The Vortic Mercatorium

#REDIRECT The VorticsL'il Merc-a-Tour d'a Vortais-Sotte (The Vortic Mercatorium) was a Vortais (south Vortic) trade republic. They traded heavily around Toril, but were enemies of The Lusken Empire. They had great naval prowess and became one of the world's largest empires. 
The Larawaks referred to them as the Wótiŋ (Woa-ting).
They invaded the North Vortic Islands in the mid-900s and made their kingdom, the Kingdom of the Evortal Barrier Islands, their puppet state.
The Mercatorium invaded Netheril in the year 1199, occupying some of the gulf islands and settlements on the south coast. They set up a permanent capital, Char-t-Eyn, and settled down. They invaded with the aim of gaining access to Netheril's geothermal pools, which formed large mineable quantities of sulfur, an ingredient key in Firearms production. With a deal agreed upon by the Mercatorium and the Second Mandate of Netheril, this allowed the Mercatorium to advance heavily in their weaponry. The Mandate also sold half the ownership of the Xinlelal Construct Foundry to the Mercatorium.
In around 1320, they discovered the isle of Tokfir previously unknown. Their two ships, the Ereibo and Tartarei, made landfall and met with the Aspen people. Bringing sickness to the isolated people, the Aspen sacrificed the explorers to appease their gods, which seemed to work.
As such, the Mercatorium signed the Writ of Ereibo and Tartarei in 1320 banning any travel to, or within sight of, the island for two centuries. In 1517-19, needing strong timber resources in the wake of losing Lakay, the Mercatorium turned to harvesting the White Aspen of Tokfir, much to the native's fear - the natives thought of them, their guns, axes and dogs as demonic. The West Marchers encountered them, and passed on an important missive in return for a nice reward. This led to the Waterdeep-Sant-Mart treaty, agreeing on peace between Scarossar and the Vortais.
They had settled slightly on Lakay in the 1460s, but the advent of The Lakayan Federation forced them off by the mid 1510s.
In 1516, the Mercatorium signed the Vortais-Lakayan Alliance, allying themselves with The Lakayan Federation. They did so after sensing the impending collapse of The Lusken Empire - the empire was mobilising its army to leave via Turmish to retake Scarossar, and it was an opportunity to take over. The alliance led to the formation of the Vortais-Lakayan Navy.
In summer 1519, the first Fleet of the Navy left for Luskan, merely a few months after the capital was left relatively undefended. The Second Fleet left not long after. 
They landed in Flamerule and took the southwest peninsula through the Battle of the Horn, and eventually the city of Luskan too. The Mercatorium occupied the southwest peninsula from autumn 1519 onward. 
They traded with the ex-Lusken city states and republics in the peninsula. 
=== Weaponry ===
The Mercatorium was big on their gunpowder, and their warfare was traditionally based around ship combat. As such, their cannon were advanced - their chain shot, grapeshot, flame shot and more were formidable. However they still had some tricks up their sleeve on land, but were instantly recognisable by their clear seafaring upbringing. Vortic soldiers wielded broad cutlasses or sabers, and large naval boarding axes, as well as firearms such as the Klébel Repétre, Chantillon Trenche and Lozié Roue.
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