Valinport Merchants Consortium
Synopsis
A quiet alliance of wealth and influence, where trust is currency and charity is considered bad business.
What People Know
The Valinport Merchants Consortium is an informal but powerful circle of the city’s richest traders, shipowners, financiers, and factors. They coordinate prices, shipping schedules, credit, and favors—ensuring that those inside the Consortium prosper, and those outside struggle to compete.
They do not rule Valinport.
They make sure whoever does must listen.
Goals
Public
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Promote mutual profit among member houses
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Stabilize trade and prices within Valinport
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Present a unified front in negotiations with the Crown
Headquarters
- A grand merchant house in the Royal Quarter of Valinport
Key Members
- Lady Serina Kael – Influential patron, financier, and discreet power broker
Values
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Trust (within the Consortium)
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Greed (openly acknowledged, carefully managed)
Anathema
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Charity
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Unprofitable sentiment
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Interference with Consortium interests
Aid is only given when it produces return.
Reputation
Among merchants: essential.
Among nobles: useful.
Among common folk: distant and untouchable.
The Consortium prefers to remain respectable, letting others handle the dirty work.
Player Notes
The Consortium remembers favors longer than debts.
Lady Serina Kael does not invest lightly—or forgive easily.
If the Consortium backs you, doors open.
If it withdraws support, the city becomes very expensive very quickly.