Carnival of the Dead

[Nuhaine Morealis]

Carnival of the Dead
An odd carnival in the center of Dry Island, Kenash, it serves as an icon of the strange. "Here at the carnival, in death, there is only amusement."

Services:
The Carnival of the Dead is a carnival held every five days within the season for one night in Kenash on Dry Island, after the fifteenth bell, beginning with the 5th of that season. It is owned by Nuhaine Morealis.

Admission-
2GM Child
5GM Adult
20GM Season Pass (Includes 1 Child, 1 Adult)
2X VIP (Front row seating priority and ten free candies, Dynasty members or those vouched for by them only)

Activities-
Theatre of the Dead- Every two hours, starting with the sixteenth bell, up until the twenty-second bell the show starts. Within the show, a variety of 'acts' will play out, taking advantage of the abilities ghosts have to provide entertainment. The show is 30 chimes long.
There are several booths visitors may partake in between shows. They involve getting to know the ghosts better, and sometimes offer mutual benefit. They are:
The Experience- Visitors may request an experience with a ghost. Experiences include being touched lightly by a Ghost's projection, or being possessed.
Catch the Ball- A decent sized tent where a ghost plays keep-away by levitating a ball around. Anyone who can catch the ball gets their admission refunded as a reward, or a season pass extended half a season.
Stories of the Dead- One of the spiritist slaves in the Carnival allows a ghost to possess them, and has it tell a story about its past life to anyone willing to hear.
Haunted Bottles- Throw a small glass ball at bottles while a ghost attempts to knock it away. If you manage to get the ball inside a bottle your admission is refunded or your season pass is extended half a season.
Candy Booth- Buy some of Morealis' fine sugar candy treats. 2sm per treat.

Booth Rental-
4 Slots Open
1 Slot includes Pavilion, Chair, and Table.
A booth allows you to sell your wares within the carnival. A booth must be manned by an individual you provide, or yourself. You may not sell items that may be used to harm ghosts, and you may not sell weapons, stolen goods, or poisons. No fee is taken from you beyond initial costs. You may bring additional furnishings if needed.
Price is 7GM/night. Seasonal is 50GM.

Off-Hours-
During Off-Hours, ghosts are trained and interacted with frequently. They are given soulmist to preserve their friendliness, and usefulness within the carnival. Given spare time, one may employ Nuhaine for his Spiritism services. Off-hours activities are only available when the carnival isn't running.

Candy Booth- Run by Sagus in off-hours at the front of the carnival, advertises to passersby from the main road.. 2sm per treat.

Spiritism Services-
Converse with Sagus and he will take you to Nuhaine if available, or schedule an appointment.
Training in Spiritism, up to Competent level: 5GM/Hour
Ghost Removal: 40 GM + 25 GM per additional Ghost, 50% Discount if socialized and ghosts are allowed to stay.
Haunting Investigation: 50 GM for 1 Night + Lodging
Ghost Protection: 50 GM/100 Sq Feet
Exorcism: 40 GM
Imbue an Item with Soulmist: 10 GM

Failure in any Spiritism services will result in a refund, with the exception of haunting investigations.

NPCs-
Sagus the Slave
Feldar Morealis the Ghost
Tabitha Morealis the Ghost
Bojangles the Ghost
Etrayu the Ghost
Conrad the Ghost
Kale the Ghost
Shutalu the Ghost

Finances:
10 gm World Mage
+5 competent
15 gm per day.

(Living Expenses-
-0.5 GM/day Slave (Sagus)
-0.5 GM/day 7x Ghosts)

Expenses-

1/2 Acre (Includes Fencing)	525 GM
Pavilion x10 (Sewn Together)	500 GM
Pavilion x8 (Individual)	400 GM
Pavilion x4 (Sewn Together)	200 GM
Training Room, Spiritist	1250 GM
Servant's Quarters	400 GM
Lantern (Stage)x4	300 GM
Slave (Sagus)	400 GM
Kitchen (Simple)	800 GM
Chair, Average x60	42 GM
Table, Average x8	8 GM
Glass Ball 1" x50	25 GM
Bag of Glass x5	50 GM
Bottles (1oz, 1/2 of them yellow, 1/2 violet) x200	100 GM
Total Debt	5000 GM

[Gillar]

Ok, I can't really use my normal approval template here yet at the same time I can't really use my intervention one either. I want to approve this but there are a number of things we need to iron out first. Before all that, I have to say I love this idea and think it would be a wonderful addition to the city of Kenash. I guess I will just jump in with what I think needs to be discussed and maybe tweaked a bit to get this plan fully ready for approval. The format itself is already there but the details are the devil here. The biggest issue starts with the frequency of operation for the carnival. It operates a total of 18 times in a season. I understand that you probably don't want to destroy the ghosts by having them perform every single night but you probably should supplement that with some other offering be it goods or services. Since the carnival only runs 18 days out of a season, that leaves A LOT of extra time you could devote to another part of the business. Now you could place more focus on the spiritism training perhaps as a side business but I would also take advantage of your family status/background. The idea I had was maybe have your character include in the carnival a part of the business that sells sugar. The Morealis family is big on sugar so maybe sell small jars of sugar and simple candies with a slave acting as a cook. You could brand it as part of your carnival and maybe even go so far as to throw in some soulmist (keep in mind it doesn't last terrible long so you couldn't keep large amounts in stock, only rather small amounts) into the candies. This would help with maybe some candy peddling your character could engage in during carnival off-time. Showing would-be customers that the candy is the only candy that appeals to ghosts. Giving one of your ghosts a piece of candy imbued with soulmist and seeing how much they enjoy it would be a great way to advertise the candy and help justify the world-mage income. With that, the next issue involves the ghosts. Seven ghosts are a lot to handle. You have to first consider the logistics of keeping that many ghosts around. Why are they there and why are they performing side show acts for onlookers? What keeps them from leaving or refusing to act? The size of the safe zone required to trap them in a place like this would be an immense feat and ghostbeads do not last forever so they would have to be regularly renewed. Now, you may have already considered this (judging by the last name of a couple of the ghosts) and all said details are not currently known to me but all the ghosts could be dead relatives of our character. Maybe the slaves were past family slaves? All together they worked to make a name for themselves just like you but failed and that failure somehow resulted in their death? This may explain why they have returned and have chosen to help your character succeed where they did not. It would eliminate the need for ghostbeads everywhere to maintain safe zones or imprison the ghosts. There is also the issue of slaves having spiritism as a magic skill. As far as I know, Kenash slaves are unable to have magic which leaves you either having freeborn spiritists or none at all. This is likely too expensive since paying the wage of one would almost eliminate your income. This would leave you having to manage it all yourself, at least the spiritism part. However if the ghosts were all more-or-less voluntarily aiding you, this would help immensely. So, this leaves us with seven ghosts in a large area with a single competent spiritist to manage them all. I would suggest making it a point to provide the ghosts with ample soulmist to keep them happy, content and wish to continue doing their best to help you succeed in life by working your carnival. This may actually require some small expenditure of income to account for the materials needed to produce enough soulmist to routinely give to the ghosts. I would go so far as to say .5 gm a day for the whole crew of ghosts since the ingredients for making soulmist is not that expensive. For the slaves, maybe have them work as general attendants to the whole place, greeting visitors, maintaining the facility and such. I don't think that even if they were able to have spiritism that, as slaves, they should be offering training to anyone. That is something you should probably do. Finally, you are going to have to get all the ghosts approved in the same way with the same restrictions/requirements as normal NPCs. These are my concerns and questions. I want to say again that I LOVE this idea you have come up with and really want to help you get it to a final approval point.

[Nuhaine Morealis]

Updated taking all of your suggestions into account, Gillar!

I originally didn't think it would be realistic in terms of availability to have only family slaves and family ghosts (which is why I had only a few), but as you suggested this I will include only family slaves or family ghosts. It will make the carnival much easier to maintain.

You can find my Help Desk thread here.

Next, in adding a Kitchen I had to let go of one of my slaves (though I could use personal funds to purchase another if need be) but I feel Sagus can fill his new role quite nicely as a candy peddling slave.

The ghosts will indeed be treated to soulmist frequently to keep up their strength and disposition towards the PC.

As Rowan Morealis is becoming a Magecrafter, or at least something else, I decided to in part take up his business on request, meaning I will have my hands full as the only Spiritist in town. I would think that this may entail a sale's bonus, with such diversity.

I will explain the candies in better detail on the location post, as i'm not sure how much detail i'm supposed to put into the BP template.

Future plans include purchasing a new slave, and possibly an office.

[Gillar]

Approved with the following notations/modifications: I look forward to seeing how this unique business idea plays out. Good luck and enjoy! Business Plan Disclaimer: I am approving this business plan and the plan alone. Final approval for the business location is left in the hands of the attending Storyteller and any/all NPCs must still be approved.