The White Hand

The White Hand

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While it will cost you a pretty penny, its origins aren't tough to buy. A group of Chirurgeons joined up with an offshoot of the Pickwick Circus, and each of them had oh so graceful hands, all white. Unfortunately, while they were great at healing, they were shite at dealing, and the hobs .. appropriated those so-lovely hands all for their own, eventually becoming the Founders of the White Hand market. The changeling Chirurgeons to whom those hands belong are largely deceased, though one remains, enslaved, mind and will broken. Handless.

Location

The White Hand is a goblin market located deep in the Hedge, beyond a particularly vile and reeking swamp with mosquitoes of a size which doesn't bear imagining. Seriously. Those things could probably carry off a cat. Its most conveniently memorable access points are the Stonecrop Drop, known for quite literally turning visitors to stone and dropping them down into unexpected caves, and the Summer Land, an area of desert trod, so it is told, transplanted by one of the Fae from sunnier climes and kept there by some uncanny bargain.

Rules

• No Stealing: You steal, the person you steal from gets part of YOU as payment. If you want it back, you have to pay them for it.
• Deals Are Final: No welching on deals. There's no such thing as take-backsies.
• No Fighting Inside: Any fighting has to be outside the Market limits.
• Don't Sass Authority: The Sniffers are the Market guards. Be polite, or you'll end up on the slave block.
• Don't Talk To The Founders Unless They Talk To You: They don't like Changelings, and don't care if you want them to like you. Don't even try. As they have often proclaimed, you're all escaped slaves anyway, and that's all you're good for: lying, cheating, and running away from your Masters.

Punishments

• For minor offenses (i.e. mild brawl that doesn’t result in death), punishment may be as simple as being made to leave the market, if it’s the first offense. Repeated offenses will result in branding and banishment. The brand is similar to that given by the Hospitality's Hold goblin contract, in that anyone who sees it, no matter what it looks like, knows that it signifies you have been banned from the White Hand.
• Those failing to honor a deal either face permanent banishment from the Market, or will be enslaved, depending on the severity.
• Those who offend the Sniffers may be taken to speak with the Founders.
• Those who offend the Founders will be enslaved and sold, promptly, to the nearest buyer who promises the worst punishment.
• Those who attempt to kill a Sniffer will have their hands removed and no healing offered.
• Those who attempt to kill a Founder will be executed immediately.

FAQs

• What is a troupe? A ‘troupe’ is a term used to describe a group of merchants. It could refer to the Marketeers of the White Hand, the Wild Roses, or wandering merchants who have banded together into a traveling Market.
• My PC is a merchant at the Market - am I a White Hand? No. You are a Changeling. No Changeling will ever be accepted as a White Hand. You may receive the protection of the Market, but you are not one of the Hands. In local slang, a Changeling merchant is referred to as a Finger; attached to the Hand, sure, and useful, but losing one isn't going to kill you.
• How do I become a Merchant? OOCly you put in a +request (and +xps to take the Goblin Merchant merit will open a job as well). ICly, you must approach one of the Sniffers to receive permission to operate within the Market, and upon receiving permission, will swear a Pledge to that Sniffer (see below). For those wanting a stall, the Sniffer will discuss selling one, and price haggling begins. A Market Stall is a Value 4 item, so it won’t come cheap. After an agreement is reached, all Merchants must take a pledge to uphold the Market Laws. For more information, see: PC Merchants
• What are the benefits to having a stall? You’re allowed to sell within the Market and have a better understanding of who sells what. You can store goods there that are protected by the Market (-4 to attempts to steal while the Market is open, and impossible when it’s closed. Items on display are exempt from this however.). You can also buy/sell abstractions (skills, memories, dreams, etc) as though they were physical property.
• What are the drawbacks? You can’t access your wares when the Market is closed. It’s just impossible. Stalls are also, as mentioned, not cheap. And you are bound by the rules of the Market.
• I’m a Merchant. Can I have my hollow linked to the White Hand? No.
• I’m a Merchant. How do I handle my stall’s inventory? Does it need to be on my sheet? It doesn’t, no. Each merchant should let staff know the type of thing they plan to sell (hedgespun, tokens, hedgefruit, information, etc), but most of the physical things that can be bought/sold need to go through staff in any case, such as Hedgespun and Tokens getting approved by staff. So essentially, a merchant having these items is hand waved, within reason. If there’s ever any doubt (largely for extremely rare items such as Rare ungardenable fruits or 5-dot Tokens/Hedgespun, as the latter are supposed to be nigh-legendary) please ask staff before assuming you have something.
• Is there anything I can’t sell if I’m a Merchant? Yes/no. In theory you can sell anything. However, there are a few things that you cannot be assumed to sell without staff’s permission. When setting up your stall, you will be asked for rationale on how you get your goods, regardless; do you have suppliers? Do you craft them yourself? Et cetera. The current list of items you MUST contact staff before selling contains only two items: Hera Pear and Pedicle Velvet.
• Great! Anything else I need to know? Yep! After a scene where you’ve sold something, don’t forget to +request to get your/your customer’s +activity for this. When you do, also include anything (such as goblin fruit, Hedgespun, Tokens, etc.) that needs to be set. For Hedgespun and Tokens of any kind (other than gewgaws/trifles), the customer is required to have the item’s stats approved BEFORE THE MARKET SCENE. For trifles, staff will need to know how many to add to the customer’s +inv, as they are a disposable item and must be gotten rid of with +inv/use when used. For fruits you do not actually have, staff will need to manually add them to the player’s inventory. For fruit that you already have in your inventory, you can +fruit/give.

Merchant Pledge

This is the pledge that everyone must pledge in order to operate in the Wild Roses. There are no exceptions.

• Type: Vow
• Tasks: Medial Forbiddance (-2, Don't Break Market Laws)
• Boons: Glamour (+2)
• Sanctions: Greater Curse (-3)
• Duration: Year and a Day (+3)
• Text: For a year and a day I will be a Merchant at the White Hand Market. For this honor I promise to never break Market Laws except in self-defense, and I will receive glamour from the Lord Sniffer. But if I break these laws, in addition to my lawful punishment, the Wyrd will curse me to fail at my endeavors.

Notable Folks

See also PC Merchants

Founders

Role: Leader and owner of the Market.

About: The Founders are a group of eight hobs, former Sawbones with the Pickwick Circus. They have struck off on their own, pursuing their own, more stationary desires. They firmly believe that changelings are inferior to hobs, though those with Gentrified Bearing/Wyrd 8+ may receive grudging acceptance; they are close enough to Fae to be decent customers. They typically have small, squat hobs to speak for them, ignoring the minutiae of handling visitors in favour of handling the training and continued captivity of their wares.

Appearance: They are all tall, well over six feet in height, all possessing white, graceful, strong and very formerly-human hands on mottled grey-black bodies, their arms too long for their frames, feet tough and clawed. They often wear leather smocks which are easily cleaned of bodily fluids, scarred and obviously well-used.

Wares: Slaves.

Wants: Slaves. You. Changelings are all slaves who must remember that they should be on their knees.

Sniffers

Role: Guards and inquisitors.

About: There are a good three dozen sniffers, though no one is entirely sure whether they are all related or the result of some bizarre faerie magic. Rumours, of course, are rampant, though no sniffer will confirm or deny the validity of any of them. This just encourages even wilder speculations... The sniffers guard the Market, ensuring that the rules are upheld. They carry stout cudgels and other weapons which will knock out assailants without killing them immediately. Why destroy potential merchandise? They all sound the same, and all seem to know what has been said to any other of them -- speaking to one sniffer is speaking to all sniffers. They have no particular opinion regarding changelings, and don't go out of their way to make their lives miserable, but they will support the Founders' choices.

Appearance: It's next to impossible to tell them all apart. They all have long, snoutlike noses and whiskers, small ears, squat frames with lumpy green-brown skin, and small black eyes half-hidden by bushy eyebrows. They are all chest height on the average human.

Wares: Information. Influence.

Wants: Bounties. Hunt down offenders/runaway slaves and return them to the market.

Handless

Role: Founders' slave.

About: Handless, the only name he will admit to having now, is the slave of the Founders. He refers to any hob with respect, and all Founders are Master. He is forbidden from speaking with other changelings at all, and suffers harsh punishments if he is ever caught doing so. He is used by his Masters, at times, to trick other Changelings into compromising positions so as to allow the Founders to enslave them. He has had any personal opinions on the matter beaten out of him. He is broken beyond repair.

Appearance: In appearance, he is an aging male Chirurgeon, half-starved, with no hands at all. He has a token collar and a basic loin wrap, and that is it. The token will immediately kill him if he tries to leave the Market.

Wares: Information.

Wants: To serve his Masters.

Jemma the Slow

Role: Merchant.

About: Don't let the appellation fool you; Jemma is a fast dealer and a clever, dangerous hob known for twisting words and manipulating buyers into paying for far more than they had intended to buy in the first place. Those who investigate her background, or who stand around the latrines and listen to the occasional dirty joke, may learn that she is called Jemma 'the Slow' because she was rip-roaring drunk on elderberry wine the night of a race, and walked off the trod straight into a tree. Took her three days to wake up and find her way back. Jemma refuses to deal with anyone who makes fun of the incident.

Appearance: She's a spindly, tall and slender hob with elongated limbs and leathery brown skin, face angled a bit like a greyhound's. She wears practical brown leather armour and always has a number of pouches and weapons present.

Wares: Goblin contracts, tokens, gewgaws, trifles.

Wants: Materials, mortal luxuries, perfume, favors.

Hungry Hal

Role: Merchant.

About: Those coming to his stall swiftly learn that this hob is one who never hurries. He has a deep voice and speaks very slowly, taking his time and, perforce, yours, but if you're willing to pay the price, to bribe him for continued information, he knows a bit about everyone at the Market, and a bit about most other things besides.

Appearance: Think Jabba the Hut except with legs. Very squat, dome-like head, hairless, big mouth, huuuuge. He has stubby fingers which are unexpectedly nimble, and wears fine fabrics beneath a scarred leather apron with many pockets. His stall smells wonderful and strange, thanks to the fantastic meals cooked there.

Wares: Gourmet food, gewgaws, gossip.

Wants: Rare goblin fruits, beasts, mortal world foods and spices, gossip.

Squibbles

Role: Merchants.

About: The squibbles don't seem to have a name of their own, called 'squibbles' in an onomatopoeic fashion due to the sounds they make. They don't speak English. What they DO speak is up for debate, and only the Sniffers seem to understand them, but they are everywhere and get into everything. In most cases, they communicate via pantomime, though anyone who happens to speak Ancient Greek will find some huge nerd-love if they can recite passages from the Odyssey. They understand THAT language perfectly, though they still don't speak it, even if they do act out the parts. Killing fellow squibbles for purposes of macabre entertainment is entirely welcome theatre. Their blood is yellow.

Appearance: Between 6-12" tall, they are all different shapes and sizes, different body types, united by the fact that each and every one of them has bulging orange eyes with lurid yellow splotches in lieu of pupils and murk-bright teal skin with glittering black insect wings. They do fly. They don't wear clothes. When a squibble needs to pick something up that is too heavy for it to carry on its own, other squibbles are called via a particular squibbly trill to come help.

Wares: Secrets, gewgaws, dangerous Goblin contracts.

Wants: Rare tokens, hedgespun, secrets. Stories written in ancient Greek.

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