This market is the center of trade and commerce for its region. Stretching the length of a dozen city blocks, it features a wide variety of goods, services, and even information. The older and more established merchants have stands constructed or have managed to rent out the ground floor of the neighboring buildings; the newcomers make do with tables and tents. In cold climates, great pyres heat the market at intervals, while in warm ones colorful canopies provide protection from the sun. Almost anything can be bought and sold at the great market, and petty crime is common. Pickpockets as young as six work in gangs, running up to an unsuspecting shopper and surrounding them, begging for money, while the oldest and lightest-fingered removes their coin purse. Because people come from all over to trade their wares, it is also often the first place that rumors are heard. Some are undoubtably exaggerated for the appreciative audience; others may truly be that lucrative.