The Sultan was the leader of a nation that had no single dominant faith. While most tribes were follows of what anthropologists would call "folk faiths" they were tied together by the belief in some way of Nakrar and Attah, the father and mother goddesses. There were though tribes who followed Islam, some who were Manist and some who were follows of Anahitaism. Religion had been a major cause of conflict between the tribes in the past and even more recently the murder of the two Anahitaist priestesses had set alarm bells ringing across the nation. He therefore knew all too well the need to walk the tightrope of keeping those with faith in check. "I can appreciate you having to adhere by your faith and its rules. I am sure that we can find some tribes with the materials you require as out of the 24 tribes only one allows slavery, that is the Humaydah tribe which follow the Manist faith. That means you have 23 other chances to find the minerals you are looking for." The Sultan motioned for one of the many attendents to come and approach him. The man leaned down to the Sultan who spoke into his ear.
"Yes Your Majesty" the man bowed and backed away until a few steps away. He then turned and hurried away.
"Now as for payment I would be happy to accept goods as payment. My intention is once we identify a tribe that has what you require then we shall impose upon them the materials as part of their annual payments to me. At present we collect payment in livestock, produce, goods such as wool and even for some tribes dates. Historically we as a nation have sold these off when needed to release funds but as we trade seldom outside Waddan it is rarely the case that we need much. As such we have been able to live off the precious metals we have found and gemstones, much like our Seleucid friends. Now though we must diversify. We shall remove the demand for livestock from a tribe and instead demand the rare metals you require. We shall then sell it to you. I would accept food stucks we do not have ourselves, it would help us prepare for the next food emergency like the ones the Seleucid experienced. I would also accept timber, coal, refined metals, things of this nature. I think we will experience in the coming years younger people wishing to have what they are seeing in Royal Seleucid and other Midaranye nations and the capital here will grow, we must prepare for that. So perhaps rare metals for usable materials?"
The man the Sultan had whispered to reappeared and was carrying a huge book. It looked hundreds upon hundreds of pages thick and the man placed it with a heavy thud on the table infront of the Sultan. He inched himself forward to open up the book. The page was blank but the Sultan flicked back a few pages. "This is our Book of Tribes. It records all of the lands owned by the tribes for eternity, but it also maps where the tribes nomadic routes are and when they must move on. It gives us the basis to ensure disputes over resources such as land and water for animals don't begin. We have begun recording the distribution of various raw materials too." With an almost encylopedic knowledge of the book the Sultan flicked back and forth between pages. After some deliberation the Sultan closed the book seemingly satisfied. "Go bring me Chief Rashid Ajam" the Sultan motioned to a seating area along one side that a group of men were sat watching the auction from. The Sultan's man bowed and hurried down and could be seen chatting with the man.
Soon the duo were on their way up. "My Sultan" A man seemingly in his middle years with a wild black beard bowed with a hand on his heart. "The Dragon-Emperor and Empress I am honoured to be in your prescence." He bowed once more but it was noticable he bowed slightly less low to the guests. "What duty may I do for you Your Majesty" Rashid addressed the Sultan.
"Rashid I am making some changes to your nations tribute. This year I will be requiring you to undertake some mining. Our guest here is in need of some minerals we have but he does not. As such we will not be needing your wool, your camels or your goats this year, we will though require shipments of metals we shall give you a list of." Rashid nodded his understanding. He was confident that he could get things going with mining pretty easily. They had explored it as a means when rumour had come that Tamora was buying metals from the Manist tribe. Great caravans of people followed the herds and he knew a good 1/3 of them were not really needed. He knew there was potential and now was a good time. This could be a good boost for the tribe.
"As always my Sultan we shall do our best." Rashid bowed, "Dragon-Emperor I shall do all within my power to get you what you need when you need it. If you send my representative here in the capital a list we shall begin fulfilling it as soon as our nations geologists point us in the correct direction." The Sultan thanked him and motioned for the Chief to rejoin his colleagues.
"So do we have an arrangement?" The Sultan asked.