Behind the scenes at Grimstead

• Estate : Hamdun
• Networth : $62,383
• Jobs : Tavern Owner
• Names : Falcon (age: 27)

• Twins – Asha / Farid (age:14)
• Mael – (age:12)
• Adanna – (age:8 )
• Leif – (age:6 )

• Morgage – $50,000

• Repayments – $2,500

• Taxes – Free Merchant – 8% = $4990

Till now Falcon was a Indentured Merchant, as a child of one of the original pesants who came to Grimstead and became a merchant when he took over the tavern. However under the new ruling system a indentured merchant can not own a house, and home business’s can not be ran from apartments, therefore i have had to allow Falcon to buy his freedom to continue the way he is. Doing this has involved a hefty morgage which falcon has spent the best part of 2 rounds paying off.

As a family they aren’t doing to bad, Daisy farmer works for them and they are ticking over nicely, money is tight but they are managing to claw a small way out of their mortgage, unfortunately doing this isn’t leaving them much cash leftover which in turn means as yet i have nothing put aside for Asha’s dowry, which isn’t great but as i still haven’t found her a husband i guess it’s the least of my problems.

Mael, Bellari and Falcon’s first true son, aged to teenager this round and some decision’s need to be made, who gets the tavern Mael or Farid? good question hu? Well i think im going to leave it to Farid which means i need to consider Mael’s future… Argh between Mael and Asha’s dowry Falcon is never going to pay of this mortgage.

As merchant class Mael and a second son Mael (and Leif for that matter) is perfectly suited to gaining an apprenticeship, which would mean moving from the family home to another family’s how where he could learn a trade, which was a comman part of medieval life.

Unfortunately with sims “being a game” and not actually having tons of merchants in it yet the only options within Grimstead would be as a farmhand (Farmer or Talon family), Carpenter (surprisingly with the Carpenter Family) or going into the clergy/military.

I don’t really want him to go into the Farmer or Talon familys as i would like these apprenticeships to remain open for “peasant son’s”, I’ve currently got enough military sons (only a couple but relatively speaking for the size of my kingdom), Clergy was generally reserved for noble sons so that really only leaves the Carpenter family.

The Carpenters do have sons of their own who will naturally “follow suit” however their oldest is still only 7 which does leave a gap of a few years in which Jonas could take an apprentice.

This said i do want a diverse population and sending one of these boys to learn a trade that i already have plenty of opportunity to grow is unappealing. Still for now it is a good option perhaps Mael could train as a Carpenter then branch into a related field once his apprenticeship was over, perhaps become a Bowyer or Cooper?

Traditionally there would be an initial fee that would be paid to the master in order for him to take on an apprentice, this was paid by either the apprentice or a sponser. The apprentice would then also require a sponser so i contract could be drawn up, making the sponser liable if the apprentice didn’t uphold his end of the bargin (ie didn’t do as he/she was told, didn’t catch on to the lessons etc) these contracts where often too expensive for parents to cover themselves and often needed the backing of the lord or relevant craftsmans guilds.

I currently have no formal system drawn up to cover apprenticeships but as they where traditionally delt with on a case by case basis i feel happy to allow this to take place as long as storyline dictates it’s feasible.

In this case i thing it’s fair to assume that Gabriel will step up at Mael’s sponsor, not because he and Talon get along, infact i don’t think the pair have ever met. However i think logically/financially Gabriel can see the benefit of having a trained craftsman on his estate… so what will this cost Mael/Falcon … simple Mael’s Freedom, as soon as Mael is trained (3 years) Mael will be required to come back and reside on the Hamdun land as an indentured man.

This may sound harsh but times where hard and often teaching a child a craft/getting them an apprenticeship was the best gift a parent could give as it ensured the child and his/her children some security for the future. With that decided, Mael will head off to his new home at the end of the round, with Gabriel paying $5000 up front for his tuition and becoming his sponser.

Love is however in the air at the tavern even if it isn’t for Asha or Farid. A combination of the ACR and a 3 bolt attraction caused a spontaneous Whoohoo between Falcon and Daisy, to say i was shocked isn’t the half of it … i guess i shouldn’t have been really its been about 5 years for poor old Daisy since Gabriel dumped her, and Falcon’s wife has been dead for 4 years. I dunno though it just seemed weird… i guess i just loved Bellari and Falcon together they where always such a sweet couple. Long term though i guess this isn’t actually a bad match at least if Daisy became his wife he could save a fortune on her wages… haha. The round ticks along nicely after that and we wave goodbye to Mael as he starts his apprenticeship.