History Main / ProudMerchantRace

** The Khajiit, a race of CatFolk who're known as skilled traders. [[TheStoner Among]] [[StickyFingers other]] [[BarbarianTribe things.]] They draw heavily from the Roma as a FantasyCounterpartCulture.

** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' introduces the Karemma, merchants who are members of the Dominion. A couple of episodes showed Quark and some Karemma doing trade deals. Unlike Ferengi, they believe in being completely honest in their deals. Oddly, this gets exaggerated to using fixed prices based on manufacturing costs; in other words, they are traders with no concept of market forces or basic economics.

** The Imperials also count, as the Septim Empire is known both for its armies and its mercantile pursuits.

** Ankh-Morporkian humans. Their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAqCbOJc6RU national anthem]] includes the line "Let others boast of martial dash, for we have bravely fought with cash!". Its title? ''"We Can rule you wholesale"''.

** Ankh-Morporkian humans. Their national anthem includes the line "Let others boast of martial dash, for we have bravely fought with cash!". Its title? ''"We shall rule you wholesale"''.

*** In a fairly rare occurrence, the Ferengi got a social message in there as well. At one point, Quark mentions that the Ferengi never had mass atrocities or significant wars in their past because of their focus on commerce (Rule of Acquisition Number 35: Peace is good for business). In another instance, Quark points out that human's fascination with "doing it themselves" and "not taking shortcuts" means that they take longer to do things they could just buy, which prevents them from spending time on other important things.

* The Sea Folk, or Atha'an Miere, from ''TheWheelOfTime''. Though they love their ships (obviously) and are more than competent in a fight, their culture is heavily based around trading and bargaining. They even bargain with ''TheChosenOne'' when he shows up--and the fact that they know full well who he is and what he's destined to do just makes them want to drive a harder one! In fact, the prophecy that they will make a bargain with TheChosenOne is an important part of their religion.

* This is one of the archetypes alien races can take on in ''{{Spore}}''. Trader civilizations are actually some of the easiest folks to get along with, especially if you're in the market for some powerups.

* The Duchy of Remillia from ''OpenBlue'', which is modeled on the Dutch colonial empire.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' has the Khajiit, a race of CatFolk who're known as skilled traders. [[TheStoner Among]] [[StickyFingers other]] [[BarbarianTribe things.]]

This trope may overlap with IntrepidMerchant. One difference is that a MerchantCity can be just a place where {{Intrepid Merchant}}s from elsewhere visit whereas a Proud Merchant Race has to conduct trading on its own. As trading long distances is dangerous and outlaws ever present, sometimes a Proud Merchant Race is a ProudWarriorRace as well, or at least a race whose martial prowess is dangerously underestimated.

*** They also sometimes make shoddy merchandise. When the ''Defiant'' is hit by a Dominion torpedo, it ends up getting stuck in the hull instead of exploding. When the Karemma trader points out that his people make and sell these weapons to the Dominion, Quark notes that they lack proper quality control.

*** This begins to change by the final season, culminating with Quark's younger brother Rom (a brilliant engineer; highly moral but with no sense of business) being appointed as the new ruler of Ferenginar.

** In ''{{GURPS}} Aliens'' the Traders are, as the name implies, obsessed with trading. Otherwise, they're a typical race of [[AlienGeometries four-dimensional beings who appear as ever-shifting three-dimensional shapes to most other beings]].

* Qarth in ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' is a bustling port city brimming with wealth. Three guilds of merchant princes are always competing with each other and the nominal rulers of the city for power.

* Via ImageBoard MemeticMutation, we have [[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Hassan Crazy Hassan the used camel salesman.]] No matter who you are, how many mounts you have, what environment you're in or planet you're on, by God you ''will'' end up buying a camel or fifty, and it will be the best damn camel(s) you've ever seen.

* C. J. Cherryth's ''[[ChanurNovels Chanur Saga]]'' has the Hani and their rivals, the Kif, with the [[SpacePeople Spacer]] culture of humans being brought into the mix as the series progresses. The Hani are probably the most straightforward example here because their culture is fairly isolationist and not really looking to expand beyond their home system, making their traders the only ones who have a ''reason'' to leave their homeworld, while the Kif's main hat is more a general vicious opportunism (trade, theft, bullying, piracy… whatever works to one's advantage) and the Mahendo'sat primarily just seem to poke their noses anywhere they feel like.

A Proud Merchant Race is one whose [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is being {{Intrepid Merchant}}s. They may have a system of morality based in commerce and have {{Folk Hero}}es that made tremendous profit or opened new avenues of trade. They might raise their children to dominate commodity markets consider "merchant" as the highest of all professions.

A Proud Merchant Race is one whose [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is being {{Intrepid Merchant}}s. Has overlap with SpaceJews, but often in a positive manner with implications of having a tradition of enterprise and exploration. However, on the flip side, aspects of the CorruptCorporateExecutive who will do ''anything'' for [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney a quick buck]] may be in place since it's deemed less [[UnfortunateImplications politically incorrect]] to depict aliens or fantastic creatures in this fashion than real humans, and there may be an HonestJohnsDealership or two in the ranks of them.

They almost certainly have MerchantCity, perhaps ruled over by {{Merchant Prince}}s.

May overlap with IntrepidMerchant. One difference is that a MerchantCity can be just a place where {{Intrepid Merchant}}s from elsewhere visit whereas a Proud Merchant Race has to conduct trading on its own. As trading long distances is dangerous and outlaws ever present, sometimes a Proud Merchant Race is a Proud Warrior Race as well, or at least a race whose martial prowess is dangerously underestimated.

* The Dutch, very much in ''Film/MichielDeRuyter''. Same goes for their English foes, which is the main reason they clash on sea. This in contrast to the reason the French try to invade, which had more to do with French desire for hegemony on land and was fueled by religious differences.

*** In a fairly rare occurrence, the Ferengi got a social message in there as well. At one point, Quark mentions that the Ferengi never had mass atrocities or significant wars in their past because of their focus on commerce. In another instance, Quark points out that human's fascination with "doing it themselves" and "not taking shortcuts" means that they take longer to do things they could just buy, which prevents them from spending time on other important things.

A ProudWarriorRace is a culture whose [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is war. Conversely, a Proud Merchant Race is one whose [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is being {{Intrepid Merchant}}s. Has overlap with SpaceJews, but often in a positive manner with implications of having a tradition of enterprise and exploration. However, on the flip side, aspects of the CorruptCorporateExecutive who will do ''anything'' for [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney a quick buck]] may be in place since it's deemed less [[UnfortunateImplications politically incorrect]] to depict aliens or fantastic creatures in this fashion than real humans, and there may be an HonestJohnsDealership or two in the ranks of them.

* The Dutch, very much in ''Film/MichielDeRuyter''. Same goes for their English foes, which is the main reason they clash on sea.
** This in contrast to the reason the French try to invade, which had more to do with French desire for hegemony on land and was fueled by religious differences.

* Rhodes in ''OverTheWineDarkSea''.
* Icelanders in Literature/TheIcelandicSagas

** The specialty of the Dominion of Korx in the second game where species other than humans are playable. They consider selling your own mother into slavery a "right of passage."
** After the destruction of the Korx. The Iridium Corporation replaced the Korx who had dropped all pretense of a corporate entite and became a criminal cartel. Needless to say the Iridium Corp is more benign if overly enterprising folks and very much akin to Venice in patronage and trade.

* The Drowolath from ''{{Drowtales}}'', considering that feeding the nobility, who are, of course, snobbish jerks about it, requires many {{Intrepid Merchant}}s to venture to the Overworld, a land where knights in dishonorable armor roam, where danger in the form of ravenous beasts (wolves and the like) abounds, and where it actually freakin' rains, which for those who have spent their entire lives underground can be quite a shock. The Ill'hardro and Nal'sarkoth clans in particularly have made most of their money through trading.

* The planet Komarr in the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', whose inhabitants seem to either be shrewd businesspeople or scholars. There are some AmbiguouslyJewish aspects of the planet and its inhabitants (i.e. the character Duv Galeni), but Italian/Greek names of people, there's also an implication of Venice or the "Greek Tycoon" type. Jackson's Whole is more of an evil version, a PrivatelyOwnedSociety with no laws at all.
** According to in-universe history, Komarr itself is a [[MerchantCity Merchant Planet]], originally colonized because of its crossroads in space character. When they'd accumulated enough capital, they expanded into sending their own trading fleets out. Now that they're part of the Barrayaran Imperium, their fleets go out with armed escorts. Which have been needed, too.

* The Orca in ''{{Dragaera}}'' are sailors, which makes them the most prominent traders and businessmen of the Dragaeran Empire. Contrary to the usual trope, Orca are also known for their ferocity. Those who are not sailing or managing a trading empire often get work as cheap muscle.