Goldspinner Mercantile Company
Goldspinner Mercantile Company
Headquarters Location: Port Damali with significant business being conducted from Gwardan as well
Primary Focus: Shipping/transport of luxury goods between Wildemount and Marquet
Company History
Goldspinner Mercantile Company was founded in 802 P.D. by Xerix Goldspinner. Where the young tiefling acquired the necessary capital to begin operations is a mystery, but upon his arrival in Port Damali he purchased 2 ships and the necessary charters and licenses without issue, and immediately began conducting business. His first year of operations would prove to be harrowing: on the company’s first major job one of the ships was seized by pirates, nearly ruining Xerix and his company, and a number of potential business partnerships fell through.
After salvaging the company, Xerix vowed that Goldspinner Mercantile would never lose another ship to piracy. He began first with expanding the company’s land routes, quickly maneuvering to take advantage of the collapse of a once-powerful Gwardan merchant house and secure a steady supply of shipping work between Gwardan and Port Damali. He then put all profits towards building a pair of ships to once again pursue maritime trade. The ships were heavily armed, and manned by grizzled mercenaries and former pirates looking for a second chance. These ships always traveled together, and word soon spread that to attack a ship flying the Goldspinner flag was to die. This reputation of security led to more and more opportunities, and by 809 P.D Goldspinner Mercantile had secured a small but significant portion of the international shipping market.
In 811 P.D, Goldspinner Mercantile Company entered into a business partnership with a renowned steamcaster, Andraste Varondel, becoming the primary transporter of her jewelry outside the city of Gwardan. Since then the company has slowly grown, with its land routes expanding across the Menagerie Coast, and, more recently, into the southern Dwendalian Empire. Its fleet has likewise increased, now numbering a total of 6 ships, each armed to the teeth, and this fleet carries luxury goods between the continents of Marquet, Wildemount, and, if the job is lucrative enough, Tal’Dorei.
Current Status/Pursuits
In recent years Goldspinner Mercantile has begun expanding its influence through investments in other small shops and businesses in both the Wildemount and Marquet, building up a small network of affiliated merchants and artisans backed by the company. The selection of these investments is handled by Xerix alone, and the process is infamous for the scrutiny given to potential investments.
Rumors
One rumor floating around Port Damali is that of the seventh ship of Goldspinner Mercantile. Such a ship does not exist in any of the company’s bookkeeping, and if asked about it, Xerix laughs it off as the imaginations of drunken sailors. Yet on nights when Catha is dark, and the sea-mist of Port Damali rolls in, it is said a ship, worn from years of use, rolls into the harbor bearing the Goldspinner Flag. Some say it is the ghost of Xerix’s first lost ship, manned by a crew so loyal that they choose to work for him, even in death; others claim it is a weapon of vengeance: a privateering vessel funded by Xerix that stalks the Lucidian Ocean hunting pirates or the vessels of business that have wronged him. Ultimately though, no one has ever been able to prove the seventh ship’s existence.
There have also been rumors that the company is seeking to secure funding for the creation of a skyship fleet (with some going as far as to say Xerix plans on building a skyport in the city of Gwardan), but nothing has been publicly confirmed. For those who know Xerix, these rumors seem far more believable than those of ghost ships and vengeance, but ultimately whether either is true is an enjoyable source of gossip for the more well-connected merchants and ship captains in the city.
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