Merchants' Guild

Middlemen

Merchants

The Merchants' Guild is a guild consisting of anyone who works within the structure of Duilintinn's economy, such as coordinating internal trade between Noble Houses and external trade between Duilintinn and foreign kingdoms.It is one of the three major guilds of Cordoire.

## Guild Hubs

The Merchant’s Guild is based in Cordoire, with its main hub located on Guild Row within the Administrators’ District. The official mint of Duilintinn is located immediately adjacent to the guild’s main building.

In addition, the Merchants’ Guild has a secondary hub in the city of Fionport, which controls Duilintinn’s only major harbor and is integral to the kingdom’s participation in international trade. The hub sits on the northern side of the main road, near enough to the harbor on the edge of the city without stepping outside of the affluent city center. This hub is often far busier than its counterpart, especially during the summer months as traders pour into Duilintinn for the Trade Season.

## Apprenticeships

Like most other guilds in Duilintinn, the Merchants' Guild connects students pursuing higher education with members who need additional help and/or wish to pass on their knowledge to the next generation.

## Responsibilities

### Internal Trade

The main duty of the Merchant’s Guild is to serve the interests of bankers, entrepreneurs, middlemen, traders, etc. within Duilintinn, primarily by facilitating the distribution of goods from inter-house trade to Duilintinn’s merchants and producing the kingdom’s currency.

The Merchants’ Guild plays a vital role in the entire inter-house trade operation that Duilintinn’s economy is based upon. While it’s the national government’s responsibility to collect the goods for redistribution, the Merchants’ Guild coordinates between its members throughout Duilintinn to make sure that they are aware of these resupply opportunities. This ensures that the vital second half of this economic system beyond the government’s control is fulfilled.

In addition, the Merchants’ Guild in the kingdom have bankers to work with currency from each house, centralized in the capital. These five different groups of bankers each have a different value of coin that they consistently mint. For simplicity’s sake, let’s assume it’s the same five values used in American currency: 0.01, 0.05, 0.10, 0.25, and 1.00. The house that was founded first (House Jackie) mints the largest coin, then the second house (House Marvin) mints the second largest, etc. Each coin has the visage of its respective Noble Lord stamped onto one side of its surface, and the insignia of their noble house on the other.

### International Trade

The Merchants Guild also plays a large role in the international trade between Duilintinn and other nations. Its Cordoire hub manages much of the political-economic negotiations for the annual Trading Season in the month of July, while the secondary hub in Fionport handles the flow of traders and goods from Fionport Harbor to the capital city.

## Inter-Guild Dynamics

Since the Craftsmen’s Guilds also play a role in coordinating aspects of the annual Trade Season, the two guilds will need to coordinate between each other from time to time. However, their roles are generally distinct enough that this cooperation usually only goes as far as trading information about their respective plans.

## Trivia

In the majority of lore posts in this AU, the terms “trader” and “merchant” are often used interchangeably to refer to someone who facilitates the exchange of goods, be those goods money or actual goods goods. The vast majority of concepts that apply to traders also apply to merchants, and vice versa. However, for those seeking a more technical distinction between the two: Merchants have established consistent practices where they buy large amounts of goods from a source and make money by selling it at a profit. Traders are a bit more casual and their stock isn’t as consistent; almost pawn-shop-esque, except they sometimes travel around buying and selling from people all over the place so they can bring new stuff back when they return to your town. Again, both fall under the umbrella of the Merchant’s Guild and the distinction isn’t particularly relevant unless you are trying to choose a title for a character.