NationStates Jolt Archive

Storefront for Earth MB only, should any of the ones that sign be interested.
Here are the links to the EARTH Medieval Britain threads
Claim a castle here (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=412382)
The first RP of the Earth MB (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=8683844#post8683844)

OOC: for those of you involved in Earth MB - the money i take for orders here will NOT be used for my budget in EARTH MB....consider this a simple merchant that travels around through the country and magicly appears when he`s needed.

These are the items offered by The Merchant Guild :
Please note that you can only have 50.000 shillings total budget over a 7 RL days. As such, the orders will be limited to 30.000 shillings over 1 Earth MB year (7 RL days). Also the maximum number of soldiers you can use in times of war is 2500, so please dont order more then 2500 of the same type of weapon, unless you`re stockpiling them or are the type that is usually consumed (throwing spears, arrows). The storefront is not complete yet. I have to add arrows, horses, shields, armor, livestock for supply purposes.

1 shilling=12 pence

To see the pic click the underlined name of the weapon.

Blunt weapons:

Morning star (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/morningstar1.jpg)
Even plate armor is unable to withstand the crushing power of the Morning Star, whose spiked balls are able to achieve a very high velocity in a relatively compact weapon.
Length: 43 cm.
Price: 2 shillings

Double Morning Star (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/morningstar.jpg)
The double Morning Star deals double the damage to plate armors as its predecessor. With two spiked balls instead of one, this beauty is available for sale now.
Length: 45 cm.
Price: 3 shillings


Axe weapons:

Francisca (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/francisca.jpg)
The Fransisca, so named for its Frankish origins, can be used by your soldiers both as a throwing weapon and for close-quarters combat. Its graceful lines are legendary but the upswept point and downturned edge are both capable of penetrating chainmail.
* 46cm Overall Length
* 9cm Blade Length
* Weighs 0.550Kg
Price: 1 shilling


Bearded Axe (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/beardedaxe.jpg)
These fine cutting tools can double as weapons of war should the need arise. Simply arm your peasants with these weapons and they will do just fine if they should be atacked. Our Bearded Axe is capable of cleaving helms or armour with impunity.
* 77cm Overall Length
* 15cm Blade Length
* Weighs 2.000Kg
Price: 2 shillings

Hero`s Axe (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/heroaxe.jpg)
The legendary double axe has long been associated with heroes and heroics, and the Hero’s Axe perpetuates the legend. Almost 80cm overall with 25cm polished edges, fearsome but with graceful lines and studded decoration, this axe is the ultimate combination of form and function. Leather edge covers for the tempered edges are provided for safe portability. This axe is made mostly for aristocrats that choose to use an axe in combat.
* 80cm Overall Length
* 25cm Blade Length
* Weighs 1.825Kg
Price: 10 shillings


Daggers:

Pugio (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/pugio.jpg)
Very much a close-quarters weapon, the short-bladed Pugio was a standard part of every Roman infantryman's equipment.
* 32cm Overall Length
* 20cm Blade Length
* Weighs 0.450Kg
Price: 3 shillings

Saxon Scramasax Dagger (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/scramasax.jpg)
The Scramasax, carried by the Saxons and Vikings is utilized as both a tool and a weapon. Carried horizontally at the back of the belt, the sax provides the spearman with a close-quarters weapon when needed, and its broad blade can handle many day-to-day chores.
* 45.5cm Overall Length
* 30.5 Blade Length
* Weighs 0.550Kg
Price: 2 shillings

Small Saxon Scramasax - Bone Handle (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/smallscramsax.jpg)
The Scramasax is a utility knife and tool. It is carried horizontally on the back of the belt for concealment and easy access. If primary weapons are lost, the scramasax makes an ideal last-resort combat weapon.
* 18cm Overall Length
* 9cm Blade Length
* Weighs 0.150Kg
Price: 4 pence (1 shilling=12 pence)

Aristocratic dagger (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/aristocraticdagger.jpg)
This highly stylized dagger, with its eagle-motif hilt and curved blade is made for use by our beloved nobles and their personal guard. As the price reflects the work done on the handle, its the dagger of choice for any soldier with a higher position. They make perfect gifts for your officers to get their loialty.
* 40cm Overall Length
Price: 8 shillings

Richard the Lionheart dagger (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/lionheart.jpg)
A copy of the dagger that Richard the Lionheart carried with him in his quest for Jerusalem more then 100 years ago. Made after the original thats kept by one of his ancestors, this dagger is truly perfect. A nobleman`s dagger only.
* 35cm Overall Length
Price: 15 shillings


Spears:

Thrusting spear head without shaft (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/thrustingspear.jpg)
The Thrusting Spear is more commonly used than the sword, being much less expensive to produce. The wings or lugs, both limit the penetration of the weapon and provide an effective parrying guard. All you have to do is add the wooden part to make a complete spear.
* 41cm Overall Length
* Weighs 0.625Kg
Price: 2 shillings


Throwing Spear Head without shaft (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/throwingspear.jpg)
The Nordic warrior frequently carries several light throwing spears into combat. This style displays the narrow, sharply pointed head designed to pierce mail. Several spears might be carried in the shield hand in a charge. These are thrown as the distance closes, leaving the warrior free to use his sword or axe in hand-to-hand fighting.
* 41cm Overall Length
* Weighs 0.350Kg
Price: 1 shillings


Short bladed spear head (without shaft) (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/shortbladedspear.jpg)
Yet another type of thrusting spear. The short blade, inherently stiffer and more resistant to bending or breaking, is capable of piercing any body armor available today.
* 24cm Overall Length
* Weighs 0.400Kg
Price: 1 shilling


Roman Pilum (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/romanpillum.jpg)
The Roman trooper typically carried at least one Pilum, a weapon as intrinsic to Roman combat tactics as the short sword. The Pilum had a long, relatively soft iron shaft which, though certainly capable of penetrating its intended target, was likely to bend on striking armor or the ground, thus making it useless to be thrown back. A common tactic when using the Pilum against troops with shields was to pierce the opponent’s shield, whereupon the shaft would bend, making extraction difficult. The opposing soldier, thus encumbered, was likely to throw down his shield, losing his defense against the infamous Roman short sword.
* 221cm Overall Length
* 81cm Blade Length
* Weighs 1.450Kg
Price: 10 pence


Swords

Dordogne Sword (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/frenchsword.jpg)
Typical design for a cut-and-thrust sword, cheap and effective. One of the prefered swords of the soldiers.
* 88cm Overall Length
* 69cm Blade Length
* Weighs 1.425Kg
Price: 3 shillings


English sword (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/englishsword.jpg)
The clean, graceful lines and excellent handling characteristics have made it one of our most popular swords.
* 90cm Overall Length
* 69cm Blade Length
Price: 5 shillings


Celtic sword (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/celticsword.jpg)
A true celtic weapon, for the patriot in you. Feel the power of the celtic warrior while using this sword and thrust it at your enemies.
* 78cm Overall Length
* 60cm Blade Length
* Weighs 1.250Kg
Price: 5 shillings


Hand and a half sword (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/handhalfsword.jpg)
This combat sword has excellent balance, providing a sword which lends itself to both single and two-handed use.
* 98cm Overall Length
* 69cm Blade Length
* Weighs 1.5Kg
Price: 10 shillings


Two-hand sword (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/twohandsword.jpg)
This an imposing yet well-balanced two-handed sword. Featuring a triple-fullered blade, steel S-curve guard and scent stopper pommel, this is a desirable piece for the well-armed soldier.
* 122cm Overall Length
* 89cm Blade Length
* Weighs 2.15Kg
Price: 12 shillings


Claymore sword (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/claymore.jpg)
Typically of hand-and-a-half length, this versatile weapon can deliver great sweeping slashes or powerful thrusts. It has distinctive sloping quillons terminating in quatrefoils and a high-collared quillon block with langets following the blade fuller. The leather-covered grip is topped by a globate pommel. Usually carried slung on the back.
* 140cm Overall Length
* 104cm Blade Length
* Weighs 1.6Kg
Price: 15 shillings

The King`s sword (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/edwardsword.jpg)
This is the sword that our king himself carried before he died. Well, it looks just like it anyway and its just as powerfull. For those of you that dream to take his place, or just have a sword as beautifull as your high rank is, this is the one for you. The fittings are undoubtedly those of a king, from the heavy gilding to the adder-skin grip to the beautifully enamelled coat of arms. The flattened diamond-section blade bears the emblem of the Order of the Garter, badge of the Knights of St. George, founded by Edward. This well-balanced sword may be wielded single-handed or hand-and-a-half style and would give an excellent account of itself in the field of battle.
* 84cm Blade Length
* 107cm Overall Length
* Weighs 1.375Kg
Price: 100 shillings

Shields

Buckler (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/buckler.jpg)
The small round shield known as the buckler is quite popular these days. Many soldiers preferre this to the fullsize shield to be able to move more quickly. Also, the buckler can be hung from the sword scabbard when two hands were needed for a pike or staff weapon.
Diameter: 40 cm.
Weight: 1,75 kg.
Price: 1 shilling

Trojan War Shield (http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y159/muahdib/trojanshield.jpg)
Made after the shields used by the trojans in those old times, this shield can be used easily with a spear, while protecting the soldier.
Dimensions: 110cm*90cm
Weight: 3,8 kg
Price: 4 shillings

reserved (secret bump)

Your prices... are high. Considering that a kitchen worker might make 2 shillings a year.

Your prices... are high. Considering that a kitchen worker might make 2 shillings a year.

Not really...i used prices from the 13-14th century....found a website with some prices they took from a book
The wage for the infantry in 1346 was 2 pence / day ... that means 5 shillings/month or 60 per year
The wage for a simple worker was max. 2 pounds /year (40 shillings) around the year 1300.
The kitchen servant was making 2-4 shillings/year indeed , but those are money to be spent as they wish. He also got clothes worth about 3 shillings every year...and his food costed the lord 1 pence/day. Thats 30 shillings/year for the food of the kitchen servant. Add all that...and it comes to at least 35 shillings spent on a simple servant.

Another example...an apprentice in an armorer`s shop got 6 pence/day...thats 180 shillings /year while the master armorer got around 300 shillings. Seems armours were really valuable those days :)
Anyway, some of these wages were 10-20 years apart....they are from the late 13th century or from the 14th....prices varied a lot....and there`s no way to tell exactly how much everything costed at a specific time.

I tried to make them as real as possible. If you know any websites that have prices for weapons for the begining of the 14th century please let me know :)

As you can see...i did my homework before putting up this storefront :p
Not many sources for prices in the 14th century, but i tried to balance them as well as i could.

Quite. I have access to the same site you do.

And they list the price of a (cheap) sword as six pence. An axe at 5 pence.
Consider the wages of an armourer, as you did. An armourer might make 24 shillings a month. A good sword, which wouldn't likely take more than a week to fabricate and more likely only half a week, might then be priced at about 10 shillings, at most, for a fairly high quality weapon, especially considering that the metal itself would not be terribly expencive... an iron plough 1 foot long, according to your site, would cost about 5 pence.

Further, spearheads, axes, and morningstars all use considerably less metal and take much less time to forge, making prices closer to 2 shillings more reasonable... I can't see any spearhead taking much longer than two days for a master smith to forge.

Admittedly, these are rough prices, but inflation wasn't as severe back then, so the changes from year to year on average weren't terrible. And I believe the wage listings are in equivelent goods and services, not in cash. So the kitchen servent's food and shelter would be deducted from those two shillings, not added to.

I think.

Hmm...good point...i`ll change some of the prices in the afternoon when i have more time
The cheap sword is not in the storefront however. But now that you reminded me...the 1 shilling dagger seems to be more like 3 pences now. I`ll probably cut the prices in half for many of the weapons. Check back in about 12 hours please and tell me if it seems ok...its 6 AM now and i`m too tired to start playing with the prices.
About the inflation, the site mentions somewhere that even the number of pences that went into a shilling varied sometimes. Anyway, i guess it all depends....you cant really say that a weapon made in 1300 woulnt differ greatly from one made in 1340 as a price. Different kings, taxes, inflation, wars and again new taxes for them. Lots of things i guess that can influence the price of a weapon. Also, the craft of the weapon also has an influence. That if its an expensive one.
Anyway...my mistake was that i gave them more time then they really needed to make the weapons. I thought it would take more time for them to be made. The morning star had those pointy things that i though would take some time, the spears had those decorations in the metal....etc :)
I usually charged a little extra if they had decorations :)

Anyway....long post...not much said...i`ll change those that you pointed out in the afternoon...and thx for the help.

Erm...almost forgot....it doesnt make sence to me that a simple worker had a wage of 40 shillings and a kitchen servant only 2. And from those 2 shillings he should also pay for food and clothes? Doesnt make much sence. If it was like that kitchen servants would`ve run like crazy to get jobs as workers :p
I`d say its more likely it was 2 shillings for wage and his lord provided him with what else he needed.

ahh...yeah...just remembered...The Black Death swept through Europe in 1348...so that kind`off messed up the economies too i guess.

eyewitnesstohistory.com says that between 25 and 50% of the population in Europe died in those few years.

My mistake, I think you're right about the kitchen servent making that much in cash... forgot they got to keep all the broken meats and breads, and would stay in the house of their employer... all things that didn't cost their employer anything, but woiuld be worth a fair bit.

To be perfectly frank, as long as the equipment is relatively decent, quality of weapons doesn't matter en mass. my troops will be getting boiled leather armour, possibly a metal helmet, and decent pikes. I don't plan on spending more than five shillings on each one's equipment. Most of the stuff you're selling, judging from the pictures, are display or funureyweapons that wouldn't actually see combat. They're meant to look pretty, not be used.

Also, what you call a morningstar is more properly a flail. Cavalry flail, judging from the length of the shaft. Morning stars weren't on chains.

true...they might run away with the equipment if its too expensive :d
anyway...i found a more complete list somewhere...and gives the price of 6 pence for a lance , 5-7 shillings for a large crosbow, 1-2 shillings for a longbow...also prices for arrows and other stuff....thats for 1300-1350 time period.
I`ll start modifying the prices now and add new equipment sometime in the afternoon (horses, armor, longbows, crosbows and whatever i can find with some decent prices from that period)
If you`ll want to buy something...remember...this doesnt go into my budget...its just a random merchant...you can buy with no worries that you`re making me rich :p.
btw....give me an email or a messenger id if you can...i helped Sanctaphrax make a list with prices and upkeep for soldiers in those times....and i`d like to check it with you...maybe you can help me with the possible flaws that it has.

Just a :::tag::: for now.

Greetings Boyo tis i Rodbert Carrdygr of The Free City Of Harlech
Wishing to send my deepest and warmest regards.

The Free City Of Harlech wishes to purchase:
300 Pugio 900 Shillings
500 Saxon Scramasax Dagger 1000 Shillings
40 Aristocratic dagger 320 Shillings
800 Thrusting spear head without shaft 1600 Shillings
1400 Throwing Spear Head without shaft 1400 Shillings
600 Short bladed spear head (without shaft) 600 Shillings
400 Dordogne Sword 1200 Shillings
200 English sword 1000 Shillings
800 Celtic sword 4000 Shillings
200 Two-hand sword 2400 Shillings
1800 Buckler 1800 Shillings

Total:16220

Greetings Boyo tis i Rodbert Carrdygr of The Free City Of Harlech
Wishing to send my deepest and warmest regards.

The Free City Of Harlech wishes to purchase:
300 Pugio 900 Shillings
500 Saxon Scramasax Dagger 1000 Shillings
40 Aristocratic dagger 320 Shillings
800 Thrusting spear head without shaft 1600 Shillings
1400 Throwing Spear Head without shaft 1400 Shillings
600 Short bladed spear head (without shaft) 600 Shillings
400 Dordogne Sword 1200 Shillings
200 English sword 1000 Shillings
800 Celtic sword 4000 Shillings
200 Two-hand sword 2400 Shillings
1800 Buckler 1800 Shillings

Total:16220

Ay, my lad. That is quite a handsome order you have here. My boys will come and bring you the weapons, three months from now, and take the money for them. Rest assured, these are the finest weapons that can be bought around here, and i`m sure you will make good use for them.

Rodbert Carrdygr
In Honestly me lad we be in a bit of a 'urry to see the lands of me birth is their anythin' we coul' take with us nowo?

Time is short we have 3000 Shillings on hand what can ye offer?
We would also like to inquere about Trebuchet's,Onagers and more more mighty Stead's for our men 'ungry for 'battle'!

We depart in 2 days.

Rodbert Carrdygr Lord of Clarryarn Bailey
Marshall of the South Marsh
(OOC)*I hate trying to talk Welsh right now its a mixture of that Scottish and BS

OOC: Your two handed sword is lighter than your hand and a half, thats not historically right. I'd day 1.5-1.7kg for a hand and a half with 2kg for a two hander. But you've got the other weights pretty much spot on :)

OOC: Your two handed sword is lighter than your hand and a half, thats not historically right. I'd day 1.5-1.7kg for a hand and a half with 2kg for a two hander. But you've got the other weights pretty much spot on :)

ooc: Thanks:) ... modified

OOC: Calpe, need to talk to you on MSN.
Kel, want to talk to you on MSN.

OOC: I've started an 'available tech' thread in the MB...