Pricing of goblin females

I hadn't intended to go into this too deeply, but Grim seems to be concocting some kind of scheme involving defeating Jalahand by buying all the females from his village or something, so here goes.

Marriage

While the institution of marraige among the Droaam goblins does involve people changing hands for money, they do not think of it as slavery but as marraige. Therefore the women do not exactly have fixed prices, but rather the marraige custom involves an exchange of goods which reflects the buyer and seller's relationships with each other as much as the value of the female.

The price that a goblin female might change hands for in marraige is modified by the following factors:

• How attractive she is. (This is difficult for a non-goblin to judge.)
  
• Whether she is a virgin.
  
• Her age.
  
• The social status of her father or current husband.
  
• Whether she has any particular skills (e.g. whether she is a good cook).
  
• How well the prospective buyer knows her father or current husband.
  
• How well the seller expects the buyer to treat her.
  
• Whether she is changing hands within one community or between two different ones.
  
• How generally well-off the community in which she is changes hands is. (As a rule of thumb, the same marraige may involve twice as much money in a well-of community such as Stoneskull compared with an ordinary one such as Castle Granis.)
  

Among rural communities such as Castle Granis, a plain, middle-aged, several-times-married female with no particular skills might change hands for only a token sum of a couple of goats, whereas the beautiful virgin daughter of a chieftain being married to a goblin from a different tribe might warrant a bride-price of fifty goats (or other goods worth 50gp).

The financial transaction is only one element of the arrangement of a marriage, which is likely to involve much negotiation and bonding between the buyer and seller, with many possibilities for offense to be taken.

Slavery

Slavery as a formal institution is not common in rural Droaam, but the cities such as Graywall contain slave markets which deal in male and female slaves of many different races. The prices of slaves tend to be higher than the prices for which women may be exchanged in marriage, but the process of buying one involves none of the tricky negotiations.

According to Valdash, who has visited Graywall and seen the slave market, a female orc who was being sold as a concubine and who was not exceptionally desirable or exotic might go for about 100 gold pieces. He reckons that goblins would probably be cheaper, though, but he didn't happen to look at any of them when he was there.

A rural community might sell its women (or its low-status men) as slaves, but only if it is severely hard-pressed for cash.

Alignment note

I am sure it is not too controversial for me to rule that dealing in forced marriages or slavery is an Evil act.