Trading Companies (CSH)

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There are a large number of trading organizations in space, ranging from single tradesmen to fleets. While most tradesmen are independent, some prefer the security and safety of an established trading organization.
==The Smiths' Coster==
The Smiths' Coster is a trading company specializing in weapons and armor. The Coster specializes in introducing unusual weapons to spheres that lack them due to low technology or scarcity. The Coster commonly trades with groundling nations and has been responsible for the spread of smoke-powder weapons through the Known Spheres.
Symbol: A starwheel pistol over a shield.
Headquarters: A dwarven citadel that can be found in the Grinder in Greyspace.
Purpose: Like most mercantile organizations, the Smiths' Coster is profit oriented. The Coster started as an outlet for the especially fine work of a single dwarven smith who was an expert in the manufacture of weapons. As the business grew, the organization branched out into other suppliers (although the Smiths' Coster still carries more dwarven weapons than anyone else), and began regular trips to groundling nations.
The smiths of the Coster are primarily dwarves, although there are some humans and even a few gnomes working at their forges. Their merchants are of many races; most recently, a group of rastipedes joined the Coster.
Allies: When the Coster was first starting, the Smiths did much of their shipping on the Sindiath Line. (Human merchants were required to negotiate passage on these primarily elvish vessels.) Even though the Coster now maintains its own ships, there is still a good deal of friendliness between the ships of the Sindiath Line and Coster captains, and they will help each other should the need arise. The Celestians often work on Coster ships, as these vessels make an extra effort to extend their reach into new spheres.
Enemies: The Trading Company sees the Smiths' Coster as competition. The Company is particularly disturbed by the Coster's practice of selling smoke-powder weapons to the enemies of the Trading Company's employers, which (in the view of the Company) has brought much needless and expensive death to their troops.
The Xenos dislike the Smiths' Coster because of its dwarvish origins. The Pragmatic Order of Thought views the Coster alternately as a benefactor (when it sells weapons to oppressed people) and a warmonger (when it sells to the oppressors). The Coster generally ignores the Pots' opinions in any case.
While the Sindiath Line is on good terms with the Coster, the elven Imperial Fleet sees the mercantile empire as strengthening the positions of nonelves. With the historical emnity between elves and dwarves, this has led to more than a few clashes over the centuries, particularly when sales are made to people the Fleet would prefer to keep controlled. Thus far, however, these clashes have been limited, and neither side has emerged as clearly dominant.
Joining: The Smiths' Coster is a fairly large trading company, but it is still very much a close-knit operation. Captains with ships interested in marketing the Coster's goods may be accepted for occasional work until they have proven themselves trustworthy. As Nagul Roundbeard, the current head of the company says, "To work here, you've got to be family."
Not all races get past Nagul Roundbeard equally easily. He has a clear preference for dwarves, gnomes, and halflings; big folk make him a bit nervous. He has accepted humans, elves, half-elves, grommam, and rastipedes into the organization. He considers the giff and the hadozee to be too unintelligent to run one of his ships (although he rarely expresses this opinion in their presence), and he dislikes reptilians—lizard men and hurwaeti—in memory of a difficult battle he had with them in his youth. No member of these latter races has ever successfully joined the Coster.
Benefits: Smiths' Coster goods are of excellent quality and have an outstanding reputation. A Coster captain typically receives 30% of the sale price of coster cargo, to be spent on ship maintenance and crew wages. The captain may keep any money left over. If the captain is a warrior with the Merchant kit, he may carry additional cargo he has purchased with his own money, and will earn profit on that cargo as described in Chapter 3.
If a longtime captain has a particularly bad run, or if disaster befalls his ship, the Coster has been known to buy him a new spelljamming vessel.
Obligations: The Coster gives great loyalty but expects great loyalty in return. Captains must give Coster shipments first priority; delaying a Coster shipment to make some other delivery first is sufficient to lose that captain his place in the organization.
Even worse than delaying a shipment, however, is smuggling. The Coster maintains its reputation for honesty by protecting it fiercely. Nagul Roundbeard views smuggling as a reflection on the Coster. He has been known to publicly repudiate a captain for the mere suspicion of smuggling.
==Gaspar Reclamations==
Gaspar Reclamations is a fairly young organization led by an immensely fat mage named Gaspar. It specializes in the location and recovery of magical items and artifacts.
Symbol: The official symbol of Gaspar Reclamations is a staff and a dagger.
Headquarters: Gaspar Reclamations has a major outpost on the Rock of Bral. Its headquarters, and the home of Gaspar himself, can be found in the Tears of Selune in Realmspace.
Purpose: Gaspar Reclamations specializes in magical items. The ships of this organization comb the Known Spheres for news of unusual items, buying what they can. Their major customers are the various schools of magic, who wish to study the items and pay the line a finder's fee.
Gaspar is a mage with an intense interest in magical items. Fifteen years ago, while trying to acquire a particularly powerful artifact, Gaspar was struck with a powerful magical curse; he is now hungry all the time. Despite all efforts by his magical allies, no one has been able to remove the curse.
Gaspar currently weighs well over 400 pounds. He is unable to walk without assistance and is gaining weight at the rate of 30 pounds per year. His body is not taking the strain well, and he is beginning to die.
The unfortunate mage started his company in hopes of finding an item that could be used to remove the curse. He has given up, however; his initial good humor at the curse (the company's symbol was his idea) has turned to despair. This is truly unfortunate, as Gaspar is a good and kind man who has shared the wealth his business has brought with his many employees.
Gaspar has offered half his wealth to the person who cures him of the curse. While no one has collected, the sum has attracted no lack of applicants. If Gaspar dies, his company will likely collapse with him.
Allies: Gaspar is allied with the various schools of magic, notably the school of Alteration, which he belongs to, and the school of Enchantment/Charm, which has worked with him to find a cure for his curse. He has also worked closely with the Seekers in hopes that their huge storehouse of knowledge would contain the answer to his problem.
As with the Smiths' Coster, the Celestians see Gaspar's ships as a prime opportunity to exert their wanderlust. Gaspar has gone out of his way to make the Celestians welcome, although he draws the line where profit becomes loss.
Enemies: Gaspar distrusts the Tenth Pit but does not see himself or his organization as the logical group to stop them. He has a friendly rivalry with the Sindiath Line, although the elves have many more ships than he does, as they both carry passengers (the magical-item line is only marginally profitable unless you cover costs some other way).
The Shapers resent Gaspar's support of the schools of Alteration and Enchantment/Charm (a sphere in which they have no power). As a result, they shun his ships, and mages who work as helmsmen on ships of Gaspar's employ can count on extra scrutiny in Shaper-controlled ports.
Joining: Joining Gaspar Reclamations is straight-forward; just go see Gaspar. He is willing to accept anyone of good or neutral alignment as a member of his company.
Benefits: Gaspar maintains a ready market for minor magical items and can also act as a sage with regard to magic and magical items. Ships of Gaspar Reclamations are known allies of the schools of magic and will not be trifled with where mages are powerful.
Obligations: Gaspar has a standing offer to anyone who wishes to join his organization. Each of his employees must agree to send to Gaspar any magical item found. He will reimburse the employee for the cost of acquiring the item (plus profit) if he finds a buyer for it among the schools of magic. If no suitable buyer can be found within a reasonable period of time, Gaspar will either purchase the item himself (to be held in a warehouse until the market for such items is stronger), or he will return it to the finder.
==The Sindiath Line==
The Sindiath Line is an elven trading group that specializes in transportation and boats for hire. Adventurers without a ship may find the Sindiath Line useful, either as passengers or as crewmen.
Symbol: A gold S on a white field.
Headquarters: On one of the larger portions of the cluster-world of Greela in Greyspace.
Purpose: The Sindiath Line was established by one of the heroes of the first (inhuman War. Upon the defeat of the goblinoid races, the elves policed the spacelanes for a time, and their huge fleets were among the most powerful in the Known Spheres. However, the other spacefaring races, already sensitive to elvish haughtiness, soon chafed under elvish control. At the same time, the elves were unwilling to abandon their huge fleets, perceiving them as necessary to the security of the elven nations. Tensions increased, and a demihuman war pitting elves against men and dwarves loomed.
Sindiath, an admiral of the elven Fleet, proposed a compromise. He offered to retire from the Fleet and to take a large portion of its ships into a private concern, the Sindiath Line, that would provide regular passenger service among the Known Spheres. The Line would still be spread throughout the Known Spheres, under elven control, but it would be a commercial presence, not a military one.
To the Council of Admirals, Sindiath pointed out the value of the Line for espionage. With ships in every sphere, the Line would be able to inform the Council of any issue that could affect the Elven Nations. After the usual period of elven reflection, the Council agreed.
The Sindiath Line now has over 300 men-o-war, supplemented with 115 hammerships and dozens of tradesmen. Few are aware of how large the Sindiath Line's fleet really is, although its ships are ubiquitous throughout the Known Spheres. (By comparison, it is estimated that 500 elven armadas and 2,000 men-o-war survived the second (inhuman War—the Sindiath Line is roughly one-eighth the size of the elven Imperial Fleet.) Sindiath himself is still alive and oversees the growth of new ships on Greela.
Sindiath vessels are invariably commanded by elves, although they often have human and hadozee crews. Passengers may be of any race friendly to the elves (no neogi or beholders), and Sindiath vessels have a reputation for superior accommodations—at a corresponding price.
Allies: The Sindiath Line's greatest ally is the elven Imperial Fleet itself. Every ship of the Line is actually part of the Fleet and may be called back to duty on a moment's notice. However, since no Sindiath vessel has been recalled (except for the occasional short-term emergency) since the Line was founded, most people don't worry about their ship being commandeered in mid-voyage.
The alliance between the elven Fleet and the Sindiath Line is actually more powerful in reverse. Pirates who regularly prey on Sindiath Line vessels may find themselves visited by an elven armada-ship or two, armed to the teeth on a pirate-hunting mission.
Enemies: The enemies of the Sindiath Line tend to confine their opposition to occasional grumbling rather than directly battling the powerful elven Imperial Fleet. The Trading Company dislikes the Line because it refuses to transport mercenary companies (a regulation imposed by the Council of Admirals). The elves are bitterly opposed to slavers, so they aggressively fight the Chainmen. Finally, the Xenos, as might well be expected, despise the powerful line because it insists on using inferior elves for its commanders rather than obviously superior humans, while still employing humans in subservient roles.
Joining: To be a captain in the Sindiath Line, you must have been a commander in the elven Imperial Fleet (minimum 9th level). For obvious reasons, this is restricted to elves only. Crewmen commonly include elves, humans and hadozee, but lizard men, hurwaeti, centaurs, giff, grommams, and even gnomes (but not minoi) and halflings have been hired. Dwarves find the gossamer ships of the elves too flimsy for comfort, and the elves will not tolerate minoi.
Benefits: The primary benefit of the Sindiath Line is its breadth. With ships and routes throughout the
Known Spheres, a Sindiath Line vessel can go anywhere, and its crew receives "working passage" with pay superior to that of most other lines.
Patient elven characters may foresee another benefit; the commanders of the era immediately following the first Gnhuman War are growing very old and are leaving their places in the leadership of the Line. In some cases, the Sindiath Line has chosen to promote a loyal crewman to the captaincy rather than recruiting an officer from the Fleet, and this practice seems to be on the increase.
Obligations: The primary obligations of a member of the Sindiath Line is to keep the elven Council of Admirals informed of any activity that may be of interest to them. This is accomplished by exchanging dispatches with any Sindiath Line vessel encountered, and by delivering all accumulated dispatches to the next Fleet ship found.
All Sindiath Line vessels are still subject to the command of the Council of Admirals. In time of war or in an emergency, Fleet personnel can commandeer the ships and crews of the Sindiath Line into service. On a short mission, nonelves will be pressed into service; on longer missions or in time of war, they will be put ashore at the nearest convenient port. Only hadozee may remain on board.
==Chainmen==
As the name indicates, the Chainmen is a human slaver's organization, operating among evil nations both on the ground and in space. They are hated and feared in turn, but may still be found in many ports in space.
Symbol: Seven links of chain, looped into a circle.
Headquarters: The Chainmen are reputed to have bases in the Grinder in Greyspace, in Garden in Realmspace, and in similar remote regions in many other spheres. There is no central headquarters.
Purpose: The Chainmen Traders are businessmen—they buy and sell other sentient beings. They specialize in providing large groups of slaves from "far-off lands" who know nothing of the local terrain and are thus unlikely to escape. If you want to "lose" a defeated enemy, you can sell him to the Chainmen. Within a month the victim will be toiling for some foreign prince who asks no questions, or be on his way to a completely different world.
The Chainmen are not concerned with high-quality merchandise. They will often swoop down on unsuspecting groundlings, capture the entire population of a village, and bring these unfortunates to their clients as slaves. The Chainmen do not support the exotic trade—slaves with unusual talents and pleasure slaves—because they don't study their merchandise. Their motto is quantity, not quality.
The Chainmen do not take slaves where they dock, however—the authorities would immediately stop them. They also avoid taking their cargo off ship while in unfriendly ports so that it may not be confiscated. Because they are slavers, the Chainmen refresh their atmospheres before visiting any port; they do not wish to pay expensive air taxes for their large ship populations (including the cargo).
Allies: The Chainmen have a working agreement with the Tenth Pit. The Pit ignores Chainmen activities in return for a portion of the profits collected in Pit-controlled territories. These two organizations distrust each other because they can never be sure who's cheating who, not because of any opposition to the business at hand.
There are also rumors linking the Chainmen with the Xenos. This is partially supported by the fact that the Chainmen accept only human recruits, but this may simply be because few demihumans wish to work as slavers. The Chainmen seem to have no restrictions against selling human slaves, and their buyers include neogi and mind flayers.
Enemies: The Company of the Chalice hates the Chainmen only slightly less than it hates the neogi. The Pragmatic Order of Thought sees slavery as an abomination and will fight slavers wherever they are found. The elven Imperial Fleet despises the Chainmen's practices and will resist them at every turn. The Celestians, the other mercantile lines, and the Seekers also object, but their resistance is more philosophical than practical.
Joining: Joining the Chainmen is easy— sometimes too easy. Recruits who are unskilled, lazy, or insubordinate are tossed into the hold with the rest of the cargo.
Chainmen ships are always looking for new crewmembers. The pay is fair but quick advancement is uncommon. Only those who manage to purchase their own ships can become captains.
Chainmen prefer strong (but not particulary smart) crewmen. The majority are human, but there are lizard man, hurwaet, hadozee, and rastipede Chainmen along with the occasional renegade dwarf or elf. However, these nonhumans sometimes find themselves part of the cargo at the end of the jour-ney, particularly if the captain has Xeno affiliations. Potential crewmen should consider themselves warned.
Benefits: The Chainmen manage a distribution network for human misery. Those with slaves to sell can find a buyer through the Chainmen Traders' information brokers. The coordinated efforts of the Chainmen to break open new markets has brought them into contact with many of the powerful evil groundling societies, and these contacts can prove useful in other ways.
Obligations: The Chainmen require all members to pay 30% of their profits toward maintaining the organization. This charge is enforced through a combination of social pressure and the occasional slave raid against a recalcitrant ship.