corners of Terrathria.

Social Status

A Gutter is considered a low-ranking job, mostly because of the smell. As someone who is elbow-deep in Kraken blood and whale blubber all day, Gutters don't command much respect in the Stingray Atoll. Ironic, because without them, one of the most lucrative trades of the pirate haven would not exist.

Demographics

About fifteen percent of the overall population of the Stingray Atoll works on the Gutting Docks, but about sixty-five percent of the permanent residents ply this trade: those who don't have the skills necessary to be a Free Sailor, or who have not paid their initial dues to join the guild, cannot live the free-wheeling life of adventure and travel that a Free Sailor can, and so must eke out their living on the island itself.

History

For hundreds of years, Gutters did everything by hand: with the sweat off their brows and the strength off their backs, they helped build Freeport up from nothing. Until recently, the most impressive piece of technology found on the gutting docks were massive rope and pulley systems, with some winching and locking mechanisms to get the really big monsters up onto the chopping blocks.

Type

Agricultural / Fishing / Forestry

Demand

Staple