Celtricia, World of Factions-Setting Information V2.0

[LordVreeg]

The Mercantile rough-and-tumble continues in Igbar.

The Vissippee Traders recently posted this letter in Parson's Wine and Dine and in the Upper Crust.

[ic=The Importance of the Relationship]

The Financial Industry is certainly a large, but immature industry.  The old joke has always been that the companies may change, but the people stay the same.  Those of us inside this joke are always happy to see talented people get scooped up by new situations.  We also scratch our heads when untalented, pennypushers who have navigated bad courses for multiple companies are given another chance to run aground yet again.  

While staying afloat in a normal economic backdrop can be challenging enough, the real litmus test comes when the public confidence is eroded.  During these turbulent and war-like times, companies that honor their promises and stand by their word can count on others to do the same.  Sadly, it is also during these times that the worst comes out in other companies, when desperation overrules good business sense.

It is no secret that one of the pillars to the Vissipee Consrotium's steady growth is our strong partnerships.  In an industry where we see other companies treat their relationships as disposable, our ties with Sol's Bank of Worth, Truemen's Smithy, Tudzu's Caravans, and other have all lasted over a decade.  It is also easy to look around and see the success other smart companies enjoy that cooperate similarly.    Anyone who works in the Trading industry can test the weather and see the companies who really honor the Syndicate/guild relationships are the ones who are still making headway.  
By contrast, the recent, well publicized struggles and outright failures of many consortiums and Guilds can be attributed in a large part to a failure of this same relationship.  Syndicates  have leveraged dealers to expand in a blind attempt to increase market share with no regard for the welfare of that dealership. Dealers and Merchants have made promises they never intend to keep in an attempt to control access to a Guild.  Both sides are equally guilty in making the short-term sale the goal while ignoring the long-term consequence.

To anyone who still doubts the importance of this relationship, or thinks that if a company is big enough, or the name old enough, these rules do not apply, I submit the example of Pen-Wiggle Traders.  Everyone in this tight-knit community has watched this former juggernaut do everything possible to ruin their partnerships, and despite every warning and decline from the previous year, they regularly show up at the Grounds and are snubbed.  Recently, we were given an even clearer indication of their bad faith and abysmal ignorance of the rudiments of good business practices when one of our loyal clients that we had sent to the Pen-Wiggle Traders  in good faith forwarded us a missive they had received from the Pen Wiggle's including this.

''¦..please consider not working through a broker or Syndicate.  Look at trading or borrowing directly from the firm that is lending the money, for an overall better experience and a better rate.        
 
 
Your Financial Advisor,
Calton Esten Rancelon
Trader and Financier"

  This is an attempt to undermine our relationship with the client, an abuse of basic business principles so blatant that it is not necessary describing.  In the best possible light, this is an unscrupulous attempt by a single individual, but it also serves as a microcosmic example of the importance of the Syndicate/Guild relationship, and where you end up if you don't live up to it.    

In closing, The Vissipee Consortium recommends to everyone in the industry that the best way to weather bad economic times and to succeed in the long run is to build strong, long-lasting Syndicate/Guild relationships.  And we publicly acknowledge and thank our Guilds, Vendors and Partners, new and old, for their commitment to this partnership, and to the success it has brought.
[/ic]

This letter is bringing to a simmer the fight between the three major guilds, but also inadvertantly causing some resentment by some of the guilds that resent the heavy-handed management of the VIssipee, Sceding Tree, and Winfire Syndicates that dominate and control the rest of the institutions.

[spoiler=Winfire] And behind this, the Winfire guild, which was trading and working with the Blackstripes and the Firehazers, has recently hired the Jocien Knives to kill the New Legion, who are agents of the Sceding tree's Leader, Vinivixias.  Vigor Sheering, the Leader of the Cult of Vernidale the Serpent Queen and head of the Terrors of the KNife (and the second most powerful agent of the Antroo Vampyre now ruling the Wibble hills) is egging this on.  [/spoiler]

[snakefing]

Any similarity to real financial firms, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

[LordVreeg]

Any similarity to real financial firms, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Is it my fault that the suppose 'real world' keeps following the Celtrician themes?  (Thanks for the comment!)

[LordVreeg]

Celtrician Personality

Vigor Sheering

Second son of Harald, of the Vexian Sheerings, husband of Kelli Van Arrium, Master of the Collegium Arcana, Elixeriest of the Collegium Arcana, Priest of the Serpent Queen

 

Vigor Sheering, Born in 852 RON, is a patrician of the first order in Igbar.  Male, human, and whip-thin in his clear-edged gauntness, he comes from one of the oldest families in Igbar.  Vigor is from the Sheering family, specifically from the Vexian side, the Branch of the Family that kept their business away from the dockside, but was very active in the old Argussian governments.

Vigor studied at the Collegium Arcana from 863 and graduated an Artificer and Elixeriest 'Tor Potum', which means 'above satisfaction' in Makerspeak.  He studied under Kenter Dreddletartum while there, and spent most of a year studying Entropic magic, as well.  He was in his Mid twenties graduating, and immediately became something of a rakish figure, travelling with Red Circle Knight Carson De'chian and the young sage, Pacae Letsos.   They were part of many youthful adventures, travelling as far as Fabled Stenron, and into Argus many times.  While not for public consumption, Vigor and Pacae met a very Young Heliopolis and Falathar in 874 RON, when the foursome, along with Shambar Eltrinio and Adam Warlock, searched for Payne's Viola.  

Vigor's life was turned very much upside down in 870, when Trabler Aptor declared the Unicorn State and broke away from Argus.  Though many of the Sheerings understood the reasons why and weathered the change well, Vigor had taken the side of the Double headed eagle rather than the unicorn.

Sir De'Chian was killed in a fight with a Devilkin during that, and a sobered Vigor Sheering returned to Igbar.  In a sudden turn, he followed his grandmother into the Church of the Green Mother, where she was the High Priestess.   Vigor never stopped using his not-insubstantial skills from the Collegium Arcana, but buried himself in his new area of interest, using his family social position and his new popularity to move quickly into the church hierarchy.  The Church of the Green Mother was then moving up on the Godstraat.

Vigor's interests took a turn later, after studying the necromantic arts from Telda Bgat Tennlilg, an Orcash shriver of the Green Mother.  All churches have some level of Necromatic abilities, or close ties with a church that does, so as to shrive the souls of the dead and not leave them abandoned.  Telda initiatiated Vigor into the hidden Serpent Queen Cult.  The Church of the Green Mother decries the serpent queen aspect of Vernidale, but it is an old, hidden cult in many locations, and Igbar's upper hierarchy of the Church of the Green Mother is actually rife with them.  He took his vows as a Priest of the Green Mother officially in 882.

In 881, however, he did meet Kelli Van Arrium, a human with Hobyt blood from the Bright Lands.  Their 15 year marriage has resulted in 2 girls, born in 885 and 890.

The Terrors of the Knife is the name of the assassin's branch of the Serpent Queen Cult, and they have been hiding out in Igbar since 885.  Vigor took over the leadership in 891.  By then, he was dealing with Telling Homintworth, a very rich spice trader from the Winfire Trading guild.  He was an ally of Goerges Coomi, the Horn Magistrate of the High Unicorn Council, who in 892 was elected leader of Tralm when Trabler Aptor dissapeared.  Things were looking every good for Vigor here, as Coomi was in actuality a Blackstripe agent of Lord Falathar, a castelot mole who had pledged to Heliopolis and Falthar years before, and Coomi has already managed to use Baneo Tromb and Glasswar, the heads of the Blackstripes, to clear the docksides for a landing of Argussian ships.  So Vigor was actually uising the Terrors of the Knife to surrpetitiously aid them, and was waiting for the moment of Argus' triumph, when he heard Palimar declare Coomi an agent of the enemy publically at the Upper House of the Unicorn.  He had rushed to the Dockside, only to see Julian Sempre Lerianolies and his allies clear the agents of Coomi from the docks (which is a huge story in itself).  Vigor cursed his poor luck, hating Palimar, but he had managed to hide his links to the failed coup.

Vigor soured here, leaving Grand Green Mother Cheriol to more of her own devices, while he used Telling Homintworth to trade with the Firehazer tribe in the Wibble Hills.   When the Old Vampyre Kexiol Antroo Anginar was let loose by the Grey Legion, and his contacts with the Firehazer's dried up (due the the Vampyre's subjacagtion of the Firehazer'z gartier and fratrecanis leadership), Vigor started heavy scrying of the Wibble hills, and this is where he was caught by Kexiol Antroo.  Vigor was too strong to be totally controlled, but he was impressed enough to offer himself up as a vassal of the ancient and cunning Vampyre Lord.  His already strict nature became even harsher now, and even those who cared about him noticed his driven nature and his long hours away from the public eye.

Vigor now has one of the three rings of Anginarian necromancy, sent to him by Kexiol.  The Revanant Wight Wren the White held one of the other rings, and the most powerful ring is held by the ancient Undead Mage Og Antit Osteoper, the second keeper of the Steel Libram.  Vigopr is acting under Og's orders, as Og is a Greater Mummy of surpassing power, since being raised by Kexiol.  

Vigor has been working and artificing out of his Family tomb in the Sunken Boneyard, but his workshop has been penetrated by the New Legion, and he has retaliated by sending the Terors of the Knife after them, already almost capturing Kiko and injuring George.  Vigor's patrician edge and church position make the group, which has only a few days before realized that he is in some part behind much of their troubles,  loath to accuse him publically.  

A confrontation is close: last time the New Legion ran from his greatest artifice, the Bone Golem.  He has asked and received  some more Necromantic aid from the Mummy Og, who hides in the catacombs that connect the Steel Libram tomb in the Sunken Boneyard and his own tomb in the Sub Basement of the Steel Libram itself.

[LordVreeg]

Omwo~ issues.

No one feels good when they are replaced, or feel like their place in the world is threatened.  Currently in many areas of Celtricia, the merchant guilds are gaining enough power to challenge the nobility and the churches, and this makes the threatened establishments more aware of their situation and sometimes, ofr the more sef-aware, aware of the nature of time.
This is a very small example of an issue that is wrapped up in the whole Omwo~ racial identity.  While racial identities in the current world of Celtricia normally take a subordinate position to cultural, national, or Guild identity, one's early family issues tend to bury themselves deeply in the subconsious.
Over Eight Millenia ago, the Omwo~ were created to be the first servants of the Planars.  They had long lifespans, and acording to almost all major religeous texts, worked directly with the creative forces of the cosmology.  What happened afterwards is the matter of debate and difference, but as the Accords of Presence loomed into possibility, the Omwo~ began a fall from favor, and other races were brought into being.  As this came to pass, the lifespan and power of the Omwo~ began to lessen.  
Many religeous texts, even some that are not taking a side, such as "The Path of Grey", the historical codex of the Amererians, makes reference to the Humans being brought into the 'Waking Dream' due to some Planars unhappiness with the limitations of the Omwo~.

Even though all of that is shrouded into the depths of time, many Omwo~ count their relationship to ancient clans and family as more important than their own current children despite their low birthrate.  Their current lifespan of 200-400 years, is a shadow even of the Omwo~ of a thousand years ago when many lived to see half a millenia, let alone in the depths of time, where some nobility would see both the beginning and end of a millenial phase.

Today's omwo~ either grasp desperately at this heritage, or repudiate it entirely.  Some old families cling to their ancient ways, while most younger Omwo~ live completely in the moment, trying to fit a thousand years of experiences into their truncated existence.  But whether dealt with or not, this position of an ancient, once-great race now in remission affects the psyche of every Omwo~ at some level.

[LordVreeg]

More added to Igbar's Notations.

The Neighborhoods and Wards
Like all cities that have grown organically, Igbar's roads and street wind somewhat confusingly.  Couple that with the small pond and the stream (the Vdalek) in the middle of the west side, and the growth of the city has just 'happened around it', and has not been organized.

 

The Dockside area is not just the coastal side, it includes mainly the central coastal area where the oldest Docks are, which leads down 'the Keep Way', one of the oldest streets in the city.  The Dockside area has no paving, and most of the buildings are made of wood, many of which are sinking into the ground.  There are a few old captain's houses, mostly Inns now, that show there was some money in this area at one point.  However, the area is mainly bars, inns, taverns, a few businesses, lots of older warehouses, and poverty.
 

The Royal way is the opposite.  It stretches from the Northern City gates do the Southern Gates, and was conceived by Artic Husamin IV, the sixth Duke of the Northern Argussian Marches.  This whole, wide street is paved in white, and in the center, on the waterside, is the Royal Keep, built by Artic in 680-689 RON.  There is a small park that abutts the Vdalek Pond.  Many of the most wealthy families have their bricked, in-town residences along that road.
 

The South-Eastern corner of the city is the Harou section of town, where the quaint, introspective social graces of the Harou cultures is observed.  Tea service, outdoor porches, and piinut incense in the air are the staples of the area.  
 

The Godstraat.  The North Eastern corner of the city is dominated by the 'Street of the Gods', as it is called commonly, though it's proper name is the 'Avenue of Worship'.  Though not all the temples and Churches are their, the Lawful Triumverate, the Church of the Green Mother, The Church of Chaos, and the Platform of Trade.  Also, one of the oldest Boneyards within the city limits, now full to bursting with old headstones, is there.  That boneyard dates back to the early dates of Igbar.  The oldest dates are from ~320 R.O.N.  Around 470 R.O.N., the Igbarians uncovered a long sunken garden to north of the Street of Worship, and that Northern Boneyard is where many of the family Crypts were moved to.



The GreenSward is an old, wealthy part of town dominated by the Bristle Park, given by Tully Bristle.  There are many older families with homes and estates here.
 

The Brewer's Quarter is the eastern part of two Streets, The Talleyrand Path and the Marcher's Hope.  Here 4 major breweries and a number of smaller ones all contrive to best each other in their crafting of local brews.  None really compete, however, with the Golden Bullette brewery and the gold and red brews it sends out on wagons labelled with their sigil.  The Birchright Quaffer's Guild (named after the old, defunct brewery of the same name) is the largest brewer's Guild, but many of them belong to Chernow's Libations, a guild that covers many mead, wine, and other distillers as well as brewers.
 

The Undeen section of town is just North of the Trio Area, but has a large collection of Argussian and Omnian (read this as southern-based) businesses, including the 'Gardrobe' restaurant and Kalix' Omnian Steels.  
 

The Collar is the organized, well-kept streets across the Unicorn Vex from the Unicorn Seat.  This ares is dominated by walled in estates of the Istari or Guild officers  Most of these are relatively older construction, but few older than three centuries .  The Eastern edge of the Collar abutts 'The Hill' district' and much of the stonewark of 'The Collar' goes up the hill now.




Opposite of the Brewer's quarter on the Unicorn Vex is the 4 street west-bound roads known as the Rip-cut Crucible, where many crafts guilds and manufacturers make their home and ply their wares.  The Street of Carvings is where woodworkers do much of their work in Igbar.
 

The Trio is the area around the South Gate (The Argus Gate), where almost all the streets converge on the small square just inside the gate. It is named because of the three Argussian officials who were hung their by Trabler Aptor when he took over the town.  Many shops are here, as well as teamsters.
 

BravoTown is a long, two street area south of the Godstraat, where mercenaries, both locally born and outlanders, found housing and employment.  The local chapterhouse of the Kulranik Guild is in this area. As these 2 streets near the North edge of the Collar of town, there starts to be a neatening up.
 

Leper's Bastion (or just 'The Bastion') is the southern dock area and slightly inland area typified by slums, Krrfshops, and flophouses.  There actually was a Leper's colony by the water over two hundered years ago, but the name stuck for an area with little hope.
 

North Docks are a collection of 3 small docks and about two-dozen small buildings outside the gates to the north, about 300 yards.  They used to be an area where there were woods, and it was here that smugglers would land back in the days of the Northern Argussia Marches.  It grew to a legitimate dock area for the Bartles & Jamie wine importing group, and has since continued to grow.  There is a Scarlet Pilum's tower in the northern area, in case of attacks.  Many duel masters use this area.
 
The Hill neighborhood is just east of the Collar, a long area built on a rise where many service business' are set up to take service the wealthier areas of Igbar.  Many Gnomes and Hobyts have low houses here, but the middle of the hill is built around the Potentiate of Iron, the monastary of the Church of the Earth.
 
TentMeet is named for for the mazo of tents and ramshackle buildings that once stood in this area.  Now, it is tightly packed with close buildings, but while the architecture has changed, the poverty level is the same.  This section abuts the east wall, and the gurds have to actually use the wall to try to spy on the inhabitants.
 
SouthTown is a spillover zone, a collection of inns, businesses, and new homes growing out of the south wall and to the west of the South Road.  These are all forty years old or less, but there are over 90 building here now, and with the inside of Igbar overbuilt, this overflow has to go somewhere.  The Scarlet Pilums do patrol this area, but only a few times a day, and it is almost a punishment duty.

[LordVreeg]

Redoing the post on Stenron, largest city in Celtricia, Capital of the Grey March.
Stenron

[Tybalt]

Hey Vreeg. I really like how you're fleshing out your setting. Details about what the city is like are very necessary for a gm like me for instance to start getting really interested in what it would be like to run it.

One thing I love is your use of names. You have a great mix of names that are made up and are easy to imagine saying and yet sound exotic. (Igbar, Omwo, etc) On the other hand you also add in names that are in fairly common fantasy use that you put to other uses like Unicorn. Your names also reflect history, like the mention of there once actually being a leper colony in the city. It's really nice to see a campaign world in which names aren't just chosen because it's based on a novel or at random just because.

[Steerpike]

I love the sense of history you've created with areas like Leper's Bastion and the TentMeet.\

Is duelling illegal in the city??

I know there are a ton of factional conflicts within the city... how are the racial relations, in general?

[LordVreeg]

Tybalt---so glad you are back.  I'll PM you later tonight, if I have the chance.

Steerpike--Here is a quick answer about the duelling, more later.

Dueling, and combats of honor, have a long history in Celtricia.  From the Klaxik 'Walk of Honor' to the Vicorian arcane dueling codes, life has often been seen as cheaper than honor.

The Empire of Argus' Balendjen is hundreds of years old (indeed, it is a variant of the old Hagenos Balendjen duels, also incorporating some features of the Omnian codes of Honor), and since Trabler is only a generation removed from the yoke of the Gryphon Empire, duelling is still part of daily life.  In the Argussian areas, Duelling was a great equailizer, sponsored by the Fane of the Rod and Axe.  Centuries ago, a person of lesser social stature could challenge one of greater stature, and it was cowardly not to fight.  Today, in Argus, the use of proxies protects the wealthy from the more baseborn.

In Igbar, it was made illegal in 879 by the Upper House of the Unicorn.  However, Dueling is still rampant, and many Istar families hold those that hide behind the law as contemptable.  As an illegal act, most of the dueling is actually done up at the North Docks, the dock area north of the walls.  There is also some duelling in Southtown and tentmeet, and a little on the Dockside.

Dueling today is normally only done with the uper classes, or those that pretend to them.  Wealthy merchants and guildsmen will resort to them, as will some of the warrior guilds, though most of the churches follow the word of the law.


The instigator of the duel had best be certain, as the challenged party has choice of weapons and armor, though the challenger does have the right to press for the terms (first blood, until yielding, to the death, etc).  Personal weapons, including magical ones, are allowed, though any spells at all are not.  This means that proxies have seperate prices based on if they are being hired for a challenger or challenged position, and many proxies will not take a contract on anything but 'first blood' for the challenged position.

Lately, heavier one handed swords and fransisca are all the rage amonth the serious duelist, and so the teaching of these weapons is also in demand.

As a quick note, the Duel Arcane, rare in most areas, has been seen a few times in Igbar recently, with the trouble between the Alternative school and the Collegium Arcana.  Still illegal, this is a sight that draws spectators quickly.  

[LordVreeg]

Steerpike,
Racial relations are actually a major 'conflict' in Celtricia, in that I specifically tried to avoid the normal presentations of the races.  And then I placed the normal fantasy presentation of racial identification in the past, and made the present world of Celtricia a place where 'God, Guild and Country' are the major allegiances, and racial identity is a fourth place contender.  There are no 'evil' races.  I wanted to get to a place where I could address the real issue of racism, and at the same time challenge my players to deal with the complications of a world where racism was still real, but slowly receding.
[ooc=from the race page]
 In the current philosophical mindset of the Celtrician setting, the ability to integrate into a multi-racial culture is seen as one of the tenets of a cultured person.  Over millenia, positive relationships between the various races had become quite normal.  However, there had been a good amount of racism and discrimination practised, even among allies until very recently.  Where the enemies of the various city-states and countries were of a different race, it was often outright ugly.
Primary Integrated races of Celtricia.
But a little less than 2 centuries ago, driven in particular by the bold, equalizing, racial independence that the now-powerful and multi-national guilds had brought to the scene, race ceased being a major discrimination point in the Celtrician Cradle area.  The roots of this change can be found in the Bright Lands, where plutocrats in Hobyt Inn started trading heavily with their former enemy, the Blacknote Orcash Tribe a few days north of that city.  By that time within the city of Hobyt Inn, Hobyts, Humans, and Omwo~ had been living with anti-discrimination laws for centuries, although the Orcash were not included.  Though there was great debate, a philospohical movement began in the North-West that was predicated on the idea that one of the primary determinants of a civilized society is the ability to become integrated in a multi-racial society.

Thus, the Bright Lands were the first to open up citizenship to the Orcash and Gartier and also to include Ograk, Goblin and Gnolls as well (this is incredibly rare because of the distribution of the races). However, in a world where Hobyts and Orcash are the most populous races, almost 10% of the Orcash of the world, and almost 25% of the Orcash in the Northern Celtrician 'cradle' area, are 'civilized' and integrated.

In the time since then, most of the Northern (cradle) countries have accepted and adopted this aculturation. The idea has also spread to the Lands of Om in the Far South and most of the west. However, the Ambrellian and Argussian Empires are combating the idea. Some rulers and leaders embrace this change and proselytize it, although many fear it, but nonetheless this tide of change has washed over the lands.

So though race has a lot to do with cultural identity, it is considered gauche to put race above God, Guild, or Country.
[/ooc]
SO when PCs in Celricia run into a band of humanoids, they stop to parley and to discover who they are.

AS for Igbar itself,
[ooc=racial mix of Igbar]
Races
Hobyts make up, as in the world at large, the largest portion of the population density, followed by Telman humans (Often called Clan Telman Humans), Klaxiks, Acculterated Orcash,  Meadow and Wolden Omwo~, Gnomics,and Kalil humans and a few Wastrian Humans and Gartier as well.  A full quarter of the population is Hobyt pureblood or Hobyt dominant-mixed, though many of the Istar (old families) are Omwo~ or Telman Human.
[/ooc]
The animosity between the older families vs the current government, and the guilds vs guild stuff, is much more dangerous and bloddy than racial issues.  Telman Humans, Klaxik, and Orcash are all about the same population density, and while the others rib the telman humans as being the 'whitebread establishment' (while the orcash and klaxiks are 'keeping it real'), everyone looks at the hobyts' as being th real owners of the 'machine', even of they are not always the ones fronting it.
Does that help?

[Tybalt]

Here's a question: magic has a strong effect on Celtrician culture and technological development (which is one of the main points about your setting--you have deliberately made clear that magic has a profound effect on the kind of society that exists) and so how does that effect the financial industry in its details?

[LordVreeg]

Here's a question: magic has a strong effect on Celtrician culture and technological development (which is one of the main points about your setting--you have deliberately made clear that magic has a profound effect on the kind of society that exists) and so how does that effect the financial industry in its details?

This may be a post I have to go back to a lot.  

My PC's have been involved with many business ventures, and with the mercahnt guilds being so prevalent, this has always been close at hand.  The New Legion is closely allied with Vinivixias, Trader Prime of the Sceding Tree, so they are closely enmeshed even now.

The first thing to understand is that all three major merchant syndicates (the Vissipee, the Sceding Tree, and the Winfire) are in the Bardic Broadcasting Network.  This gives the access to daily information sent out by the 8 major broadcasters, as well as the ability to send limited information.  These large, artificed scrying pools can also be used to spy, but that means bringing in a powerful caster from the one of the other guilds.  So information (and some misinformation) travels much more quickly than one might think.  There are also lesser means of sending information through sacred fires or sacred pools (not really sacred anymore, this is the name of the spells based on it's ancient application).  So important news does travel quickly.  And information is the lifeblood of finance.

also, lesser magics are somewhat available, although still expensive.  So this has increased the already fast movement towards guilds in almost all things.  A farmer would never be able to afford a Sacred Grove cast on his property, or a permanent Unease,but a number of them could band together and get it done.  Trafficing in goods is also very affected.  I made any teleport spells extremely limited and costly, but almost every trading guild has access to the Air spells that summon and bind creatures from the House of Air (actuallt the Seventh House now...another long story) such as Summon Restil, Summon Frennis, and the much more rarely used Summon Hisshiru.  This gives ships a lot more control and speed than they actually had in any age of sail, greatly aiding commerce.

 Obviously, the commerce of magic itself is another great source of finances.  Whether it is the selling of herbs gotten from the Herb Lands, or the selling of scrolls, or the need to make sure that one is not being affected by the sublte mentalist spells like Ridicule or if the inveitable bard in the corner of the room is actually casting Song of Truth, the fact that magic exists means that guilds and syndicates have to make sure that it is not being used on them.

[snakefing]

Question here:
What limits or artifacts are in place to prevent magical counterfeiting of coinage (or other form of currency)?

Presumably that kind of magic would be fairly powerful and expensive, maybe too expensive to be worth it. But if magic is that commercialized, it could potentially have far reaching effects, especially in commodities that would naturally be scarce or difficult to refine. (Don't have access to quicksilver? Magically create it!)

Are there some things that magic just isn't even capable of?

[LordVreeg]

Question here:
What limits or artifacts are in place to prevent magical counterfeiting of coinage (or other form of currency)?

Presumably that kind of magic would be fairly powerful and expensive, maybe too expensive to be worth it. But if magic is that commercialized, it could potentially have far reaching effects, especially in commodities that would naturally be scarce or difficult to refine. (Don't have access to quicksilver? Magically create it!)

Are there some things that magic just isn't even capable of?

Magic cannot create from nothing, but magic can transport from the Void.  So theoretically, a caster versed in Earth could literally bring ore from the House of Earth directly to the Waking Dream.  
However, these magics fall into the question of power ratio, and though they are available in theory, very, very few casters could cast such spells, even with enhancers (and thus, almost no one can make scrolls for it).

The power level frequency distribution of magic is such that lower level magic is very avaalable.
speaking of counterfeiting... weight of silver

But even mid level magic is very scarce, due to the need to pull power from more sources and the increasing difficulty in raising up levels.  I think there are only one or 2 people in Igbar capable of moving to the Void Areas, and that is with magical aids.