The Free Merchant's Guild

HQ : Zemjelos Major

Found on : Zemjelos Major

 

 

The Free Merchants Guild is a loose yet powerful confederation of traders, transporters, and logistics entrepreneurs who operate across Zemlejos Major’s oceans and its planetary neighbors. Their motto, “Where there is tide, there is trade,” captures their philosophy: mobility is value.

They blend the traditions of ancient sea-borne commerce with the reach and ambition of modern space-faring logistics.  Their Floating Markets, massive modular barges tethered to Khariton and other cities, rotate locations weekly and are known for being politically neutral ground.  Meanwhile their Trade Skiffs iconic blue solar-sailed vessels, move goods at high velocity between floating communities, delivering both essential supplies and luxury items.

They also function as a guild, and have gained exclusive contracts for rare resources in any and all seas, like luminous kelp or sea-iron.  They guard those contracts jealously.

Thanks to their independent space-faring merchant fleet, FMG is one of the few factions on Zemlejos Major with true off-world reach. TMG's flagships generally have VTOL capacity for orbital transfer, and from their Orbital Dockway Nexus their spacecraft carry:

 

• Luminous Algae: Used in bioluminescent architecture and low-energy lighting. Highly sought on darker or deep-dwelling colonies.

• Synth-Coral Alloys: Lightweight, flexible construction materials with self-repair properties.

• Saltglass: A hybrid product of volcanic sand and desalinated brine. Used in luxury optics and aeronautic hull coatings.

• Medicinal Sponges: Aquatic organisms with rare enzyme production useful in neural therapy.

• Culinary and Cultural Exports: From fermented tide-wine to reef-grown spices, Khariton’s gourmet products command high prices in elite dining cultures of other planets.

 

 

The Council of Bearings leads the FMG — a rotating board of high-wealth merchants, VTOL barge-lords, and logistics magnates. Each is known by a ship-name rather than their birth name (e.g., Hollow Keel, The Second Wake, Skyscour).  FMG maintains its own defense fleet on Zemlejos' oceans, known as the Waveguard, to deter piracy and protect convoy routes and monopolies.

To the inhabitants of Zemjelos, FMG is respected but resented. They make life possible for many outlying communities, but their prices and exclusive control of routes breed quiet dependence.  Only their loose structure, which members fiercely defend against the ambitions of the Council of Bearings, prevent them from gaining more significant political power.

To off-worlders: The Guild is charming, mysterious, and fiercely pragmatic — a uniquely aquatic corporate entity with strange manners but reliable cargo.

To political powers: They are a double-edged current. Supportive when aligned, troublesome and unpredictable when crossed.

Rumors swirl that the Guild occasionally moves things no one else will — people, information, even biological anomalies.  A secret “Salt Accord”, betrayal of which is punishable by death, allows Undertide Ripples to acquire passage on FMG ships, no questions asked.