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Get your own Free Home PageCaravan companies were started with the establishment of IBM during the reign of Theodore the Greedy. For hundreds of years (since the reign of Rhonda) the various miners guilds had supplied Kron with gold, silver, gems and other precious metals. However, Kron's main source of revenue was not the mines, it was the iron ore which is abundant in the Red Mountains. The guilds had always depended on their own transportation and routes. Each miners guild (there was one miners guild for each type of ore) had its own set of troops in order to protect the caravans.
These trade routes were dynamic and dangerous for quite some time after Rhonda, but in due time the lines became established and safe - at least from Giants, Trolls and Dragons. The miners guilds each had a small standing army, and squirmishes over caravan routes into the Mountains were becoming wars. Furthermore, the guilds themselves were developing factions - the Dwarven heavy mining side of the operation would often bicker with the Human heavy trade route side.
Theodore's reign is not one which the people of Kron like to look back on because of the purges, witch hunts and the establishment of the Ministry of Peace. However, one lasting thing from Theodore's reign is the first caravan company, IBM. (The name stands for I've Been Moved - clever, for a caravan company). Most people who live under Kronian influence would agree that IBM has been a facilitator of strength and stability in the region.
There is much debate amongst historians about how much Theodore himself had to do with the establishment of IBM. The idea that a guild could be established which had no skill or purpose other than protection and maintenance of trade routes was considered absurd by many of the aristocracy of the day. However, a small group of investors and visionaries started just such a guild. At first the mining guilds were reticent to use a small, un-proven company to transport and protect such valuable material. Furthermore, the standing armies of the mining companies would not allow their livelihood to be threatened in this way.
So the IBM investors did not start with the mining companies, but with the farmers and fishermen of the Eastern Seaboard. At first the farmers were skeptical of the idea. However, after a few farmers were able to use IBM's services to expand into areas which had previously been considered too dangerous and far from the city, IBM began to grow. Soon most farmers used IBM to transport their grains, fruits and vegetables to the city.
IBM not only served the farmers, but also handled the trading routes from such fishing towns and villages as Kracne, Lookout and Silopanna. Still, the mining guilds, which were IBM's customer goal were uninterested until a series of incidents took place. [It has been suggested by some historians that these incidents were orchestrated by IBM, but nothing has ever been proven, and IBM has no comment on such outrageous lies].
The first incident was an attack on the copper guild's trade line. A copper dragon, seemingly annoyed about the removal of copper from the mountains, destroyed several shipments of copper. Usually, dragons were interested in the loot available from the caravans rather than in the disruption of trade. Yet this particular dragon never took the fruits of his deadly exploits, but seemed to be bent on ending the trade routes from the copper rich mines to the Kronian lands. Every time a new trade route was found, it was destroyed by the dragon.
Several companies of adventurers and militia were sent out in search of the dragon never to be heard from again. Furthermore, the ranks of the militia were cowardly from long years of inactivity. Hence the dragon held the upper hand. Soon the brass (no pun intended) was fed up with the inability of the guild to deal with the dragon situation. So they hired IBM on a trial basis. It was never discovered how IBM was able to mollify or defeat the copper dragon. Thereafter the copper guild used IBM for transportation. Many of the copper guild militia were recruited and joined IBM.
The second incident concerned guerrilla terrorist attacks on the Gem Miners Guild (called the Guild of Thrandoor). These attacks came from a para-military group which would perpetrate random violence on the Thrandoor Guild caravan lines. The Thrandoor Guild, located in a dangerous part of the mountains, was soon cut off from succor. The attacks of the para-military group were random, brutal and hidden, making it difficult for the militia to find and capture the culprits. Some terrorists were apprehended, but the debilitating attacks continued. Small groups of people could make the crossing, but any covered wagons or carts were attacked. The Thrandoor guild heard about the work IBM did with the copper dragon, and decided to hire them. IBM was able to establish safe conduct. The attacks of the para-military group stopped, but no-one from the group was apprehended and punshished.
The last event was the clincher. It happened because two guilds, the Iron guild and the Silver guild were forced into using the same trade route through the hills. All other routes had been cut off by groups of bugbears and trolls. The use of alternate routes was not uncommon - the monsters and demons of the mountains have great power. However, there were two unusual things about this case.
The first irregularity was the fact that the two guilds forced to use the same route were the Iron guild and the Silver guild. These two guilds were notorious for their hatred of each other. The two guild leaders were bitter enemies, and therefore the guilds themselves were enemies. These two guilds were the richest and most powerful guilds, and they often vied with each other for political power in the city of Kron.
The second irregularity was the length of time which alternate routes were kept untenable by the evil beasts in the mountains. Often, guilds would have to share routes for a short period of time, but extended use of the same route was unheard of - simply because of the administrative problems (i.e., the two sides often fought).
For some months, however, a relative truce existed between the Silver and Iron guilds as they looked for alternative routes - anything - which would not put them in the way of each other. Yet every time a new route was found or the guild tried to re-establish an old route they were thwarted by bands of goblins or bugbears or ogres or whatever. The whatever were the worst.
Soon the inevitable happened - two large shipments were scheduled for the same week on the same route. The militia armies got into a scuffle, which was the tinder that started the fire. A small war broke out on the plains leading to the western border of the outermost Kronian provinces.
When King Theodore heard about the guild war, he believed it would die out soon enough, and peace would again show her visage. After the third week of fighting, Theodore had to step in. He sent an army comprised of Strong Arm fighters and forced the two warring factions to desist. The two leaders of the guild were brought in for a face to face resolution meeting, with King Theodore as the mediator.
It became clear that while the mining guilds maintained their own private militias, clashes of this nature were inevitable. Further, these clashes destabilized the Kingdom of Kron. Theodore was close to forcing the guilds to give up their independent protection and transportation mechanisms and turn it all over to the Kronian aristocracy. Neither of the guild leaders wanted that solution, but the Kronian King had a large army and many allies. The smaller local militias could not defy such an order if it were struck.
Strangely enough, one of the principals from IBM had been made aware of these meetings (imagine that!). He went to both parties independently - offering a deal; IBM would take over the transportation duties, and the mining guilds could concentrate on their core competency - mining. The guilds could keep their militias for protection of the mines, but all transportation would be handled by the IBM caravan company. "Furthermore," argued the salesperson, "look at the success we have had with these other mining and farming operations."
The two guilds leaders considered this solution to be the lesser of two evils, and agreed to use IBM.
After IBM got the Silver guild and the Iron guild
under their wing, they lost interst in the farming and fishing
business. Other caravan companies stepped in and took those interests
away from IBM, who was now called "Big Iron," colloquially.
Too late, IBM realized that the income from these smaller businesses
was a nice subsidiary - smaller margins of profit - but large
volume. IBM has plans to retake these markets from Apple and DEC.
Apple is known for transporting fruits, grains and other food stuffs from city to city. However, its largest profit comes from transporting liquor. Its main suppliers are farmers and distillers which abound in the Kronian Provinces. Apple is well known to everyone who has some business dealings or association with the various farmers markets in the city of Kron.
IBM is known as "Big Iron," and its main source of income is from transporting quantities of Iron and other Ores to the buyers (usually the military of the city states). Although IBM has its largest presence in the Kronian lands, it has divisions in the Far South and Far West. These divisions are fledgling operations where the company is currently losing money. However, the board of directors of IBM believe that there is a large up-side potential in those areas, so they are willing to accept losses - for a while. The largest competition in the Southern and Western human lands are local caravan lines maintained by the guilds of the area. IBM maintains its own small army of mercenary fighters for protection of the trade lines. There is a large Dwarven influence in the IBM company.
DEC is the caravan company which transport's people and anything else that IBM and Apple do not already carry. Pieces of furniture, antiques, building materials, and any sort of finished product falls under the purview of DEC. Since DEC transports people, it is the best known of the caravan companies to the common people of the Eastern Seaboard. When traveling between cities, it is common for those who can afford the prices to go with a DEC caravan. DEC maintains a fleet of carriages, carriage horses and other conveniences for travel. Although the transportation of people is a large portion of DEC's revenue, most of its money comes from the cargo it transports. Unlike Apple and IBM, whose main source of income is for transporting raw material, be it ore or wheat, DEC tends to be used for finished products. Cut gems, shipments of finished gold pieces, artwork, steel (rather than iron), weapons and any other types of finished product are under the purview of DEC. Although IBM is still the largest of the three main caravan companies, DEC is growing quickly, and has already overtaken Apple in terms of size. So, although DEC is the youngest of the three main caravan companies, it is not the smallest.
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