Merchants guilds thrive throughout Greyhawk from the Crystal Mists to Bone Marsh. They provide employment to adventurers as caravan guards, exploring new trade routes, scouts and body guards. They provide kingdoms with much needed export markets for their produce and goldfor their economies. Guilds are assioations of traders and/or merchants. Guilds move to buy the production ( for instance an ore mine ) and guarentee exclusive rights to the produce to its members. Their cumilitive wealth is powerful and numbers of guilds act as cartels.
The power that Guilds weild is economic. Guilds that are allied closley to a regent can force a kingdom to make war on its neighbour over tariffs or favouritism of other guilds over themselves. In return the Kingdom gains great tax revenues, gifts or loans in time of war. A guild can only be established and operate under a royal charter ( the written permission given by a king ). Guilds with no members inside the borders of kingdom do not need this charter to operate, i.e. buy and sell goods. In most cases the highhest members of a guild will also be controlling members of a Merchant Bank, this position giving them leverage over lesser members and enemies.
Members of a guild gain certain benefits. For instance they may use ports at a lower cost to themselves or indeed the guilds may have its own piers for its members. It is also easier to find traders and buisness partners with whom to strike a common interest. In this way the buying power of three combined traders can give a better bargaining position when haggling. The guilds also organise trade caravans in which the goods of its members are transported and protected on journeys from source to sale. Guilds may also regulate the licencing of street traders, keeping the prime locations for their own membership. A market square for instance may be patrolled by employees of a guild who moniter the weight of gold coins and act as ombudsman for the guilds members and buying public. Guilds also own warehouses where the goods of members are kept prior to transport or until the market prices are good. Goods are also kept in intervention here to regulate the price of goods ( keep the price and demand high ).
A merchant will have to pay about 10% of his profits made through guild related activities as a membership fee. The head of any guild is elected by its members in one of their monthly meetings. The guilds head holds the charter given by the king and organises negiioations with other guilds. If a guild covers more than one kingdom or city a council made up of leaders elected by the regional branches will elect a supreme head.
The concerns of a Guild are many and great. The guild pressures kingdoms to lower tariffs, keep shipping lanes they use free of pirates , tax opposition and build roads. To some of these things the regent may be able to look forward to a hefty contribution to the costs from the guilds. Rival guilds will make a united approach in many of these instances in order to bring moree pressure to bare in the common interest ( money ).
A guild must also hire mercenaries to protect its warehouses and trade caravans. Body guards are also needed for its prominent members and these must be paid for and maintained. Exploring new trade routes and reopening old ones are also the business of guilds. Disused routes may have bandits or orc bands operating on them and mercenaries will be needed to clear a way forward. The costly business of exploring land and sea routes is also organised by the guilds who must hire advanturers and map makers for the journey. Guilds of any major size must maintain trade delegations in forign cities and countries where their interests lie. These delegations monitor trade and carry frequent news of all events so future needs and profits can be predicted, why sell iron in Veluna when Grehawk will need weapons i a threatening war soon?
