The Sarendian League of Canal Merchants is a merchant's guild operating in Northern Felora, based in the Sarendian Trust. According to it's own records, it has 382 members as of 415 PE. Though it was founded almost 3,800 years ago as simply "the Merchant's Guild", the League has evolved since then. Founded as an informal association of canal merchants, within a generation the Guild was the sole legal authority and regulator of commerce on the Feloran Empire's Canals. It would lose it's monopoly in the aftermath of increased overseas trade with the human Yulan-tai Empire. Today, as the League, it is once again the legitimate authority and regulator of canal-based trade in the Trust, however it does not have a complete monopoly as the canals outside the Trust are controlled by multiple states.
Membership in the Guild is a lengthy process, dependent on eligibility requirements such as owning a suitable ship or barge for the Feloran canal network, and on the approval of the Guild's own Membership Committee. Members in the Guild are entitled to vote for the Guild's representative on the Trust council, the Membership Committee, and the Guildmaster. MembersĀ are eligible to run for any of these positions after 250 years (100 for half-elves; 30 for humans, orcs, and dragonborn) of good-standing membership in the Guild. Guild finances are overseen by the Trust.
The Merchant's Guild
Founded in 1510 of the Early Imperial Era as the "Merchant's Guild", the League has since evolved through four main iterations as Feloran society grew and later collapsed. Initially formed by several merchants in order to expand their wares and assist each other in times of hardship, the early Merchant's Guild quickly grew in size. It began to advocate for greater control by the merchants over decisions affecting the canals, such as tariffs on goods, taxes on canal access, and construction of new trading ports and depots. Skirmishes between their merchants and imperial officers arising from these disputes erupted into open conflict three times before the Guild, with others, held the Council of Vae'lnya opposite the Imperial Council and Court.
Monopoly on the Canals
Imperial licencing from 1461 EIE onward meant the Merchant's Guild had the sole legal authority in the Empire to regulate commerce on the canals.
The Creation of the League
During the late imperial era, the Guild lost much of it's standing as merchants going over the Tealastrian Sea took precedence. Though it maintained it's monopoly on commerce within canals and other navigable inland waters, it failed to extend it's monopoly on Tealastrian trade. Overseas trade would only continue to grow in importance to the Empire in the years leading up to and during the Northern Invasions, which were partly an attempt to secure control over Galisean resources and increase/control ancient and early-modern Taelastrian trade.
In response, the guild shifted it's goals from the regulation of trade and its profession to the active support of it's members, and was rechristened the League of Canal Merchants in order to differentiate themselves from the overseas merchants. League members were expected to provide financial and material support to and to not engage in vicious competition with other members.
The Sarendian Trust
The League was instrumental in founding the Trust in 203 PE. Though it had a minimal presence in the former Erintrene Republic, the League's counterpart there had access to coveted goods such as Del'yan furniture and was better equipped to defend it's interests and members. Additionally, the Sarene Republic gave no formal recognition to guilds, and the League's attempts to maintain standards were frustrated by multiple smaller merchant guilds attempting to gain their own footholds.