Merchant
You made a living buying and selling. Whether it was food products, or textiles, or forged iron, or precious gems, your lifelihood and success depended on your abilty to buy goods from somebody and sell them to somebody else for a higher price. But there is more to being a successful merchant than just bargaining. You needed to know where to get your goods, and you needed to be able to move them from place to place. If you were very successful, you might have had many people working for you, or your whole life may have been you, your donkey, and your two-wheeled cart traveling from town to town.
Career
Qualifications
Success in the Merchant business relies on two things: a good business sense, and the ability to have people trust and like you. The former means you know the quality and true value of the goods you buy and sell. You know what it costs to acquire and transport them, and to pay any workers you have hired, so you know what you need to sell them for order to leave some profit for yourself. The latter means not only excellent bargaining skills, but also knowing when to give a little - perhaps even lose a few coins on one transaction to set up a larger win in the future. It means always presenting a smile to your customers, even when you are secretly thinking they are fools, or obnoxiously rude.
Career Progression
Switching to the life of an adventurer can be difficult for a merchant, since there is little about the buying and selling trade that applies in the adventuring world. Instead, you must look to your base skills and attributes. If you are studious, a future as a cleric or wizard may be in the cards for you. If you love life on in the wilderness, you could become a ranger. If you are accustomed to defending yourself on the road or in a particularly tough city, any of the fighting professions may be for you. Of course if you have innate magical tendencies, you may follow the Sorcerer's path to enhance them. Finally, if you have any performing talents (music, dance, storytelling), you could decide to replace trade in material goods with trade in information, and become a Bard.
Perception
Social Status
Successful merchants are usually well regarded, especially honest, successful merchants. In the merchant trade, success means wealth, and Wealth almost always buys privilege, even if it does not always buy nobility. Conversely, a merchant that is barely getting by will likely be regarded as little more than a peasant. But whether of high financial station or low, an honest merchant will be highly regarded by those being dealt with, and an unscrupulous merchant will be shunned.
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