Whither the Merchant? Mercantile Enterprise in the 10th Age

This article comes directly as a request from my players, who want to know more about the involvement and influences of merchant interests in Arunia and the Third Empire of Miles in specific.

The first thing that must be stated: there is enough commerce to support a merchant class! This is a deviation from my standard medievalism, particularly the early middle ages, when a unified merchant class really didn't exist in any discreet way. However, Arunia has enough functioning social structures to provide the constant source of income-by-trade that merchants require to exist as a threshold matter. Particularly, the advances of elvish and dwarven sailing-craft have made the entire Trade Sea pliable, and the ancient but still functioning society of High Aellon (notably the city-state of Chimeron) which inherited its sailing and shipbuilding techniques from the Giants, has helped bolster the intercontinental trade networks that make up Arunia's economy.

Merchants in the Empire
Merchants in the Third Empire have a special protected status. Most are outsiders, from beyond the Empire's borders. Since Miles has always needed a steady trade in grain from Khewed and Hadash, there are ancient laws governing merchants and their trade that have existed since the First Empire. These are known as the lex mercantorum, and they provide for private merchant-courts to be assembled from the natives of whatever land the merchants hail from. In Miles, this is no problem: there are communities of people from as far away as Mugharia and Arunia-Sudus, so even if a Zeshimite merchant is involved in some kind of lawsuit, any given day in Miles can find between 5-12 other Zeshimites to staff a court.

Outside of Miles, however, merchants are not required for the functioning of the Empire and its peoples. Most regions are self-sufficient, and those that are not engage in intra-Imperial trade. This is managed by much smaller merchant concerns which are themselves not subject to the lex mercantorum because they are generally imperial citizens.

Far-trading foreigners have less reason and opportunity to form merchant-compacts as they generally rely only on themselves and their own ship (or ships, as the case may be). Thus, it is rare to find compacts formed from Zeshimites, Mugharians, Khewedi, etc. However, the same cannot be said for dwarves, gnomes, and elves, all of whom have powerful merchant concerns in their own lands. Elves in particular form merchanting compacts, such as the Silver Tree, and other trading companies. So, too, do local inter-regional merchants and even some intra-imperial merchant concerns.

What is a trading compact?
It's not a company. There are no corporate charters. Trading compacts are general partnerships in which each partner is fully liable for the debts of the entire business. For this reason, trading compacts are hesitant to take on or add partners that they don't know very well. Loss and risk are pooled amongst several trade routes and may be shared between many different types of goods.

For example: the Noranian Traders are a group of wealthy merchants who run caravans from Noranos to Miles, Bataille, and the Serpent Baronies. They pay (jointly) to organize and supervise caravans unloading goods at Noranos. These caravans wind their way across the countryside and sell their goods when they reach the cities of their destination. The merchants generally accompany these caravans and sell the goods themselves, contract to deliver the goods to a merchant in the destination city, or are the merchant at the destination. The Noranian Traders have a huge partner pool, and thus have been required by circumstance to organize themselves into a ruling council and lesser partners.

How does trade influence politics?
Elves, dwarves, and gnomes are very open about their commitments to trade. Men, not so much. In the empire, merchants are frowned upon as a class of profiteers. The noble pursuit (earning money by owning land) is the only "legitimate" one (though adventuring is also, ironically, seen as semi-legitimate in the Empire). Merchants have very little formal say in politics (outside of a few aberrant territories like the Free Cities or Seagard, which are mercantile governments), though they may command vast mercenary resources, huge numbers of ships, and be able to embargo nearly any luxury.

What are the great merchant powers in the Empire?
There are several large compacts that play a role in the Empire. These are the elvish compacts, the dwarven clan that trades in weapons (the Harnmr Smiths), and the League of Seareach. Though the Seagard House of Trade has some influence in the Serpent Baronies and the Lonely Lands, it lacks the overarching power of these compacts. Smaller companies, such as the Noranian Traders and the Heartland Traders, or even the Red Branch (which operates a trading route that goes all the way up the Saltgate Road to the Vales) have almost no power in the imperial administration.

Merchant Guilds of the Elves

When the road has grown too long dear

and my feet too weary to tread,

Then I shall be coming home dear,

to you and to my bed.

—Elvish Traveling song

The elves, more than any other race save the gnomes, are travelers and journeymen. They are masters of the sea, and Atva-Arunë was crisscrossed with elven tracks before men ever came north. It serves to reason, then, that their mercantile guilds are more complex than those of men and more accepted by elvish noble society. Merchants in elven lands often walk the Silver Road, which serves as an unbreakable bond of culture and knowledge between all elven kingdoms.

It is a facet of elvish culture that any family can attain nobility by service to its prince or king; Those which produce brilliant poets and artists, those who bring great wealth into the kingdom, and any who make outstanding accomplishments are generally rewarded with overlordship of the great elvish estates. While there is still a laboring class, it is far more permeable amongst elves than anywhere else, and the basic services expected to reach them are far greater.

Even elvish farmers receive training in the classics, swordsmanship, and grammar known as the paidea. Many elves choose the route of mercantile venture, for literacy is almost universal amongst elves and the ability to do basic sums is part of the paidea.

The Great Companies

The first among the great elvish trading companies is, of course, the Silver Tree. This guild was incorporated in the middle Eighth Age as a formal agreement between four noble houses of Tailimisiä and Vesimä as well as the treasury of four wealthy merchant-lords. These eight elvish men and women made up the original governorship of the company, and it is on the format of the House of the Silver Tree that most other elvish trading guilds where founded.

Elvish tradesmen, of course, must pay dues to whatever kingdom they operate in, so they frequently incorporate in order to reach the most equitable agreement with the local regents. They also request use of the Silver Road, which is overseen by the magi of any given realm. This means that members must be formally inducted and granted badges to prove that they are protected by the same compact as that originally made.

Other elvish guilds include the illustrious Seven Stars Compact, the Sign of the White Swan, the Company of the Ashen Staff, the Bent Bow Coster, and the Moonstar Coster. There are countless other small guilds that operate in a particular region, but of those listed all but the White Swan can be found in a variety of elvish, mannish, and dwarven lands.

Elven trading companies tend to work lightly in the competition department. They would generally prefer to come to an agreement about what types of goods they are to carry and where they are to carry them than engage in trade wars (unlike mannish and sometimes dwarven companies). Elves are quick to employ halflings and gnomes amongst their number, but may be more reticent to engage the aid of men or dwarves.

Each of the great trading companies maintains a network of supply houses, warehouses, waystations, private docks, stables, and inns throughout Atva-Arunë. These are generally private affairs, reserved for individual merchants who belong to the guild. Guild meetings, on the whole, are rare but lavish affairs where even the lowliest and poorest of the Guild Merchants are welcome to voice their opinions.

The greatest offering joining one of the merchant guilds grants, however, is not reduced tariffs, better guards, or private wayhouses. Rather, it is the guarantee that if someone waylays a caravan belonging to a merchant with membership to one of these guilds they can be assured that the guild will stop at nothing to reclaim the goods and bring the bandits to justice. For this reason it is very rare for any but the boldest or most desperate to attack an elven caravan that flies the sign of any of the great companies. Indeed, the Moonstar Coster maintains a small contingent of elite pegasus-mounted Skyknights for just such occasions, and the call of a Moonstar hunting horn from the air is a sound to fear.

The Moonstar Coster

A.K.A. the Merchants of the Moonstar, the Moonstar Traders, the Gemstone Traders, the Mystics

Badge: The Moonstar Coster uses as its badge a simple piece of Moonstar surmounting a horned moon, smoothed and polished, born on a black field

Goals

The Moonstar Coster has always focused on high-value esoteric items of interest to wizards, adventurers, and the wealthiest of nobility. The Coster’s purpose is the facilitation of magic and the reintroduction of lost culture to the world. Most members of the Coster strongly believe in the need to preserve and disseminate books and histories, and so it has fallen to the Moonstar Traders to deliver these services.

In addition, the Moonstar Coster seeks to maintain a powerful presence in Valkaela and Talimisiä; for this reason amongst others they opposed the ascension of the current Gwydereon, Kelatulë, who has favored the Silver Tree and other compacts over the Gemstone Traders.

The Coster has a vested interest in elvish politics, and makes it part of their business to sponsor liberal families and ventures within the elvish kingdoms. 

History and Motivation

Founded around the same time as the House of the Silver Tree, the Moonstar Coster was an outgrowth of the efforts of a single elvish noble house hailing from Valkaela; these elves were the scions of the a wizard with supposedly Oronnian heritage.

Vironylatimen of the Starry Field was both the founder of his noble house (under the Valkaelan Brenneon Tythilondaryn) and the originator of the Moonstar Coster. Vironyl was one of a number of elves who participated heavily in what was referred to as the “rebirth” during the end of the Eighth Age and the early Ninth and which was abruptly brought to an end by the spread of the Red Plague.

Though Vironyl was a victim of the disease, his mercantile compact was not. Throughout the spread of the Bleeding Death the Moonstar Coster continued to travel along those Silver Roads which remained open and to trade with men and dwarves.

These days, the descendants of Vironyl maintain control of the Coster. They represent some of the more liberal elements within Valkaelan society, and they have long lamented the rise of Kelatulë and his restrictive policies in Talimisiä. These are the brother and sister Aronthilië and Minurentameri.

Organization

The Moonstar Coster is composed of independent merchants who have signed on with the Moonstar Twins and accepted their terms which is an informal agreement to pay ten percent of their income yearly to the company coffers; in return the merchants receive a year of protection from the Moonstar guards at lowered rates as well as extremely cheap lodgings and preferential treatment in cities and ports that have a Moonstar presence.

Adventurers as Insiders

Last week I wrote about adventurers as outsiders and why they are almost always slotted into that category. Today we're going to talk about ways that you can avoid this and integrate your adventurers so deeply into the society of your setting that they aren't really adventurers (in the classical sense) at all anymore.

The easiest way to begin the process of tying a character into their society is through the use of backstory. I know that I have railed against too-complex backstories hundreds, if not thousands, of times before but in this case the story can serve an integral purpose. Every link created in the character's past is one that can be used to anchor them to a certain social construct. Perhaps we should look at some good examples? Here they are then!

Nobility. The most obvious of the anchoring-points in a backstory, being a member of landed nobility is a perfect way to integrate your character into society. Even second and third sons would generally have some expectations placed on their shoulders (but not too much, enough that they could detach and transform into the classic "outsider" adventurers). If you have a character who is a noble that either stands to inherit a sizable estate or has already inherited it, this will certainly give you inexorable ties to the land, the people, and the social structures of the region.

There's also a huge number of pre-built conflicts that come with being a noble. You have the politics of other houses, the royal politics of your king or overlord, and the dangers to the entire kingdom which you can become involved in.