8.2 KiB
DIALOGUE-PROLOGUE-0016
The Timber Auction — Canonical Draft
Status: Canonical Dialogue Draft
Layer: OTIVM (Roman Merchant)
Purpose: Prologue scenario teaching bidding behavior, storage limits, construction demand, future expectations, and how bulky inputs create strategic competition.
Repository Path: docs/scenarios/DIALOGUE-PROLOGUE-0016.md
0. Design Intent
A large timber lot has arrived unexpectedly and is being auctioned in Ostia.
No ship sinks. No law changes. No patron dies.
Yet builders gather, cart rates rise, sawyers are booked instantly, speculators appear, warehouse men refuse bulky loads, and men who need wood tomorrow must decide today.
Known facts are uncertain:
- quality better or worse than claimed
- fresh-cut or seasoned
- stolen, seized, or legitimate surplus
- hidden rot within outer beams
- one lot or more still incoming
- civic works contract about to be announced
The participant must learn that raw materials create markets before they are processed.
1. Scene Constraints
Location: riverside yard near cranes, saw pits, and storage sheds in Ostia, late morning.
Primary signals:
- stacked beams and planks
- crowd of builders and brokers
- auction clerk shouting lots
- carts scarce
- sawyers taking deposits
- prices changing with rumors
Selection method: participant chooses whose interpretation to follow.
2. Opening Scene Draft
The yard smelled of sap, rope, mud, and impatience.
Long beams lay stacked like sleeping giants beside shorter planks already being touched by too many hands. Men thumped wood, squinted at grain, lied confidently, and called it expertise.
Marcus Atilius Varro stood where he could see the stacks, the road gate, and the cart queue.
Lucius Fabius Felix arrived smiling like a man who loved anything sold in haste.
“No fire. No riot. No rain,” Felix said. “Only timber. Civilization persists.”
Varro nodded toward the beams.
“Thirty carts worth.”
“Then forty men pretending not to need it.”
Gaius Licinius Crispus approached with visible suspicion of splinters.
“Whose property?” he demanded.
Felix answered first.
“At current shouting volume? Everyone’s.”
Crispus ignored him.
“A contractor defaulted,” Varro said. “Cargo seized, now liquidated.”
“Then liens remain possible.”
“Then you are happy,” Felix said.
Quintus Cornelius Lentulus Minor arrived brushing sawdust from a cloak that had not yet touched any.
“My uncle mentioned repairs to two townhouses,” Lentulus said.
Felix nodded.
“And now family duty smells of pine.”
Titus Varenus Secundus came from the rear stack carrying a shaving curl.
“Mixed lot,” he said. “Some seasoned. Some green. Some warped.”
Varro asked, “Useful?”
“Very.”
A quiet voice came from beside the clerk’s table.
“Especially if sold by average quality.”
Publius Terentius Chresimus stood reading lot tallies upside down from the buyer’s side.
Felix sighed.
“Even lumber becomes mathematics.”
“It was mathematics before it was cut,” Chresimus said.
The auction clerk shouted:
“Lot three! Twelve roof beams! Payment today!”
Hands rose instantly.
Lentulus looked surprised.
“So quickly?”
Secundus said, “Roofs leak whether men are ready or not.”
Felix added, “And winter bids in summer.”
Crispus folded his hands.
“If seized goods, title clarity matters.”
Felix stared.
“You hear bids and desire paperwork. Remarkable.”
A builder nearby split a beam end with his knife.
The interior showed dark streaking.
The crowd murmured.
Secundus nodded.
“Water sat in it.”
Varro asked, “Bad?”
“For spans, maybe. For doors, carts, wedges, fuel—fine.”
Felix smiled.
“There. Nothing useless except hesitation.”
A sawyer hung a sign:
BOOKED THREE DAYS
Then crossed it out and wrote:
FOUR DAYS.
Chresimus watched calmly.
“Labor shortage begins.”
Lentulus said, “Can more sawyers not be hired?”
Secundus looked at him.
“Can more Lentuli be carved?”
Felix laughed loudly.
Crispus said, “If civic works are imminent, private bids may be foolish.”
All five turned.
“What civic works?” Varro asked.
Crispus adjusted himself slightly.
“Rumor only.”
Felix grinned.
“There. The sweetest species of fact.”
Chresimus said, “If true, prices rise after noon.”
“If false?”
“Prices rise until noon.”
The auction clerk announced another lot: wheel blanks and axle stock.
Varro stepped forward slightly.
“Transport parts.”
Secundus nodded.
“Worth more than beams to the right buyer.”
Felix smiled.
“Then let the wrong buyers chase roofs.”
Lentulus said, “My family needs appearance more than axle stock.”
“Your family needs carts to move appearance,” Varro said.
Felix applauded once.
“Growth.”
A warehouse keeper shouted that no more bulky storage would be accepted without premium fees.
The crowd groaned.
Chresimus said, “There. Real scarcity.”
“Wood?” Lentulus asked.
“Space.”
Crispus looked toward the clerk.
“Terms of payment?”
“Today or guaranteed note.”
Felix brightened.
“There. Men without coin may still become foolish.”
A broker whispered that another raftload was already upriver.
Half the bidders hesitated.
Prices dipped at once.
Secundus narrowed his eyes.
“No raft visible.”
Felix said, “Then he owns none and wants cheaper lot six.”
Chresimus nodded.
“Likely.”
Varro watched who stopped bidding.
“Three men left the ring.”
“Cash thin,” Chresimus said.
“Courage thinner,” Felix replied.
A carpenter ran in shouting that nails had doubled at the iron lane.
The yard changed mood immediately.
Secundus said, “There.”
“What?” Lentulus asked.
“The timber is not the timber.”
Varro nodded.
“It is what timber requires.”
Felix smiled.
“At last, poetry in boots.”
Crispus said, “What matters now?”
Varro answered first.
“Cart access, road priority, fast loading.”
Secundus said, “Cut list, drying time, true dimensions.”
Lentulus said, “Future repairs and visible prestige.”
Felix said, “Mispriced lots and frightened bidders.”
Crispus said, “Title certainty and enforceable purchase.”
Chresimus said, “Who can store until shortage returns.”
They all looked at him.
He shrugged slightly.
“Patience has warehouses.”
The clerk shouted final call on axle stock.
Varro moved.
“I’ll secure movement lots first.”
Secundus moved with him.
“I’ll inspect hidden defects.”
Lentulus straightened.
“I will acquire visible beams before rivals do.”
Felix turned toward the hesitant bidders.
“I will buy their nerves cheaply.”
Crispus drew himself up.
“I will verify claims and liens.”
Chresimus tied his tablets.
“I will learn who started the upriver raft rumor.”
Felix looked back once.
“Six men. One timber yard. None of us discussing trees.”
Varro answered without turning.
“We are discussing what stands because of them.”
3. Choice Presentation
The timber is here. The future price of building is being decided now. Whose reading of the yard do you trust?
| Choice | Background |
|---|---|
| Follow Varro to secure movement lots and transport advantage. | Former Legionary |
| Follow Felix to exploit fear, rumors, and weak bidders. | Freedman Trader |
| Follow Lentulus to buy prestige materials and family advantage. | Noble Younger Son |
| Follow Crispus to verify title, liens, and lawful claims. | Failed Magistrate |
| Follow Secundus to inspect quality, defects, and practical uses. | Camp Logistician |
| Follow Chresimus to trace storage, cash strain, and strategic patience. | Guild Scribe |
4. What This Scene Teaches
- Raw materials create secondary shortages immediately.
- Bulky goods make storage and transport decisive.
- Quality variation changes value dramatically.
- Rumors alter bidding before facts arrive.
- Inputs like nails, sawyers, and carts may matter more than the lot itself.
- Patience can outperform urgency when others must buy now.
5. Canonical Success Condition
If the participant stops asking:
“How much is the timber worth?”
and starts asking:
“Who needs it before tomorrow?”
then this dialogue is functioning correctly.