Arratan Gamble
Overview
The Arratan Gamble stands in northern Enterio, in the League territory of Tassato. Custodianship of the Arratan Gamble grants an Imperial title; a seat on the Imperial Bourse; and a seasonal bounty of valuable white granite.
The Resource
The Gamble is a large quarry; is claimed that on a clear day the Arratan Gamble is visible from the tallest spires of the city. It has a singularly bad reputation, and several previous holders of the seat have been ruined. Some claim that the quarry is cursed, while others claim that the real problem is the people of Tassato Regario who resent anyone other than a fellow Regario citizen claiming it.
In addition to the white granite produced in the Gamble, the quarries of Entario are known for producing fine masonry stone using in construction throughout Tassato and the central Empire.
The Arratan Gamble is an Imperial Bourse position which produces white granite. It is allocated to any Imperial citizen by open auction during the Summer solstice. This Bourse position produces 25 Imperial wains of white granite each season.
The Gamble is a large quarry; it is claimed that on a clear day the Arratan Gamble is visible from the tallest spires of the city.
Official records have always named the quarry Arratan Gamble, but the quarry has also been known as Lerner’s Folly, and most often The Poor Choice. The reason is simple; as the ruination of many a citizen, the quarry is believed to be cursed.
Ernesto Lerner was the first of the victims claimed by the quary. An inveterate gambler, he lost one roll of the dice too many and was hurled off the top of the quarry by his many debtors. Rumour has it that every citizen that had a had a hand on him at the top had been given the full production of white granite as collateral.
After that follows a litany of unfortunate seat holders; one poisoned by an apple, another stabbed whilst at the theatre. One notable was killed when Mighty Franco, the largest single block of white granite ever raised from the quarry, somehow toppled over and crushed her.
Of course, those of a more rational persuasion do not believe the Gamble to be cursed. Many of them blame the dissolute lives of the victims themselves, and blame poor tallies on the workers themselves. For their part, the workers state the quarry needs an Empress (conveniently ignoring the hundreds of years where there was a sitting Empress).
The wisest, though, keep themselves to themselves, apportion the bounty with a stoic pragmaticism, and try to stay away from workers and upset debtors.