I also think that we are pushing the boundaries of our Medieval apartheid too far. Many nobles will have been very pragmatic towards common people, certainly to those with power and money. I can hardly believe Jakob Fugger or Pieter Bladelin were unable to buy a boat, let alone kept from booking a passage.
None of our adventurers is even remotely anything like that. They don't own banking houses going back five generations. To a world of heritage, that is worth more than the gold inside.
They may be rich compared to your average knight's
active purse. But don't forget all the gold that even the average knight goes through on a regular basis. And I think the "rich" part is grossly overstated. In
none of our game worlds do the top 10 adventurers (sorted by gold) own more than 100 gold. In most game worlds, only the top three or so own more than 100 gold. Only on Dwilight do more than two adventurers own more than 200 gold. On all game worlds, the average gold for adventurers is somewhere between 10 and 20 gold, while the average gold for nobles is at least 100 gold, except for the East Island (where it's slightly lower) and for Priests in the Colonies.
And don't forget that a ship is a
major expense. Columbus went to kings and queens in order to get financing for his voyage, as did many others. An ocean-going ship is well beyond the financial capabilities of all but the most powerful and wealthy nobles.
The rise of merchants and bankers as powerful players was towards the end of the middle ages, if not beyond it. The Fuggers were a family of nobodies in the time period that the middle ages span (up to the 15th century, with the Fuggers not appearing on the scene before the 16th century).
I do think, however, that we should look into taxation for adventurers again. I think on tax day they should be taxed by whatever region they happen to be in on that day, in addition to the realm taxes they already pay.
