If you hold to the fact that it doesn't hurt communes at all, you're highly misinformed.

Actually, I don't believe so. I hold to the fact that it does not hurt communes at all. That doesn't mean that there are no individuals within the commune which are hurt, but the commune as a whole will have the same supply and the same demand, especially given that Krellan was making deals with bards and warriors who can harvest sparkleberry. So, it doesn't actually hurt the Serenwilde or the Glomdoring overall, it just hurts some of the individuals and rearranges the resources.

Personally, ICly I don't think it's worth the government getting involved because a few individuals are hurt, so long as it does not hurt the organization as a whole. OOCly, there may be a mechanics balance issue that should be addressed.

* Governments in Lusternia are small enough to care about things like this, about individuals getting hurt.

* This doesn't help the economy at all. Krellan is creating an artificial bottleneck in the sparkleberry supply, which will drive prices up even if he's not the one taking advantage of it. Even if we get them from him at reduced prices, we're dependant then on buying only from him.

* This sets a terrible precedent if he can continue to get away with it. Damn the world at large, but these kind of commercial shenanigans terribly twist and distort the market, even if the effects are not going to be immediately noticable due to his deals and such, it's going to come back and bite us in the ass, probably by someone getting pissed and aiming to take out the entire supply. We should be encouraging cooperation and mutual success, not creating trusts that barely manage to keep the status quo.

You have to consider this from his perspective IC. Think of it like a coalition of merchants. If Krellan guards and limits the supply to only a certain group of herbalists, you're right - they can raise the price. After all, that is why they're in the business. The problem again isn't in what they're actually doing; merchants can and should do what they can to raise the value of what they're selling, without going overboard (i.e. a monopoly).

The problem is in the mechanics that allow them to do this. So long as it's available, it makes perfect IC sense for them to use it (except for the fact that it makes some people mad, which cuts down on their potential customers). So, I'd go with one of Ferlas' suggestions. Actually any of the three sound good to me, but I like moving nature guard to herbalism instead, and allowing all herbalists above a certain skill level to harvest through it.

I think it would make more sense to just stop terrain and hibernation from damaging herbs.

Does Krellan RP a merchant? I've heard him say a few times now, IC, that he hates harvesting and only does it for the sparkleberries. He's putting a lot of effort into something he hates doing. If we were a cutthroat merchant type, I'd be cutting him a lot more slack (IC, at least ). He's just always struck me as a fighter before a merchant, so the only reason I can see for his character to do this is to piss off the cities, so we can have a war, or point and laugh, or just to pretend we're superior.

Sylphas and mitbulls, you are both kind of arugeing something thats pointless, most people seem to agree that nature guard is imbalanced who it specifically hurts more dosn't really matter. Either way if you like the suggestions expand them as much as you can and suggest them to an envoy then.

As I already said, a solution has already been put into an envoy report, and it appears to have the support of the other envoys. There's no need to continue discussing this, but you're free to if you really want to.

You mentioned that...but we were discussing these solutions instead, since we don't really know what the envoy solution is. We just have to hope it's good, and argue to entertain ourselves in the meantime...

Wormwood itself is very bitter. However, traditionally absinthe is not very bitter unless it is of poor quality. It's just a hint of bitterness.

If it doesn't have wormwood, it's not absinthe, so what are you talking about?

Also, absinthe is not toxic, nor hallucinogenic, and is not much different than any other spirit. Information saying otherwise is urban legend, myth, and half-truths or outright lies.

I actually didn't do the guarding there. Yeah I'll try to contact you or vice versa. Other serens can guard and are willing to do it.

not possibly to have cooperation and mutual success when people are so willing and determined such as others already in this thread (didn't mean you, mistook you for someone else for a second) said earlier to undercut prices

Well, that'd be because they think you overcharge, which you can work out, or because they don't like you, which would be unique to you. The general case is quite possible, though.