Maelstrom Rules - Allegiance & Loyalty: Trading Houses

Membership of a trading house
There are five famous trading houses that run guild houses throughout the Known World. Given the incredible marvels being discovered in the New World and the attendant opportunities for profit, they are all seeking to build operations in the New World. These trading houses are loosely organized affiliations of members whose businesses cover a wide range of common interests led by a board of directors and investors.

You may choose to be part of one of the five trading houses listed in the Almanac. If you wish to play the owners of a smaller, less famous trading house that you have created yourself then you should be independent instead of having an allegiance.

To be a full member of a trading house you must do one or more of the following:

Purchase the social status advantage.
Purchase your allegiance advantage.
Purchase a craft or career skill.

It does not matter how many points you spend, so long as you spend at least one point on one of these advantages or skills.

E.g. you must purchase at least one point of social status or men-at-arms or select a skill such as explorer or work iron to be a full member of the Bakhana trading house.

A broad overview of the five prominent trading houses of the Known World is presented in the Almanac. Additional detail on an individual trading house will be provided to anyone who chooses to play a member of that house.

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.