Headquarters

Most trading houses are owned by a single family, which maintains a headquarters in its favorite city. Usually, it is a large, well-defended compound situated in a secure area as far away from noble mansions and templar complexes as possible. Although they will not discuss the matter, we can assume that a great deal of the family's wealth is stored in secret vaults within these compounds. Needless to say merchant headquarters are heavily guarded against both assassins and thieves, and all of them have established sophisticated escape routes in case the need arises for a sudden departure. The family patriarch (or matriarch) directs the operations of the entire merchant house from the headquarters. Agents from the house's farthest outposts are constantly entering and leaving the compound, delivering profits, collecting bonuses, making reports receiving instructions, and attending to every detail of business. Despite the constant buzz of activity, however, the guards at the gate will permit only agents of the house to enter the compound. In the case of larger houses, recognition is often achieved through secret signals or passwords. Merchant houses are owned in common by all direct descendants of the founder, but control is passed on from the patriarch or matriarch to any family member of his or her choosing. In the most successful of the merchant houses, the patriarchs are careful to choose their successors on the basis of ability and integrity. When this is not the case, however, the rest of the owning family sometimes withdraws its support from the patriarch and chooses a new one - or even allows the house to collapse.