奇物商人的日常
THE LIFE OF A TALISMONGER发帖人：莱兰
POSTED BY: LYRAN 毫不夸张地说，奇物商人是魔法使用者最好的朋友。奇物商人可以提供试剂；如果没有奇物商人，狂奔者必须从狂奔行动中抽出时间来寻找和收集自己的试剂。许多城市的暗影狂奔者缺乏足够的技能、经验和适当的装备，来承担深入世界上最偏远且无人居住的地区，采集一些最好的试剂的风险。在许多充满敌意的环境中，如果你不知道自己在做什么，你缺乏的经验就会让你丧命。
一旦收集了试剂，就获得了合适的载体（telesma，译注：炼成的材料物品）。由于他们对奥术知识的广博，奇物商人可以通过进行复杂的附魔过程将所有这些元素结合起来，把它们变成各种各样强大的法器和炼金制剂。这对还处在街头等级的狂奔者而言简直是无价之宝，特别是当一个狂奔者小队需要面对一个强大的魔法威胁时，例如可能有自己的法器和其他魔法装备的公司走狗法师或毒萨满。简而言之，一个高质量的奇物商人可以把任何一个只有少量天赋的魔法使用者变成一个精英。这是任何魔法师或修士都不可缺少的财富。奇物商人的服务可以，而且经常可以，让一个魔法使用者活下来，即使世界上的其他人可能想让他死。
> 奇物商人：魔法界的掮客。他们不仅能附魔法器，还拥有自己的关系网来获取难以获得的试剂，经常通过以物换物和利用人情关系来交换彼此需要的物品。很多时候，这些已建立的关系网将会节省奇物商人的时间和精力。当你认识的关系网中另一位奇物商人有多余的试剂可以卖给你，或者他们恰好需要你用于交换的东西时，你为什么还要自己去收集试剂呢？大多数奇物贩子也是走私者和偷猎者最好的朋友，他们总能把一些非法货物绕过海关。很多时候，奇物商人会扮演约翰逊的角色，雇佣狂奔者帮助他们获得他们自己无法获得的物品。同时，他们也需要狂奔者来保护自身的安全，以避免在野外被认为是容易打劫的猎物。
> 宝石（Stone）
> 所以，如何分别奇物贩子和奇物私贩的区别？
> 孤骑（Lone Rider）
> 奇物商人合法，虽然我们偶尔会为他们的客户提供一些非法物品，但一般来说，他们收集的材料会遵循各国政府对他们施加的绝大多数法律限制。这意味着运输合法许可和试剂收集许可。奇物商人也（或多或少）遵循奇物联合会（United Talismongers Association）制定的奇物销售准则。所以，如果UTA说，“嘿，这很危险，你不应该这么做”，奇物商人就会通常遵循这种做法。或者，如果信息是“嘿，这种动物濒临灭绝，不要捕猎它”，一位有信誉的奇物商人就会听取这一建议，或者至少负责地不猎杀怀孕的雌性超自然生物样本。奇物私贩基本上就对当局说“操你妈的”，并且会为了利益做任何他们想做的事。此外，奇物商人往往独立工作，或者们为某人，为某个合法的组织工作，比如UTA隶属的魔法组织。奇物私贩则相对的倾向于组织地进行犯罪工作。
> 莱兰（Lyran）
劇透 - :
> Legitimate talismongers, although we will bend the rules on occasion to acquire some illegal stuff for their clients, will, as a general rule, follow the vast majority of legal restrictions for the materials they collect imposed on them by the various governments. This means carrying legal-ish permits and licenses for gathering reagents. Talismongers also (more or less) adhere typically to the talismongering guidelines as laid out by the United Talismongers Association. So if the UTA says, “Hey, this is dangerous and you should not do it,” a talismonger frequently follows that practice. Or if the message is “Hey, this animal is near extinction, don’t hunt it,” a reputable talismonger heeds that advisory, or at the very least acts responsibly by not hunting and killing pregnant female specimens of the paranormal critter. A talislegger basically says “fuck you” to the authorities and will do anything and everything they want for a profit. Also, talismongers tend to be more independent, or if they work for someone, they work for a legitimate organization such as an UTAaffiliated magic group. Talisleggers, on the other hand, tend to work for organized crime.
> Lyran
> 比如你和科萨里（Koshari）?
> 麻烦（Ma’fan）
> 不一样。他们是我的客户，不是我的雇主。我还被雇用为极道和三合会工作。我是中立人士，我走自己的路。
> 莱兰
> 你可以将“不使用龙试剂”添加到合法奇物商人不会再做的事件列表中，并且理由充分。似乎参与这种行业的绝大多数奇物商人如今已不再营业。
> 吉米No（Jimmy No）
> 或是活着。
> Slamm-0!
奇物商人，由于他们工作的性质，将会在实体店工作。奇物商人需要用到的工具：一些地方来储存他们的试剂，和一个适合的工作区域来附魔（也通常被称为他们的魔法帐篷）。这通常是一间名为“学识商店”的店面，大多数有信誉的奇物商人更喜欢它，因为它使他们的客户更容易找到他们。另一种可能是货车或其他类型交通工具的后箱，因为一些奇物商人更喜欢保持流动和难以找寻，同时也掩盖了他们永久魔法帐篷的位置。当你不确定一个流动奇物商人会在哪里时，你就很难从他们那里偷东西。然而，你不应该根据一个奇物商人如何经营他们的生意来判断他们。相反，你应该根据奇物商人的工作质量以及他们的街头信誉来判断他们。有些奇物商人不从事精细的工艺；取而代之的是批量生产法器，把任何东西都变成法器，从劣质的打火机到价格不超过20日元的丑陋廉价戒指，没有质量把控和美感。在我看来，这些蹩脚的奇物商人和这些超企的子公司并没有什么不同，它们把奇物商人和附魔作为一种“一刀切”的运作方式，在工作中缺乏任何个性、巧妙或灵魂。说实话，我不知道他们如何能在工作中不注入哪怕一点点激情和创造力。其他人，比如我自己，是真正的工匠，并且会花很多时间和精力在一个特殊的法器上，使其趋向美学上的完美。我们对我们将要附魔的东西，和如何附魔非常讲究。像我这样的奇物商人对我们所知的艺术没有任何极限。工艺是我们引以为豪的东西，我们竭尽全力满足客户需求，无论我们要走多远，或是要去世界上多么遥远的地方，去采集各种独特的试剂，最终的目的都是为我们的客户定制完美的法器。即使这意味着放弃我们第一次或第二次附魔法器的尝试，我们也会这么做，只要确保我们的艺术形式是完美的，我们作为真正工匠的声誉就能得到保障。
劇透 - :
Talismongers, because of the nature of their work, will work out of a physical shop. A talismonger needs tools, some place to store their reagents, and a proper work area to enchant (also commonly referred to as their magic lodge). This would typically be a storefront known as a lore shop, which most reputable talismongers prefer as it makes it easy for their clients to find them. Alternately this could be the back of a van or other type of vehicle, as some talismongers prefer to remain mobile and harder to find, while also keeping the location of their permanent magic lodge secret. It is a lot harder to steal from a mobile talismonger when you’re not sure where they’re ever going to be. You should not judge a talismonger based on how they conduct their business, however. Instead, you should judge talismongers based on the quality of their work as well as their street cred. Some talismongers do not engage in fine craftsmanship; choosing instead to mass produce foci, and turning anything and everything into a focus, from crappy cigarette lighters to ugly, cheap-ass rings that cost no more than twenty nuyen, with no sense of quality control or aesthetics. From my perspective, those crappy talismongers are no different than these megacorporate subsidiaries that approach talismongering and enchanting as a “onesize-fits-all” operation and lack any individuality, subtly, or soul in their work. Honestly, I fail to see how they can do their jobs without infusing even a small amount of passion and creativity into their work. Others, such as myself, are true artisans, and will spend a lot of time and effort getting the aesthetics perfect on a particular focus. We’re quite particular in what we will enchant and how we will enchant it. Talismongers like myself know no limits when it comes to our art. Craftsmanship is something we take great pride in, and we go to great lengths to satisfy the customer, no matter how far we must travel or what remote parts of the world we must visit to gather various unique reagents for the purpose of creating just the right custom focus for our customers. Even if it means tossing out our first or second attempts at enchanting a focus, we’ll do it, if only to make sure our art form is perfect and our reputations as true artisans are preserved.
那么如何才能成为一位奇物商人呢？这完全视你的情况而定。我想说，成为一个优秀奇物商人的首要品质是拥有炼金术、草药学、冶金学、地质学、地理学，当然还有奇术学的基础知识。你必须能够识别哪些药草、植物、金属、宝石和超自然生物适合附魔，以及哪些具有附魔的最高品质。此外，你亦需要知道如何确定样本的质素是否良好，或样本是否受环境因素污染而无法使用。一个优秀的奇物商人总是在寻找方法来完善他们的技术，并经常与其他奇物商人交换物品和讨论学术，以获得如何完善他们附魔过程的技巧。在南美洲和非洲等偏远地区，政府力量的流动性要大得多。今天，你可能正在与一个政府合作，而下一天，你将面对一个不同的政府，就会有新的规定压到你的脖子上。你需要适应变化。这也意味着可能会有新的政府官员需要行贿。因此，跟上地缘政治热点地区的时事，对一个奇物商人的成功和长期生存也至关重要。
劇透 - :
So what does it take to be a talismonger? It really depends on who you ask. I would say the first and foremost quality of being a good talismonger is possessing a fundamental knowledge of alchemy, herbalism, metallurgy, geology, geography, and of course thaumaturgy. You have to be able to identify which herbs, plants, metals, gems, and paranormal critters are good for enchanting and which ones possess the highest-grade qualities for enchanting purposes. You also need to know how to determine whether a specimen is of good quality or whether it has become tainted by environmental factors and is unusable. A good talismonger is always looking for ways to perfect their techniques and will frequently barter and haggle with other talismongers for tips on how to refine their enchanting process. In remote areas, such as in South America and Africa, there is a lot more fluidity with governmental forces. One day, you may be working with one government, and in the next, you have a different government with new rules breathing down your neck. You need to be adaptable to change. This also means there could be new government officials to bribe. So keeping up with current events in geo-political hot spots is also crucial for the success and the longterm survival of a talismonger.
> 确保你有可以用来行贿的物品——这和你的枪支弹药一样重要。在偏远地区，士兵不会对你的信用棒和电子账户感兴趣。这些东西在无线连接受限的地方毫无用处。相反，他们会对宝石、白银、黄金或其他贵重商品感兴趣。在许多第三世界国家，准备好把你收获的大约15%的试剂以贿赂的形式收买这些投机取巧的王八蛋。
> 旅行者琼斯（Traveler Jones）
> 是的，这就是为什么当我遇到糟糕的试剂时，我仍然会去收集它们的原因。那些我用不到但看起来价值不菲的东西，我就把它们留给外行人。对我没有价值的东西可能对他们有价值。最棒的是他们可能永远都不会知道其中的区别。
> 莱兰
收集试剂的最佳地点往往是难以到达的偏远地区，而且不太可能受到泛人类接触的负面影响。亚马逊地区可能是寻找原始动物和超自然动物标本的最佳地点之一，以满足你的附魔需要，特别是在亚马逊雨林的心脏地带。然而，随着阿兹特兰对热带雨林北部地区的入侵，你需要远离自阿兹特-亚马战争以来一直居住在北部地区的阿兹特兰人，因为他们对该地区的态度并不温和。还请记住，在觉醒的热带雨林中存在着许多危险，包括食人树（如果它们没有在你获得强效试剂之前杀死你的话，你就能获取强大的试剂）、幽灵卡特尔（译注：cartels，企业联盟）、致命昆虫和有毒的超自然生物，其中一些还没有被今天的科学分类。非洲仍然是另一个受欢迎的试剂收集地点。但是，荒野地区的快速城市化、不负责任的偷猎和露天采矿活动，持续破坏着卓越品质的试剂来源。亚洲也面临着类似的问题，尤其是短时间内发生的损失或荒芜化。
劇透 - :
The best places to visit for harvesting reagents tend to be remote locations that are difficult to access and less likely to have been impacted negatively by metahuman contact. Amazonia is perhaps one of the best locations for finding pristine specimens of fauna and paranormal critters for your enchanting needs, particularly in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. However, with Aztlan’s encroachment into the northern parts of the rainforest, you need to stay away from the northern areas where Aztlan has moved in since the Azt-Am War, as the Azzies are not treating the area gently. Also remember that there are many dangers to be found in the Awakened rainforest, including carnivorous trees (which can provide powerful reagents if they don’t kill you first), the ghost cartels, deadly insects, and venomous paranormal critters, some of which have yet to be classified by today’s science. Africa continues to be another popular spot for reagent gathering. But again, rapid urbanization of wilderness areas, irresponsible poaching, and strip mining operations continue to whittle away at sources of radical-quality reagents. Asia also suffers similar problems, particularly with the rapid loss or wilderness.
澳大利亚是世界上不那么容易遭受泛人类入侵的地区之一。澳大利亚的内陆地区有着狂野的魔法、法力风暴和剧毒觉醒的超自然生物，是世界上最好的采集纯净试剂的地方之一。在北美，仍然有一些地方是收集试剂的理想地点。沙斯塔山尽管被围绕着巨龙内战的白热化事件所摧毁，仍然有一些地方是奇物商人的理想场所。莫哈韦沙漠也以其经典的试剂而闻名。除了夏季无法忍受的高温之外，最主要的不利条件是你可能不得不去讨好充满敌意的精魂，导致许多奇物商人探险队消失在沙漠中，再也见不到了。而在原住民国家，尤其是苏族和普韦布洛公司理事会，他们的领土已经受到保护免遭泛人之虐待，这使得他们具备了寻找试剂的成熟条件。这些地方的不利之处应该是显而易见的：这些土地通常受到限制，这意味着只有属于这些国家原住民部落的奇物贩子才能进入。即便如此，对他们能收获什么和不能收获什么也有严格的限制。外来奇物商人会发现，如果不公然违法，最好的工作也是困难重重。许多奇物商人发现，他们别无选择，只有违法才能在这些地区谋生，即使他们更愿意守法。
劇透 - :
One part of the world that does not suffer as much metahuman intrusion is Australia. With all the wild magic, mana storms, and highly venomous Awakened paranormal critters, Australia’s outback is one of the best places in the world to harvest untainted reagents. In North America, there are still a few locations that are ideal for harvesting reagents. Mount Shasta, despite being devastated by the events surrounding the climax of the Great Dragon Civil War, still has locations that are ideal for talismongering. The Mohave Desert is also known for its exemplary reagents. The main drawback, besides the unbearable temperatures during the summer months, is you might just have to endear hostile spirits, resulting in many talismongering expeditions disappearing into the desert and never being seen again. And the NAN nations, particularly the Sioux Nation and the Pueblo Corporate Council, have territory that has been protected from metahuman abuse, making them ripe for reagent hunting. The downside of these locations should be obvious: these lands are generally restricted, meaning only talismongers belonging to the tribes that are native to those nations can enter. Even then, there are tight restrictions on what they can and cannot harvest. Talismongers from outside find it difficult at best to work in these areas without overtly breaking the law. Many talismongers find that they have no choice but to break the law to make a living in these areas, even if they would prefer to remain law-abiding.
> 是的，奇物商人的日子不好过。他们不仅要担心政府和与做好本职工作有关的所有危险，还要担心犯罪集团。有些人会因为你争夺他们的资源而直接杀了你。那些不这样做的公司会试图恐吓你，让你放弃一部分试剂，以换取继续经营下去的权力。许多人会屈服于这些敲诈勒索的要求，因为活着总比死了好。
> 强制退出（Hard Exit）
多亏了龙，奇物商人的工作变得更加复杂了。奇物商人通常都有自己的地盘，他们把这些地盘声称为自己的地盘，用来收集主要的试剂。由于优质试剂样本是如此难以获得，以至于奇物贩子尽所能地保护该地区以生产像样的试剂。奇物私贩通常会动用他们正在为之工作的私人联合会的肌肉，以阻止竞争对手进入他们的地区，从而保护组织的利润。不要指望奇物商人竞争对手愿意就土地使用权进行谈判。你闯入他们的领地会威胁到他们的生计，他们很可能会赶你出去，而不是分享他们的地盘。
当龙以“使用龙试剂”为借口开始想奇物商人群体复仇时，他们动摇了奇物商人群体的力量平衡。原先由资深奇物商人占据的最佳位置，现在很多都被遗弃了。自从巨龙内战结束以来，世界各地都有奇物商人和奇物私贩抢夺这片新近无人认领的领土，与此同时，犯罪集团一直在努力支撑他们已经建立的业务，并接管那些竞争对手的业务，那些因龙的干预而遭到破坏的地区。到目前为止，事关土地使用的斗争充满血腥。不断变化的领土尚未得到解决，每天都有新的奇物商人希望利用这种混乱局面，强行进入更有利可图的领土。如果你打算迈入奇物商人行业，你最好小心点。会有很多人拿枪瞄准它，试图得到你要找的相同的试剂。在可预见的未来，奇物商人的生活将依旧艰难，直到奇物商人群体中出现一个新的等级秩序。
