Merchant
A Merchant is a sophont who engages in mercantile, trading ventures with a goal of making a profit.
- The best known and most prestigious merchants are interstellar ones such as Free Traders and Merchant Princes.
- Interstellar Trade at lower scales is speculative and risky. Large scale trade is much more stable, but very expensive.
- Please see the article Merchant Vessel to see the craft which serve these sophonts.
- It is a Vocation.
Description (Specifications)
Very successful merchants are known as Merchant Princes and most venture offworld after they have purchased a Merchant Vessel. Interstellar Trade is very dangerous, but can also be very profitable. It takes a sophont with guts to venture out into the interstellar star lanes. Some might say that such risk taking behavior requires the Traveller Gene.
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History & Background (Dossier)
As soon as sophont societies develop organized cultures with social hierarchies, exchanges of goods and services occur, which in turn creates commerce, trade, markets, and stable economies.
While TL-0 societies are composed of protosophonts with very little concept of trade or barter, TL:1-3 societies have mastered many intergroup trade practices before the end of the technological epoch, which generally takes thousands to hundreds of thousands of years.
References & Contributors (Sources)
- Donald P. Rapp. Merchants & Merchandise (Paranoia Press, 1981), TBD.
- Bryan Steele. Merchant Prince (Mongoose Publishing, 2010), TBD.Marc Miller. Merchant Prince (Game Designers Workshop, 1985), TBD.
- Steve Daniels, Jim McLean, Christopher Thrash. Far Trader (Steve Jackson Games, 1999), TBD.
- Martin Dougherty, Hunter Gordon. The Traveller's Handbook (QuikLink Interactive, 2002), TBD.
- Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), TBD.
- Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
- Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science