In Summer, under the direction of the Steward and the Squire, the merchants’ guild invited two new merchant craftsmen to take up business in Ayre: A toymaker and a tailor, and their families. The first new family to move in to Ayre was the Faber family, toy makers.
A welcoming committee came to see the Lubberts soon after they arrived in Ayre. The gentry was represented by the Squire. Natalia Stroganov and her mother, Tatiana, represented the merchants, and Brodie McGobhan, the Blacksmith, represented the craftsmen.
The Squire was accompanied by one of the men-at-arms, Oakes, who checked the stability of the old supports in the kitchen and then chatted with Justis as the boy prepared sandwiches for the guests.
When the meal was ready, everyone sat together at the kitchen table, except for Brodie, the blacksmith. Karin noticed him brooding and wondered about him, but he did not join the meal, and eventually left, without speaking to anyone.
After lunch, another guest arrived. Her name was Destiny Honeycutt, and she was the daughter of Rourke Honeycutt, who ran the squire’s orchard and beekeeping enterprise. Meeting so many new people in one day made Karin feel overwhelmed. She preferred being alone, usually sewing, and lots of people or public places made her anxious.
Destiny welcomed Karin to the village. She was thrilled that another girl close to her age and station had moved in, because she had been the only girl, aside from the peasantry. Destiny’s mother had never let her play with children below her station, so she had grown up alone. However, Anais Honeycutt had sent Destiny to introduce herself to Karin. Anais was glad that a girl Destiny’s age, who worshipped the Allfather, and was at least a step above her daughter’s station, had moved in to the community, and felt that it was imperative that Destiny befriend Karin.
That evening, as Karin cleaned and mulled over the conversation, she realized she would definitely like to be friends with Destiny. Destiny seemed kind and she had a peaceful demeanor about her. She decided, if her father allowed, she would go to matins the next day. She was concerned that Destiny may have mistaken her shyness for dislike, and hoped to convey to Destiny that she would like to be friends.
Justis slept in the main room. As he prepared for bed, Justis wondered if he would find a friend in Ayre. Justis wanted a friend. Oakes had been fine company, but he was so much older than Justis and was a soldier.
Lubbert climbed into the bed in his chambers, alone, as usual. The children’s mother had died giving birth to Justis, the younger one. Lubbert had never remarried. His focus was his craft and his business. To him, a new wife would mean training her to do as she was told, and that did not appeal to him. In their previous home, they had a couple of servants, and if all went well with the shop, he expected to hire on someone to help either at the shop or the house, soon. A servant was of more benefit than a wife, Lubbert thought.
Early the next morning, in their home workshop, Lubbert and Justis discussed the crafting to be done, and the running of the shop. There were hours remaining till dawn, and they decided to work in their home workshop until breakfast. Justis would begin building up the stock of wooden toys while Lubbert created jack-in-the-box toys. Meanwhile, Karin worked on the sewing and later, would prepare breakfast.
At breakfast, after serving her father and brother, Karin asked to go to matins. She hoped to see Destiny there; Destiny had said she went to mass every day. Lubbert said she may go, and then return to her duties at home. He and Justis were going to stock the new shop with toys, and open for business.
Karin went outside. She could see the small Squire’s chapel from the front door, beyond the Manor Keep, across from the wheat field. With her heart thumping in her chest, and her palms sweating, Karin ventured to matins at the Squire’s chapel. Unfortunately, Destiny was not there, but Karin met Leonid Stroganov and Destiny’s father, Rourke Honeycutt.
Later that evening, after the men had returned from the shop, Destiny came to visit Karin. Destiny’s father had told her that Karin had inquired about her at matins. Justis seemed happy to see Destiny, too.
Karin watched her new friend. She was reserved with her brother.
Destiny and Karin played chess, while Karin’s father and brother discussed the book Justis was studying about wood sculpting. When it was time for Destiny to leave, Karin walked with her to the door. She asked Destiny if she knew anything about the brooding blacksmith, and learned that Destiny’s parents were negotiating betrothal, for Destiny, with Brodie McGobhan. Destiny told Karin that Brodie mourned the violent death of his wife at their prior village, and Karin shuddered as Destiny relayed the sad story as she had heard it.
At supper, the family discussed the progress of the shop. In the first day of business, very few customers had come in, but a few more came the second day. The Sir Bricks-a-Lot were flying off the shelves, and after dinner, Lubbert and Justis planned to work long into the night to make more to restock the shop. Lubbert instructed his daughter to clean up and then continue to hone her sewing skills so that she could create dolls that would command a good price.
As she stood up from supper, Karin felt a cramping pain in her abdomen. When she went to bathe before bed, her braies were bloody. Her moon cycle had begun.
After crafting for a few hours, Justis went to wash before bed, but his toilet was much more relaxed and carefree than that of his sister.
Early the next morning, the family headed to the shop. Lubbert was worried that without Karin, they would not be able to keep up with the demand, if it increased again, and so he required his daughter to accompany them despite her pleas to stay home and work there.
The first customer early that morning, was Seth Bailey, the prison warden. Justis greeted him, wondering if the warden was there to enforce the law. Seth shared that he was looking for something to give to two boys (the Wise brothers) that they would enjoy. Justis recommended the dragons or the Sir-Bricks-A-Lot. Or, if he could return in a few days, they might have a kite. Boys usually loved kites.
Meanwhile, Karin, who had been sent to fetch wood, was hiding behind the shop as long as she dared.
When she returned inside, and gave the wood to her father for his crafting, her brother was bargaining with an elderly woman who seemed very excited about the wooden horse sculpture. Her name was Zelda and she said she had several children. She traded the sculpture for a basket of tree nuts and several baskets of elderberries.
Later that morning, a girl about Karin’s age wandered in and looked a bit lost. Karin knew her father would want her to offer assistance and direct her to one of the toys to buy, but Karin could not bring herself to talk to another stranger.
Luckily, before their father could see Karin shirking her duties, Justis noticed she was distressed.
He helped the girl, who he found out, was named Hadley Gothard.
Hadley had come in, to find something for her little brother, Bonnie. She didn’t have much coin, but Justis sold her a jack-in-the-box far below the wholesale price. He enjoyed very much talking with Hadley, who had kind eyes and a slightly sad sort of smile.
That evening, to cheer his sister up, Justis started a pillow fight with her while their father went outside to close up.
But the children quickly put away the pillows when they saw their dad come back in with Leonid Stroganov, who had negotiated their move to Ayre and headed up the merchants’ guild, with Giles Porter. Leonid was checking in with their father to see how the business fared in it’s first season, and was not displeased that the family already had several happy customers and a steady flow of coins into the business. Lubbert told Leonid that he estimated they were on track to pay their tithe, rent, tax, business license, and their guild fee this summer. The seasonal guild fee would be 5% of earnings, Leonid reminded Lubbert.
Hours after dark, the family returned home to peas porridge cold, only to start again in the morning. It was hard work crafting enough items to sell, in addition to running the shop. Some days, the family could only open the shop for a few hours, before the stock ran out.
The summer proceeded in much the same way, with a rhythm of crafting and selling, and very little free time.
One evening, when Justis was bored, but weary of crafting and studying, Lubbert suggested they visit the mid-summer fair. “It will be gone soon, and if we want to buy up specialty items for crafting, we should go now,” Justis’ father stated. Justis was more interested in what people and pleasures might be found at the fair, but he nodded appropriately at his father’s speech.
And so, at dusk, Lubbert and Justis headed off to the mid-summer fair.
The first thing Justis noticed was the fire dancer, and he stood and watched him for a while, mesmerized. Meanwhile, Lubbert chatted with Tatiana Stroganov and one of the men-at-arms, Cadby. Then he scoured the stalls for specialty crafting items like tin, for the moving pieces of the jack-in-the-box and brightly colored pigments for paints.
When he was done procuring rare goods, Lubbert and his son sat at the outdoor tavern at the fair to drink ale and watch the people.
After a while, Justis went to introduce himself to Giles Porter, the co-head of the merchants’ guild and taverner. Perhaps he and Giles could become friends.
Almost immediately after introducing himself, Giles began to rebuke Justis. Apparently Giles took issue with Justis’ greeting, which invoked the Allfather.
Giles then tried to apologize, saying that he realized Justis’ family worshipped the Allfather, but Justis was not ready to accept his apology after having had his head bit off.
Justis returned to his dad, and the two stood and drank their ale under the mid-summer starry sky.
Justis noticed another boy his age, who was singing into a mead bottle. Justis wondered how the boy could dare expose himself to ridicule by making such a fool of himself. It was obvious the boy could not sing.
However, before leaving the fair, and after a couple of tankards of ale, Justis did the same, regaling the small crowd with his untrained voice.
He then met the singing boy, whose name was Ralf Forrester, and a striking looking peasant woman, Ella Wise.
Another of the men-at-arms, named James Porter, introduced himself to Justis. Justis told him about the toy shop and invited him to come by. “Have you any children?” he asked James, who replied that he hoped to marry the widow Daralis Gothard soon, and would be interested in a gift for her young son. “Come by the shop and I’ll give you a good price,” Justis said. It was always helpful to have men-at-arms on your side, he thought. Daralis must be the mother of Hadley Gothard, the girl with the kind smile, who he had met earlier in the shop.
Summer was ending, and Lubbert and Justis continued to work the shop by day and craft by night.
When James came by the shop, Lubbert helped him to find a toy for Bonnie. He decided on a wooden stallion sculpture.
That same day, a striking young woman came into the shop looking for help.
Justis was glad to attend her, and promptly began ignoring the other customers, leaving them to his father.
She seemed to be watching all the interactions in the shop, and how the customers responded to her father. She wanted to see all the toys and examined their quality carefully. She asked about the reliability of keeping the shelves stocked and was pleased to see that all the shelves were full.
After that, hoping to please the beautiful stranger, Justis diverted his attention to restocking behind his dad’s sales, while intermittently checking in with her to see what she needed.
At the end of the morning, the woman asked to speak with Lubbert Faber. “Your son is very helpful and hard-working,” she said, “And I can see this is a clean and well-run shop with high quality items at good prices.” She was quite charmed with the variety and intricacy of the crafts. She told Lubbert that she had been sent by the guild to observe and report, and would give a good report to Leonid Stroganov and Giles Porter.
Gameplay Notes:
- The Fabers had $2380 in sales. They owe the Steward $1350 for rent, taxes, tithes, and fees (including the $100 business license.) They owe the guild $119, which is 5% of their sales this season.
- Set up for a merchant- they are allowed $35,000 for their home and $50,000 to $100,000 set up and stock for a business. The Faber’s house cost $37,000 because it includes a workshop (so $2000 came from the business funds). Their business cost a total of $70,000 to build, set up, and stock. They started with family funds of $1000.00.
- I just added Hexagonal-Bipyramid’s traits and the mods she has made so far, to the game. I randomized two traits for each of the teens in this family. Since they were new I gave each of them two, but with families I’ve already played I may only give one trait to deepen or round out their character, and I may not randomize their traits. Anyway, Karin got the loner and adventurous traits. The loner trait has a mod associated with it, and it impacted Karin a lot. Her mood plummeted on community lots, which had a huge impact on her ability to help at the shop. Karin is, by random roll, a radical (rather than authoritarian), so the adventurous trait sort of goes with that characteristic in my mind.
- Lubbert is authoritarian and he has a very low neutral moral alignment (both Warwickshire dynamics for sims’ characteristics). He is a fortune sim. So I see him as being motivated by profit and not too concerned with the well-being of his family, but also wanting to uphold the commonly held norms (like going to church). For some reason I don’t remember I only gave Lubbert one trait, and it was handy, because I figured he wouldn’t have a reputation as a craftsman if he were not handy with tools.
- Justis’ traits are brooding and never naked, so the only effect I saw with him was taking baths in his braies.
- I lost a day’s worth of pictures (Karin going to matins, and the boys at the shop for two sessions) because I forgot to start up Fraps. But anyway, Oakes came to the store and got a slew of toys. He bought a jack-in-the-box, 3 Sir Bricks-a-Lot, a bear, 2 wooden horses, and a dragon! The dragon is a medieval default replacement for the fire truck. Cindy Sim made the craftable toy replacements.
- The OFB default replacements (Like the deed) are by Almighty Hat, here.
With Love From Ayre 
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