The Red Merchants (Mercaderes Rojos) are emissaries dressed in red, with guards “not entirely human” (four-armed). They act as commercial intermediaries in Constantinople in 1055, tied to the Centaurs of Alpha Centauri.
Role
- They offer materials for time-teleportation rituals, bringing “the second half of the materials required for the teleportation ritual.”
- They recognize Thomas Cole as a fugitive and start a fight trying to capture him. Beaten back by the Time Bandits, they promise to return with the materials and warn that “the centaurs pay very well for him.”
- Composition: a leader dressed in red; four-armed guards (constructs or magically enhanced beings); and a woman with “green flames,” whose role is ambiguous (attacker, or protector of Thomas?). See Guardian of Green Fire.
First contact and combat took place in Constantinople, in Uchronic Paris. The Archive refers to the “market of the red merchants, allies of the centaurs.”