Trade Camps

Trade Camps are bands of travelling skilled people, from merchants, to mercenaries to entertainers to doctors. These camps usually have around 50 people, to avoid excessive composition, and are selective in who they allow entrance. Some camps can have significantly more or less members, one of the largest being the Great Camp, who have a couple thousand members. These camps tour the land, heading towards opportunity based on votes held by their members.

The camps are highly democratic in their nature, all decisions are made by majority vote from its members. There are no elected leaders (although informal ones may exist). Camps usually hold a vote on where to travel to next, how many days or weeks to stay there for, before holding a vote on the next destination. A travel proposal may be made by any member, and the proposal with the most votes that exceeds a majority is the comes the new travel action and is implemented. If no travel proposal has a majority, the camp remains where it is (although staying at the current location may be its own proposal too).

Other proposals may be made, and simply require a majority of the vote to pass unless they contradict another proposal, in that case the proposal with the most vote wins. Proposals may not be permanent, such as laws. Laws and rules are dealt with via honour and trust, and are not formalised beyond the organisational structure.

The joining of any new member may be vetoed by any existing member. Existing members may be removed by a 60% vote of the camp, and the target of the eviction still gets their vote. New members are allowed to join if a proposal is passed to allow them and there is no one who initiates a proposal to forbid them from joining (even if that doesn't pass, it shows as the veto). This veto is not expected to be used frequently. Proposals are voted upon during the last day before the current travel proposal expires. Any children had by camp members after they have joined are automatically granted membership if the parent wishes (which almost all do).

This structure applies to the Great Camp, which can lead to some very interesting situations. Votes can take up to a month (in rare situations), due to the administrative difficulty of managing such a large camp with such a poor bureaucracy and leadership.

These camps can work more powerfully as a collective than as individuals, due to having more power to negotiate discounts and bulk deals with powerful local rulers and groups.This can assist all the members of the group.

Security and safety are also provided to members of the camp, via a honour/favour system. Members will often help each other when someone falls on hard times, with the expectation of being repaved later. However if someone does not contribute to the camp for a prolonged period they will likely get removed eventually. Some members of the group primarily rely on this for their survival, like herders. For example, a herder may feed a blacksmith and a doctor, in exchange for having new tools be made when needed and healed if they fall ill. This strong sense of community can be very empowering and pleasing for some, and people who threaten this are often unwelcome. Disagreements are expected to be dealt with informally and civilly.

A stigma is associated with leaving your camp, and most members of a camp will refuse to deal with you if you have left any camp, even if was a rivals. Those who leave camps are seen as distrustful by many people. Therefore a large amount of people stay with their camp for life.

People may wander from the camp when it is stationary, but are expected to return by the day specified on the travel action. If they do not, the camp waits 1 additional day. Those who reutrn in this grace period are seen as extremly rude for having delayed the camp. If they still have not returned, the camp assumes they have reneged on their obligations and therefore have left the camp. This is even worse than voluntarily leaving the camp and camps will take hostile action to those they see that have done this to any other camp. Wealthier camps, such as the Great Camp, may even hire people to hunt the renegades. Therefore, even when a camp is stationary for a large period, traditionally people do not venture more than a few days or a week away.

It is claimed the "The Trade Camp" was the first camp created, a claim refuted by few. It was the idea of a human, whose name has been lost to time, from the Machtig Empire. She had a mission, to make all those realise that all races were useful, and all should be equal. This was when the Empire was at its peak, a perilous time for all non humans. What would drive her to do this? Some say she had a orc lover. Others say she was a half breed. Regardless, she had her mission.

The Founder had a mixed race group, which expanded over time, gathered from prisons and slave camps that she had liberated. Races other than humans would not be dealt with in the Empire, so The Founder had to pretend the others were her slaves despite in reality being equals. She wished to show them all how useful these races really were. She did so well in fact, that the Empire decided to populate their slave camps with non humans even more than they had ever done before, leading to the "Empire's Harvest". During this period, the The Trade Camp had to flee the Machtig Empire to more friendly lands. Despite much loss and sacrifice, most of the camp had made it out alive, just barely. Their tight bonds proved vital.

Since their heroic escape, The Trade Camp used their skills to show to the world how useful they were. Once the Empire began to decline, others having heard tales of this valorous camp were inspired and set up their own. Freed slaves from the Empire were especially keen on the camp system, due to their shared background and burning desire for equality, representation, and free will.

With the surge of new camps, The Trade Camp gradually sifted away from the more practical purposes it was founded on and contained many scholars, clerics and bards to educate all on its history and glory. Armed warriors joined to protect those on their mission to spread the camps name. Hunters and herders joined to feed those on this sacred mission, and the artisans and traders left with less opportunity to make an income.

In recent days, The Trade Camp see themselves as the most superior camp and try to guide and assist lesser trade camps by using their great respect and cumulative knowledge. Their influence is great on most trade camps, excluding the Great Camp, which allows them to sort out disputes between camps easily and keep order between them. This is part of, but not the sole, reason Trade Camps maintain their honour codes so strongly.

Harrasment of the Machtig Empire, The Trade Camp's bitter crumbling rivals, is the other activity they partake in. The history resonates strongly, no other trade camps venture into the Empire unless they wish to cause trouble for its inhabitants. Some argue this is against the founding principles of the camp, but The Trade Camp carries on its war of vengeance none the less. Trade Camps hold their grudges, they do not forget their history.

* New Camp - The Player's Camp
* Great Camp
* "The Trade Camp"