expensive collections??

[Bman10119]

I was wondering what would wealthy people collect, like rich people now collect wine. One of my main characters comes from a powerful family and he's going to explore the ancient ruins of an old city that was home to his families crypt a thousand years ago. They stopped burying there because a thirty-fourty year long period of nonstop catastropheses that detroyed life in the city and turned the inhabitants into ghosts that kill everyone who tries to enter the city. I want him to find a priceless family collection in the crypts that can be used to fund an army and other pollitical efforts, but I want something that'd make sense for the time period. Any suggestions?

 

[Devor]

That would survive in the crypts? Jewelry. Ceremonial weapons and armor. Relics. That kind of thing is probably your best bet. Anything practical would wear out and be useless. Anything decorative that isn't made out of metal would deteriorate too much.

 

[Bman10119]

There are a lot of enchantments and whatnot over the crypt if that helps. But relics could work. Since everyone wants relics from the three gods, and those aren't in very high quantities since the gods disappeared centuries before the cataclysm period, which destroyed most of the worlds history and a lot of the relics that were in circulation.

Edited for wording.

 

[Butterfly]

What made the family powerful in the first place?

Perhaps there is something connected to family traits hidden within the crypt, something that has passed from one generation to the next... such as what your MC is good at, e.g, fighting, a weapon of some sort,a sword that will cut through anything, or armour that no weapon can damage; magic, a source of power to tap into, a book of ancient powerful spells.

Maybe even, an object that is that family's original wealth or power.

 

[Shockley]

Well, it would depend on the time-frame.

For example, you mentioned wine. A wine collection, if it was old enough and had survived, could make someone very wealthy indeed. But in the 10th Century (or a society based on that), 'collection' would be an odd concept. Patronage in the arts had not become a common thing yet, nor hobbyism, so your wealth would have been based primarily on what you could have secured in perishable products or in government/church positions.

That said, a jewel/gold hoard is always nice.

 

[kilost]

I'd have thought the best best would be some form of magical relic or artefact. For starters, these would also hold immense value, and secondly they would be easier to transport than huge amounts of gold and jewels.

 

[Bman10119]

The original form of wealth and power was gained when the country was founded. The first king had ten sons, who each took over a portion of the country when their father died. The eldest became king and took the land surrounding the capitol, and the MC's ancestor was second oldest and took the best land which had the highest population, mines, and good farmlands. The city where the tomb rests was a center for magic and learning in the Lordship (that's what the smaller land areas are called.) The royal family, the MC's family, and one other family are the only descendents left, and one of the lordships was destroyed in the cataclysm period. But due to large time period that knowledge is completely forgotten. I was already planning on the MC finding a Blood Tome in the crypt, which is a magic book created in a ritual where a powerful mage ends up killing himself and gives the book the ability to write itself and give knowledge to those it wishes to (it's there to further the plot). He has a fair amount of gold from being one of the richest families in the country but I wanted to give him more to build a larger army to reclaim lands taken by an evil government from a different country.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

My thought is why a collection? Granted he wants gold, but a collection seems like a lot of work, besides which, I'm not sure that all that many people collected expensive things in the way we do today. Why not have him find a single artifact, a book of spells, a sword belonging to an ancient king, a fountain of immortality. Something priceless that he can sell to one buyer? A single transaction. Or perhaps even better, he could sell water of immortality if that's what he found, to everyone with the money to purchase a glass.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Bman10119]

I donno why I was thinking a collection, just did. Though I see how a few more priceless relics or something would be worth more and work better. Now to come up with some nice relics. And who to sell them to. Hmmm...

 

[Phietadix]

Why not sell them to monks? They always want relics and can be very rich.

 

[Bman10119]

There's a thought. Hadn't considered putting monks in. And then he would potentially not be selling powerful relics to political enemies.

 

[SeverinR]

If the crypt/tomb is sealed, moisture controlled, and protected with magic almost anything could survive.
Food and unsealed liquids wouldn't.
Antiques of all kinds, anything in precious metals, crystal, china, jewelry, art works-paintings, pottery, sculptures, tapestry.
Alcohol-wine, whiskey, any of the alcohol that improves with age.