Yasuki Merchant School: Yasuki Merchants

Reprinted w/out permission from Way of the Crab

Benefit: +1 Perception

Beginning Honor: 0 + 5 boxes

Outfit

  

(All items are of average quality)

katana, wakizashi, kimono, sleeping clothes, traveling clothes, sleeping roll, wicker basket, traveling pony with storage packs, 8 koku

Skills

Commerce, Defense, Gambling, Etiquette, Heraldry, Sincerity, any Craft skill

Note

Within the Yasuki family, Commerce is not considered a dishonorable skill.

Techniques

The Yasuki Merchant School does not teach techniques, but as the merchant grows in Insight, he shows a greater ability to acquire what he needs. With each Rank, the merchant is able to appropriate more valuable objects. In addition, the time required to gain an object decreases significantly. It takes approximately one week to gain an item, but two days less to acquire an item from a previous School Rank.
For example, if a Rank 3 merchant wishes to gain a Rank 1 item, it will take 7 days minus 4 (2 fewer days x2 Ranks). Thus, the Rank 3 merchant can gain Rank 1 items in 3 days.
To gain an item, the merchant must make a School Rank+Commerce roll to beat a TN set by the GM. The merchant may make raises to increase the quality of the item, decrease the amount of time required to acquire it, or increase the number of items acquired. Each raise takes away one day required to gain the item. A merchant will always need at least one day to gain an item. Each raise doubles the number of items that can be acquired. For instance, 3 raises will gain a merchant eight items (1x2 = 2; 2x2 = 4; 4x2 = 8).

Rank 1

  

Carts, bolts of cloth, lanterns, clothes, pots, "peasant weapons," pans, wicker backpacks, trinkets (which may be mistaken for real jewelry).

Rank 2

  

Boats (rafts), ponies, weapons of average quality, safe travel to the next town, real jewelry of average quality, and two Rank 1 items.

Rank 3

  

Safe travel to a distant town (within the same province), "fingers" of jade, expensive jewelry, illicit goods including but not limited to: forged papers and other "merchandise of doubtful provenance," recommendations to an average quality geisha house, any four Rank 1 items, any two Rank 2 items.

Rank 4

  

Safe travel out of the province (with or without papers), armor, warhorses, (non-Unicorn), weapons of fine quality, boats (sampans or junks), recommendations to a fine quality geisha house, any eight Rank 1 items, any four Rank 2 items, any two Rank 3 items.

Rank 5

  

Unicorn horses (bad color, born on a bad day, etc.), official travel papers (unlimited travel), minor nemuranai (with appropriate consequences), introduction to a high quality geisha ("You mean that sake house is really a tea house?"), girls with green eyes, any sixteen Rank 1 items, any eight Rank 2 items, any four Rank 3 items, any two Rank 4 items.