Navarr economic interests

A common Navarr philosophy is that wealth is measured in the number of allies you have, not the coins in your pocket. Few Navarr have much interest in personal wealth. Trade is a means of making allies and ensuring that people have the things they need rather than a way for merchants to enrich themselves. The Navarr are well aware of the value of money and don't avoid its acquisition, it's just that most of them count allies as considerably more valuable than possessions.

Although the Navarr stridings are small, they play an important role in the Imperial economy. They specialise in moving valuable items, people and messages around the Empire. The Navarr may be the only people that some isolated communities see for months on end. From the earliest days of the Empire they acted as couriers, carrying important messages to far-flung places. They also act as guides, escorting individuals on difficult treks between nations.

The Navarr expect everyone to work in the best interest of their steading or striding

Part-way between a steading and a striding are the Wayhouses. Built along the Trods outside the Navarr heartland, the wayhouses are generally small - often no more than an inn and perhaps a few cottages - and are maintained as places for travellers to rest and recuperate before continuing on their journeys. Wayhouses also serve as places of sanctuary - when someone "runs away to join the Navarr" they often run to a Wayhouse near their home, and are generally welcomed by the Navarr there. These places can also operate quite effectively as businesses - Freeborn caravans find welcome respite here, for example.

The Navarr also look to invest in the Empire. Sometimes this takes the form of arranging vital supplies to each the place where they will do the most good, but occasionally a Navarr trader will find a valuable resource that she is not in a position to exploit herself, or that is already being run by someone in an isolated position. When this happens, the Navarr trader may invest in that resource, helping to maintain and improve it, in return for a cut of the profits. This leads to some Navarr being responsible for resources in far-flung, isolated parts of other Nations rather than for resources in their own territories.

Like the Freeborn, the Navarr sometimes travel beyond the borders bringing back rare goods not found inside the Empire. The trade of dyes and pigments, spices and rare herbs is the what the Navarr are most commonly known for, but they also bring to the Empire unique flora from the deep forests that are especially prized by physicians and mages alike. However, for those rich enough, a ship or house built of Navarr hewn timber from the great trees of the heartwoods is a prize beyond reckoning. Across the Empire, Navarr-carved lintels and door frames are widely known for their properties of warding and defence. From dinner plates to spear-hafts, where timber is concerned the Navarr trade in the best.