Dwarven Merchants' Guild

The **Dwarven Merchants' Guild** is a powerful and extensively connected organization comprised of surface dwarves. Some of the Guild's members left the dwarven city of Ondrathum to pursue business and trade on the surface, while others joined after being exiled from the city.

The upper-class surface dwarf members of the Guild are composed of two distinct groups; the **malthas**, who insist on maintaining caste and rank, and **ascendants**, who believe in leaving Ondrathum's traditions behind, and embracing surface life.

## Background

Dwarves that emigrate to the surface often bring with them the skills and talents they possessed as members of their caste in Ondrathum. For those of the Noble and Merchant caste, this also means ties to surface traders and suppliers, and the wealth to begin trading of their own on the surface. Many formerly Noble or Merchant caste dwarves maintain respectable, if unofficial, ties to their former houses, and use them as a means to trade.

For many years, maintaining ties to Ondrathum via trade was seen as essential to making a lucrative living. It was also considered as a sacred duty to their kin, or a patron in Ondrathum, to leave the city, even if it meant sacrificing their caste and clan. However, in recent years, many surface dwarves, particularly ascendants, have developed new ways of making a life on the surface by starting banks, mercenary companies, and overland trade caravans. These entrepreneurial dwarves became investors and speculators in purely surface trade, without connection to Ondrathum. These new industries have been lucrative sources of wealth, but are looked down upon by those dwarves who respect maintaining strong ties to Ondrathum. Furthermore, despite the emergence of more ascendants in the Guild, the Guild is heavily conservative.

For less affluent surface dwarves, association with a powerful maltha can open many doors. They can get credit with dwarven merchants, and are offered work opportunities by the powerful Dwarven Merchants' Guild more readily, sometimes, than more qualified, but less-connected, individuals.

The Dwarven Merchants' Guild is a prestigious club comprised of the most dominant surface dwarf institutions, and they act as a form of the Assembly for surface dwarf businesses. The Guild's leaders can always trace their lineage back to the Noble and Merchant houses in Ondrathum. Its main role is to regulate trade between Ondrathum and the surface.

## Organization

The Merchants' Guild is a world unto itself, one of social hierarchy and influence between maltha and ascendant as rigid as that found in Ondrathum. Being a member of the Guild affords power and wealth, and that membership is exclusive.

The Guild is administered by a council who hold meetings to maintain the functioning of the organization. Missing meetings is considered an insult. Crossing the Guild is also seen as a deadly offense. Council members hold the title of Managum, which is also used by the members of the Assembly in Ondrathum.

Alliances tend to form around family Houses, much like in Ondrathum. Many exiles from Ondrathum reconstitute themselves as influential families of the Guild, or alternatively the Clasp.