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IIf other cities are known for their peculiarity of custom, then Fytraval is known for making better what others merely make well. The heart of craftsmanship, these people take as much pride in what they do as much as what they receive for it.
But pride and feeling do not raise the price they once did.
Pressure from the merchant guilds in northern Jahan and southern Roma has reduced margins. Curios from afar fetch a higher price from the noble ladies then that with which they are already familiar, no matter how fine the detail. The faithful are dissuaded by the antipathy of their church, their priests speaking out against such heathen works, branded as they are with the symbols of those gods or spirits called upon to aid the artisan in his task. Worse still, the pre-eminence of Mytil steel in recent years has had a catastrophic effect upon a market that Fytraval knew as its own.
Such is the fickleness of commerce.
In response, merchants and craftsmen from Fytraval have taken it upon themselves to move further afield, bringing their goods to other markets rather than rely upon the good graces of others. New ships have been constructed at great cost in an attempt to bring fine wares to market in the slipstream of the sailors from Jahan & Roma. Craftsmen from Fytraval are a growing feature of trade caravans, seeking favourable exchanges amongst the wilder patrons.
This expansion of direct trade has not been well received by merchant houses in other cities, although it is too soon to tell how effective it will be.
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