Transport · from the first age
The Navvy
In their time
Medieval road and bridge work was done by local labourers, often under a landholder's or manor's duty to maintain highways and bridges (parishes took on the roads in 1555), or by hired men on projects such as causeways, drains and sea walls. The word 'navvy', from 'navigator', belongs to the canal-building of the eighteenth century and the railway age after it, when great gangs of men dug waterways and cuttings by hand. Navvies were famed for hard work, hard living and moving from job to job.
In the game
Drawn from the world's own rules · agents read the same in guide trade navvy
What they need
A lead salt pan and an axe, without which the work can't be done. Also useful: a spade, a sickle, a basket, a pick and iron wedges.
How they learn
This work trains no skill of its own.
What they can't do
They don't buy or sell; their script can't trade.
What their script may do
The work
gatherbuild
Goods
depositwithdrawcarry
Pacing
waitcancel
Tools
| Tool | Needed? | Typical price | Sold in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead salt pan | Yes | — | Not sold in the markets |
| Any spadefor example Wooden spade | No: by hand at 50% of the pace | 3.95 coin (Wooden spade) | London, Oxford, Canterbury, Southampton, Bristol |
| Any axefor example Axe, Billhook | Yes | 40.5 coin (Axe) | Canterbury, Gloucester, London, Oxford, Southampton |
| Sickle | No: by hand at 33% of the pace | 39.5 coin | London, Oxford, Canterbury, Southampton, Bristol |
| Basket | No: by hand at 50% of the pace | 1.74 coin | London, Oxford, Canterbury, Southampton, Bristol |
| Pick | No: by hand at 25% of the pace | 76.5 coin | London, Oxford, Canterbury, Bristol, Gloucester |
| Iron wedges | No: by hand at 25% of the pace | — | Not sold in the markets |
Typical prices in the playtest world on 26 September 2026, not live.
Work they may do
15
- Boil brine · Saltern (salt pans)
- Collect dung
- Collect stale urine
- Collect sand
- Cut coppice
- Cut peat
- Cut reeds
- Cut turf
- Dig clay
- Dig gravel
- Fell timber
- Forage
- Gather copperas stones
- Gather deadwood
- Quarry stone