Intrepid Merchant

One of the most common methods of establish a sense of realism in a world, no matter how exotic, is to provide characters jobs that we recognize. They make take a form we recognize, which is largely dependent on the world's atmosphere and the writer's intent (this includes any artistic liberties and suspension of disbelief). For example, we may see an astronaut land on the Moon in 1967 with something vaguely resembling the Apollo 11 capsule. After all, it worked marvelously for the real world.

On the other hand, we may see exotic jobs, ranging from magical architects to symbiotic planar aquarium cleaners (however you wish to interpret that)or jobs that we simply don't see performed a certain way anymore if we even see them (smiths, scribes, etc). We may also see jobs performed in ways that Fridge Logic - more on this later perhaps - causes readers to scratch their heads. This brings us to the Intrepid Merchant.


Merchants are, of course, a common sight - we know them today as purveyors of computers, food, television and who knows what else. Intrepid Merchants are a more adventurous breed, willing to put themselves in harm's way to get and sell just about anything (or, in some case, literally anything). This is common for video game entertainment, where you might see a merchant set up shop just when you need him - and you will need him, because who else is around?

This may pose problems, of course. Fridge Logic could dictate that there's no reason for him to set up shop here, especially if it's such hallowed ground that outsiders are forbidden from entering, less they 'taint' its sacredness or whatnot, or a land so distant and difficult to reach that no one's going to be there except when the Plot Coupon demands it. Are we to believe he is psychic, or perhaps simply tailing the heroes?

It also poses a problem if the area is infested with monsters. If the heroes needed several elixir, donkeys, a compass, enough food and water to last for three days and nights and the fighting prowess of nineteen knights and a squire to get up here, what did the merchant do? Club monsters with tins of Altoids?

When creating an Intrepid Merchant, here are a few tips. Giving him a name and complicated backstory won't be important if his sole role is to sell one item and disappear into the night. Conservation of Details won't be happy if you spent insidiously long amounts of time on him. Any details you spend on him are better spent on establishing what kind of merchants go out here during the world-building stage, thus explaining why he's able to make this kind of journey. You won't need to know who he is so much as what culture he's from and the basic logic behind his sheer existence here (like if he's from the king's entourage, if he's making a pilgrimage, etc.).

You can possibly make him a recurring character, offering a glimpse into a culture living in his world. This may be tricky as if you intend on him meeting the cast regularly, the audience will expect a bit more from his personality and motivation, hence creating a more developed history. One possible way to work around this is instead of one character, you have one culture whose sole existence is predicated by its people devoting their lives to mercantilism. This borders upon the destruction of suspension of disbelief so be prepared to elaborate a tiny bit, at least, on their culture and adding in something to keep it from seeming like a culture of mercantile robots.