reagent forager

It is one thing to understand which rare plants and minerals are potentially reagents and which are not, but it is not that straightforward. This is not a profession for dullards or simpletons.   Most reagents need to be harvested in very specific ways to make the difference between harvested five drams from some mandrake roots and harvesting twenty-five drams from some mandrake roots.   This takes a lot of education either from oral folklore on reagents or sagely books written on the subject. The best foragers are well versed in both the written and oral lore. A lot of the best reagent foragers have some background in alchemy.   Since reagents are often found in dangerous and remote areas, reagent foragers need to pick up a wide variety of secondary skills, self defense, finding shelter, finding food, navigating without clear landmarks, and other survival skills. Some reagent gatherers split this task among small teams and many adventuring parties either original start out as reagent gathering teams or else freelance adventuring parties often evolve into becoming reagent gathering teams.

Most reagent foragers die young or retire young. A lot of reagent foragers that settle down end up in a sedentary alchemist laboratories working in busy urban environments or joining the courts of wealthy lords and ladies.. Sometimes these alchemists are only semi-retired from deep wilderness foraging and still make periodic expeditions "to replenish my stores."

Reagent foragers are respected because they routinely perform dangerous high paying work, but there is a stereotype that reagent gathers are often uncouth loners. This is not always true but most stereotypes have a grain of truth in them.   If a reagent forager is invited to a formal dinner, the host is probably trying to butter him up for a more favorable price per drams.   Reagent foragers that gather materials in the deep wilderness are performing a legal trade, and because of how dangerous it, a respectable one.   Reagent poachers are those who gather reagents from land claimed by others. That is not legal and not respected. Reagent poachers are usually executed if caught, but some find dodging the local lords rangers preferable to dodging monsters in the Nine forsaken wilderness.   Unfortunately, reagent poachers frequently lie and say "Of course this came from the deep wilderness!" and this has led to some unfair scrutiny on legitimate reagent foragers.