The Merchant's Charter

Where once was dense jungle, now lays water; where once were river canoes, now are great junks ferrying to and fro the great ports. Where once was survival, now lays fortune, and where once was co-operation, now be domination.
A growing collective charter of the emerging class of maritime traders which has been slowly emerging since rapture. Through politics and bribes- which are, in fact, simply another form of politics- these few hundred ships of varying sizes, though mostly merchant junks or Valley-style caravels, have carved out a wide swath of ocean which they manage a tighter and tighter trade monopoly over.

Structure

The charter is, in fact, a very loose trade group primarily consisting of individual traders seeking to maximize profits by working in tandem in terms of local charters of monopoly, communication, division of territory, and to monopolize between each other as to block upstart traders from participating from outside their own organization. Having begun as a simply regionally specific charter to trade, one held by only three men, the three founders have since acquired license to sell that charter to other traders, at a profit for themselves, and have managed to establish the same charter agreement with an increasing amount of regional powers. As more and more cities become dependent on trade from ships operating within the charter, both in terms of luxuries and necessities, the charter can then establish blockades to force cities to agree to their terms. On a handful of occasions, these blockades have turned violent as mercenary junks bought by the charter have fought the fleets of regional powers. So far, next to no cities outside of the far south have evaded their influence.

Culture

The culture of the charter, if such a word can even be applied, is profit. After the years of rapture, things such as splendor became looked down on, meaning that while merchants of the charter have become incredibly wealthy, they put money into next to no objects of personal splendor. Instead, most of these merchants put their money into what they call "projects of public good". These include monuments, funds given to governments, religious groups, and art to be primarily placed within public spaces, and most of all religious ones. This gives merchants a chance to show off, e.g. "I was the one to fund this fountain" or "The new stained glass in the Basilica of Argo? I commissioned that.", while still giving the impression that they themselves were frugal. Even clothes are affected by this, as even the richest merchants have sanctions on what level of splendor they can show off, meaning that incredibly expensive materials are often cast in quite common silhouettes. Again, the money at stake is revealed to those privy to the quality of the material, but the cut hides the price to those not in the know.

Public Agenda

First founded in the city state of Orsrock, where they have recently rebuilt their offices to manage the now hundreds of employees who might at any point drop by.

In trouble and storm, we sail.

Type

Financial, Merchant League