Sigil: The City of Doors

Dare dropped a bundle of sheets of paper taller than the average goblin on the desk.

"Here's all I could find apropos the minimal paperwork required to run a guild just in the last hour or so. There's likely more waiting.

The good news is that not everything in there is necessarily relevant to all guilds. For example, I've seen at least a dozen pages about abiding by certain standard sizes of cartwheels, which should only apply if you intend to craft cartwheels from scratch.

Which I think isn't what you had in mind? What was your plan already? Want a cup of tea?"

Disrespecting etiquette, Dare poured one for herself without waiting. She needed it at the end of this long, long day, all her standard work pushed far too late into the night by the chaos of the rest of the day.

Nonetheless, the small office, just big enough for her seat, a desk, one guest's seat and a few cabinets, was perfectly orderly, everything in its place in the right drawer except for the paperwork related to the one case she was working on at that very moment.

~~~

D3 - Daily task - Record Keeping: Intelligence (Investigation) check (DC 12): 1d20+9 27

Ikkit blinked at the stack of paper.

Fekt gave a small peep from his pocket.

"Tea'd be nice, thankya."

He'd brough his sack to use as a booster seat, and he therefore sat somewhat high in the guest seat.

"So. My plan, such as it is, is t'establish a Salvager's Guild. Need t'get some others signed on, a'course, but I think it'd be good for us. Reduce turf disputes, set up more... what's the word? Precedents. Legal ones. An' give us a mite more visibility."

Dare produced more tea. The pot contained near infinite hot water (technically eight gallons per day, so enough that it would be worrisome if they were to exhaust that supply) but the leaves still had to be renewed manually.

Then she nodded:

"Organized ragpicking is not unheard of through the multiverse, with several cities having established a strict legal framework for that.

However, the word covers many different interpretations, so I'm still going to have to ask more context questions.

First: Selectivity. Do you intend to accept to take all kinds of waste, carry them to a common dump, then sort the worthy from the worthless there? Or will selection happen on site, with only things of some value removed?

The first option is of course far more work, as it means transporting enormous quantities of literal garbage for little gain. It also means more agreeable authorities, as you'll be contributing to the city cleanliness.

A mixed status is of course possible, meaning you could enter a contractual agreement with some persons or entities to take care of all their waste for a small fee, and be picky about others' garbage."

He scratched at what would have been his chin if his head had been shaped like that.

"M'license lets me to go through the waste, so long's I don't make a mess. S'more what I had in mind, but y'make good points. Maybe if I roped in the right sorts of bashers- like an otyugh- could be we could take on more salvage. We'd need a site to process all waste, and Sigil ain't exactly generous with its land."

No doubt about it, he'd come to the right person.

"The second question might offer some insight on the where to carry this waste: Who do you intend to sell what can be sold? Id est, do you intend to run a detail shop, like a second-hand clothes store, or sell things in bulk to at most a few wholesalers?

Once again, approaches can be mixed. Though be warned than the legal framework for direct sales is far more complicated, as the safety of the customers become your responsibility."

"RIght now, I vend m'take at the Bazaar. An' witha Guild, I'd say most salvagers'd go on selling the wares they find themselves. Guild might make finding a buyer for a given item easier, though- or help someone lookin' for a certain item..."

"Hmm.

In all honesty, it sounds like a terrible business model.

Let's start with the obvious: I don't doubt you are a good scavenger, experienced in quickly picking the most valuable pieces from a pile of trash. But would you consider yourself a good repairman, able to swiftly and nicely fix the minor flaws of a thing that went through the trash? Or a good salesman, with the presence and the silver tongue to negotiate the best prices for your goods at the market?"

"No and no. But I make my living at it. An' in a guild, who knows, might be some others are better at that part..."

"Do you know how many declared thrift shops, pawn shops, and similar professional buyers and resellers of second hand goods the city is home to? It's basically a cornered market. And one who's heftily regulated, in an attempt to unmask the fences among them more easily.

At least in a first time, I'll advise establishing a partnership with one such vendor, preferably of good repute, to act as your main buyer, so you can focus solely on the scavenging aspect. As we'll keep seeing through this meeting, scaling up such an activity will be far enough challenges on its own, even leaving paperwork aside."

He shrugged at the presumably-rhetorical question.

"I know they're some of my most regular buyers. Find me at the Bazaar on the reg'lar. This way I ain't gettin' cheated in a backroom deal with only one option for sales."