For years now, really since I started playing Thorns back in 1.0, I have noticed an unfilled socio-politico void in Anaxas. Specifically, the social and economic class that contains mid-scale independent shopkeepers, artisans, small and mid-scale industrial manufacturers, and the less skilled clerical and allied trades. I am thinking of professions and roles like the following:
- greengrocers
- Tavern keepers
- Innkeepers
- Copiests
- Typesetters
- Printers
- Stationers
- Smiths
- Tailors
- Shoemakers
- Corn chandlers
- Dry good merchants
- Butlers
- Valets
- Ladies’ Maids
- Laundry operators
- Weavers
- Barbers
- Hairdressers
- Mail carriers
- Cab-drivers
- low -level soldiers (the rank and file)
- beat -officers for the police (though clearly never officers of the Seventen)
Further, the general character of the historical stability of Anaxas would seem to indicate that the lower orders were, if not happy, then at least not actively as riled up as they are now. And surely there must be a large population of humans who feel they are doing just fine in their social order.
The “Solution” - The Patronage Networks
Drawing from various points in history, but especially Republican Rome and the Italian City-States of the Early-Modern period as well as some aspects of the Guild systems of Northern Europe and suchlike, I am proposing that there may be a sort of patronage system that exists, especially within the cities and towns whereby galdori, and especially the wealthiest and best connected among them, would have extensive clientage with both lower-status galdori and, crucially, with humans. Members of a patronage network would rely on the largess and influence of their patron to attain certain social, economic, and political advantages. This would include securing writs for literacy, but also allow for more status and legal protections. In exchange, the clients would support the patron’s interests, provide services for little or no fee, turn up at social and political events where crowds are required, and so forth. At a stretch, the clients may even be allowed a sort of collective vote, or the size and wealth of a patronage-network might reinforce and multiplying the votes of the galdori patrons.
Narrative Benefits
There are several narrative benefits I can see here. The first, is that being a member of a patronage network allows for human characters to have a bit more freedom in character design, and also creates a space for a non-trivial portion of the human population to be ‘fine’ with the current social order. They are benefiting from it. So now there is a logical place for the skilled labor and artisanal trades, and so forth.
Second, the existence of these networks sets up new avenues of interaction between galdori and human characters. A client may come to the patron asking for a favor (funds, legal protection, etc), and the patron may ask a client for some proceeds of their business, their assistance in some task, or information concerning who knows what. A patron may also check in on their clients, just to be nosey.
Further, something like this would give a space for human characters to engage in intrigues of their own, as they try and jockey their way into more prestigious networks, defame their rivals to that patronage can be revoked, and so forth.
