How much does it cost to build a kaer?

Discussion on game mastering Earthdawn. May contain spoilers; caution is recommended!
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Kosmit
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Re: How much does it cost to build a kaer?

Post by Kosmit » Sat Aug 19, 2017 11:40 am

Guys, back on the topic ;)

I have a kaer, I thought about cedaver men as a labour force but still have to activate old wards and provide air and water for about 10-15 Namegivers.

So... to get it running I would need a Warden elementalist. Time to make some friends...

I don't need to prepare it for Scourge. Just to make it harder for enemies to find :D

Telarus
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Re: How much does it cost to build a kaer?

Post by Telarus » Sat Aug 19, 2017 11:46 pm

Oops, I mis-remembered my notes. Pay for "b'jados" (literally "trading house heroes") is 200 Sp/Circle/Month. So 50 Sp/Circle/Week. Much more in line with the Forging costs. From my notes (Throal the Dwarf Kingdom, 640 'Standing Armies'):
(Summary) All of the trading houses of Throal have the equivalent of standing "private" armies, and many hold bands of adventuring adepts on retainer (known as "b'jados", literal translation "trading house heroes"). Average pay for a b'jados is 200 silver per month per Circle, most also receiving upt to a 10% discount on goods purchased through the affiliated house. Regular employees are known as "j'havim".

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The Undying
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Re: How much does it cost to build a kaer?

Post by The Undying » Sun Aug 20, 2017 3:57 am

@Kosmit

Seems like you might be asking two different questions. How much does it cost to BUILD a kaer, and how much does it cost to, I dunno, RESTART, a kaer.

BUILDING a kaer is in no way cheap. Something like dozens of villages, probably one or two towns, all had to come together to afford a shared kaer, and that was with selling friends and family into slavery to the Therans. Ardanyan (not really a spoiler here) was an anomaly as a single town able to afford their very own kaer, without selling people into slavery as well, because of the huge stash of True Earth they found. I believe that's the only real information that's provided. If you're trying to turn that into monies, I'd still put it at 100,000s of gold (plus all the slaves), mainly because a Journeyman Adept can start amassing 1,000s fairly easily.

RESTARTING/REPAIRING is relaly gonna depend on why you have a kaer in the first place. The kaer remained unbreached, the people left and forgot about it? Probably just need to clear it out, refresh any of the wards (which should be in good shape, just dormant), and you're done. Kaer failed in some way? You might be better off leaving it abandoned. You have to figure out exactly WHY it failed in the first place (which is likely a daunting task) and then either repair or replace it, which is likely something that would require a Warden+ of the associated Discipline (probably one of the magicians, depending on the broken thing).

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