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MGOs, Organics, and Arcane Agriculture: What They Mean for the Waterdeep Trading Company

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June 30, 2025
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The trade winds of Faerûn are shifting, and they carry more than rumors and spices. From the alchemical terraces of Silverymoon to the enchanted farmlands of the Western Heartlands, a new breed of commodity is emerging: Magical Genetic Organisms (MGOs). Alongside them, a growing demand for certified organic goods has taken hold, driven by noble courts, druids’ circles, and increasingly conscious adventurers.

For the Waterdeep Trading Company (WDTC), this dual trend represents both opportunity and complexity. Here’s what it means for their operations.

What Are MGOs?

MGOs are living products (plants, animals, or alchemical cultures) that have been enhanced or fundamentally altered using enchantments, bloodline infusions, or genetic transmogrification spells. Examples include:

  • Cattle bred to resist cold through white dragon bloodlines
  • Corn enchanted to glow in the dark for night-harvests
  • Grapevines grown with elemental earth grafts to improve drought resistance

These are not simple potions or scrolls. MGOs are living, evolving, and heavily regulated by the Arcane Artificers & Alchemists Union (ARALCH).

Organic Goods in Faerûn

“Organic” in Faerûn typically means:

  • Grown or raised without magical augmentation
  • Untouched by necromantic residue or planar corruption
  • Certified by the Healers & Herbalists Guild (HEAHBG)

Common organic trade goods include:

  • Apples from Daggerford orchards, certified druidically grown
  • Wool from sheep unaltered by elemental feeding programs
  • Wine aged in natural, unruned oak

Operational Impact on the Waterdeep Trading Company

Example Product Comparison Table

Market Implications

Both MGOs and Organics tap into growing trends in Faerûnian commerce:

  • MGOs cater to efficiency-focused trading houses, military buyers, and arcane guilds
  • Organics are prized by elven enclaves, noble estates, druidic settlements, and “clean living” adventurers

WDTC stands poised to capitalize on both, if its operations are equipped to trace, verify, and adapt quickly.

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Step-Based Compensation in Faerûn: Paying Your People the Guild Way

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June 10, 2025
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In the cities and strongholds of Faerûn, coin doesn’t just flow through markets and mead halls, it flows through payroll ledgers. Whether you’re an apprentice scribe in Candlekeep or a battle-hardened inventory porter in Waterdeep’s lower docks, your pay is determined by a system that’s as structured as a dwarven fortress: step-based compensation.

This isn’t just a civilized form of gold distribution. It’s how guilds and trading companies standardize pay, encourage career growth, and keep labor disputes from devolving into fireball-flinging protests.

What Is Step-Based Compensation?

Step-based compensation is a tiered wage system where workers earn more as they progress through defined roles. Most guilds structure this into five steps, with each level tied to experience, certifications, or sometimes just surviving long enough to tell the tale.

These ranges aren’t static. In cities like Luskan, where danger clings to every crate, hazard pay bonuses may boost compensation by up to 50%. Some occupations also carry premiums depending on magical risk, rarity of skill, or guild scarcity.

Why the Steps Matter

In a continent bound together by trade routes and teleportation circles, consistency in compensation helps prevent chaos. Guilds enforce minimums, reward growth, and create expectations across the Sword Coast and beyond.

Step-based models also:

  • Support career progression that’s visible and motivating.
  • Enable structured training programs and certifications.
  • Allow for easy workforce budgeting in tools like Dynamics 365.
  • Prevent the “random NPC wage” effect from breaking immersion.

Common Faerûnian Pay Ranges

Here’s a sample from across guilds and corker classes:

These roles often reflect local conditions. A Potion Sampler in Amn may fetch higher rates due to alchemical guild demand, while an Inventory Porter in Mirabar might earn less thanks to automation by enchanted pulley systems.

Moving Up the Ranks

Progressing through compensation steps usually involves:

  • Time served in a guild or under contract
  • Performance evaluations from senior corkers
  • Certifications and formal skill tests
  • Survival, especially in hazardous roles like wild magic waste disposal

Guilds like the Grand Artisans League and the Arcane Artificers Union publish detailed advancement criteria, while others—like the Free Mercenaries League—prefer the “prove it or perish” method.

Standardizing Pay in Dynamics 365

For trading companies like the Waterdeep Trading Company, these steps are modeled directly in Dynamics 365 Human Resources:

  • Job levels and skill requirements mapped to compensation bands
  • Automated progression workflows tied to review periods
  • Reports and dashboards showing wage distribution across sites
  • Integration with guild dues and hazard premiums

This ensures your compensation structure reflects both fantasy logic and enterprise accountability.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re enchanting potion bottles in Baldur’s Gate or hauling siege ballistae in Scornubel, step-based pay ensures that work in Faerûn is as structured as it is storied. It builds morale, supports retention, and ensures that even the lowliest apprentice has a path forward—ideally, one with fewer explosions.

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The realm pays well—if you level up right.

Of Rods, Barrels, and Castings: Units of Measure in Faerûn

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April 15, 2025
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When adventurers in Faerûn tally their loot, when merchants count their wares in the bustling streets of Waterdeep, or when a dwarven stillmaster measures out moonshine in the Underdark—there’s one thing they all rely on: units of measure. But unlike our modern world of liters, kilograms, and miles per hour, Faerûn’s systems are delightfully inconsistent, hyper-regional, and infused with centuries of tradition, trade, and even magic.

Let’s take a tour through the wonderfully eclectic system of measurement in the Forgotten Realms.

Quantity Units: From Pieces to Pallets

Faerûnian traders deal in discrete units when counting physical goods—especially when it comes to adventuring gear, weapons, fabric, or food.

Weight Units: Medieval Heft with Mystical Variance

Faerûn may lack precision scales in every village, but weight still matters—especially to caravan masters and tax collectors.

Different regions may also use local names (like “kiv” in Rashemen or “zenk” in Thay), each reflecting unique cultural needs.

Volume Units: Casks, Jars, and Magical Bottles

Alchemists, distillers, and apothecaries are fastidious about their liquids—whether it’s healing potion or dwarven ale.

Magical volumes may defy expectations—a decanter of endless water, for example, does not comply with any rational standard.

Length and Fabric: From Elves to Ells

Clothiers and mapmakers in Faerûn often measure in units both familiar and fantastical.

Some elven cultures use units like the “moonstep” (about 3.3 feet) or the “petal’s fall” (a subjective unit of time/distance).

Area and Agriculture: For Land, Fields, and Armies

Land grants, farming plots, and battlegrounds are measured in larger units.

Magic and Alchemical Units

The arcane arts introduced unique measurements for magical substances and energies:

  • “Casting” (cst): One complete spell effect, used in crafting and alchemy.
  • “Soul-shard”: A necromantic unit for capturing essence (not legally recognized in Waterdeep).
  • “Pinch,” “Smidgen,” “Dash”: Extremely small units often used in potion brewing and cooking—especially halfling kitchens.

Standardization… Or Not

Faerûn doesn’t have a single standards board—each city, guild, or kingdom may have their own versions of the same unit. Thankfully, major trade cities like Waterdeep, Baldur’s Gate, and Calimport have codified equivalents for inter-regional commerce. Some larger organizations—like the Lords’ Alliance—even issue measurement tokens to help travelers convert between standards.

Final Thoughts

Units of measure may seem mundane, but in a world of dragons, liches, and flying ships, they’re a grounding force. Whether you’re an adventurer dividing loot, a merchant measuring goods, or a mage crafting potions, understanding these units means operating safely and fairly in a realm where even the size of a spoonful could mean life or death.

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