Mirrored Moon Trading Company
The Mirrored Moon Trade Company is one of the oldest and most far-reaching mercantile guilds in the Stormveil region, known across coastlines and island ports for its staunch neutrality and unshakable wealth. Founded on the principle of reflection rather than interference, the Company’s emblem—a polished silver crescent moon above still water—serves as both a banner and a warning: “We reflect, we do not engage.” This motto defines the organization’s core philosophy. They do not take sides in war, only measure its ripples and profit from its tides.
The Company is governed by a shadowy board known as the Council of Tides, a consortium of merchant-princes, sea-lords, and distant investors who meet in the free port of Viremont, a neutral city hidden behind powerful trade pacts and independent militias. While the Council remains distant, each of the Company’s captains operates with near-complete authority aboard their ships, bound only by the terms of Moon-Signed Contracts—magically enforced trade agreements that ensure neutrality, discretion, and fulfillment of service. These contracts are often overseen by roving adjudicators and arcane witnesses known as tidebinders, many of whom are trained to sense deceit as easily as shifts in tide or wind.
Despite its claims of impartiality, the Company has faced accusations from both Miranore and Drakoria for supplying the other side. No proof ever sticks, and none of their ships have ever flown a national flag. Still, tensions rise. Drakorian naval captains now demand tolls to pass blockade lines, and Miranorian patrols have begun searching cargo for anything they deem “sensitive to the war effort.” In turn, the Mirrored Moon has taken to sailing in broader arcs, hiring private security on more dangerous runs, and making fewer stops in contested ports.
Their ships are recognizable for their broad hulls, well-maintained sails, and a distinctive moonstone disc set into the helm, said to be attuned to hidden vaults and protected beacons scattered across the sea. Though not formally allied with pirates, the Company has longstanding pacts with several pirate syndicates and coastal mercenary fleets, ensuring that most crews leave Mirrored Moon vessels alone. This arrangement is purely practical—hostile action against a moon-signed ship often brings swift retribution from somewhere unexpected.
As the war intensifies, whispers suggest that the Company may know more than they claim. A few of their ships have disappeared entirely, with no trace of wreckage or crew. Others have been seen docking at night in places not marked on any known charts. Among sailors, rumors abound of one particular vessel carrying more than coin or steel—something ancient, sealed in ironwood and bound with coral-stamped wax. Whether true or not, the Company remains silent. They have always been silent. But when asked why the Mirrored Moon seems so calm amid chaos, one captain reportedly replied: “Because we’ve seen storms before. And we remember how the last one ended.”
History
The Mirrored Moon Trade Company was founded in 318 HE (Harmonium Era), during the decades following the Treaty of Glasswater, a fragile accord that ended a brutal series of naval conflicts between rival city-states and trade lords in the Stormveil region. Formed by a coalition of merchant clans seeking to avoid further bloodshed and seize opportunity in the treaty’s wake, the Company established itself as a neutral force—one that would move goods where nations could not, and profit where borders failed.
Its neutrality was formalized with the First Moon Pact, signed by seven independent ports, granting the Company passage, dock rights, and legal protection in exchange for regulated commerce and silence in matters of war. The exact date of its founding is recorded as 15th of Zephyren, 318 HE, now celebrated internally by its captains and tidebinders as "The Stillwake"—a day when the sea is honored for its indifference, and coin is polished to mirror the moon.
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