Trade Routes and Trade Goods in Golarion

[redcelt32]

Is there a map or layout anywhere in any product that shows trade routes and what is being imported and exported from varying kingdoms? That was one of my favorite illustrations in the Faerun books way back, so I wondered if Paizo had gotten around to doing something similar.

My players are asking me questions about which products come from where, etc, and how far away they are imported which could affect price if they make a local substitute. (running Kingmaker)

Any resources about trade goods and routes would be greatly appreciated if they are referenced.

[Dark_Mistress]

Not that I am aware of but I would love something like that.

[The Dark]

Dark_Mistress wrote:

Not that I am aware of but I would love something like that.

Ditto. The only mention I can think of at the moment is pages 240-241 of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting. It states that most trade travels either along the "North Tack" (Sedeq-Katheer-Absalom-Taldor-Andoran-Corentyn) or the "South Tack" (Sothis-Absalom-Merab-Manaket-Azir). Other runs include Almas-Sothis, "the increasingly profitable Varisian Run," and "nearly two dozen" trade routes from Katapesh, with destinations ranging from Eleder to Kalsgard. Piecing through the various books to figure out who produces which products and where they'd be good to sell would be an interesting project, and one that could probably be done best by a group, since it will probably involve throw-away references scattered throughout adventures and sourcebooks.

[James Jacobs]

The Inner Sea World Guide has a bit to say about significant trade routes on pages 252–253.

The addition of each region/nation's resources is something I dearly wanted to include in the book, but for various reasons (mostly to do with space and resources) was not able to do so. One day I'd love to sit down and make a list of those things... but as it turns out, that time, for me, is currently better spent getting the latest Shattered Star adventure off to the editors.

If someone out there in internet land were to comb through all our products and make a list of what stuff is from where, though... that would indeed be superawesome.

[Urath DM]

You could start with the Pathfinder Wiki, and search for the words "export" and "import". "Trade" is probably too general.

Additionally, you could try perusing the d20pfsrd site, under the "Equipment" section. There are lots of named things there that will give you an idea of what's around, for flavor purposes. Many of them are from the Adventurer's Armory product, so if you have that, you essentially have the core of a good list.

There are some "small scale" trade rules in the Jade Regent Players' Guide, as well, that may give you some ideas for how to handle some trade.

Personally, I like the rules in the Jade Regent guide as a base for trading "ordinary" trade goods somewhat casually.

To represent a more professional trader's approach, I am thinking of using a modified version of the rules from Merchants of Venus (an old Avalon Hill boardgame). In those, each area produced a common product (which would be the generic "trade goods" in the Jade Regent rules) and a specialty product (think "Kaijitsu glasswork from Sandpoint") that was more expensive to purchase but sold for more at the appropriate places. In addition, there were "demand" units that could be drawn randomly and which inceased the selling price of goods from a specific place.. bringing the right goods to a market with demand increased the price by 100% per demand unit. To represent demand with the Jade Regent rules, I am thinking a +5 on the die roll to sell for each unit of demand in the right market. So, a place with 3 demands would be +15 to the die roll (and +15 gp profit if successful) for the 1st unit sold, +10 for the second, +5 for the first, and finally +0 for any more after that (as demand is satisfied, the premium goes down). Tracking where goods came from is more paperwork for the Jade Regent AP, but might be worth it in the end.

[redcelt32]

Thanks for all of your responses :)

I did read the info in the Inner Sea Guide, and it was a great starting point and guideline for trade flow.

However, I was really hoping to find things like:

-The three largest iron producing kingdoms in Avistan are: Blank, blank, and blank.

Or

-Brevoy imports honey, cloth, and copper, and exports grain, wood, and oils.

-Who makes the best honey in the world?

-Which country makes the most lamp oil?

It is not that I mind deciding these things for myself, its just rather annoying when I set all the trade information in the world and then find out there is already canon for it out there somewhere.

Sounds like there isn't really anything substantial out there and its not necessarily on the to-do list anytime soon.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Considering how many Apiaries my players have built in Kingmaker, I suspect that the Stolen Lands produces the most honey lol.

[redcelt32]

LOL, specifically, that is one of the things the PCs are trying to do IMC - become the best honeygrowers in the world.

When your druid starts talking about the benefits of morale bonuses for your bees, you know your group has spent too long on the kingdom building phase and not enough time adventuring :P

[Eric Hinkle]

Speaking as another Kingmaker fan, it would be helpful to know just what gets shipped along the Sellen.

[Michael Radagast]

I always figure the friars of Cayden Cailean for the best beekeepers, though there's something to be said for Calistri clerics...

Oh, damn. Another short story note.

[Kevin Andrew Murphy]

redcelt32 wrote:

Thanks for all of your responses :)

I did read the info in the Inner Sea Guide, and it was a great starting point and guideline for trade flow.

However, I was really hoping to find things like:

-The three largest iron producing kingdoms in Avistan are: Blank, blank, and blank.

Or

-Brevoy imports honey, cloth, and copper, and exports grain, wood, and oils.

-Who makes the best honey in the world?

-Which country makes the most lamp oil?

It is not that I mind deciding these things for myself, its just rather annoying when I set all the trade information in the world and then find out there is already canon for it out there somewhere.

Sounds like there isn't really anything substantial out there and its not necessarily on the to-do list anytime soon.

I think part of the trouble is that figures are up in the air with regard to production because the supply or demand for any particular item depends on the needs of any given adventure or story. For example, in the web fiction "The Secret of the Rose and Glove," I was able to establish that the town of Dabril in Galt is still producing perfume even after the revolution, but due to the trade disruption caused by forty years of civil war, the major market is smuggling it across the river to the elves of Kyonin. Where it goes after that is anybody's guess, but given that rare perfumes and unguents are common spell components, the demand isn't going away any time soon. Similarly, Howard Andrew Jones establishes in his novel PLAGUE OF SHADOWS that Galt is still producing wine at least for internal consumption and it's still well regarded. And in "The Perfumer's Apprentice," I establish that the temple of Calistria in Isarn, Galt's capital, keeps giant bees along with their wasps and uses the honey to make hydromel, a style of mead. Is it the finest honey and the finest mead in the Inner Seas? If you asked the Galtans, they'd say so. If you were to ask in the mead halls in the Land of the Linnorm Kings, they'd probably wonder what this pale watery stuff with the bubbles was.

[The Dark]

I'd mostly be interested in a few things:

What does each country export?
What does each country import?
What are the common trade routes?

Details beyond that (and possibly some charts for figuring the variability in cost of goods based on whether it's an export, import, or neutral for a particular country) should, in my opinion, be based on the needs of the DM.

[Twigs]

dot!

[BPorter]

Dotted.

Oh, and if anyone in Paizo-land is listening, WANTED!

I'm not looking for a complex economic simulator. However, in 20+ years of gaming, almost every group I've GM'd for has, at one time or another, come up with the idea that all these caravans, ships, businesses, etc. that they encounter, guard, or plunder might be worth some additional gold to them. Whether that gold comes from investment, plunder, or mercantyle dealings varies by group...

Plus, the world-building side of me loves this kind of detail. While many GMs may view it as "useless trivia", they're adventure plot seeds for me.

So yeah, any official treatment on this subject goes onto my pre-order list immediately.

[Foghammer]

I'm with BPorter. This is the stuff plot hooks are made of. Money (or whatever measurement of wealth) makes the world go round. Products make goods, goods make money. This information makes up the building blocks of motivation for all characters (though mostly NPCs).

[redcelt32]

The thing that first got me thinking about this was when I read about some wine in some AP that was Pitax Red, which made sense once the River Kingdoms book came out and I found out about their vineyards and orchards.

There are a lot of tie ins with Kingmaker in particular, for instance, does Galt get a lot of its grain and foodstuff from Brevoy? If the PCs in the Stolen Lands cut off trade with Brevoy, who will get upset? Or would they just get food from their other main trade route from the River Kingdoms or Taldan? That is some of the other sort of thing that would be useful to know.

I would buy a companion or campaign book about this sort of thing in an instant. If you need more to fill out the book, how about 10 breeds of horses and 10 breeds of dogs and where they come from, and which cultures use them. I get asked that sort of thing by my players all the time too.

[The Dark]

So I got bored the other night, and had a new copy of the Inner Sea World Guide. Using just the descriptions of locations within that book, some likely exports for each country:

Andoran:
Lumber, furniture, art, olives/olive oil, grapes/wine

Brevoy:
Grain, fish, lumber, ore

Druma:
Gems, precious metals

Five Kings:
Mercenaries, siege weapons, iron

Galt:
Food

Geb:
Food

Isger:
Goats (and goat products - milk, leather, cheese), fish, ice

Jalmeray:
Knowledge, sugar, coffee

Katapesh:
Pesh, slaves, spell components

Linnorm Kings:
Furs, copper, lumber

Mana Wastes:
Gold, crystals, (few) guns

Mediogalti:
Whale oil

Mwangi Expanse:
Gold, gems, darkwood

Nex:
Potions, elixirs

Nidal:
Horses

Nirmathas:
Ore, lumber

Numeria:
Skymetals

Qadira:
Salt, spice, silk, slaves, weavings

Rahadoum:
Cloth, produce, gems

Sargava:
Gems, cattle, slaves

Taldor:
Metal, lumber

Thuvia:
Sun orchid elixir, potions

Ustalav:
Wine, perfume, alabaster

Kelesh:
Silk, drugs, philosophy, bronzework

This is obviously not a complete list, but it's a starting point utilizing one book to get a quick listing of some available commodities in different countries.

[zylphryx]

dotted for later reading

[Twigs]

Great list! Thanks a lot!

[redcelt32]

The Dark wrote:

So I got bored the other night, and had a new copy of the Inner Sea World Guide. Using just the descriptions of locations within that book, some likely exports for each country:

...Awesome stuff....

This is obviously not a complete list, but it's a starting point utilizing one book to get a quick listing of some available commodities in different countries.

Thanks so much for putting this together! I was not looking forward to trying to dredge a list like this out of the books!

I made a list of my own, but it is possible trade goods. I am posting here in case anyone is interested:

Textiles
Cloth
Pottery
porcelain
hemp/rope
Glass
Dyes
Ink
Paper
linen
bronze
musical instruments
weapons
armor
metal tools/instruments
leather goods
perfumes/soaps
beer
wine/liquor
drugs
poison
clockworks, mechanical

Raw Materials
Stone
Wood
cotton
Wool
silk
furs
ivory/antler
Oil
tar/pitch
shells
incense
beeswax
tree resins (frankicense, myrhh, camphor, amber)
tobacco

Foodstuffs
Preserved meat/food
salted fish/seafood
Grain/corn
Rice
Fruits/vegetables
spices
Salt
honey

Live Creatures
Slaves
exotic pets
livestock (horses, cows, sheep)

Minerals
Iron
Copper
Silver
Gold
Platinum
jewels
semi-precious stones
Tin
coal
sulfur
flint
alum
mithril
starmetal
admantite

Local goods
Peat
Clay

If anyone can think of anything else to add this list, that would be awesome as well.

[The Dark]

redcelt32 wrote:

The Dark wrote:

So I got bored the other night, and had a new copy of the Inner Sea World Guide. Using just the descriptions of locations within that book, some likely exports for each country:

...Awesome stuff....

This is obviously not a complete list, but it's a starting point utilizing one book to get a quick listing of some available commodities in different countries.

Thanks so much for putting this together! I was not looking forward to trying to dredge a list like this out of the books!

I made a list of my own, but it is possible trade goods. I am posting here in case anyone is interested:

...awesome list...

If anyone can think of anything else to add this list, that would be awesome as well.

Sugar. Sugar was incredibly important in history, because it's fairly limited in where it can grow, and it doesn't travel well unless processed (raw cane ferments incredibly rapidly). Honey is somewhat of a substitute, but there are things both sugar and honey can be used for that the other can't.

Medicinal herbs. Some will only grow in certain areas, others can be widely cultivated. Their importance will vary somewhat depending on how common magic is in a particular campaign (if every village has a cleric with the ability to cure disease, medicines are less important).

Flax/linen. More comfortable and cooler than wool, easier to make than cotton, and cheaper than silk.

Tobacco. Possibly falls under the category of "drugs," but worth mentioning. Along with sugar, this was the major cash crop of the early American colonies.

[walter mcwilliams]

The Dark wrote:

redcelt32 wrote:

The Dark wrote:

So I got bored the other night, and had a new copy of the Inner Sea World Guide. Using just the descriptions of locations within that book, some likely exports for each country:

...Awesome stuff....

This is obviously not a complete list, but it's a starting point utilizing one book to get a quick listing of some available commodities in different countries.

Thanks so much for putting this together! I was not looking forward to trying to dredge a list like this out of the books!

I made a list of my own, but it is possible trade goods. I am posting here in case anyone is interested:

...awesome list...

If anyone can think of anything else to add this list, that would be awesome as well.

Sugar. Sugar was incredibly important in history, because it's fairly limited in where it can grow, and it doesn't travel well unless processed (raw cane ferments incredibly rapidly). Honey is somewhat of a substitute, but there are things both sugar and honey can be used for that the other can't.

Medicinal herbs. Some will only grow in certain areas, others can be widely cultivated. Their importance will vary somewhat depending on how common magic is in a particular campaign (if every village has a cleric with the ability to cure disease, medicines are less important).

Flax/linen. More comfortable and cooler than wool, easier to make than cotton, and cheaper than silk.

Tobacco. Possibly falls under the category of "drugs," but worth mentioning. Along with sugar, this was the major cash crop of the early American colonies.

I would also add coffee and tea to this list

[Eric Hinkle]

This is a great list here. One thing I would ask is, what about magical plants and minerals of Golarion that can't be found one earth? The only one I can remember as a trade good is something called a 'sunstone' from the desert lands like Qadira and Katapesh that gives warmth, and which they trade northwards.

[Judy Bauer]

Exotic foods (monstrous seafood, fruit from other continents/monstrous plants, etc.) are also far more viable as luxury trade goods on Golarion than in the equivalent time period on Earth thanks to gentle repose and purify food and drink (as a relatively mundane example, Sargava exports pineapples).

And don't forget trade with other planes!

[redcelt32]

Judy Bauer wrote:

Exotic foods (monstrous seafood, fruit from other continents/monstrous plants, etc.) are also far more viable as luxury trade goods on Golarion than in the equivalent time period on Earth thanks to gentle repose and purify food and drink (as a relatively mundane example, Sargava exports pineapples).

And don't forget trade with other planes!

Okay you changed my entire trade layout with that one post!! :)

That is genius to use gentle repose to keep food fresh, and it makes a lot of exports and imports far more viable, in particular seafood and exotic fruits to northern climes. I am trying to lay out trade routes and import/export lines and this idea changes everything in a good way. Now I don't have to guessimate travel times and spoilage, etc.

I had not considered extraplanar trade at all outside of wizards guilds maybe. Where in the heck would extraplanar travel take place? Major temples of Abadar (god of civilization/commerce+plane shift) or Absalom? This plus an earlier post I read about the witchmarket now really has my creativity going...

[The Dark]

redcelt32 wrote:

Judy Bauer wrote:

Exotic foods (monstrous seafood, fruit from other continents/monstrous plants, etc.) are also far more viable as luxury trade goods on Golarion than in the equivalent time period on Earth thanks to gentle repose and purify food and drink (as a relatively mundane example, Sargava exports pineapples).

And don't forget trade with other planes!

Okay you changed my entire trade layout with that one post!! :)

That is genius to use gentle repose to keep food fresh, and it makes a lot of exports and imports far more viable, in particular seafood and exotic fruits to northern climes. I am trying to lay out trade routes and import/export lines and this idea changes everything in a good way. Now I don't have to guessimate travel times and spoilage, etc.

I had not considered extraplanar trade at all outside of wizards guilds maybe. Where in the heck would extraplanar travel take place? Major temples of Abadar (god of civilization/commerce+plane shift) or Absalom? This plus an earlier post I read about the witchmarket now really has my creativity going...

The other obvious choice would be Cheliax for infernal products. Major temples of Sarenrae may do some trade with the good planes of the Outer Sphere, since she was one of the Empyreal Lords before ascending to full godhood. It should still be rare, though, to preserve the mid-high fantasy feel (as opposed to the potentially epic fantasy feel of massive interplanar trade).

Eric - as far as magic plants and minerals go, they got somewhat short shrift in the core setting. Darkwood and skymetal were the only ones explicitly mentioned that I saw.

[sunbeam]

I love this kind of stuff.

It's been stated in several places I think, but Nex depends on food from Geb to a goodly extent right?

I'd guess most imports from Geb come on ship, I like to see mentions in novels of things like how many grain ships are in the harbor.

Then there is what Nex pays for the imports with. Magic items as someone mentioned above about each country's exports maybe.

Nex is a very interesting country. It might be going down FR territory, but something like the old Known World Gazeteers would be cool as heck.

I've the ones for Andorran and I think Osirion, but they were pale shadows of what the books on Glantri, Karameikos, Rockhome, and Alfheim were.

One thing I'd like is for this setting to get more "funky" and out there. Nex, Numeria, Hermea, Geb, Rahadoum, Razmiran, Jalmeray... you could let the freak flag fly if you put some thought into those places.

[Eric Hinkle]

Oh, something else for everyone: Brevoy has its \imports and exports listed in the article on it in Kingmaker 31.

[The Dark]

Eric Hinkle wrote:

Oh, something else for everyone: Brevoy has its \imports and exports listed in the article on it in Kingmaker 31.

Also, I remember that Katapesh has a much longer section on trade in Dark Markets, but I don't have a copy of that.

[Set]

Judy Bauer wrote:

Exotic foods (monstrous seafood, fruit from other continents/monstrous plants, etc.) are also far more viable as luxury trade goods on Golarion than in the equivalent time period on Earth thanks to gentle repose and purify food and drink (as a relatively mundane example, Sargava exports pineapples).

For all we jibber-jabber about the effects of create water on the game world, purify food & drink is at least as big a deal. Crates of produce or meat just need to be sealed enough to prevent vermin from eating it during the voyage, and any amount of spoilage can be zapped away with purify food & drink. And the ship doesn't need to carry fresh water (or stop to refill water barrels at islands or ports), because a barrel tossed overboard and filled with seawater will serve just fine as drinking water, once purified.

Gentle repose would probably be saved for the luxury goods, although shrink item could probably be used as well, in a pinch, to transport perishable goods (such as an entire side of auroch, or some choice cuts of wyvern), by shrinking it and turning it into cloth, for a week or so.

A Chelish merchant house might make use of planar bound imps and shrink item to transport luxury goods. Shrink the expensive fur or poison or masterwork weapon or whatever, hand it to the imp and have it fly invisibly to the destination at the speed of a galloping horse. As an outsider, the imp need not stop to eat, drink or sleep, and thanks to invisibility at will, it's not as likely to be bothered by random aerial encounters en route as a carrier pigeon or similar creature.

[Kevin Andrew Murphy]

The ultimate way to stockpile food for transport and storage: a basilisk. Is it a good year and you have a surplus of chickens or cattle? Why bother to feed or overwinter them when you can just have your basilisk turn them to stone at the height of summer plumpness? A few drops of basilisk blood can later unpetrify them when you want a nice fresh chicken or beef dinner. Ship the chicken as ballast stones.

This is also a useful tactic if there's something annoying happening like a plague or an undead uprising. Nothing will decimate your cattle holdings like an attack of plague-bearing zombies. Even more troublesome if your cows can rise as plague zombies too. But let the cows look at a basilisk and the plaguey zombies can come and try to gnaw on them all they want. Won't do a lick of damage, and should protect the cows too when you have someone going through fireballing the zombies, since stone doesn't burn.

This is also a way to restock your herd if they do get decimated by plagues, zombies, or any other trouble your ranching business might have.

This can also be a good tactic for the slave trade if you've got a surplus of fine slaves but a weak economy and a lowered demand due to abolitionists. Statues don't get old and wrinkly or need to be fed.

[Drejk]

Kevin Andrew Murphy wrote:

The ultimate way to stockpile food for transport and storage: a basilisk. Is it a good year and you have a surplus of chickens or cattle? Why bother to feed or overwinter them when you can just have your basilisk turn them to stone at the height of summer plumpness? A few drops of basilisk blood can later unpetrify them when you want a nice fresh chicken or beef dinner. Ship the chicken as ballast stones.

Great idea, except that basilisk blood is hard to get in the first place and a larger amount than a few drops is required to counter the petrification. One basilisk drained dry provides enough blood to de-petrify 1d3 Medium creatures, there is no multiplier provided for smaller creatures so default x2 per size category would be my guess, if chickens are tiny you could recover 1d3 x 4 per single basilisk which would be probably worth a few thousands gold coins, handling costs not included - it would be worthwhile only for transportation of very expensive creatures/prisoners.

[sunbeam]

Yeah, but this is a world with healing magic.

It doesn't take much to imagine a row of specially bred basilisks in "milking machines" that are tended to by Grimlock clerics.

Who was that guy who came up with the Tippyverse? If you go over the game rules and do things that they let you do, you wind up in a fairly ridiculous place pretty soon.

Good read for a little while, but it gets old fast.

[sunbeam]

Kevin Andrew Murphy wrote:

The ultimate way to stockpile food for transport and storage: a basilisk. Is it a good year and you have a surplus of chickens or cattle? Why bother to feed or overwinter them when you can just have your basilisk turn them to stone at the height of summer plumpness? A few drops of basilisk blood can later unpetrify them when you want a nice fresh chicken or beef dinner. Ship the chicken as ballast stones.

This is also a useful tactic if there's something annoying happening like a plague or an undead uprising. Nothing will decimate your cattle holdings like an attack of plague-bearing zombies. Even more troublesome if your cows can rise as plague zombies too. But let the cows look at a basilisk and the plaguey zombies can come and try to gnaw on them all they want. Won't do a lick of damage, and should protect the cows too when you have someone going through fireballing the zombies, since stone doesn't burn.

This is also a way to restock your herd if they do get decimated by plagues, zombies, or any other trouble your ranching business might have.

This can also be a good tactic for the slave trade if you've got a surplus of fine slaves but a weak economy and a lowered demand due to abolitionists. Statues don't get old and wrinkly or need to be fed.

I know you are a writer, and it is problematic to take input or seem like you are influenced by things on a message board.

But consider a story pitch: There is a lich in the bowels of Golarion who dates back to the Azlant Empire. This lich has a particular obsession, he likes to collect living things and turn them to stone.

He's been doing this a long, long, time. His menagerie is extensive, and has all kinds of interesting things in it.

You could write a heck of an old style adventure module with that one, or any number of stories or books.

If a lich is too big a cr, you could turn it into a nutty cult or cabal of Medusas.

[thenovalord]

excellent discussion

this is may attempt to 'play' with it

http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz645y?AP-based-on-a-financial-crisis

[Wolfwaker]

An interesting topic.

In the real world, some of the most important long-distance trade goods were spices, coffee, tea, silk, that sort of thing. (Also slaves, unfortunately.) In the 1700s or so, a merchant could become fabulously wealthy on one shipload of spices to Europe (if they survived the voyage). IIRC, imports of gold and silver from the new world played havoc with the value of metals. There is a lot of stuff about this in the semi-fictional (the main story is fictional but the historical events are mostly real) Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. (That would be a good series to mine for plot hooks.)

[Kevin Andrew Murphy]

sunbeam wrote:

Kevin Andrew Murphy wrote:

The ultimate way to stockpile food for transport and storage: a basilisk. Is it a good year and you have a surplus of chickens or cattle? Why bother to feed or overwinter them when you can just have your basilisk turn them to stone at the height of summer plumpness? A few drops of basilisk blood can later unpetrify them when you want a nice fresh chicken or beef dinner. Ship the chicken as ballast stones.

This is also a useful tactic if there's something annoying happening like a plague or an undead uprising. Nothing will decimate your cattle holdings like an attack of plague-bearing zombies. Even more troublesome if your cows can rise as plague zombies too. But let the cows look at a basilisk and the plaguey zombies can come and try to gnaw on them all they want. Won't do a lick of damage, and should protect the cows too when you have someone going through fireballing the zombies, since stone doesn't burn.

This is also a way to restock your herd if they do get decimated by plagues, zombies, or any other trouble your ranching business might have.

This can also be a good tactic for the slave trade if you've got a surplus of fine slaves but a weak economy and a lowered demand due to abolitionists. Statues don't get old and wrinkly or need to be fed.

I know you are a writer, and it is problematic to take input or seem like you are influenced by things on a message board.

But consider a story pitch: There is a lich in the bowels of Golarion who dates back to the Azlant Empire. This lich has a particular obsession, he likes to collect living things and turn them to stone.

He's been doing this a long, long, time. His menagerie is extensive, and has all kinds of interesting things in it.

You could write a heck of an old style adventure module with that one, or any number of stories or books.

If a lich is too big a cr, you could turn it into a nutty cult or cabal of Medusas.

Oh, the "frozen menagerie" is an old trope. E. Nesbit did it in "The Book of Beasts" and Robert W. Chambers--author of "The King in Yellow"--uses it in the volume of the same name uses it in his short story"The Mask" as well.

But I agree it would make a great adventure.

As for keeping the basilisks in the milking machines, I think it would be easier to just have the basilisk wrangler drug the basilisk and tap off a pint or two every once in a while for use in depetrification.

As for the Tippyverse, you can make anything ridiculous if you push it too far, but having a basilisk wrangler is something that not many could afford or risk. In a civilized society with legal slavery, for example, only a large consortium of slavers could afford to preserve their stock in this manner to wait out a recession, and there's always the cost and legal liability of keeping a basilisk in city limits or the trouble of keeping one in a warehouse outside of the city. And if your basilisk dies, whether due to pesky adventurers or just old age? Well, you're going to have to pay adventurers to go catch you a wild specimen because you don't want to pay the prices charged by the Basilisk Fanciers Association.

And before we decide that the Basilisk Fanciers Association is too silly, consider the long tradition in China of goldfish breeding and then consider what would happen if such people had monsters. A pocket basilisk a lady could keep as a pet and personal protection? Put one on a chain and wear it atop a wide-brimmed hat and there'd be no chance of petrifying yourself, or even your friends if you fitted it with a falcon's hood.

People would totally do this if they could.

[psychicmachinery]

Dot

[yellowdingo]

Dang it...I should be all over this.

[Slayer Dragonwing]

Dotted

[CalebTGordan]

Mivon exports mercenaries. Pitax exports finely made musical instruments.

I would love to keep adding to this list. I have a project that requires a good list of trade goods.

[|dvh|]

This is an awesome idea and awesome thread. I'll also be dotting this thread for future reading, and maybe even putting a map together based off what people dig up.

[Gnoll Bard]

In terms of trade up and down the Sellen, aside from the aforementioned mercenaries and musical instruments, a lot of it seems to be agricultural in nature. A number of the city-states in the River Kingdoms don't seem to be self-sufficient when it comes to agriculture, so they have to import grain and the like, and alcohol, be it wine, cider, spirits, or what have you, seems to be a product of Pitax and at least a few other places. Pitax is also mentioned as a center for the manufacture of pigments, which could easily be big business. The River Kingdoms also have some mines, as I recall, and in our world regions similar to Brevoy and the northern city-states have exported things like amber, honey, and furs.

I've spent some time thinking about Bloodcove, Sargava, and Senghor, since they'd have to be producing something pretty valuable to justify the risk of sailing around the Eye of Abendego and braving the pirate-infested waters beyond. The Mwangi Expanse seems to be a major source of slaves for western Garund and Avistan, and Sargava is described as having rich mines producing gold, silver, salt, and gems, though Druma is still the leading exporter of gems in the Inner Sea Region. Furthermore, what kind of an African colonial analogue would Sargava be if it didn't export a whole lot of ivory, and probably exotic woods like ebony as well?

Aside from that, Sargava apparently grows a lot of pineapples for export, but I have to imagine that their tropical climate allows them to produce a number of other cash crops as well. If any place in the Inner Sea region grows sugarcane, it would probably be coastal Sargava, and its fairly well established that Sargava and the Mwangi Expanse export coffee as well. I wouldn't be surprised if they grew some tobacco there, as well, though even some places in Avistan apparently manufacture cigars.

Imports to Sargava and the other Mwangi colonies consist mostly of manufactured goods, but I could also see the colonials importing things like wine (or brandy), tea, and other comforts of their homeland.

Senghor, on the other hand, is a fully civilized native metropolis and the largest city in that part of Garund, so they're probably a major exporter of manufactured goods, including masterwork and magical items, within the region south of the Eye.

The Aspis consortium's stations along the Vanji River seem to mostly be in the business of slaving, but considering the obvious paralells with Heart of Darkness, I would guess that they send a lot of ivory downriver as well. Other than that, the Aspis is always on the lookout for exotic trade goods, ranging from treasures looted from the Expanse's many ruins to all sorts of unusual plants, animals, poisons, and drugs. Of particular note are Dream Spiders, native to the Expanse, whose venom is the main ingredient of the popular drug Shiver. A live Dream Spider would probably be worth a small fortune in some parts of Avistan.

Also worth noting: Cheliax imports gold, slaves, and a rare kind of red-veined black marble from their colonies in Arcadia. Andoran has at least one colony there, too, which is described as being basically run by the Lumber Consortium, so they probably export some kind of valuable exotic (possibly magical) wood.

[CalebTGordan]

Wood does not need to be exotic to be a major export. Tall, straight, and strong trees are needed for ship masts. Good lumber is always needed for buildings. Firewood is needed all over, not just for heating homes but for making charcoal as well.

Areas where trees are not plentiful, where logging isn't sustainable, and where growth is exploding often import lumber and wood in large amounts.

Charcoal is also needed in a wide variety of industries. Alchemists and brewers would use it for filtering, for example, while plenty of other industries would just burn it to keep forges, vats, and devices very hot.

[|dvh|]

Also, any chance to get an assembled list of imports by nation? The muse may be on me tonight.

[Thomas Bowyer]

I think there is enough subject matter here for Paizo to publish a hard cover book on just this one subject. It could have maps, charts, basically everything mentioned in the blogs above. I would buy it! Hey Paizo, what do you think?

[Fashion Goblin]

You guys are life savers.

I was just wondering about where silk comes from in the Inner Sea.

[Haldrick]

Looking at real life history then several thing become apparent (in no particular order):
Salt is massively important (Roman legionaries were paid in it)
England became rich on wool
There is a big difference between short haul and long haul trade.
Allot of short distance trade was food and materials to make clothes and household goods. Urban areas need a lot of stuff shipped in to support them. Even in Golarion most of the world is still very rural and trade would be to to and from any rural center.
Long range trade is always a balance between weight/baulk vs value. Hence the spice trail from east to west was named after that product. The huge profit from the slave trade only came about because of very high demand in the Americas. Prior to that it had been generally a (high profit) small scale business, over relatively short distances. Skilled slaves might be moved around the Mediterranean or from Africa to the Middle East or vis versa but you would not see huge numbers moved long distances.
Overland trade over long distances tended to have a lot of merchants moving the goods part of the way. The spice trail did not have Chinese merchant turning up in Venice/Cairo with their caravan. Sea travel between East and West changes this.

[Ronk Bonk]

Dotting

[Luca Eugenio Barlassina]

Hi to everyone
I’ll try to create a verbal map of all trade routes (value in mo), involving all the main Nation of the Inner Sea Region (and something beyond).
I’ll state before the name of the country, like, Osirion; than the voice import or export; the name of the product, like, wheat, and than the Destination of the good, stating before the direct destinations, like, Taldor, Andoran and than, if the good is sent to a trade hub like Absalom, the percentage of this good sent to other secondary destination.
The same thing for imports.
Since is a quite long work, I’ll start for categories and firstly with raw and semi processed agricultural products.
If someone has observations...
If someone with more time wants to create a visual map, with arrows, even better