Trader Caravans

"I prefer life as a merchant. People are always happy to have us come in, you know? Bring in word from elsewhere, we bring stuff in. But you don't want to break the trust towns and cities give us."
— Caravan Leader Zaug Madauh
Local merchants and traveling merchants have a relationship based on mutual need. Caravans need food and to supply themselves for the next leg of the journey, while merchants need raw materials or goods that may not be available locally. Local merchants also need to move and sell products.
Caravans also offer a safe way for travelers to go from a town to somewhere further along the routes, as caravans generally have guards and travel in larger groups for most bandits to pick as a target. However, caravans pass through towns further away from cities less often than towns nearest to a city.
West Theydim - Capitalist Faction's leader, Tilde Magnusdotr has been pushing for the rise of a Merchant Guild in Theydim similar to the one of Goltheris to stabilize the prices of goods and to ensure towns receive regularly schedules caravan visits.
"Pfft, she wants to control your coin, your very livelihood. She's lived high up in Oestopti and Estopti Cities, all her life. She doesn't know how real people live down and out here. City people deal in coin - coin won't fill your belly or plow your field. Her "Guild" is little more than thieves given permission to steal your hard work and labor."
A Merchant guild, if established in Theydim, would provide an authority for Caravans to answer to in regards to Smugglers and business agreements. Caravans in Tormyra generally answer to local lords and their laws, who also generally oppose the formation of such a guild as if would reduce their own local power.
Related Professions


Cover image: by Lyraine Alei, Midjourney

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