Faction · Tier S · +10% gold

Trade Cohort — the gold-multiplier faction

The one faction whose passive buffs your wallet instead of your members. Five trade-route tiers from Peddler to Trade Baron, a six-slot Trade Emporium refreshing twice a day, and the deepest dedicated system stack of any faction in the game.

TL;DR

The Trade Cohort faction in one paragraph — the only currency-multiplier passive in the game (+10% to every gold source on every member). Exclusive Trading Post building, exclusive trade_negotiation quest type, and the deepest system stack of any faction (five dedicated systems: merchant guild, trade atlas, trade insurance, trade system, trade threat). Five trade-route ranks Peddler to Trade Baron with rising max-tier-shippable and return multipliers. Pick Trade Cohort in your second region after committing Honorbound first — it pays for itself faster than any stat-boost faction.

The faction at a glance

Passive bonus

+10% Gold on every gold source. Quest payouts, dispatch returns, refining sales, trade routes — all 10% larger. The other nine factions buff stats (+5% ATK, +5% DEF, etc.); Trade Cohort is the only one that buffs the currency itself. Different kind of strong, often the most pragmatic of the Tier-S picks.

Exclusive Trading Post

The Trade Cohort-exclusive structure. Unlocks the region's trade-route system: routes ship resources between your regions and partner destinations, returning more than they cost over the route duration. The Trading Post is the on-ramp; the Merchant Guild and Trade Atlas systems build on top of it.

The five trade-route tiers

Trade Route rank advances as you complete routes. Each tier raises the highest resource tier you can ship, lengthens the route duration, and increases the return multiplier on what comes back.

Rank	Name	Routes completed	Max res tier	Duration	Return
0	Peddler	0	T1	2 h	1.3×
1	Trader	10	T3	3 h	1.5×
2	Caravan Master	30	T4	4 h	1.8×
3	Merchant Prince	75	T5	6 h	2.0×
4	Trade Baron	150	T7	8 h	2.5×

The 2.5× return at Trade Baron sounds large until you compare to the route duration (8 hours) and remember it's a one-route payout, not a per-tick rate. The faction's value compounds across volume, not single spectacular returns — most Trade Cohort players run 4-6 routes simultaneously across regions.

The Trade Emporium — six slots, 12-hour refresh

The Emporium is Trade Cohort's stock-trading surface. Holds six stock slots (TRADE_EMPORIUM_STOCK_SIZE = 6) and refreshes every 12 hours (43,200 seconds). Three tiers gate what can appear:

Peddler

Starting tier. Stock surfaces basic goods at low margins. Where you learn the Emporium loop.

Trader

Mid-tier. Margins improve; rarer goods become available. Most players sit here through the bulk of their Trade Cohort experience.

Caravan Master

Top tier. Rare and tier-7-capable goods surface here. The Emporium tier ladder runs only three deep (Peddler / Trader / Caravan Master) versus the route-rank ladder's five — they're related but separate systems.

Two refreshes a day × six slots = twelve stock decisions daily if you log in twice. Missing a refresh means the next twelve hours sit on the old stock. The Emporium rewards consistent check-ins more than burst sessions.

The five Trade Cohort systems

Trade Cohort runs deeper than any other faction. Five dedicated systems coordinate the gold-and-goods economy:

Trade System. The core route-running loop — initiate, monitor, complete. Routes dispatched from the Trading Post return resources + gold over their duration.
Merchant Guild. The faction-level coordinator. Caps active routes, tracks rank progression, and — critically — surfaces the "View Active Routes (N) →" interface if you respec off Trade Cohort with routes still in flight. Locked-routes escape was added so a faction change doesn't strand in-flight gold.
Trade Atlas. The map of partner destinations and demand profiles. Some routes pay more depending on what's currently demanded; the Atlas shows the live demand state.
Trade Threat. Threats are encounters that can intercept active routes — bandits, weather, faction interdiction. Defending against them protects the cargo and the return multiplier.
Trade Insurance. Pay up-front to reduce loss on a route hit by a threat. Cost-benefit decision depending on the route's value and your threat exposure.

By comparison, Wild Clan runs one system (Spirit Trials + Tribal Grounds), Honorbound runs one (War Camp + Honor Duels). Trade Cohort's five-system stack is the most mechanically demanding faction commitment in the game — but also the most rewarding for engaged players.

The Velvet Ledger — the spec quest line

Trade Cohort loyalty opens the faction's spec quest storyline, The Velvet Ledger. The setup, from the source:

A new cartel, the Velvet Coin Guild, has undercut your routes by a quarter-margin, every month for half a year. Someone is bleeding money to crush you. Find the silent backer. End the bleeding.

Three named characters anchor the story. Chief Factor Lensa Maro is your head of accounts ("composed, early forties, dark amber-brown skin, reads ledgers the way generals read maps"). Marlo is a sixteen-year-old apprentice clerk you plant in the Velvet Coin's counting-house — "clever, terrified, loyal to Lensa who recruited him." Auctioneer Marik Dell is the port auction master, "bribable but honors the gavel above the bribe."

The Velvet Ledger is the most procedural of the faction spec quests — a slow-burn financial mystery rather than a battle arc. If you enjoy plot-driven storylines over fight-driven ones, this is the faction questline most likely to reward careful reading.

When to commit Trade Cohort

·Your second region. Most players commit Honorbound (default safe pick) in their starting region. Trade Cohort in region two is the standard follow-up — the gold multiplier compounds with the ATK boost without overlap.
·You log in 2-3 times a day. The Emporium refreshes every 12h; trade routes complete in 2-8h depending on rank. Consistent check-ins capture more value than burst sessions.
·You enjoy systems over combat. Trade Cohort's five-system stack is more spreadsheet than warband. The Velvet Ledger spec quest doubles down on that — it's the faction for players who like running an economy.
·You're building toward frontier trade. The +15% frontier-trade reward bonus stacks on top of Trade Cohort's +10% gold. The combined premium on long-haul frontier routes is the highest gold-per-hour the game offers outside event windows.

Common mistakes

Treating Trade Cohort like a stat-boost faction. +10% gold doesn't make your members stronger; it makes your wallet larger. If you're stage-gated by combat power, Honorbound's +5% ATK is more useful than Trade Cohort's +10% gold. Match the bottleneck.
Running one trade route at a time. The Merchant Guild caps active route count above zero, and the +10% gold passive compounds with route volume. Three concurrent Peddler routes pay more per hour than one Caravan Master route in most early states.
Ignoring Trade Threats. A successful threat against a high-tier route eats a meaningful share of the return multiplier. Insurance is cheap on Caravan Master+ routes; skip it on Peddler / Trader where the route value doesn't justify the premium.
Respecting off Trade Cohort with active routes — and forgetting they're locked. Routes finish but you can't initiate new ones. Check the "View Active Routes (N) →" Merchant Guild fallback if you're confused why your gold income dropped after the respec.

FAQ

Why is Trade Cohort the only faction with a currency-multiplier passive?

By design. Nine of the ten factions buff a stat (ATK / DEF / SPD / INT / VIT / influence / espionage / injury recovery / expedition speed). Trade Cohort buffs gold itself — a 10% multiplier that compounds across every gold source in the game. Quest rewards, dispatch payouts, refining sales, trade routes — all 10% higher. It's a different kind of strong than a stat boost; it pays you more, regardless of what your roster does.

What are the five trade-route tiers?

Peddler → Trader → Caravan Master → Merchant Prince → Trade Baron. Promotion thresholds at 0 / 10 / 30 / 75 / 150 completed routes (or equivalent rank points). Each tier raises the max resource tier you can ship (T1 → T3 → T4 → T5 → T7) and the return multiplier (1.3× → 1.5× → 1.8× → 2.0× → 2.5×). Route duration also extends with rank (2h → 3h → 4h → 6h → 8h) — higher returns for longer commitments.

What's the Trade Emporium and how often does it refresh?

The faction's exclusive trade-stock building. Holds six stock slots (TRADE_EMPORIUM_STOCK_SIZE = 6) and refreshes every 12 hours (43,200 seconds). The Emporium tier (Peddler / Trader / Caravan Master) gates what kinds of goods can stock — higher tier surfaces rarer trade goods. Two refreshes per day, six slots each — twelve stock decisions a day if you check in regularly.

What happens to active routes if I respec off Trade Cohort?

Locked Merchant Guild fallback. If you commit to a different faction in a region where you previously had active trade routes, the Merchant Guild interface surfaces a 'View Active Routes (N) →' button showing your locked-but-still-running routes. They'll complete but you can't initiate new ones. The locked-routes escape was specifically added so a respec doesn't strand your in-flight gold.

Does Trade Cohort interact with frontier trade?

Yes — the frontier trade system applies a separate +15% base reward bonus (FRONTIER_TRADE_REWARD_BONUS) on top of your Trade Cohort passive when shipping to frontier regions. The two stack: +10% from faction loyalty and +15% from frontier-trade, compounding multiplicatively into a meaningful gold premium on long-haul routes.