Economy & Trade Manipulation
The Merchant Guild is the economic engine of the Terran Compact. Where other factions fight with firepower and technology, the Guild fights with leverage. Their cards generate wealth, manipulate market prices, and convert economic advantage into overwhelming board presence.
Guild pilots don't just play the game -- they play the economy around it. A well-built Merchant deck can afford cards other factions can only dream of, cycling through their market at a pace that turns every fight into a buyer's market with one buyer.
Merchant Guild decks revolve around resource generation and efficient market cycling. They excel at building up economic engines early and converting that wealth into high-value cards and stations in the mid-to-late fight.
Founded in the aftermath of the First Expansion, the Merchant Guild began as a loose coalition of human trading houses that recognized a simple truth: whoever controls the supply lines controls the war. Over centuries they evolved from traders into kingmakers, bankrolling the Terran Compact's military campaigns in exchange for exclusive trade routes and regulatory immunity.
Today the Guild operates the largest network of orbital markets and trading stations in contested space. Their influence is subtle but absolute -- wars end when the Guild decides they're no longer profitable, and begin when new markets need opening.
[Expand this lore section with your deeper faction history, key characters, and narrative hooks]