Chapter 4: Tradegate

Dear Esca'ele,

They've done it again. A new gate-town, a new riddle. The problem is, Tradegate is not a real gate-town. Every gate-town is built around or in the vicinity of a gate leading to the "nearest" plane. That is not the case with Tradegate. Tradegate has a traveling gate. A bariaur called the Master Trader is the gate to Bytopia. The key is making a deal with the Master Trader. So far, so good. Tradegate would be a perfectly normal gate-town if the Master Trader stayed in or near the town. As you have probably guessed by now, he does not. The locals told me that the Master Trader can sometimes be found as close to the Spire as Tir na nOg. Members of a travelling caravan told me they encountered the Master Trader closer to Excelsior than to Tradegate. We may only call Tradegate a gate-town if we make slight adjustments to our definition of gate-towns. [Now follows a text in which Erg tries to formulate a definition for gate-towns which applies to all gate-towns. It takes the alignment resemblance of town and plane into account, for instance. This is so formally written that I think it was about time Erg left the lawful towns, since he was beginning to be slightly influenced by them. Ed]

The middle of the star-shaped town is called the Grand Bazaar. It would be a good rival of the Market Ward in the Cage if it had as many easy portals to access the city as Sigil has. But, as I mentioned before, the gate to Bytopia itself can be a few days' walk from the burg. The locals are friendly as long as you want to buy or sell things. At first I entered as a curious traveler. That was a mistake. Another strange thing about Tradegate: they want to trade, but only with other traders. If you want to be accepted in the town, you have to have a decent job, using your skills to produce something which can be traded for other goods. All those without such jobs, especially adventurers, are disliked by the locals and end up paying twice the usual price, or more, for goods and lodgings. I am glad I have my own bed in a handy portable tower - it saved me lots and lots of jink.

Also interesting is the fact that they have their own mint, which produces coins with a star on one side and a picture of Ilmater on the other. I discovered that if you pay with the local coins you get far better prices. They rely very heavily on their own locally-produced goods. I must admit they produce very high quality furniture. So good, actually, that I decided to buy a new desk with a marble top and a new comfortable rocking-chair. I sold one of my barrels of Mount's Delight I bought in Excelsior for Tradegate coins. It paid off - with a little bartering I obtained a very acceptable price.

One thing I am not happy about is how the city is ruled. Tradegate is ruled by the Parliament. The Parliament is a council of merchants which anybody can join. There are only two requirements. First, a body has to be non-evil. I've got no problems with that - otherwise the town would only slip in the direction of the lower gate-towns. Second, a body has to pay at least 500,000 in gold. That is, Tradegate gold. This means that the richest merchants of Tradegate make the rules, and believe me, they do not make decisions that will cost them jink.

I have conducted all the business I wanted to do in Tradegate and I am curious to find out what Ecstasy is like.

Erg Nieuwsgierig