Quote Originally Posted by Brennus View Post
Whatever character is intended to replace merchants it must fit certain criteria:
1. It must be of significant importance to require control by the player. Armies are significant as they were not everyday occurences (and still are not) in antiquity. Merchants, by contrast, were everyday features of society like farmers and craftsmen.
2. The character must be under state control. Economies of antiquity were nowhere near as centralised as some modern economies, merchants were private buisnessmen. Likewise philosophers were not state employees. Diplomats and assasins would have been under the control of an elite (government) figure.

If you can think of a character which would have been an employee of the state and of such significance that it would not have been an everyday sight in society then you will probably arrive at an answer as to what is due to replace merchants.

Foot, now its your turn to tell me that all I have just written is nonsense.
Oracles, seers, etc? Many times the state and the religion worked together or in the extremes like Pharoahs were the same thing. Could be interesting to have some traveling Oracles that gain some bonus for the government/culture they represent. Not sure if merchants can be made to generate something besides money and not sure how prestige could be translated in the engine either.

They wouldn't necessarily be the same as priests because Oracles and such were often associated with a specific place- something similar was probably in many societies in this period of antiquity but I'm not sure how many... most greek, roman, phoenician, celts, and many germanics I'd guess.