Merchants Guild

The Merchants Guild manages and regulates most international trade, especially sea-faring trade routes. The guild provides both protection for these route in the form of mercenaries and patrols, while also guaranteeing a the trade routes efficacy ratio. The guild defines the efficacy ratio of a trade route as the the ratio of successful trade vessel voyages that make it to their destination in reasonable time, without loss of cargo. It is essentially the reliability of the trade route. Poor weather, difficult waters, pirates, bandits, and other obstacles negatively impact a trade routes efficacy ratio.
When a trade routes efficacy ratio decreases, the merchants guild increases taxes on that route, and increases the resources they allocate to that route until the efficacy ratio returns to an acceptable level. Merchants frequently monitor the efficacy ratios of trade routes as they change, and compare them to guild tax rates, trying to find the safest, yet cheapest routes as they dynamically change. The guild often hires work from the International Adventurers Guild, especially their Mercenaries Guild to ensure efficacy ratios, especially when pirates are involved.
The guild also provides the option to merchants to insure their goods. The price of this insurance depends on their trade routes efficacy ratio, with lower ratios meaning higher risk, and thus higher insurance rates.