"Every fortune begins with a badge."
Membership within the Intergalactic Merchants Guild is both a privilege and an investment — a gateway into the most profitable and protected trade network in the galaxy. Anyone, regardless of species, origin, or faction allegiance, may apply for membership at any official Branch Headquarters throughout the known worlds.
Applicants are subject to background checks, financial assessments, and sometimes subtle psionic evaluation to detect deceit or instability. Once approved, the individual pays a 200-credit initiation fee and receives their Blue Badge, signifying their rank as a Rookie Merchant — the first step into the Guild’s hierarchy of wealth and influence.
Membership is permanent so long as dues are paid and Guild law is not violated. Members are protected by the Guild Charter of Neutral Commerce, granting them immunity from most local trade restrictions, and the right to trade under Guild Authority, allowing citizens from two opposite factions at war to even trade.
Within the Intergalactic Merchants Guild, status is not inherited, nor given freely. It is bought, earned, and proven through shrewdness, profit, and allegiance to the Guild’s golden laws. Each merchant wears their Guild Badge not merely as identification, but as a symbol of rank, reputation, and access to privilege across the galaxy’s markets.
The hierarchy of badges reflects both the merchant’s personal success and their trust within the Guild’s intricate network. From the hopeful Rookies just entering the trade halls, to the gilded Experts who command empires of commerce, each tier is a stepping stone toward greater fortune—and greater responsibility.
The Blue Badge – The Rookie Merchant
The Blue Badge marks the beginning of one’s journey through the Guild. Rookies are the wide-eyed newcomers — smugglers turned traders, wanderers turned entrepreneurs, dreamers chasing wealth among the stars.
For a 200-credit initiation fee, they earn the right to trade under Guild protection and access the basic trade routes, docks, and facilities. Many spend their early careers ferrying low-value goods between small colonies, learning the complex web of tariffs, deals, and unspoken etiquette that governs interstellar commerce.
Blue Badge members are the lifeblood of the Guild’s lower ranks — the risk-takers and wanderers who bring new resources, clients, and opportunities into the fold.
The Green Badge – The Skilled Merchant
When a Rookie’s record shows consistent profit and no violations of Guild Law, they may seek elevation to the Green Badge, the mark of a Skilled Merchant.
For a fee of 500 credits, and the approval of an Expert or Guild Master, a merchant is welcomed into the mid-tier ranks. Green Badge members are trusted with higher-value contracts, access to regional market data, and moderate trade insurance. They are also eligible to establish limited trading companies under Guild oversight.
Green Badge merchants often work in small partnerships or families, forming the economic backbone of countless worlds.
The Red Badge – The Veteran Merchant
The Red Badge is granted to those whose names have become known within the trade lanes — merchants who have survived betrayal, economic wars, and competition, yet still rise richer than before.
For 1,500 credits, and with the backing of senior members, a merchant may ascend to the rank of Veteran. These individuals gain access to elite trade routes, mercenary protection contracts, and Guild-sanctioned convoys that cross even war zones unchallenged.
Veterans often command their own fleets of freighters, oversee multiple trade houses, or serve as intermediaries in high-value deals between factions. They are not just traders — they are brokers of destiny.
The Gold Badge – The Expert Merchant
The Gold Badge is more than a symbol of affluence; it is proof of mastery over the Guild’s grand game.
Only the shrewdest, wealthiest, and most influential merchants ascend to this rank, paying 5,000 credits and receiving personal endorsement from a Guild Master. Experts enjoy access to restricted markets, inter-factional trade privileges, and the Guild’s legendary Diplomatic Protection Clauses, ensuring no world may lawfully detain or confiscate their cargo unless illegal to that faction.
They may trade in psionic artifacts, Psi-links, and other goods forbidden to most in partnership with the Iltaran Concord.
The Platinum Badge – The Guild Master
The Platinum Badge is the ultimate symbol of authority within the Intergalactic Merchants Guild. Only one Guild Master governs each Branch at a time, elected from among the Gold Badge Experts during a formal Trade Court Session. Guild Masters are both sovereigns and stewards of their domain, managing thousands of merchants and overseeing the financial stability of their region. Their word carries the weight of law within their Branch, but they must also remain accountable to the High Council on Galidraan. When a Guild Master dies, retires, or is voted out, the Branch descends into weeks—sometimes months—of tense political maneuvering, as rivals vie for control of the platinum badge and the immense fortune that comes with it.
All Guild Masters hold a seat on the High Council, where they decide matters of policy, commerce, and the election of the next Baron of the I.M.G.
Only one Guild Master presides over each Branch at any time, chosen from among the Expert-tier members through election or appointment.
Guild Masters possess vast autonomy, governing all trade and internal policy within their region. However, they must remain compliant with Guild Law, maintain transparency in all dealings, and most importantly, pay a monthly profit fee to the High Council — a portion of the Branch’s total earnings that sustains the Guild’s unified financial structure.
When a Guild Master dies, retires, or is voted out, the Branch enters a Trade Court Session, an official proceeding in which candidates present their economic achievements and business visions before senior members. Rivalries, manipulation, and deal making are common during these sessions, and some have been known to spark decades-long commercial feuds.
All Guild Masters automatically hold seats in the High Council, which governs Guild-wide policy, approves the founding of new Branches, and elects the next Baron of the I.M.G.
Guild Branches are the physical and bureaucratic pillars of the Intergalactic Merchants Guild. They exist as either massive surface complexes on planetary capitals or orbiting megastations above trade-rich worlds.
Each Branch acts as a sanctuary of commerce — a blend of corporate embassy, merchant haven, and information hub. Within their polished halls and secure docking bays, traders from across the galaxy negotiate, rest, and profit under the protection of Guild neutrality.
Typical Branch facilities include:
Trade Halls: Vast floors where contracts are posted, deals brokered, and trade permits issued.
Merchant Quarters: Luxurious living suites for high-ranking members and visiting merchants.
Vault Chambers: Secure rooms for valuables, artifacts, and financial data.
Contract Boards: Digital panels listing trade requests, shipping opportunities, and private commissions.
Information Nodes: Databanks of market analytics, price trends, and sector trade activity.
Security Garrisons: Staffed by elite Guild Mercenaries and automated sentry drones to ensure absolute protection.
Each Branch flies the Guild’s sigil — a stylized golden spiral surrounding a credit sigil — representing the infinite flow of commerce.
The creation of a new Branch is an extraordinarily rare event, requiring High Council approval and sponsorship by at least three existing Guild Masters.
A formal application must include:
A strategic trade assessment of the proposed system.
A profit viability report forecasting minimum returns within five galactic years.
A security plan for maintaining Guild neutrality and defense.
If approved, the High Council funds construction and dispatches a Provisional Guild Master to oversee its foundation. Upon successful establishment and profitability certification, the Branch gains full recognition and its leader is granted a permanent High Council seat.
Because of the immense bureaucracy and political weight involved, most planets host only one Guild Branch, and worlds of major significance may have two — one surface-based and one orbital.
Guild membership grants access to a range of exclusive benefits depending on rank:
Rookie & Up: Access to basic trade routes, market stalls, and legal arbitration through the Guild courts.
Skilled & Up: Access to small-scale shipping contracts, storage rights, and minor mercenary protection.
Veteran & Up: Access to elite mercenary forces, diplomatic immunity clauses, Guild-sponsored ship rentals, and protected trade convoys.
Expert & Up: Permission to trade in psionic artifacts and Psilinks, as well as direct diplomatic protection from the Baron’s Office.
Members are expected to adhere strictly to Guild Law, which prohibits fraud, theft between members, or endangering the Guild’s neutrality. Violations are tried before Trade Courts, and penalties range from fines and suspension to expulsion and economic blacklisting — a fate worse than death for a merchant.
To the Intergalactic Merchants Guild, profit is civilization’s purest form of order. Where governments wage war and religions divide, commerce unites — for even the fiercest rivals must eventually trade.
Membership is not simply a business arrangement, but a creed — a belief that value, exchange, and ambition bind the galaxy together more tightly than faith or empire ever could.
Every member, from the humblest Rookie to the exalted Guild Master, plays their part in the eternal current of wealth that flows through the stars — the current the I.M.G. alone controls.