South Bastique Trading Company

Sylvahn is known as the foremost centre for trade in Aland. Merchants travel from across the world to the wealthy city-state and offer their wares at the famous Sylvahni markets. Almost anything and everything is on offer here, and you can be sure that if you can't see it at the market, one of the merchants will be able to get it for you for the right price.
No merchant company, however, is as powerful or as wealthy as the South Bastique Trading Company. Their logo, a stylised map of the known world with the letters SBTC over it, can be seen everywhere, stencilled onto crates, displayed on the uniforms worn by the merchants under their employ, and on the flags flown from their vast fleet of trade ships.
The South Bastique Trading Company, or SBTC for short, trades with nations across Aland, having developed a strong relationship with the Serpéans and the Dubleans, and are even credited as being the first to have developed a working relationship with the Natives of Persifon. Their influence reaches so far that the company even funds expeditions into the unmapped regions of Aland, both on land and across the ocean, to find new resources and nations to trade with.
While small-time merchants are left to their own devices, any merchant or minor merchant company are pressed to join the SBTC. While the offer to join is genuine and carries many benefits to those who join, many do not as they do not wish to lose their autonomy or lose their identity. This does not always end well, as the typical SBTC response to anyone that refuses to join them is actively destroy their company.
First, they will offer better deals on the items sold by the smaller company, thereby stealing their customers. If that does not work, they will turn to slander, running a smear campaign against the merchant or merchants running the company. Finally, if all else fails, the SBTC will send their “labour force”, little more than hired muscle, around to the potential rival and have them destroy their stock. The only companies that have been able to maintain their independence are those who were already a major competitor when the SBTC was founded or those who are able to grow too quickly for the company to retaliate.
The ships of the SBTC fleet are some of the fastest and largest in Bastique. Their vast cargo holds able to hold large quantities of stock, enough to supply an entire city-state with goods. Six ballistae line the deck, three on either side, to defend their wares. These ships are far more powerful than the average merchant or civilian vessel and while they are less powerful than the ships of the Sylvahni navy, the sheer amount of ships in the SBTC fleet more than makes up the difference. They are even able to put up a decent fight against the much more powerful ships sailed by the Serpéans and the Pirates.

Type

Guild, Merchant