October 1 has arrived and a bite of coolness is in the air. The London Dispatch has written up a piece on local businessmen John Man of the C LeBlund. The article describes his thriving business:
• Ships: 95, 26 of which are in the yards for repairs and add to that another 9 keels have been laid for a total of 103. Edinburgh, Gotenborg, and Bremen, London, and Reval with Gotenborg and Edinburgh producing larger ships. Shipyard records continue to show captured pirate hulks, cogs and crayers in for repairs. He now has 49 captains in employ but no level 5 traders.
There was one but he was demoted from a 5 to a 3 and we don’t know why.
Ships logs indicate 3 convoys have been to the Med and returned with 7 discovered ports, one convoy returning with 247 cloth should help with the shipbuilding. Contacts for Spice and Wine have been offered. One convoy is currently at sea in the Med.
• Businesses continue to steadily expand as well as his ownership in housing: 74 production facilities are found in the region, mostly brickworks, sawmills, but 2 Iron Goods facilites are underway. No less than 10 Half timber houses have been built in various towns. Some development of BGF in the Hanse has also been seen. Most noticeable is the number of his employees, which is now at 2197
. Last month there were only 1362.
• Population: The population his business serves continues to rise. Now 23,066 people live in the region. All towns had either a slight to major increase except Brugge, which went backward by almost 200 people. A concentration on the affairs in London showed the most increase, up to 2393 from 1819 the previous month.
Interestingly enough, one town has a a total of 8
rich and wealthy citizens in a population over 2000!
Oslo is the most populated at 2497 with Brugge the lowest at 1488.
• Company Value has risen to 6,957,690 of this 325,491 is cash. Many people are indebted to John MotC Inc. for loans, although the portfolio did not expand at all in the past month.
• Social Rank: Sophisticated Councilor. He is seen as Patrician and favored as Lord mayor in many other towns.
5 towns will vote on expanding walls this month, especially since John is a member of their guilds. 2 have already begun.
John would like to move but moving estimates are now at 1 million for the move
and John is not sure how to raise that much cash quickly.
John continues to remains a single man, despite agreeing to meet a potential candidate which then never showed up! He was heard saying in his trading office to an emissary from Bremen “I want my 3000
back”.