Immigrant's Quarter (Cloud Village)

Kirei shook his wallet. Only a few dull clinks responded--not a good sign. Damn, I didn't know they charged this much at the border crossings, Kirei told himself. It was probably cheaper illegally, but ah well, he was in Cloud now. The immigrants quarter seemed the most welcome to him, a hodgepodge of people of various races, skin tones and accents that, like him, didn't seem to belong to any place in particular. If anything, the village of cloud could be prided in its ethnic diversity. Looking around, he could see places that he could tell would accept the Ryo that was the national currency here, the Taels from down south and the Marks from higher up north. Finding a (cheap) pub nearby, Kirei sat down with a bowl of some sugary drink that the bartender insisted was good. Sighing, Kirei prayed quickly before eating, and was glad he did. Only god would be able to save him from dying from a drink such as this. Sighing as he took a drink out of a nearby well, Kirei sighed. What now?

Kirei looked up from his (unwanted) meal as he took stock of what he had. He had some of the Silk Taels that were the counterpart of the ryo as international currency in the south. While there was no lack of gold in the south, it was too easy to dupe financial authorities with gold, and so down south, people had resolved to trade in Silk. Silk cloth, unlike gold, wasn’t especially malleable and was a fairly strong material. Moreover, unlike gold (whose price would fluctuate), the constant demand of Silk meant that it would have a constant monetary standard. In the North, though, it wasn’t worth sh-t. First, he would have to find a way to earn money—and the fastest way to do that was to either form a guild (a group of merchants with similar goals or fields. In the more military and family-oriented North, these were called Clans) or to form a village. That could well be a start, Kirei decided as he got up. His parents had owned a small apartment here, so he could put away all his luggage before he went back into the open. Kirei smiled slightly as he walked away from the town center. Perhaps, just perhaps, there was some kind of sunshine behind the heavy clouds that obscured the country of Lightning.