Over the past two-hundred years, the Artisan's Union has been the largest and most influential Merchant Fraternity in Wilderland. Without going over the entire History of the Artisan's Union, it should be known that the AU, based in Laketown, serves as the organizing and regulatory body for commerce for the settlements of Wilderland. This document, then, is an overview of the Licensing requirements for Freemen of the Wilderland to obtain the blessing of the AU and of their respective settlement's Master.
Also, please be aware that all merchants licensed by the Artisan Union are bound by the AU Member Code of Conduct.
Please be aware that staff reserve the right to change, alter, and modify these requirements at any time.
Do I Need a License
Only merchants need to be licensed by the Artisan Union. Merchants are defined by the Artisan Union as an individuals bringing in more than 1,000 cp per IG Year in total sales. Sales among individuals who are not making sales greater than that amount are unregulated.
How to Apply
Interested parties are welcome to apply for a license through their local Litigant (who is authorized to provide negotiated rates, terms, and loans to individuals) or directly through the Artisan Union (support ticket to staff).
Levels of License
Peddling License
Cost: 100cps Per Year
Summary: You make more than 1,000cps an IG year through person-to-person sales, and are required to have some fashion of license. This does not grant you a shop, stall, or other rights.
Lowest cost license. Allows basic selling of items between individuals (PC to PC) that are not conducting business as employees of another business under licensure. Licensed peddlers may only sell items within their area of licensure. Peddlers are not able to register exclusive products or designs.
Peddlers are not considered full AU members, and thus do not have access to the Union library or other resources available to Union members. Peddlers may join the Workman’s Hall or the Friends of Ongull as appropriate for further support.
The AU tends to overlook the haphazard random sale of single items between individuals, a practice difficult if not impossible to corral or correct. However, once it becomes obvious that a person is selling in bulk to the point of being a certifiable merchant, they will be pressed to obtain a peddler’s license or stand against the law.
The tipping point in being considered a “merchant” is defined as a person more than 1,000 cp per IC year in person to person transactions.
The AU technically oversees transactions for coin not barter a practice that many a fisherman, hunter, or farmer uses to get around the need for technical licensure. Any citizen licensed or otherwise is free to sell items to licensed shops that purchase raw or finished goods (ie - NPC buyers), including pawn shops and the charity shops of social organizations, as long as the items in question are legal to own and are the sellers legal property and not in legal dispute or lien to a third party.
Stall License
Cost: 1,000cps
Renewal Cost: 100 cp / IG Year
Summary: You get a stall in the market area and make an average of 100cps in vNPC sales.
Middling-option membership. License and rental of a basic stall in Viscwic or Caer-Eyre. Given the clamor and the competition, these shops have more limited sales than more private concerns that attract a higher calibre (AKA wealthier) clientele.
Stall renters may access the Union’s library. Licensed stalls may only sell items within their area of licensure. Stall renters are not able to register exclusive products or designs.
Stalls are simply a stall front with room for a singular employee and their stock.
Management License
Cost: Variable
Summary: You manage an NPC's shop. You don't get the full share of the profits, and your duties might vary from shop to shop. Please inquire with staff regarding the availability of these licenses, as they are not always on the market.
license to manage a business in the stead of a licensed Artisan who owns and operates a Freeman business. Seen as journeymen, these Artisans are up-and-coming who have are trusted with business acumen and honesty to run a proper business, but have yet to acquire either the skill, funding, or credit with the Bank to obtain a Freeman’s license in their own right.
Given the cost to obtain some Freeman’s licenses and the small relative number of shops that rotate open up for Freemen to license, there are some who might spend years or a lifetime within this position. (The most famous management positions being oversight of the Laketown’s various housing complexes and the Great House, businesses that tend to be deeds long held by old merchant families who would never sell rights outright.)
Still, it is a position that allows one freedom to build business contacts, increase their skill, and save the overhead as housing and food is provided for them and other employees. In trade, the manager does not have total control over the shop’s earnings or other employees, but it’s a comfortable enough position with some mitigated risk.
Managers are allowed to register exclusive products, arrange business contracts and dealings for their employer, and to have access to the Union’s library.
Freeman's License
Low Tier Cost: 3,000 cp (300 cp Sales / Month)
Medium Tier Cost: 5,000 cp (600 cp Sales / Month)
High Tier Cost: 8,000 cp (900 cp Sales / Month)
Renewal Cost: 1,000 cp / IG Year
Specialization in licensing costs an additional 1k, and allows for the submission of unique objects and crafts, depending on the area
50% discount is available if materials are provided (500 planks per room + 5 handfuls of nails)
Certain tools will not be provided, such as tanning pits, forges, or lathes – this is to encourage shopkeepers from holing themselves up. Public areas are available for such use.
Summary: You get a shop and a clan, plus five rooms. You are the be all and end all. Women want you, men want to be you. Please be aware that the AU does not often permit dozens of the same types of shop in a settlement, and your application may be denied to prevent market saturation.
Rooms Included: Frontroom, Backroom, Storage Room, Bunkroom, Management Office
Most expensive and prestigious option. License and rental of a proper store and shop front. This is the most limited option, as the boundaries and size of Laketown is rather defined. Further, the Union does not, as policy, grant many directly competing Freeman’s licenses, instead, people pick particular niches and crafting specializations to register exclusive products or designs to bring something unique to the trading scene and Market.
A Freeman’s license also requires a demonstration of proper skill level to obtain a license. The requirements for level skill will vary from license area to license area. A physician or armorsmith wishing to obtain a Freeman’s license certainly requires greater demonstrated skill than a butcher as ineptitude by the former could have deadly consequence.
Areas of License
Low Tier
Fisherman
Allows selling of fresh and butchered fish, and products produced from them, including pressed oil or smoked, salted, or pickled products. May offer bait, fishing pole, nets.
Dairyman/Cheesemonger
Allows selling of dairy products, fresh, salted, or smoked.
Butcher
Allows selling of carcasses, butchered cuts, and smoked, salted, and pickled products from game or domesticated meats, fowl, and fish.
Simpler
Allows selling of raw foraged goods usable for food stuffs or processing by others into dyes, medicines, and other goods.
Fletcher
Allows the selling of arrows, and raw materials for arrow production such as arrowheads and feathers
Weaver
Allows the sale of thread, yarn, and bolts and yards of felted or woven fabrics.
Mid-Tier
Farming Outlet
Allows selling of meats, foods, and domestic products produced via farming, gardening, or handicraft. Allows selling of raw fibres, but not spun or woven materials.
Hunter
Allows selling of carcasses, butchered cuts, and smoked, salted, and pickled products from game meats. May offer raw and tanned pelts and leathers, and traps for hunting.
Blacksmith
Allows selling and repair of general metal goods and tools like pots, nails, and horseshoes. May offer ingots. May sell functional butcher’s knives, but no higher weapons.
Leathercrafter
Allows selling of general leather goods - satchels, belts, boots, sheaths, etc. Allows the selling of tanned and dyed leathers. Some leathercrafters choose to specialize their craft to gain the ability to register designs and exclusive products.
Clothier
Allows selling and production of woven and knitted clothing items.
Haberdasher - Clothier specializing in the production of hats and headgear
Embroiderer - Clothier focused on offering artistic stylization of sewn items
Tailor - Clothier focused on the production of male clothing items
Seamster/Seamstress - Clothier focused on the production of female clothing
Gambesoner - Clothier focused on the production of cloth-based armors
Healer's Clinic
Allows sale of herbs and simples productive to medicines, poultices, bandages, and other medications and treatments for ills of the body.
Woodcrafter