Scorrero Nets
Overview
The Scorrero Nets are located along the banks of the Scorrero in northernmost Oranseri in the Freeborn territory of Feroz. Custodianship of the Scorrero Nets grants an Imperial title; a seat on the Imperial Bourse; and a seasonal bounty of valuable ilium.
The Resource
A wise Hakima learnt by chance many years ago that the Scorrero carries ilium in its waters, washed from the land and carried towards the sea. Now nets are placed in the water at key points, primarily along the length of the Scorrero that runs through Feroz, to sieve out the precious material before it can be lost forever.
This Bourse position produces 5 rings of Ilium every season.
- Reference water and meteorites
- Reference proximity of Siroc
- The nets presumably also bring up Ilium from the Bay of Catazar rather than just from the river (otherwise they would be further up stream). Possibly it is a place where people who dredge ilium up sell it?
The workers are organised into gangs, with each gang having ownership of a net, and control of a pitch. There are many official pitches along the banks of the Scorrero close to Oranseri, but further up the river where the pickings are leaner it can seem like open warfare between the net gangs, as well as constant issues between claim jumpers, and wild-catters from Siroc who are considered worst of all.
Claim jumpers and wild-catters are not the only dangers of the river. Throughought its length the Scorrero is wide, deep, and has subtle but strong currents, ready to take the unwary. Many a worker is lost, never mind all the other objects and detritus that get swept into tho river. As a result, other net gangs started to appear, without license to draw in Illium, but able to clear the river of everything but.
A wise Hakima learnt by chance many years ago that the Scorrero carries ilium in its waters, washed from the land and carried towards the sea. Now nets are placed in the water at key points, primarily along the length of the Scorrero that runs through Feroz, to sieve out the precious material before it can be lost forever. According to the locals, there are two truisms about the Scorrero. First, that there will always be nets. Second, there will always be the gangs to tend them.
The gangs first started appearing once the scope of the ilium catch was realised. What could have been worked by one was suddenly taken by two. The gangs formed for protection as much as to work their part of the river at first, but many have also used their numbers to enable some extremely aggressive negotiations for ever larger claims.
There are many official pitches along the banks of the Scorrero close to Oranseri, but further up the river where the pickings are leaner it can seem like open warfare between the net gangs, as well as constant issues between claim jumpers, and wild-catters from Siroc who are considered worst of all.
Claim jumpers and wild-catters are not the only dangers of the river. Throughought its length the Scorrero is wide, deep, and has subtle but strong currents, ready to take the unwary. Workers must be constantly on the alert for detritus swept into and carried along by the river, so that many fashion their own protective working clothes, sometimes the equal of sturdy armour. Of course, the waterlogged weight of such clothing brings its own risks.
One of the most dangerous tasks on the net is not actually the Ilium farmer, but that of Net Rigger. It is the Rigger’s task to ensure the net is clear and in good repair, and it is the Riggers who are most likely to end up face down, caught in the nets of another gang.
It is because their task is so dangerous that the Riggers have almost developed their own sorority. If a Rigger is found in a net, they will be brought out of the river, cleaned and washed, and carried in state back to their own gang. On the way every Rigger they pass will join the funereal procession, all of them singing The Rigger’s Dirge. Even the gang bosses know to let them pass without incident.