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  3. Lore

Highgrove

What Highgrove Is

Highgrove is the rich district on the north-east rise of Naath, above the Grovefields. It is the headquarters of the Merchant Guild. Everyday buying and selling happens in the Trunk Market. Highgrove handles the big things. Large permits, large trade cases, contract and debt records, and visiting envoys all come here.

The district is quiet and orderly. Stone paths climb in terraces between clipped hedges and large wooden houses. Raised wooden walkways link the Guild halls above the gardens. There are no stalls, and no one calls out prices. Wealthy merchant families live in the big houses along the terraces. Guild clerks and ushers fill the halls by day.

Guildmaster Sorelle Vanneren leads the Merchant Guild. She presides at the Guild Court and holds the Guild's seat on the Naath Council.

The Five Guild Halls

The Permit Office. Traders apply here for large permits. These cover rare goods, trade routes, big shipments and new buildings. A trader states the request before three Guild assessors, and court witness Calien Brand writes down every word. Late or incomplete papers are refused. Stall licenses for the Trunk Market are handled on Ledger Row instead.

The Concord Grove. A garden house where trade quarrels are settled by mediation before they go to court. Mediator Selyna Vaerthiel hears both sides at one table. Nothing said there may be repeated in court. Signed terms bind both sides.

The Guild Archive. The Guild's record hall for contracts, permits and debts. Signed originals are kept under wax seal in a locked lower room. Senior records clerk Elithyn Maeril runs it, and records clerk Rhivelen Quill finds and copies records. A copy takes three days. No original ever leaves the building.

The Guild Court. The Guild's court for large trade cases and for appeals from the Market Court. Sorelle Vanneren presides with two senior Guild judges. Usher Enithrae Silvellar keeps the list of cases and reads out the rulings.

The Envoy Hall. A round hall where the Guild receives visiting traders and envoys. Caravan masters, Selenford fishers and Redfang traders come here first to state their business. Private talks are held in its side rooms, one meeting at a time, with a scribe present. No contract is signed there. Thessa Vyrrh, a Skeliri woman hired by the Guild, guards the hall.

How a Case Moves Up

Trade quarrels follow a fixed ladder. A quarrel over a stall, a weight or an unpaid bill goes first to the Market Court on Ledger Row, where Judge Thalion Swift sits. Either side may appeal his ruling to the Guild Court in Highgrove. Either side may then appeal the Guild Court's ruling to the Naath Council, which hears hard cases at its open court four times a year.

Traders who want to avoid a public hearing can go to the Concord Grove first. If mediation fails, the case goes to the Market Court, or straight to the Guild Court if it is large. A trader refused a permit at the Permit Office may also appeal to the Guild Court.

The Guild Court posts its rulings at its door, and a copy goes into the Guild Archive. The Guild checks the archive before it renews any permit. A trader with an unpaid fine or a broken contract cannot renew until it is settled.

Rules and Magic

The Wardens rarely patrol inside Highgrove. Unarmed Guild ushers keep order in the halls, and the Wardens come quickly if they are called. Theft means a fine or loss of a permit, as in the rest of Naath. Trading without a permit means a fine, and Guild ushers collect it.

Small charms that check weight or keep a room quiet are allowed. Spells that change how goods look, or that push someone's mind during a deal, are banned. A deal made with such a spell is void, and the family that used it may lose its permits for a season. Any big spell needs the Lorekeepers' approval, as everywhere in the city.

Trouble in Highgrove

  • Some traders whisper that Elder Galadon is quietly buying Council votes. Rhivelen Quill has found that someone paid off the Guild debts of Sorelle Vanneren's younger brother through a hired clerk.

  • A petition at the Permit Office asks to clear the old grove beside the Cloister Herb Garden for a new Guild hall. Galadon backs it, and Faelar Greene is fighting it.

  • Tavin Morrel of Morrel's Relics has asked for a permit to sell old carved stone slabs. His story about where they came from keeps changing.

  • A baker's appeal over short grain sacks is on the Guild Court list. It leads back to a shaved weight stone at the Weigh Yard in the Grovefields.

  • Thalion Swift wants a seat on the Guild Court and is collecting favors.

  • Thessa Vyrrh came to Naath with no papers and no sponsor. Some people ask why the Guild hired her.

What a Visitor Should Know

Dress neatly. Clerks and ushers treat travelers in road clothes coldly, and formal robes can be rented at Alenthil Tailoring on the Loomyard Walk. Bring papers. Every hall asks for a name and a reason. Speak quietly and wait to be called. Arrive on time, because a late petitioner loses the day.

Seekers come to Highgrove when a contract needs a Guild seal, when they need a copy of an old record, or when a job touches trade. A Seeker who is owed money by a trader can take the case to the Market Court and appeal it here.