[Category 5]

-2021 AS-

Being a serf in the Republic of Susset, contracted to farm for life on your master’s property, with all your excess production beyond subsistence levels going to your master to repay your perpetual bills, is a hard life. It’s even tougher than usual for serfs in the Susset region, because they have had to shoulder the burden of growing food and quite frequently making clothes and the like for the 25,000 Hysykan soldiers that have settled down in the region since they were first called into duty up here over twenty years ago. Tom Bean, a short, thin forty-year-old head of his family with rapidly graying hair, knew of these troubles acutely. Every time a harsh flood, an unseasonable killing freeze, or another similar natural calamity would wipe out a large portion of his family’s crops, the remainder and the storage would always go first to his landlord, Dieter Patrick, and Patrick’s family. Then, the five Hysykan soldiers who had become permanent guests at Patrick’s estate would be fed. This tended to leave nothing for Mr. Bean and his family, so they would be forced to either take unusual measures (such as robbing other serfs or illegally hunting and foraging in the woods) or else simply starve.

In the month Aibreán (as it is known in the common Sagacian tongue) of the year 2021 AS, the whole Republic of Susset was hit by a particularly harsh freeze, killing off all but the most cold-tolerant of the recently-planted crops in fields all over the republic. Normally, in a situation like this, law-abiding serfs would simply starve, unless their landlords were particularly magnanimous and allowed them to eat from their stores. Unfortunately for Tom Bean, Patrick was just like most Susset landlords. This time, however, Mr. Bean and his family would not starve. A very special guest wound up paying a visit to Patrick’s manor just two days after the killing freeze. Using the standard courtesies, Leah O’Malley introduced herself to Patrick and his family. Once they were settled down over a dinner feast by a warm fire, O’Malley got down to her business here. The merchant explained that she was here to offer Patrick a hard-cash loan arrangement. Under this arrangement, Patrick could withdraw as much coin as he and his family desired, and he would not have to repay it until later. However, the landlord, quite proud of his fabulous riches, rejected the offer in a rather arrogant and superiority-showing manner.

The next day, Leah was about to take her leave from the Patrick family manor, until she spotted a dingy-looking hut in the distance. On a whim, she walked over to the hut, where she discovered Tom Bean and his family, all posing a sad-looking sight in drabby clothing. Mr. Bean stumbled over his words as he introduced himself, along with his family, to Ms. O’Malley and apologized for the shabby and unkempt nature of his family’s attire and their surroundings. When Ms. O’Malley subsequently asked what the problem might be (having lived a sheltered life as part of the mercantile class of Susset and never before having direct contact with poverty), Mr. Bean nervously explained circumstances – including the recent freeze and how his family would surely starve. This was when Ms. O’Malley suggested the same hard-cash loan arrangement that had met with failure at Patrick’s manor. The uneducated peasant naturally saw this arrangement as essentially equating free money, and gratefully jumped at the chance to withdraw one hundred of the silver coins the merchant carried on her. All the while, Tom could scarcely hide his attraction to the tall, gorgeous-looking redhead – indeed, his marriage was quite unhappy, but neither party would divorce the other as this was greatly frowned upon by the societal norms of the day. Truthfully, the poor, uneducated serf really wanted to visit the big city of Susset, where he had never been before, with his guest at his side. So, when Leah finally bid her goodbye, Tom let out a long sigh after she had finally left the premises. Still, the lovelorn man at least knew that he and his family wouldn’t be starving any time soon, and for this he knew to be grateful rather than regretful.

OOC: Establishes the existence of a hard-cash loan scheme (with interest that its beneficiaries don't know about) peddled by merchants in the Republic of Susset.