Merchants

Role: Commercial Agent

Gear: Bag full of licenses, money, contracts and valuables.

Outfit: Plain travel clothes.

Skill level: Natural talent in negotiation and haggling.

Affiliation: Hellensport, Salacia, Eldara and Amphitrite's Bay.

Strengths: Merchants bring a great deal of profit to their leaders and hometowns by promoting mutually beneficial trades with other settlements. They can also acquire rare resources and commodities from far away, or even get someone's cooperation through bribery.

Weaknesses: Merchants usually have no military capabilities and carry a hell lot of coin and valuables on themselves, so they are prime targets for raiders if not escorted.

Commerce is one of the bedrocks of civilization. Along with the military and the government, the economy is what enables society to grow and prosper, so a Merchant is just as important as a King or a Knight. Or in the Arandolian case, as a Queen or a Dame.

As such, this trade facilitators play a fundamental role in the development of both local and inter-regional businesses, acting as intermediates of the supply chain by buying from those who have plenty and selling the same stuff for those who are in need of that thing in particular. All this getting a fair markup on the prices, of course, which provides a descent profit, both to the merchant herself and to the state due to taxation.

It's a win-win situation for absolutely all parts involved, so the bigger and the wealthier the city they trade with is, the better are the incomes to be made! Therefore, every single region of Arandolia has their own merchants, though 4 of those regions have are such economic powerhouses that their merchants outmatch all others by far!

Those are Hellensport, Salacia, Eldara and Amphitrite's Bay. Regions whose highly strategic locations are so crucial that massive trade hubs formed on their cities, developing maritime and land commerce in such a great scale that each one of them has their own respective zone of economic influence. Their Merchants are therefore so wealthy and influent that they simply kick upstart minor traders out of the market, always fighting large-scale economic wars for conquering new consumer markets and expanding their reach all the more.

Theravalley and the Athenian Fields also have their own strong economies centered in self-sufficiency, so they have their own big merchants playing on their internal markets. However, they don't have the means and the strategical advantage to compete with the other big players in the inter-refional markets. The "Big 4" economic powerhouses of Arandolia rule the market absolute, and their traders bring so much money to their city's coffers that it certainly weighs a lot on their respective regional power.

After all, money buys weapons and hire soldiers! Money buys the loyalty of friends, quench the thirst for battle of your enemies and even bring the masses' support through gifts! Only a fool does not see how money is power. And as such, Merchants are just as powerful as the very regiments they help to finance!