The Wine-Faced Sea

Teleleli and the surrounding islands stand in the Wine-Faced Sea. Why the sea is so named is disputed. Some say that it is because it may be calm, even sleeping, and then suddenly violent, without cause, like one far gone in drink. Others claim that the Great Race, perverse in all things, drank light blue wine - or that the fluid originally referred to was something else entirely. Yet others point to the way that those most harmed by the sea can be most devoted to it, even against their will.

Moka

Trade between countries, guilds, and the most powerful individuals, is often governed by the rule of Moka. Under this rule one side will give a gift of great value. This will create an obligation for the recipient to give a greater gift, or a favour of comparable worth. This second gift will create an obligation for a still-greater gift, and so on. The skill of Moka is to give a gift of such value that the recipient will prefer to owe a favour, rather than being able to give a counter-gift, or ending the cycle by refusing the gift and thus creating a state of hostility or even war.

Adventurers may be hired to fetch an appropriate object to give as a gift, or to deliver it. This second task may be as dangerous as the first, since if the gift-bearer meets with an 'accident' before delivering the gift it has no value. Yet if a gift is delivered in public sight anyone who values their position must acknowledge it and protect the person of the gift-giver.

Land

Land is never traded, for any currency. There is nothing illegal about it, just as someone in our world may freely trade their grandmother's grave with her not a year buried - yet one is unlikely to find either buyer or seller, or think well of them should they be found.

Land may certainly be given in return for service. The devious reader may wonder whether this distinction is simply a pretty form of words. Fie on your suspicions! Giving land is a weighty gesture of support, that almost amounts to adoption. One who gives land will be judged by the actions of the recipient, and the two will be assumed to be close allies. In any case, the vast majority of people have no land. In some areas all land is held by the nobility. In others it is held in common.

It should be noted that 'land' is considered by everyone to mean agricultural land only. The land on which a house sits is freely traded like any other commodity. The merchant nobility of the city, aping the nobility of the sword as ever, may feign reluctance to trade their 'land', but this is mere show.