Commerce in Faerûn is shaped by shifting seasons, magical markets, and the endless flow of raw goods that move between provinces. From ores pulled from the deep halls of the North to the spice caravans of Calimshan and the enchanted herbs gathered in Rashemen, every region carries its own strengths. The Waterdeep Trading Company relies on these differences to operate a steady and profitable commodity network. This trade network links ports, roads, and arcane corridors to balance supply and demand across the Sword Coast and beyond.
The goal of commodity trading at the Waterdeep Trading Company is simple. Buy where goods are plentiful and priced low, transport them with care, and deliver them into markets hungry for those same goods. This article looks at how those trades work, how region based supply patterns shape prices, and how the company chooses the best routes to move goods safely.
What Commodity Trading Is
Commodity trading is the movement of raw or lightly processed materials from one region to another in response to changes in supply, climate, harvest cycles, or magical conditions. Within Faerûn, this includes materials such as iron ore, timber, grain, herbs, spell components, hides, salt, incense, and planar infused substances. Each province offers something unique because of terrain, culture, or magical tradition.
For the Waterdeep Trading Company, commodity trading supports three key aims. First, meeting the needs of Waterdeep’s dense urban markets. Second, maintaining trade influence across border cities. Third, strengthening relations with guilds, harvest clans, and miners’ lodges in distant lands.
Why This Matters to the Waterdeep Trading Company
The company’s influence depends on steady deliveries. Inns need grain, smiths need ore, and apothecaries need herbs. When the company can buy in regions with surplus and sell in cities with active demand, profits rise and relationships strengthen. Knowing when to send caravans, when to hold stock in bonded warehouses, and when to shift to sea routes is what keeps the trade ledgers in balance.
Regional differences also shape margins. Some provinces offer low cost extraction, while others impose tariffs, guild dues, or arcane proofing fees. These variables must be understood before any caravan or ship leaves Waterdeep’s gates.
Commodity Patterns Across the Provinces
Each region of Faerûn produces its own set of traded resources. The following section outlines the typical goods that flow from province to province.
Here is an introduction to the first summary grid. This grid lists the major commodities produced in each province and why these regions matter to the company.
How the Waterdeep Trading Company Trades These Goods
The approach is based on buying in bulk at the source, forming contracts with regional guilds, and assigning caravans or ships based on route risk. When goods require enchantment, such as planar dust or spirit soaked herbs, the company uses mage sealed containers prepared in Waterdeep before departure.
Route planning accounts for weather, borders, bandit risk, guild rules, and tolls. The company uses coastal ships for dense cargo and slow caravans for fragile stock. Magical couriers move small high value items. All routes feed into depots in Baldur’s Gate, Daggerford, and Waterdeep.
Below is an introduction to the trade pattern grid. This grid shows how the company typically moves goods between provinces, the chosen transport method, and the pricing strategy.
Worked Example: Trading a Load of Iron Ore
Here is an introduction to the first example. This example shows how the company buys ore in the North, moves it to Waterdeep, and posts the expected profit once sold to the smiths.
Worked Example: Southern Salt Route from Calimshan
Here is an introduction to a second example that shows how exotic goods travel north and how margins rise as distance grows.
Route Considerations Across Faerûn
Trading depends on safe and predictable movement. The Waterdeep Trading Company uses known waypoints, seasonal shifts, and guild agreements to reduce risk. Sea routes are chosen when storms recede. Arcane shortcuts are used for urgent items. Desert crossings require extra water barrels and hired outriders. Winter freezes open river routes but close mountain passes.
The company keeps merchant scribes in each province to track regional changes. If Rashemen produces less herb than normal, buying shifts toward Dalelands grain until the herb cycle returns.
Final Thoughts
Commodity trading gives shape to the company’s finances. Stable routes bring stable coin. Knowing when to expand, when to pause shipments, and when to store goods for later is the mark of a true trader. This system of regional buying, careful transport, and managed selling is what keeps the Waterdeep Trading Company ahead across the Realms.
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