The Factorial Merchants are the official trading body of the Archontean imperial apparatus in the valley of Barrado Balacán, formally the “Imperial Merchant Houses”, dealing in sanctioned trade, imperial tariffs, official routes and warehouses protected by the Azure Fortress.
| Head | Theron Glesteon |
| Seat | Glastumville (formerly Ritornello) |
| Spanish entry | Mercaderes Factoriales |
The rival Brotherhood
Their rival is the Benevolent Brotherhood.
| Factorial Merchants | Benevolent Brotherhood | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Official imperial | Tolerated clandestine |
| Tariff | High imperial | Lower (smuggling) |
| Routes | Sanctioned, registered | Clandestine, rotated |
| Escort | Archontean guard corps | Internal horizontal loyalty |
| Records | Registered at the Azure Fortress | Oral, undocumented |
The empire finds coexistence more stable than monopoly: closing the Brotherhood would force the Factorials to lower tariffs and cut imperial revenue.
Houses
- House Glesteon, the largest, with long routes and warehouses in the Azure Fortress; Theron Glesteon is its visible head in the present cycle.
- Lesser subordinate or allied houses, poorly documented.
Practice
- Fixed imperial tariff, not negotiable in minor deals; large ones allow adjustment with higher imperial authority.
- Registered routes: every caravan carries official papers and an Archontean guard escort.
- Valuable goods stored in the Azure Fortress’s underground vaults.
- Exotic goods via the central apparatus: Rudishva wares, mega-dungeon artifacts, Archontean products the Brotherhood lacks.
- Vertical loyalty: they serve the empire before their own members; desertion is punished.
Fall of Ritornello
Kerbog Khan’s operation against Ritornello, through the Egg of Ritornelo, destroyed House Glesteon’s old seat there, its greatest loss: the commercial archive was cut off and only partly recovered, and lesser figures vanished. Theron Glesteon moved operations to Glastumville as sole seat, with an imperial subsidy to prevent collapse. It now watches the mega-dungeon routes more closely, coordinates with the Azure Fortress and stays alert to any new use of the Egg.
Relationships
- Eusebia Phokas: coordinating imperial figure.
- Imperial Church: superior ecclesiastical apparatus.
- Drusus IX: emperor whose apparatus sustains them.