Stevedore

"None o’ yer lip, lad. Either help me get these crates down to the holds, or find a different pier to loiter on."

## Basic

(WC) Stevedores are specialist dockers, trained to properly pack and unpack cargo holds. Loading a ship is skillintensive and dangerous work, for vessels can overbalance and capsize if packed incorrectly, and unsecured cargoes can crush the unwary. Within the claustrophobic ship interiors, Stevedores wind “stevedore lashings” (special knots) with wedges of wood to secure and protect the heavy freight. Many Stevedors specialise in “porting” one type of cargo, as each good requires different skills to manipulate, stack and pack correctly. Thus, most larger wharfs have gangs of “porters” that identify themselves according to the goods they import or export, including fish porters, meat porters and deal porters (for timber). None are more famous than the black-liveried coal porters of Nuln, known for their anything-goes attitude and love of bawdy docker songs. Stevedores wear distinctive cloth watch caps dyed with their gang colours, both to identify their allegiances and to protect themselves from the elements. Stevedore gangs jealously guard their wharfs from rivals, and it takes little provocation for them to dish out “lashings” of a different kind.

**Note:** If you are rolling randomly for your Starting Career, you can substitute Stevedore for Boatman with your GM’s approval.

### Secondary Profile

**Skills:** Consume Alcohol or Gamble, Dodge Blow or Scale Sheer Surface, Gossip, Perception or Search, Performer (Singer), Secret Language (Guild Tongue), Swim

**Talents:** Lightning Reflexes or Sturdy, Very Strong

**Trappings:** Light Armour (Leather Jack), Watch Cap in Gang Colours, 10 Yards of Rope, 1d10 Wooden Spikes

### **Career Exits**

Boatman, Foreman, Marine, Merchant, Smuggler, Thief, Thug, Tradesman

## Greta Gerstein

Six feet tall and solid muscle, Greta Gerstein is a formidable figure in her stevedore gang in Marienburg. In fact, she is regarded as a strong candidate for foreman one day. No one in her gang has a problem with a woman among their ranks. At least, not once she proved that she could pull her own weight during the daily grind of the back-breaking labour stevedores face. Blackening a few eyes helped settle the remaining arguments about her presence in the gang.

Greta’s rugged, tom boy exterior hides a gentler side. A side Greta desperately keeps secret lest she lose the respect she has earned with her gang. Greta is actually an educated lady from a minor noble house, a former student who had to drop out of the university when her family fell on rough financial times and could no longer afford her tuition.

Rather than return home and face the prospect of an arranged marriage, Greta fled to the docks, looking to charter a boat and escape her fate. But she was too poor to arrange passage, and had to work to earn enough to eat and eke out a living. Over time, she came to appreciate the joys of a simple life filled with clear goals, hard work and camaraderie – but she is still fearful that some day her family may come looking for her.

## The Dark Side of the Dock Side

Competition is fierce for stevedores who make their living loading and unloading merchant vessels. The dock space is limited, which means only so many ships can dock at one time. Which in turn means there are only so many potential clients. This limitation is one reason why many stevedores form teams or gangs, offering a potential client a group of strong arms for one competitive rate.

And while it might first appear that the manual labour a stevedore performs could easily be fulfilled by any strong man, there is more skill required than first meets the eye. Keeping one’s balance on the rolling deck of a ship is sometimes difficult enough, made even moreso when bearing heavy cargo. Stevedores also need to know how to quickly and efficiently transfer the cargo into wains, carts, barges, coaches or whatever other transportation the client provides.

In some trading cities, a well-organised stevedore gang may even unofficially benefit from a certain level of immunity from legal interference. If several members of a gang were arrested for a tavern brawl that got out of hand, certain merchants might find it more difficult to unload and move their goods. This is the sort of inconvenience that some of the town councillors are willing to exert their influence to avoid. The gangs that enjoy this sort of latitude may end up pushing too far, however, and find themselves on the gallow poles. After all, there are more guilds eager to take over whatever business a troublesome gang was responsible for.