Council of Free Trade
The Council of Free Trade is a loose coalition of wealthy mechants in Kyawas. Merchants and couriers are some of the few peoples given freedom to travel in Kyawas and have created an organization that is nearly a government by itself. Each city has its own council, formed by local merchants.
The councils leverage money and connections and hold important deliveries as safegaurds against disobedience to their imposed rules. Councils usually have imposed their own tariffs and other taxes on top of the national ones set by the actual government of Kyawas. The mahari all have businesses and extreme influence over the council, and it is seen as a defacto extension of the law, despite supposedly being a civilian organization.
Councils put stipulations as to how new businesses can form, who can sell what, and where -- allowing the big businesses with political clout and money to leverage their advantages further and take control of most of the market. Council's displeasure is expressed in questionably legal ways, and rumors make it widely known that less than legal methods aernt uncommon either. Spurning the council might earn you a boycott on your goods by couriers, or a tariff applied to all your wares, or perhaps other vendors might refuse to sell goods to anyone seen buying from you.
Each city has its own council, and they are only very loosely tied to each other, often even vying against each other for business and prestige. Intercity politics often get in the way of business when the councils get involved.
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