The Merchant Families of the Jeweled Cities
The Merchant Families are not a single organization or guild but the collection of aristocratic families that dominate trade and industry along the Gold Coast. Each Merchant family claims one of the Jeweled Cities as their home, though the largest of them have family members and agents throughout the Gold Coast and the Shimmering Sea. Most of the Merchant Families were among the earliest re-settlers of the Gold Coast during the waning years of the Final Storm, following the Empress's taking of the Wyrdtower. Families can fall and rise from grace based entirely on their fortunes, so many will seek to either to rise higher among their rivals or keep others from coming up from beneath them.
Structure
The Merchant Families are typically ruled by their Matriarchs, who are expected to keep the ledgers and approve family decisions. Given the size of certain Merchant Families, especially those that span multiple cities, they will often have a Matriarch for every city where they control an industry. The Setassitrae, for instance, control the silk weaving industry in Opal, granting licenses to the other families and independent artisans for the right to sell their woven silk products in the city, and the Matriarch for this is Lady Satin. Whereas in Beryl, the Setassitrae family only has the rights to controlling the import and distribution of raw silk, not the finished products. To handle that, Beryl has its own Setassitrae Matriarch. The "Honored Mother" is the title for the overall leader of the entire family who has the final say on any issue that reaches her ears.
The 'patriarchs' of a Merchant Family tend to be the ones responsible for organizing expeditions, either by land or sea, and traveling abroad to ensure Family interests are secured. Almost all caravan leaders and ship captains of a Family are male, though there are and have been exceptions to this. Young husband's are expected to bring their wives with them on these journeys, both to give the young wives a broader sense of the world before they settle into their roles for the family and also to hone their craft as negotiators and spies. Occasionally, a woman will be given the official command of an expedition by her Matriarch. Either the Matriarch is testing the woman to see if she is ready to move up within the family, because she considers the woman a potential threat to her control over the local family and wants her away for a season, or because she believes the woman to be too incompetent or dangerous to the Family in the city itself.
Men move up through the family in a more direct manner. As men marry into their Merchant Family, they are considered to often be 'untested', which is why they are sent abroad in service to the family. Those who return alive and successful are given more profitable trade contracts to manage and richer trade routes. Those who prove less useful are kept at home and serve the Family in many different ways within the Jeweled Cities. As the men grow older and travel becomes more difficult, the men move from leading expeditions themselves to representing the Family in their local politics. For instance, only men may serve on the Council of Opal, and most are those who have seen at least a decade or two abroad.
Merchant Families have clients, which represent smaller families or independent artisans and specialists who work for them and are loyal (for pay) to their patron, and laborers, who receive wages for their labor. It is not unheard of for laborers to be officially 'brought into' the family, not through marriage, but with full time patronage and better pay. They are then expected to wear the colors and heraldry of their new Family and are often given off the book assignments.
The Merchant Families of Jade
The Merchant Families of Jade have many distinctions from the Merchant Families of the other Jeweled Cities, due to the influence of the Southlanders on Jadeite culture. First, while they still hold the position of "Honored Mothers", it is more of a ceremonial title and recognition of their place in society rather than a position of authority. The Noble Father is the leader of a Jadeite Merchant Family. Second, due to the more regulated nature of Jadeite society, sons and daughters are divided between whether they will serve in the administration of the city, in the Family business, or be sent as a tithe to the Last Legion. Each child will receive specific education that will prepare them for their assigned station.Culture
With a Merchant Family, you are either in the family, and then you are expected to be loyal to the family above all others, or you are not part of the family. There are clear hierarchies within Merchant Families and those who are higher up can be quite demanding of their juniors. Often, younger members of the family find that much of their efforts and wealth simply go to the family. Thus, there is always the threat of a junior who is too effective, too successful, seeking to cut out their direct superior and move up the ranks of the Merchant Family. Those who live long enough to see their grandparents are often those who were clever enough to avoid putting a target on their back until they were secure enough to watch it. Assassinations are as common within families as they are between families. It is why many younger sons, especially those with few valuable marriage prospects, will 'leave' the Family, joining mercenary companies in their younger years, before coming back to serve the Family as guards and muscle.
Family takes care of Family. Most Merchant Families will work to cover up the indiscretions of their members, at least those that are truly blood or married into the family. However, even the most lenient of Merchant Families will have limits to what behavior they condone. Often those they recognize as being incorrigible are sent off abroad, far away from where the proclivities can cause embarrassment to their Family. Or in the worst of cases, they are simply killed before their deeds can become known. This is the last mercy the Family will do for those members, as they work to bury the shame where none will learn of it. For those disgraces who have become public albatrosses around the necks of their Family, they risk being cast out, barred from receiving Family support. Occasionally, they will be taken in by other Merchant Families, depending on just what they did to be cast out. Sometimes, the outcast has no recourse among that society and must find employment elsewhere.
Public Agenda
The obvious motivation of a Merchant Family is to enrich themselves and their city, in that order. They seek to influence the Jeweled Cities to gain favorable contracts and valuable monopolies within the markets, seeking to discredit or ruin their rivals so they can swoop in and take what is theirs.
Assets
Merchant Families often have their own personal family guard, made of those trusted soldiers who will be loyal to their patrons over other bonds such as the Jeweled City or a mercenary captain. These family guard are usually commanded by a Family Member, but the bulk of their forces are those the Family has recruited, vetted, and bought from among the laborers.
Every Merchant Family has at least one industry in a Jeweled City that they have the rights to oversee, which usually produces the majority of their wealth. Even the smallest Merchant Family will have some ships or packbeasts that they use to bring goods to and from the Gold Coast. Some Merchant Families will even have sorcerers or Lotusmasters on their payrolls, or a demon bound to serve their family by an ancient pact.
History
The Merchant Families have their origins from the waning days of the Final Storm, when the nomadic groups of the Gold Coast began to return to the cities they had been forced to abandon. The Gold Coast had always had a tradition of trade and wealth throughout the Old Iron Empire, and so those who had arrived at the ruined cities found that, without the threat of the Mistwalkers, they were soon able to live quite comfortable lives. More people came and families began to argue over the rights to resources in the area. Most of the nomadic groups had been entire extended families and so often the arguments would turn into skirmishes.
There is no date for when the first "Family" was created, but the term became well known after the Prince of Opal achieved his rank. From there, the system developed further and families were granted monopolies on certain industries in exchange for verifying the quality of the goods. Once a Family had achieved this control, they were loathe to give it up unless forced. This had led to many conflicts throughout the history of the Jeweled Cities, an example of which is the First Family War, which led to many Merchant Families being driven out of Opal and Ruby, who then went on to establish the Twin Cities of Beryl and Pearl.
Type
Guild, Merchant
Subsidiary Organizations
Location
Related Ranks & Titles
Related Ethnicities
