Chalyte Rumors from the Smiling Crab

At the halfling inn the The Smiling Crab, Wellby settles in for the night, listening to stories and rumors from the Halflings – mostly merchants and sailors – who have gathered in the common room. 

The halflings, of course, have their own perspective on human dealings. 

• Chalyte is one of the six charter monopolies, goods that can only be sold or traded with an imperial license. The sale of licenses is one of the powers still retained by the Curia of 42, the more-or-less elected council. Before the Great War, the Curia ruled the city, and the Magistros served only as the spokesperson and administrator for the will of the Curia, but things have changed (for better, or worse, is not yet clear to the halflings). 

• The chalyte trade is lucrative, but also dangerous, from the halfling’s perspective. Few want to handle raw chalyte – even in its processed form, which is more stable than dust, there are too many bad memories of wild magic eruptions from even slightly impure or improperly stored chalyte. And even fewer are interested in putting down roots in Chardon to negotiate the politics and deals needed to be profitable intermediaries. The enspelled items and other magical goods made with chalyte are, at least for this crowd, profitable enough and far safer, and easier, to transport and sell far and wide. 

• The Hetaeri Magica is more or less the only game in town, typically buying nearly all the processed chalyte from Chardon refineries, and reselling it as they desire to artisans and other crafters. This crowd doesn’t really see why this should be, and assumes some kind of corruption is involved here, but also few really seem to care about the details since this crowd at least sees the chalyte trade as something to stay away from. 

• Nonetheless, halflings enjoy a good story and the most popular speculation is that the Hetaeri Magica has some kind of back dealing with the Curia to ensure that the chalyte charter includes some kind of “safety regulations” that only the Hetaeri Magica can meet, thus guaranteeing the legal sale of chalyte must pass through the Hetaeri. A slightly less popular theory proposes that it is the oligarchs who pay off the Curia, and the Hetaeri Magica pay off the oligarchs, and the bribes go round and round in a neat little circle. 

• Despite the risks and dangers, there are some halflings who do trade in chalyte, usually purchasing processed chalyte from the Hetaeri Magica to resell. From them, it is easy to learn there has been no chalyte, and really no Hetaeri Magica to even negotiate with, for weeks, really since the Eightfold Flame protests erupted.