Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Conaill" data-source="post: 763768" data-attributes="member: 1264">The Merchants GuildQuote from A Magical Medieval Society:Merchant GuildsAll cities have a merchant guild, even the earliest of magical medieval cities. Merchant guilds usually develop before any other guilds. Socially, they rank above craft guilds, though craftsmen may belong to the merchant guild. In absence of a city council, the merchant guild acts as the city council. They negotiate rights, taxes, and rents with the town lord, make municipal bylaws, and pick city officials. If there is a city council, prominent merchant guild members are almost always members of the council. Most merchant guild members are wholesale merchants. They are not concerned with the production of crafts and goods, but rather the transporting, buying, and selling of goods. Some wholesale merchants are concerned with buying local goods and transporting and selling them to neighboring cities, fairs, regions, or possibly kingdoms. Others concentrate on importing sought-after goods into the city. Selling staple products like grain and coarse cloth are quite profitable; other wholesale merchants specialize in luxury goods like wine, furs, silks, and fine linen. In smaller cities, all merchants may belong to one merchant guild. In larger cities, merchants may form multiple guilds according to their specific commodity. Unlike the craft guild, merchant guilds are concerned with city commerce on a larger level, due to their concern with wholesale goods. They determine how much tax should be imposed on various foreign items, i.e. any item that was not made in the city by a craftsman of the city. They have monopoly powers, determining who can sell what, where, and when. They establish trading partners for certain commodities along river and land routes. Merchant guilds designate particular areas as the "territory" of a particular merchant for specific goods. They can limit which cities' merchants can come into the city and sell their goods. They can also determine to which cities a merchant can export a particular commodity. Merchant guilds usually wield exclusive power on trade in the city, although strong town lords and independent city councils try to curb the merchant guild's power.</blockquote>

Verification