Highland Trade Syndicate

Orel is a dry, dusty place, abutting the Argoran Wastes to the east and high mountains to the west. Caravans crisscross the Wastes, but it’s a hard journey – if the arid heat and the dust don’t kill you, the ubiquitous devanu just might. Instead, many merchants look to the west, over the mountains, to the seaport of Teral. The Highland Trade Syndicate is a cartel of Orel and Teral merchant families, caravan masters and riverboat captains who have come together to control this western trade route. They maintain the mountain roads, hire the best mercenaries, run the river barges, and charge a pretty penny to any who wish to use their routes or travel with their caravans which constantly crossed back and forth, linking the cities together, and hence Teral to the rest of the Empire. They even shipped goods all along the Western coast, as far as the Enguan Isles and the Casanii Coast. All of this came to a screeching halt with Teral’s occupation by the Delgon. Much of the Teral side of management fled the city when it began being occupying in force, seeking shelter with their eastern kinsmen alongside Engu refugees from the north. After the emperor ordered the rebellious city embargoed, all trade stopped. Orel have no love loss for the central Empire, but defying the order would be tantamount to throwing in with the invaders, which was quite another thing. With their profit margins on the line, the syndicate heads have taken drastic action. Even now, mercenary ‘caravan guards’ are making their way towards Teral, accompanying belan, baruk, & trepain carrying stocks of fine Orelan-made weapons, hidden beneath bolts of cloth and piles of produce. Messages have been passed to the Teral ‘seditionists’, old friends in high places contacted, plans put in place. If the Empire will not repel the enarii threat, Orel will once again do it themselves.