Sunbelt Merchants
The Sunbelt Merchants are a Trade Organizations/Institutions of the Realms operating in the Central Heartlands of the Steel RealmsCentral Heartlands dealing in both transport services as well as natural resource harvesting and sales. They are nominally associated with Balthazaar, god of the Steel RealmsBalthazaar and are one of the few organizations allowed to operate in both Umbak and Dunstrand – bridging a long history of trust and control issues. County Faer of the Grand Duchy of Dunstrand, Umbak and the Grand Barony of Fandelok are their primary territories. They also operate a small bit in the Riverdans and County Dunstrand of the Grand Duchy as well.
Home: The Sunbelt Merchants are chartered out of the Grand Barony of Fandelok. Their home offices consist of several warehouses with a stable, about 120 staff, and they have their own cooper, wainwright, and blacksmith on site. Their money lending operation is located here as well, with a separate secure area, a dozen guards, and a dozen accountants.
Chronicle of the Sunbelt Merchants
Information Sources: Mundane Reference | Associated Phenomenology Only | Specific Lore
Pervasive Knowledge / Very Easy Difficulty
The Sunbelt Merchants are a Trade Organizations/Institutions of the Realms operating in the Central Heartlands dealing in both transport services as well as natural resource harvesting and sales. They are nominally associated with Balthazaar and are one of the few organizations allowed to operate in both Umbak and Dunstrand – bridging a long history of trust and control issues. County Faer of the Grand Duchy of Dunstrand, Umbak and the Grand Barony of Fandelok are their primary territories. They also operate a small bit in the Riverdans and County Dunstrand of the Grand Duchy as well.
The group has managed to secure the baronial services for the Grand Barony of Fandelok and is a competitor of the Bank of the Silver Stacks within that fief. For ages, this managed to satisfy their ambitions, but about CY 8300 they began to expand, first into creating agreements with Umbak, and then as the hostility drew down between them and Dunstrand, to bridge that gap.
Common Knowledge / Easy Difficulty
Though it is not generally known why, the Loamwold Protectorate and its halfling inhabitants will not deal with them in any way.
Uncommon Knowledge / Average Difficulty
Nominally they follow the precepts of Balthazaar and most of the creedo of the merchant princes, this organization in recent times has been aggressively expansionist, ignoring boundaries and agreements to limit their expansion.
Scarce Knowledge / Hard Difficulty
{Rumor?} It is said that during some of the goblin raids on the Barony of Nettlemist of CY 9120’s the merchant group hired a mercenary army to clear out the pass between Nettlemist and the Grand Barony of Fandelok. Their forces were rumored to have captured fell creatures trained by the Orrish and the venom from these is used to threaten their competitors and opponents.