Kontien Wage House
05/14/1996
©1996 Greg Porter

The Kontien Wage House is typical of the three or four such 
insitutions in Soqtruil, and similar to those used in other major 
cities in the Dyalands. It is a large two-story stone and timber 
building in the lower level of town, somewhere between where the 
middle-class merchants ply their trade and the lower-class 
dwellings and businesses are. The broad central archway on the 
longer side has a pair of massive wooden doors which are usually 
propped open in the agreeable Soqtruil climate, with a small 
"gatehouse" where prospective workers and employers pay to enter. 
For those seeking employment, the cost is Inconsequential, and for 
employers it ranges from Marginal to Below Average. The wage house 
turns its profit from these small fees and the food and drink it sells 
(at normal costs).

The purpose of the wage house is to be a clearinghouse for 
information, and a public place to meet people. The Kontien Wage 
House keeps detailed written records of a very large labor pool, and 
can match talent to jobs pretty reliably. They also have the proper 
legal talent to witness and affirm large contracts, meeting rooms 
for private negotiations and a few larger rooms which can be set up 
for demonstrations if an employer wants to see the talents of people 
first-hand. By arrangement, the entire hall can be rented for special 
occasions, but only after normal business hours.

Inside the Kontien Wage House is a great hall whose maximum 
dimension is about Extreme range for a HandGunne, with rough-hewn 
tables and benches through much of the center, booths and food 
kiosks along two of the walls, and notice boards on the rest. Stairs 
at either end of the hall lead to upstairs offices and storage areas. 
There is usually a low roar of conversation, and hundreds of people 
in various stages of hiring, looking for work, or just using this well 
known spot as a meeting place for newcomers to town. 

Publically, the Kontien Wage House only deals in "above board" 
transactions, but privately, their information includes contacts for 
those in less acceptable forms of work, and of course, privately 
negotiated contracts on their premises are a simple use of their 
facilities for which they are not liable or accountable.