The Merchants' College primarily serves as the education system for the children of the members of the Merchants' Guild, as well as nobles and other community elites. It offers a few select courses to members of the Merchants' Guild:
- Appraise Goods (+20%; 1,500 marks, 3 months)
- Area Knowledge (+25%; 1,500 marks, 3 months)
- Bartering (+20%; 1,500 marks, 3 months)
- Gemology (+10%; 1,500 marks, 3 months)
- Horse Trade (+25%; 1,500 marks, 3 months)
- Law (+15%; 1,500 marks, 3 months)
- Roadwise (Palladium) (6,000 marks, 6 months)
- This skill can be applied to anywhere in the Palladium world but especially focuses on the Eastern Territories. Palladium, after 50,000 years of history, is crossed with roads. Some are ancient, creations that have not been maintained since before the Elf-Dwarf War, others are patched and rebuilt roads, while others are new stone or concrete creations, trails and dirt paths. To the untrained traveler, they are no more than tracks in the dirt, barely suitable for travel; half disintegrated highways that are little more than ruts cutting through the hostile landscape. But to those trained to see them as something more they still have the capacity to speed travel and smooth out rides that would be difficult and slow otherwise. The roads also serve as signs and paths to the struggling wilderness communities scattered across the land. Follow a road, and sooner or later (usually later), one is likely to come across a nearby town, shabby settlement, farm or outpost. Characters with this skill can identify roads by name, use roads to help pinpoint their location, map out routes across the country, determine the safety of a road or region, find a shortcut and even predict who or what is likely to be found along particularly notorious roadways and regions. The skill is not just limited to the old roads either, it also applies to the new routes that have been forged by continuous travel or built by regional communities. Note that the skill is most effective on the character's home turf— the 200 mile radius where he grew up (+20% for roads in that region).
Base Skill: 36% +4% per level of experience.
- This skill can be applied to anywhere in the Palladium world but especially focuses on the Eastern Territories. Palladium, after 50,000 years of history, is crossed with roads. Some are ancient, creations that have not been maintained since before the Elf-Dwarf War, others are patched and rebuilt roads, while others are new stone or concrete creations, trails and dirt paths. To the untrained traveler, they are no more than tracks in the dirt, barely suitable for travel; half disintegrated highways that are little more than ruts cutting through the hostile landscape. But to those trained to see them as something more they still have the capacity to speed travel and smooth out rides that would be difficult and slow otherwise. The roads also serve as signs and paths to the struggling wilderness communities scattered across the land. Follow a road, and sooner or later (usually later), one is likely to come across a nearby town, shabby settlement, farm or outpost. Characters with this skill can identify roads by name, use roads to help pinpoint their location, map out routes across the country, determine the safety of a road or region, find a shortcut and even predict who or what is likely to be found along particularly notorious roadways and regions. The skill is not just limited to the old roads either, it also applies to the new routes that have been forged by continuous travel or built by regional communities. Note that the skill is most effective on the character's home turf— the 200 mile radius where he grew up (+20% for roads in that region).
- Prospecting (6,000 marks, 6 months)
- The character can recognize and evaluate precious and semi-precious metals (gold, fool's gold, silver, bronze, copper) in their natural ore appearance and as refined and polished jewelry. In addition, the character has a good idea of where to look for such mineral deposits, and the fundamentals of "panning" for gold and the general knowledge of mining and how to use various types of simple mining equipment. Furthermore, the character can identify and appraise the value of precious metals (silver, gold, etc.) and stones (diamonds, rubies, etc.), and to identify fakes, but at a penalty of -10%. A failed roll means the character cannot tell whether or not the item is fake or real, or he grossly under or overestimates its value.
Base Skill: 20% +5% per level of experience.
- The character can recognize and evaluate precious and semi-precious metals (gold, fool's gold, silver, bronze, copper) in their natural ore appearance and as refined and polished jewelry. In addition, the character has a good idea of where to look for such mineral deposits, and the fundamentals of "panning" for gold and the general knowledge of mining and how to use various types of simple mining equipment. Furthermore, the character can identify and appraise the value of precious metals (silver, gold, etc.) and stones (diamonds, rubies, etc.), and to identify fakes, but at a penalty of -10%. A failed roll means the character cannot tell whether or not the item is fake or real, or he grossly under or overestimates its value.