Ganglu Family Shipping

***“**The Ganglu support the Bandit King, and the Bandit King supports the Ganglu. Even the most honest merchants will betray their sense of honor and justice for a tax cut. Then again, the Ganglu weren't really honorable merchants, to begin with.**”***
— Liang Nadai

**Ganglu Family Shipping**, or simply the **Ganglu Company**, is a Qiuan mercantile organization predominantly operating in the South. The Ganglu are relatively infamous for their extreme wealth, shady practices, and corruption. Buyable, the Ganglu will smuggle arms to the highest bidder. Recently, they have made vast profits off the War of the Four Kingdoms, the Daletian Civil War, and the Great War. It is estimated that the company is one of the wealthiest entities in all of Enselonde, even eclipsing some countries in terms of sheer income.

## History

The company was founded by three brothers in 846 AW: Shao Ganglu, Zaio Ganglu, and Yankang Ganglu. At first, a small and local trading company, the Ganglu rose to prominence by buying up huge amounts of land for cheap off corrupt officials of the Sapphire Empire. This allowed them to gain a monopoly on many goods on their native Guan'an Island, which made them extremely wealthy due to raising prices, much to the dismay of the nobles.

Before long, the Ganglu funded a fleet and expanded across the rest of the Gemstone Islands, Lao Muji, and modern-day Amagoi. While initially there was competition on the islands, the Ganglu continued to bribe government officials of the Sapphire Empire into hindering their opponents before ultimately becoming the wealthiest mercantile organization on the islands from the early 10th century AW onwards.

After the Sapphire Empire abandoned the islands as it neared its collapse, the Ganglu became subjects under the newfound Zengyuan Empire. Although former Provincial loyalists, the Zengyuans weren't so keen on the Ganglu and their tactics and subjected them to higher taxing and multiple corruption crackdowns. However, this did not deter the company in the slightest, as they simply expanded their operations to the rest of the South. The Ganglu became one of the leading suppliers of weapons to states in the South, profiting from the Collapse of the Sapphire Empire and the Darkest Decade as demand for weaponry skyrocketed across the continent.

Eventually, the Zengyuans conceded, and the Ganglu returned to full operations in the Gemstone Islands, predominantly because of the income stream they produced throughout the archipelago. The Ganglu having nearly total control over the market during the rule of the Zengyuan Empire, eventually became the way of life for the local Qiuans of the islands.

The Ganglu failed to profit off the Gemstone Wars, instead coming under attack by the Republic of Fühlgart's navy. In response, the Ganglu abandoned the islands, temporarily relocating their headquarters to the port of Kalesh in Da'al Mon. However, unlike during the Gemstone Wars, the Ganglu made a tidy profit off the Great War as it ravaged the South, selling more smuggled weapons and supplies during the various conflicts that tore through the continent.

Upon the outbreak of the War of the Four Kingdoms, the Ganglu returned to the Gemstone Islands. Ultimately, they sided with the Bandit King, Guo Xun, and his Kingdom of Yingzheng, providing them with the goods needed to, at the very least, uphold their Kingdom. In return, Guo Xun exempted the Ganglu from most tariffs, allowing the company to barely provide any taxes to the larger Kingdom.

The Ganglu remain on Guan'an Island to this day, although their position is becoming increasingly unstable as their amount of enemies increases. Both the Hexad Empire and the Protectorate of Lao Muji have expressed their will to destroy the Ganglu, whereas, on the Southern mainland, more countries bar the Ganglu from operating within their borders, such as Sallant, Amagoi, Yratessia, and Rytow-Kierzew. All the while, their shipping is increasingly targeted by pirate groups, such as the Anti-League, Black Brotherband, or the Azure Wave Raiders. It is expected, then, that within the next century or so, the Ganglu will either collapse into several splinter groups or be dissolved by a larger government.

## Members

* **Zhina Ganglu**, current head of the company.
* Shao Ganglu, co-founder of the company.
* Yankang Ganglu, co-founder of the company.
* Zaio Ganglu, co-founder of the company.