Marketplace

The Marketplace is where Governors barter directly with one another across the archipelago. A surplus of stone in one harbour can become the lumber another settlement desperately needs — provided merchant ships are ready to sail.

Bazaar

Spend coins on timed offers from roaming merchants.

Fleet

Move goods between your own settlements or send reinforcements.

Before Trade Can Begin

A settlement must have a Marketplace constructed before its Governor may post or accept offers. Both buyer and seller require idle merchant ships in port — vessels already at sea cannot be committed to new contracts.

Posting an Offer

A Governor posts an offer by naming the resource and quantity they wish to sell, and what they expect in return. The offered goods are reserved immediately — drawn from the settlement stores and held until the contract is fulfilled or withdrawn.

Each settlement may maintain up to 20 open offers at a time. Offers remain on the board until another Governor accepts them or the seller withdraws.

Accepting an Offer

1. The buyer selects one of their settlements as the receiving port.
2. The requested payment is deducted from the buyer's stores.
3. The buyer also pays harbor dues in coins when the contract is sealed.
4. Both sides commit merchant ships — one fleet carries payment to the seller, the other delivers the purchased goods to the buyer.
5. When each fleet makes landfall, cargo is deposited into the receiving settlement's stores.
6. Merchants return home once the delivery is complete.

A Governor cannot accept their own posted offer.

The Merchant Fleet

Every trade requires merchant ships to carry cargo across open water. The harbour master assigns the most efficient combination of available vessels, favouring larger hulls to minimise the number of ships committed.

Vessel	Cargo	Speed
Small Merchant Ship	80	1
Large Merchant Ship	200	0.7

The Trade Ledger

The ledger records all completed transactions and active offers. Governors may review past trades and cancel their own open listings at any time — withdrawn goods are returned to the settlement stores.

Treasurer Mora notes

A well-timed trade can resolve a resource shortage faster than any mine upgrade. Watch the market before it watches you.

Trade Fees

Marketplace contracts charge harbor dues in coins to the buyer when a deal is sealed. The seller still delivers the full offered cargo; no goods are shaved off in transit.

A stronger Marketplace reduces these dues. In the present world, the fee begins near 8% and falls by about 0.55% per Marketplace level, but never below 1.5%.

At the Clerk's Window

• A contract cannot be sealed? Most often: no receiving settlement selected, insufficient goods or payment, or no merchant ships idle in port.
• An offer has vanished? Another Governor claimed it, or the seller withdrew the listing.
• Goods were lost on arrival? Cargo that exceeds the destination's storage capacity is discarded. Expand storehouses before accepting large shipments.

Prefer coin-based purchases over direct barter? Visit the Bazaar. To move goods between settlements under the same authority, see Fleet.