The Frontier Trade Company

Frontier Trading Company

Deities	-
Strength	~8000 employees, ~250 ships
Major locations	Tec, Greystone, Whitport
Leader	Julius Fastemus Florentius

Ranks

• Trader
• Merchant
• Governor
• Mariner
• Captain
• Commodore
• Chairman

The FTC is the single richest organisation in the known world since long before the fall of the Empire. Bankrolling wars and peace treaties alike, they will do whatever it takes to make them a profit.

They see themselves as the plutocratic successor state of the Teccan Empire. The FTC have embraced technology over magic, as they believe depending too much on magic is what caused the downfall of the Teccan Empire (the reason why the Empire collapsed has been debated by historians since the day it happened).

The FTC have recently started experimenting with sail-less boats and horse-less carriages that are driven by some sort of steam-based mechanical contraption. The boats are said to be able to sail right into the wind, and their carriages can run all day and night without needing to rest.

Leadership

The Company operate two symbiotic businesses, the land-based trading arm and the naval shipping arm. The Chairman of the FTC is also the de facto ruler of Tec, or atleast what is left of it.

Julius Fastemus Florentius

(human, LE, 65): The current Chairman of the FTC. He is a singularly greedy man who would sell his mother if it turned him a profit. The Florentii is the richest family in Tec, and have been for generations.

Nilwyn Nirnesir

(wood elf, LE, 181): Commodore of the FTC fleet. She is a very able seaman and tactician who has spent most of her life at sea.

History

The FTC is the biggest trade company in the Teccan Empire. It started out as a way for ship owners to share the risk (and rewards) of business ventures in the furthest reaches of the Empire, but soon became much bigger than that. They became an instrument to funnel wealth from the provinces back to the Teccan Heartland.

While many senators and even emperors tried to impose checks and limits on the company, they were able to ruthlessly buy votes in the senate to secure their continued existence and prosperity. The company eventually became richer than the state itself, loaning the state money for wars and civil engineering projects alike.

In the final years of the Empire's collapse, the FTC called in their debts, which had risen to many millions of gold. This allowed them to take over much of the imperial infrastructure they had once paid for. Their leadership now resides in the harbor district of Tec, the only part of the city that is somewhat civilized.

After the fall of the Empire, the FTC turned to industrial pursuits, seeking ways to project influence and power. Around thirty years ago, FTC artificers stumbled upon a process to make boomdust. It didn't take long before most FTC ships were equipped with boomdust-powered cannons, ostensibly for protection against pirates. At their shore facilities, enforcers and guards are armed with pistols, muskets, and grenades.

While the exact recipe of to make boomdust is a closely held FTC secret, such information is hard to contain once people have seen the power it is capable of, and it is starting to trickle out to others with alchemical and engineering know-how.

Emblem

An arrow-head shaped piece of brass, with an embossed border and the FTC monogram on a blue field. The most valuable of the common insignias, they are usually only given to Captains of FTC ships and Merchants in charge of major outposts. Receiving one for services rendered is a very rare occurrence. Higher ranks have stripes of rope added to the blue base (the pictured emblem is that of a commodore or governor, since it has two ropes).