Unshackled Traders’ League

The economic situation of the Shi’qae Sultanate is one that is both simple and complex. All trade that is officially done by the Sultanate to the other kingdoms of the Empire or its allies is done by the crown and only the crown. The businesses of the Sultan or Sultana are the only ones allowed to trade with outsiders, with the crown’s wealth being the economic factor that engages in outside trading.

The Sultanate itself has its own economic theater on the inside. It has its own currencies and any trader and business is allowed to conduct business as they wish without involvement of the crown or its authority or representatives. Thus the two economic spheres live in relative harmony and allows stability, while allowing the ruler to use the economy as an effective weapon in Imperial politics.

However, there are those few individuals that may prove too ambitious or adventurous to be content with this. Those that embody the mercantile spirit of their culture and wish to do more in the world outside the desert.

However, due to treaties made by the crown and the many merchant guilds of the Sultanate, it is impossible for any traders independent of the crown to go outside and trade. Thus, a simple solution was found.

These merchants would “unshackle” themselves from the restriction of being Shi’qae. They renounce their citizenship and become traders to foreign markets, becoming independent of the crown and their nation.

Though, while most would see this as an obvious attempt to bypass the laws of the crown and operate as traders, selling Shi’qae products...the crown allows this. Seeing the benefit of having these individuals conduct independent trade to keep the economies of their allies flourishing and keep the Sultanate’s economic warfare strategies efficient. Plus, they had effectively renounced their citizenships, so there isn’t anything the crown can officially do about them.

These individuals are so crucial to trade within the Empire due to their products and expertise in trade, that they are begrudgingly given privileges within the Allied Coalition. They are given golden plaques that allows them entry to any village, town, and city without needing to pay taxes or tolls.

Given the privileges they receive and the service they provide, these unshackled traders have formed their very own league and have guild offices in almost every major city throughout the Coalition. They have come to rival even some of the most prestigious and longest living merchant guilds despite being one of the youngest. All thanks to their unified ambition and earnest mercantile spirit.

It is the life goal of an Unshackled Trader to earn enough wealth to retire and become a citizen of the Sultanate again...wealthy enough to buy land and become a merchant lord that controls one of the major cities, or even prove themselves wealthy and worthy enough to be a part of the Sultan’s or Sultana’s court...as either an administrator of one of their businesses, that also acts as an adviser, or a merchant lord that the crown can rely on.

There are rumors, though...of these traders having heavy involvements in the merchant lords already, feeding illegal wealth back to the Sultanate for more power or special products to sell, and possibly even having connections to the ever growing black market.