Economics - Straits of Irithai

Kinfolk

• Primary Industries:Seafaring defines the Kinfolk — fishing, pearl diving, shipbuilding, navigation, salvage, and smuggling. Markets and ports thrive on hustle, risk, and trade moving between islands and beyond.

• Trade Goods:Salted fish, pearls, enchanted trinkets, woven sails, ship timber, and salvage from wrecks. In the ports, you can find fortune tellers and spell casters offering their services for a hefty price.

• Economic System:A hybrid of barter, coin, and favor. Reputation often buys more than gold, but gold still talks. The pirates of the Straits play their part, too — offering safe passage through dangerous waters, for a price… and leaving little mercy for those who don’t pay up.

Velthamar Merfolk

• Primary Industries: Kelp farming, pearl harvesting, abyssal beast herding, coral and pearl artistry, and stewardship of the sea’s resources. They monitor the ocean, quietly regulating what others take.

• Trade Goods:Rare pearls, enchanted coralwork, leviathan bone, bioluminescent inks and dyes, and delicacies from the abyss — though only offered in tightly-controlled exchanges.

• Economic System:Primarily barter among themselves, coin only accepted in dealings with trusted Kinfolk emissaries. The Merfolk do not interact with the general public, preferring to let chosen negotiators handle trade while they guard the sea’s balance.