Merchants' map

A merchants' map was a kind of production and transportation flowchart used by crafters and traders in the Realms, quite different from the typical kind of map that adventurers might be interested in.

Description
A merchants' map was a document that diagrammed and detailed each step in the manufacture of a particular item, from the raw ingredients to the final product. Many products such as candles, glass vials, lanterns, and wares and tools such as axes had short and simple maps describing them, while expensive jewelry had a lengthy and complex series of steps involved. Some production lines had multiple discrete stages within the same business and location, such as an iron mine having its own bloomery where it smelted and cast metal wares.

These maps were highly valued by enterprising traders and mercantile companies who took part in the mass-production and bulk transport of goods, as they gave a vital overview of the flow of goods and services across the length and breadth of Faerûn. With a merchants' map, trade costers enabled their large-scale operations by planning out the routes and supplies involved, and pre-calculated the required wagons, drovers, beasts of burden, warehousing, and other expenses. In addition to these necessary tasks, traders used the maps to eliminate movements of wagons with empty cargo beds, instead taking up the opportune transportation of non-perishable goods in between their own endeavors.

The worth of a merchants' map lay not just in the profitable operations of merchant costers. Opportunistic thieves who came across one could use it as a framework for planning robberies and heists, while more level-headed militants would find profit in knowing where to find steady work guarding warehouses and caravans. Those who had an especially long view (such as retired adventurers) could leverage the details to provide necessary services to the merchants such as warehouses, fortified waystations, and a trusted mercenary service when needed. Savvy factors and investors (and opportunistic interlopers) used merchants' maps to find inefficiencies and weaknesses in the long chain of production that could be addressed (or exploited), earning huge amounts of coin with the stroke of a pen. The most famous and extreme example of this was Thaelon Morgyr, who used his far-sighted intelligence to refine hundreds of merchants' maps, which gave his own businesses a distinct advantage over others and ruthlessly found weaknesses in the competition. At the time of his death, he was estimated to have assets in excess of 16,000,000 gold pieces in value.

Arthane Longswords
An example of an above-average-complexity merchants' map was that of the Arthane longswords, a common "mid-range" blade sold in bulk in Waterdeep and exported all across the North and Western Heartlands. The longswords originated in the Arthane Furnace and were distributed at the Arthane Armory, but a great number of other independent individuals and businesses were involved in the process to turn them from naked blades to finished ones.


 * 1) Arthane Furnace forged the basic iron blades near Beliard, using charcoal and iron ore from Arthane-owned properties.
 * 2) Maraszymo Darluth harvested and dried blueleaf and duskwood for hilt grips.
 * 3) Anastur's Abrasives supplied special polishing powders made from various plant oils and minerals.
 * 4) Gleskur's Finemetals of Secomber produced fine braided copper wire for securing hilt wrappings, with the metal sourced from secret dwarven contacts.
 * 5) House of Yarthin provided whetstones from Ironmaster for Samril's to sharpen the raw blades with.
 * 6) Galdegut's Boneyard supplied bone for carving into pommels.
 * 7) Falthryn and Daughters Tannery of Lannort provided cured hides for wrapping hilts.
 * 8) Sorkryn's Soft Hides of Scornubel also provided hides.
 * 9) Samril's Fine Blades assembled and fitted the hilts to the longsword tangs, polished and sharpened the blades, and packed them for transport to Waterdeep. They sourced materials from minor local suppliers when necessary, and also made their own sealant gum and forged brass pommels.
 * 10) Famryn's Fine Oils of Baldur's Gate provided secret oils used in the final sharpening and treatment at the Armory.
 * 11) House of Yarthin also provided the whetstones used at the Armory to give the blades their last pre-sale sharpening.
 * 12) Whelanxdryn's of Elturel provided scabbards to the Armory, made using their own in-house tanners and blacksmiths.
 * 13) The Arthane Armory in Waterdeep put the final touches on the blades by sharpening and scabbarding them, and presented them for sale to the public.