The Consortium
History
Exploratory trading adventures, raids, and piracy occurred early throughout the Northern Provinces to the Callous Isle. Sturnians began to lead trade in the Aegir province before the founding of the Consortium, establishing major trading hubs at Crosby, New Aegin, and Glacern as early as 900 AF. Nearly two hundred years later in 1119 AF some of the first recorded Consortium ports would sprout in Fort Miriador and Crosby, thus creating the Tulairian-Sturnian-led Aegin trade-system. The Consortium is a melting pot of land owners and merchants. Stretching far and wide, the Consortiums influence is vast in wealth, territory, and monetary contracts. Almost all that deal in trade know the name, and have had dealings with the Consortium. Once just a up and coming guild of merchants and land owners from The Empire Sturn and The Free City of Tulaire, it is now an ecenomic empire that encompasses much of the Northern Realms. The Consortium was never formally founded or documented, so it lacks a date of founding. Historians and scholars have traced its origins to the rebuilding of the northern town of Gallia in 1059 AF by the powerful Henrik the Lion, Duke of The Crimson Glade and Sturn, after he had captured the area from Count Schauen Mergold. The Consortium has left a significant cultural and architectural heritage stretching The Empire of Sturn and the Free City of Tulaire. It is especially renowned for its Ironwood and Red Steel buildings and monuments. Sturnian Consortiun led cities achieved domination of trade in the North with striking, and Crosby has become a central node in the seaborne trade that linked the areas around the North and Southern seas connecting a trade route to Fort Miriador. Much more going on than simple industry, from mercenary companies, large trade caravans, and entire villages and cities practically under the finger tips of the Consortium, one can beg to wonder how the Empire of Sturn had allowed the Consortium to grow so large. The common folk often refer to the Consortium hierarchy as self proclaimed Barons or Merchant Lords. Almost all of the Consortium's upper hierarchy are rumored by the common people to be corrupt.Trade and Structure
Starting with trade in coarse woollen fabrics, the Consortium had the effect of bringing both commerce and industry to northern Sturn. As trade increased, newer and finer woollen and linen fabrics, and even silks, were manufactured in southern Sturn and transported north to trade for other goods. The same refinement of products out of the cottage industry occurred in other fields, etching, wood carving, armour production, engraving of metals, and wood-turning. The Consortoum primarily trades beeswax, furs, timber, ironwood, darkwood, red steel, resin, flax, honey, wheat, rye, cloth, in particular broadcloth, and, increasingly, manufactured goods going in south to the Empires Capital. Metal ore, principally copper and iron and herring come northwards from the the Ironpeak Mountains, were an important source of copper and iron, often sold in Valentio and taken to the Sturnian capital of Sturnholm. Gallia the Crimson Glade is an integral part of the Consortium Timber trade, where they mass produce woods such as maple, oak, and the famed rare Ironwood. In the Darkmoon Vale they have a loose nit control over the darkwood supply. Lierna, in Tulaire, also has a vital role in the salt trade; salt is acquired in the mountains near Blackenwald Keep or shipped from Lierna and Tulaire and sold on Central Sturnian markets, then taken to New Aegin for salting herring or exported to other markets. Stockfish is traded at Fort Mirador and Keep Greywatch in exchange for grain; Consortium has bought grain inflows that allow more permanent settlements further north and east in the Empire of Sturn. The Consortium also trades in beer, with beer from The Dwarvish lands the most valued, and in so the Dwarvish kingdoms of Kar'Inorn and Kar'Idran have developed export breweries for hopped beer to sell to the Consortium in turn for other Human made goods. Consortioum trade is not exclusively maritime trade, or even overwater trade. Most Consortium towns do not have immediate access to the sea and there are many that are linked to partners towns, cities, or lordships by river trade and often generally expensive land trade which in turn has had the Consortium resort to employeeing mercenary companies and even creating a Caravan Sub-Guild within the Consortium. These combine into an integrated network and many smaller Consortium towns have their main trading activity in subregional trade. Internal Consortium trade is in fact the Consortium's quantitatively most voluminous and important business. Trade over rivers and land is not tied to specific Consortium privileges, but sea ports like Crosby, Valentio and Lierna manage to dominate trade on their rivers and seafronts. Digging canals for trade routes is very uncommon.
The Consortium
The Consortium
Type
Guild, Merchant
