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MonkeySage
2016-11-23, 03:20 AM
Loth Darklass was born to into a small nomadic band of halflings; he has always dreamed of establishing a proper community, a city for halflings. One where halflings could do more than simply live in the shadows of bigfolk. To this end, he became a journeyman merchant under the tutelage of a human merchant.

Around the age of 15, Loth discovered his latent powers on the road. He and his master had been accosted by a group of bandits, and fearing what would happen, Loth stepped forward and tried to convince the leader to leave them alone. At first, it didn't work... Something stirred in Loth... the words he'd heard in his dreams, he now spoke in a hushed tone. Strange words, which he later discovered to be of the dragon tongue. To his surprise, the leader aquieced; astonished, Loth decided to investigate further. He began reading books on magic, he asked his parents about their family history. As it turns out, one of his ancestors was a silver dragon.

Loth is ambitious for a halfling. He cares deeply for his people, and wishes to see them reach their potential. He keeps his powers from others, for fear of what would happen if they found out.. yet he believes those powers could one day help him achieve his dream of establishing a halfling city state. He's very diligent, and works tirelessly both to improve his trade and to train see the potential of his powers, to the point that it seems he takes little time to relax. He holds little regard for those in authority, particularly those with noble privilege, believing that they most often tend to abuse the weak.

Now, I don't expect to be able to establish that city state in game, it's more just something that motivates him to travel. That said, the gm believes it's not an entirely unrealistic goal. it is a dangerous one, though. Nearby nobles would not take kindly to a city state popping up out of the blue.

So, goal one: save up an arse-load of cash and become a renowned merchant....
That's about as far as I've gotten. Oh, and make friends in high places.

I've already made a potentially lucrative investment into a mining project, and in a month I can pick up some expensive ores that I could sell. As yet, I'm not a fully independent merchant, though I'm a level 5 sorcerer/level 1 silver dragon disciple. My mentor is a powerless human merchant.

Any tips on where to go from here?
I need to save up cash.
I need to make friends, potentially with the nobility that I despise.
I need to make myself indispensable as a trader.
And I'd like to establish that city state.

I've emphasized enchantments and illusions in my magic, and in terms of skills I'm full of guile. I have a forked silver tongue, high bluff, high diplomacy, and high intimidate.

In combat, I prefer to use trickery and diplomacy to make enemies not want to fight. I don't like killing, I don't like violence, so I try to avoid them when possible. That said, I'm by no means a pacifist.

Thinker
2016-11-23, 09:11 AM
I don't know that you need to save up all that much money. City-states don't pay people to live there (though the funds do help with finding a suitable site for a city-state). This may be useful to you: http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/demog.htm

You will need to do the following in order to found your new state:
Find a suitable location. This will be a place that is currently unoccupied/wilderness, but someplace that can be built up with hard work and dedication. It will need to be fertile, close to some resource or trade route (or both), and defensible (at least some portion). To accomplish this, you will need to pay for rumors and maps, organize or lead expeditions, and be willing to take land by force (that tribe of goblins won't need the land once you've exterminated them...).
Attract settlers. This is difficult. You'll have to give away rights and authority to some settlers to attract them, particularly a large clan or skilled workers that will be necessary. You might do this in the form of land-grants. You will also need a large labor force to help clear land and construct buildings (likely either slaves or hired laborers, who will also expect to be given land).
Secure treaties and agreements. You will have to make agreements with local powers either for protection or to gain mutual prosperity.


Anyway, I don't want to tell you how to run your character, but being a successful merchant may not be necessary to found a city-state. Being a successful anything might be good enough. It will convince people that you know what you're doing or are powerful enough not to cross you. You may want to start negotiating with would-be settlers now while searching for suitable land (and keep in mind that over 40% of any given medieval country is likely wilderness, possibly over 60% if it's not very densely populated.

MintyNinja
2016-11-23, 02:54 PM
From the path you seem to want to tread I think an interesting approach would be to become a Noble yourself. Once given awarded a title and lands befitting that title, via coinage or heroics, I'd then start the recruitment of halflings from far and wide. The goal of this stage is to build up a large population of loyal (to you) people while not appearing as a threat to the liege or lord that awarded you the title. When the time is right, politely succeed, perhaps with a large donation to ease tensions.

Alternatively, if you can claim an island then that might be all the easier. Purchasing a title, purchasing an island, building a port / town if there isn't one there, recruiting a populace, and negotiating trade routes for necessities all seem to be in your character's vein of thinking.

Stealth Marmot
2016-11-25, 10:06 AM
Why can't he build a city-state for halflings?

He could found his own town. He could work with different halfling leaders in order to convince them to form their own group and emigrate from the human lands in order to make their own. He could invest in halfling businesses, and create a line of halfling trade that would follow them to the new land. Have them sit on the edge of a human city then expand outwards, slowly creating their own infrastructure independant of any particular human nation, and eventually expect the humans to respect them as a nation with their own laws and customs.

He could even clear out a city held by hostile forces and claim it as the new halfling city like Redcloak did.

However, to be able to manage such an operation he will need a few things.

First: Money. He will need to have boatloads of cash to spend on getting raw materials and hiring and feeding workers to create such a place.

Second: Contacts. He will need to set up contacts with merchants and nations that have favor with him in order to establish long term relations with different nations and thus allow trade.

Third: Fame. He needs to be more than just a guy with a checkbook, he needs to make sure that he is KNOWN as a hero, as a person with of great accomplishment, he has to show the world, especially other halflings, that they are capable of being more than just the sidekick or the servant.

He should be all about Halfling Pride. He should be concerned for how Halflings are treated or represented. He should spend every town trying to talk to merchants, setting up contacts, and seeing about the halfling population, making sure they are treated well and telling them they need to hold their heads up high (er...as high as they can at least). He should make friends with Halfling leaders and write letters to them often, and eventually suggest a new land for all of them.

Herobizkit
2016-11-26, 06:34 AM
If this is a Pathfinder game, there's a whole Kingdom Building system in place for such an endeavor. One of the first major hurdles, as you've guessed, is getting the "up-front" money. You mentioned that you have a mentor; is he rich enough or connected enough to get you started?

Seems like your backstory is rich enough and your goals reasonable enough to keep you going for a long time.