Balances and weights

[qinweiqi]

I would love to see balances for weighing materials. A pole with two arms and two suspended trays; these are perhaps the oldest possible technology for weighing materials.

Mechanically, things could be put into one tray, and then the other tray, and then the balance could be checked. Very crude balances would return results randomly. Poorly made but functional balances may always be heavier on one side. Well made balances would require less time to settle on the correct balance.

Additional notes:
As a nice simple measure, I think the trays should be large enough to hold fish.
A market may develop for properly labeled weights, though the simplest thing to measure with would likely be riln.
While morbid, I would not be surprised if the rooks had a set of balances large enough to hold small corpses. (historically some have asked what is the weight of a soul, and that would really fall under their shtick;does a nether infused corpse weigh more/less/the same?)
The Coalition Traders market would likely have balances that could be used as well, though possibly located elsewhere or restricted to guild members.

[Drayla]

Really I only see scales or any way of determining exact weight of things being available to traders. I just don't see why anyone else would want to weigh anything (even fishermen. In a setting like like CLOK, I imagine people are worried less about how much a fish weighs and more about how much food the can make from it). Honestly, the only reason I could see scales as being useful is when applied to leatherworking or blacksmithing, where you need a certain amount of material for every object, and it can be rather difficult to tell whether you have the right amount or not (especially with blacksmithing. Goodness it can be a nightmare). I know everyone keeps asking for scales, but my honest opinion is they are not needed by the average person, and so if they were implemented, they should be trader-only, as they are the only people I could see needing them even remotely. Then if people wanted their things weighed, they could contact a trader, which would kickstart interaction in where they meet somewhere, the trader weighs the person's goods, maybe appraises them, and maybe offers a trade of some sort. For Qinweiqi, I know he wants to weigh his fish. In an interaction with him, I might weigh a few of his best catches, give them an appraisal, and then offer him, say, a well-crafted dagger in return for a select number of fish.

[xavier]

um or you could use the weigh command

[Lysse]

The weigh command isn't totally accurate, the last I heard. I could be wrong though.

[TwistedAkai]

If there's a command to inaccurately weigh things, then I could see traders having abilities to make them more accurate, or having a skill you can train for it, while traders would have access to precise and accurate scales.

[qinweiqi]

While it is true that scales are traditionally the purview of the trader (particularly, the money-changer), I had in mind another use for them entirely. Many of the players of Arad focus on it's "western frontier" nature and there is not a lot of focus on it's gaslamp side. For me, the scales are all gaslamp. My intent in asking was to use them in my studies of alchemy [I'll make a major find one of these days. ;)]. Though anyone else with a scientific mind may have an interest in them as well. As I think about it, any infirmary/medical facility that isn't focused on thaumatergy would reasonably have scales as well. And while I certainly wouldn't wish having to get proper weight ratios in poultices on anyone, it would throw some realism in there.

Edit to add: Also a note on the weigh command: It is accurate but it is not precise. Anything that weighs less than 2 pounds is called the same "weighs less than 2 pounds." That isn't a problem, that is how people measure with their hands, and it makes sense.