Quoted By:
~~FILLER POST~~
Of all the enterprises visited, Teletell Shortcoms and Majeste Messengers were the most skilled-labor intensive and profitable... for the Owner.
Both had Line Operators who needed to be capable of at least one Cantrip, and Front Operators, each of whom needed to know at least two. Line Leads and Front Leads had to know four Cantrips minimum, or two Cantrips and One Spell minimum, respectively.
Their business was urgent messages and deliveries, usually of limited legal and fiscal nature, for a nominal fee with adjustments for weight and speed and additional services, such as double-encode, traceless delivery Pass Without Trace (lvl2 spell) and similar spells are employed, and other effects Suggestion, Id Insinuation, Gift of Gab and similar Spells are legal but frowned upon; a premium service granted only if the client also agrees to be listed by Law Authorities.
The Business Owner collected a teeny Token per transaction, usually 0.2-0.3 Grains; multiply that by the couple hundred orders per shift at three shifts a day, they could work a year and feast for ten.
Setting everything up to that point took risk and time though, usually too much to be worth it.
In the normal course of things it would be impossible: proper Spellcasters with Callings Class Levels who could easily manage Line requirements found Adventure more enriching and profitable, while common folk needed a minimum of two years in training just to fulfill a minor role.
And what was to stop a Line Lead from taking his four Company Cantrips and a few senior Line Operators and starting his own business?
The risk was all the Company's: it had to undertake the risk of training him before he could even be deployed, but after becoming competent he might leave at any time, taking all the training and trade secrets with him!
It was the Rhea social and familial support network made things possible: Interns had to sign a Work Bond with two immediate family members as guarantors, and paid the training costs full up front, usually with a loan by the same guarantors. To help offset costs the intern would usually take auxiliary roles in the Company for 4H1T Four Hots and a Tot, being First and Second Breakfast, Teatime and Supper, plus communal lodging; a Rhean cultural standard for minimum wage, as runners, paperpushers, learning the culture and day-to-day expectations as they worked supporting the Lines.
On occasion a Twiceling, that is, a Human, or very rarely, a Beardie, a Dwarf, down on their luck, might be vouched for by two Rheas of good standing and be accepted for Internship. Their Work Bonds were longer, and training costs included a percentage on top, usually explained away as a lack of Family discount, but actually was a conditional deposit set aside as a Murk Fund, to hire Collectors against the Intern if the Work Bond was violated.
