#merchants guild

[hustlemeanokay]

New Dragon Age art on the bubble ~ all these beautiful rogues! Storytellers and crows! 💖

[stonesense]

Do you understand how Kirkwall politics work? Ik theres a viscount but like…is it just viscount and Templar’s? Three people?

i don't know a lot off the top of my head but let's take a look!

kirkwall is ruled by a viscount. it does seem to be a hereditary position, but if the viscount has no heirs or the line is otherwise removed from power, kirkwall's nobility have the right to elect a new viscount. so there's definitely an established noble class who have a powerful say in what happens. world of thedas lists the amells, the threnholds, and the reinhardts as the most powerful hightown houses at the start of the dragon age, but both the amells and threnholds collapsed before da2. (prior to their collapse, the amells were one of the foremost noble families in the whole free marches, with four centuries of history to their bloodline.) we interact with families like the harrimanns and de launcets in da2 and leandra mentions the reinhardts still being around.

viscounts' lines don't seem particularly long-lasting; marlowe dumar is the first in his. his predecessor perrin threnhold inherited the role from his father, but the father was also first in his short-lived line and "took power through a campaign of intimidation" rather than just, like, inheriting it. (this is confirmed by a codex stating the threnholds only came to power less than a week after maric retook the fereldan throne.) the implication is that saemus dumar would have been a potential heir to marlowe had he lived, but i don't remember anyone taking this possibility seriously in the game and given his politics i'm sure the nobility and templars alike would never remotely consider allowing it

the title of viscount was introduced by the orlesians, who ruled kirkwall from 7:60 storm to 8:05 blessed after liberating it from a four-year qunari occupation. they also introduced the kirkwall city guard, a force answerable to the viscount. the people of kirkwall threw out the orlesians but kept the title and the associated guard.

the templars have no official control of the city. however, the viscount's office is effectively so weak by the time of da2 that it is impossible to hold without templar support. this is because of what happened under viscount dumar's predecessor, viscount perrin threnhold. brother genitivi refers to perrin as "even worse" than his "vicious thug" father. perrin used those ancient chains in kirkwall's harbour to block orlesian ships and charge exorbitantly heavy taxes on them. this was naturally a poorly received move in orlais but also in kirkwall, as it limited trade, the lifeblood of the city. divine beatrix iii, who the codex claims was acting "as a friend to the emperor", ordered the templars to pressure the viscount into stopping, despite knight-commander guylian having refused similar requests from kirkwall's nobles and insisting even to the divine that their place was to protect the city from magic not from itself. perrin responded by hiring a mercenary army—odd that it wasn't the city guard, possibly implying they turned against him in favour of the nobles?—that ultimately stormed the gallows and executed guylian, with the intention of expelling the templars entirely from the city. in the end perrin was arrested, and presumably executed, if his successor being gifted his blood-encrusted signet ring as a threat is anything to go by. this seems to have been well received in kirkwall; the templars "were hailed as heroes". guylian was replaced with meredith, who personally directly appointed marlowe dumar

meredith's choice is an interesting one. the dumars were noble, but considerably modest compared to other noble families, with some of their income from trade that the dumars personally oversaw (traditional noble income tending to come from landowning, with actually having a job being looked down upon). marlowe's wife wasn't noble or an arranged match, only the daughter of a prosperous cartographer. meredith told marlowe that he chose him because he was "humble" as opposed to the "entitled degenerates" she considered the rest of the nobility, but it's obvious this wasn't merely her respecting the value of hard work. she openly threatened him on instalment to the office she had chosen him for. instead of appointing a strong viscount who could restore the office, allowing the templars to step back, meredith had none of guylian's scruples, and appointed a weak one the templars would continue to control. "the knight-commander's influence was evident in almost every one of marlowe's decisions."

this turned into more of an essay on recent kirkwall history than an explanation, but hopefully some of it's helpful in fleshing out the landscape. as a further note as well as the nobility i would expect merchants, guilds, etc. to hold massive influence in a city built on trade. there's a reason for example that the dwarven merchants' guild is visibly extremely well-established in kirkwall with its own large area in hightown; not the most trustworthy source but varric also claims they have "fingers in all these pies" in the lowtown market and own every tavern in hightown. i very much doubt human merchants are letting the dwarves have all the fun so it can be reasonably assumed they hold similar influence

[nerd-elf]

The way Dorian feels offended is gold, as if he wasn't treated like a prince his entire life 😂😂😂

[educationaldm]

DnD DM Uses Powerful Merchants Guild As an Unexpected Campaign Plot Device

A clever Dungeons & Dragons DM uses a party's failed attack on the Guild of Merchants to move the plot of their campaign forward.

For any murder hobos or thieves that mess with merchants...

I like this idea, and I certainly have a powerful Merchants Guild in my world.

[juicepan]

A warm thanks to all my Zero followers and the Zero Members of the Merchants Guild generously funding and Bankrolling my stolen /X/ memes! Let's keep on growing as a community! Without all of you and the voices in my Head this wouldn't be possible <3

[shepherdsofhaven]

So if Riel could have picked the merchant's guild symbol, what would he have gone with? Would he change it now if he could, or is he just internally resigned to having a rat represent his guild? (I think rats are awesome though!)

I think Riel actually likes the rat and is determined to turn around its unfortunate reputation (kind of like a redemption arc in the making, lol)--he's just annoyed by people making jokes about it and acting like he's the one who picked it (aka Chase, who very much enjoys that the symbol he happened to choose for Thieves Guild was a cat). He probably would have chosen the rat anyway, if he'd had the choice; or a monkey! He once considered a magpie, but given the bird's reputation for parasitism and Chase's later callsign, that would have been an unfortunate decision too lol!

[pinksugarrr]

Breakfast this morning ♡ I had the eggs panzanella with white peony tea and Sean had the doughnut French toast with a hot chocolate ^-^ Then we went out bowling with my family for Father's Day, was really fun and my dad seemed to have a pretty great time ^-^ ♡

[thebreakfastsociety]

Merchants Guild.

Feeling a bit under the weather, likely due to the storm clouds brewing outside my window, I decided to drag my mother out of the house and buy her breakfast. We’d previously taken Merchant’s Guild for a test-drive in the form of lunch (coffee and bagel), and it was so delicious that I was game to take it to the next level. I was back, and this time I had breakfast in my sights.

I asked for the waiter’s recommendation, as I couldn’t decide between the porridge and the muesli. His suggestion was the muesli, and I have to say I was a tad disappointed. For $12.50, my expectations were high. ‘Yogurt, “The Wild” super muesli, banana and sticky prunes’ is what I received, and unfortunately it didn’t blow me away.

It wasn’t all bad, though. In fact, it was mostly good! I think it probably just came down to personal taste at the end of the day. There’s no doubt this muesli combo would warrant a gold star for presentation, as anything parfait/trifle/layered in general gets my mouth watering with the knowledge that I can create my own perfect ratio of ingredients. The choice of yogurt was perfecto as it had just the right amount of tang, and the addition of banana always makes me happy. 

  Standout? The sticky prunes! These bad boys were a flavor sensation. Generally any muesli-oriented dish is served with either poached or fresh fruit, but these were a really cool take on the standard fruity options. They added the right amount of sweetness, and overall created a great balance between flavours and textures.

“The Wild” super muesli is a great alternative for those seeking a gluten-free option to our favourite meal of the day, however I look so forward to my dose of oaty-carb-loaded goodness first thing in the morning. So, what was it that let the dish down (in my eyes, anyway)? The actual muesli! I couldn’t find any website/instagram for these guys, but I’m pretty sure the museli is made up of puffed quinoa, coconut, and some other seeds/goodness, but the flavor and texture didn’t really grab me, and wasn’t what I was expecting when I read museli.

Would I go back for seconds of this? No. HOWEVER, I will be going back at least once a week to try out EVERYTHING else on the menu, as the service, coffee, and everything I’ve tried since has been exceptional. I’ll be sure to give the porridge a try and let you guys know!

Rating: 7/10

FYI: They have a great collection of specialty teas, and cold pressed juices (both fruit and veggie).

Address: 680 Centre Rd, Bentleigh East.