History Literature / TheMerchantPrinces

A few months after Mallow returns to Terminus, however, he's accused of murdering a Foundation priest by letting a mob tear him to shreds. However, Master Trader Hober Mallow has anticipated their threats and evidence, and has prepared for that in turn. He capitalizes on his skyrocketing popularity to become Mayor of Terminus, and then reveals that he's also been preparing for Korell declaring war upon the Foundation with nuclear warships. But just like he anticipated the murder trial, he's figured out a way to win the war already.

* ContrivedCoincidence: When Hober Mallow visits Korell, he is in a out-of-the-way spaceport, with the nearest city 150 kilometers away, when a priest appears, immediately followed by a mob. This fact clues Mallow in the fact that [[spoiler:it is a ruse played by the Korellian leaders to prevent the Religion of Science from spreading to their world]].
* CourtroomEpisode: Secretary Jorane Sutt puts Master Trader Hober Mallow on trial for murder because he knowingly allowed a priest of the Foundation to be taken by a mob who were clearly ready to kill the priest. After three off-screen days of the trial, taking place in a large forum called the council chambers, Mallow agreed to making it public, so not only is it crowded with everyone who could fit, the trial is also being broadcast to every planet under Foundation control. Today is Mallow's first opportunity to refute/rebut the prosecution's case, which he does by revealing the [[spoiler:so-called priest was actually a Korellian agent pretending to be a Foundation priest, to justify the destruction of Mallow, his ship, and his crew]]. The crowd grows wild, and Mallow takes advantage of popular opinion to get himself elected Mayor of Terminus, making him the highest-ranked political figure in the Foundation.
* DeflectorShields: Trader Mallow bribes a Siwenna tech-man with a personal force shield that protects against blasters in exchange for a private viewing of the generator facilities on a planet. Oh, the shield works, all right, but only for one day. Not being stupid, he brought two, AND a gun that can shoot through it. The reason why a personal shield works as a bribe is that as far as the Empire was concerned, personal shields were impossible, not because of the shield itself, but because you wouldn't be able to carry the needed generator around (thus, not even the Emperor himself has one).

* EnhanceButton: Hober Mallow records the events when a Foundation missionary seeks refuge aboard Mallow's ship on the planet Korell. He later enhances an image on the Visual Record that shows an [[InvisibleWriting invisible tattoo]] on the missionary's arm. [[spoiler:The tattoo says KSP, proving that the missionary is actually a plant - a member of the [[SecretPolice Korellian Secret Police]].]] It ''is'' stated to be blurry though.

* FinaleTitleDrop: At the end of the story, Mayor Mallow casually mentions the original title ("The Big and the Little") when explaining the ProxyWar between Foundation and the Empire, with Korell as the Empire's proxy. The Foundation thinks and is "little" (an isolated NonGovernmentalOrganization that [[HadToBeSharp had to be so sharp]] it was forced to innovate miniaturization to stay alive) , while the Empire thinks and was "big" (still the largest GalacticSuperpower with enormous battleships and generators at its disposal, even while being smaller than it's peak).

* {{Infodump}}: When Mallow has to explain how Seldon identified important eras of conflict, it clues him in that Jaim Twer isn't the retired trader he claims to be (since if he was, he wouldn't [[TheWatson have to ask]] what a Seldon Crisis is).

* InvisibleWriting: The Korellian SecretPolice tattoo their members with ink that is invisible in regular light, but shines when exposed to intense UV rays. [[spoiler:Noticing the KSP tattoo on the so-called priest of the Foundation is what Trader Mallow uses to prove he isn't guilty of murder]].
* ItOnlyWorksOnce: Salvor Hardin's success in taking over the Four Kingdoms and their rulers had already made the Periphery wary about letting Foundation missionairies in, but ever since Askone was converted in the aftermath of the previous story, any local ruler will sooner shoot himself than let one preach upon his territory.

* RapePillageAndBurn: Swienna was ruled by an Imperial Viceroy who attempted to rebel against the Empire. By the time an Imperial fleet arrived, the citizens had revolted against the Viceroy and welcomed the fleet because they were loyal Empire citizens. The fleet commander decided to declare martial law and proceeded to allow his men to take the young women, loot the city centers, and to kill much of the population because they had revolted against their Viceroy, the representative of the Emperor. The person narrating these off-screen events imply that it was really because they wanted to do the rape, pillage, and burning and the commander was highly displeased at being denied this trope.

* FinaleTitleDrop: At the end of the story, Mayor Mallow casually mentions the original title ("The Big and the Little") when explaining the ProxyWar between Foundation and the Empire, with Korell as the Empire's proxy. The Foundation thinks and is "little", while the Empire thinks and was "big" (still the largest GalacticSuperpower, but much smaller than it was).

[[caption-width-right:350:The main reveal of the book. It's the emblem of the Galactic Empire... and a Periphery leader has it on his bodyguards' blasters.]]

* AltarDiplomacy: It turns out the plot was started because of an Imperial general/viceroy marrying his daughter to a Periphery ruler in order to have a beachhead for his planned conquests. From the description, the husband is at least two-three decades the wife's senior.

* ConspiracyPlacement: Members of Korellian Secret Police wear ultraviolet tattoos that say "KSP". Ultraviolet lights are rare on Korell, but Foundation Trader ships record in that light spectrum on a routine basis. Mallow uses this evidence to prove that the so-called Foundation priest was actually a KSP agent trying to trick them into breaking an interstellar treaty.

* ContrivedCoincidence: When Hober Mallow visits Korell, he is in a out-of-the-way spaceport, with the nearest city 150 kilometers away, when a priest appears, immediately followed by a mob. This fact clues Mallow in the fact that it is a ruse played by the Korellian leaders to prevent the Religion of Science from spreading to their world.
* CourtroomEpisode: Secretary Jorane Sutt puts Master Trader Hober Mallow on trial for murder because he knowingly allowed a priest of the Foundation to be taken by a mob who were clearly ready to kill the priest. After three off-screen days of the trial, taking place in a large forum called the council chambers, Mallow agreed to making it public, so not only is it crowded with everyone who could fit, the trial is also being broadcast to every planet under Foundation control. Today is Mallow's first opportunity to refute/rebut the prosecution's case, which he does by revealing the so-called priest was actually a Korellian agent pretending to be a Foundation priest, to justify the destruction of Mallow, his ship, and his crew. The crowd grows wild, and Mallow takes advantage of popular opinion to get himself elected Mayor of Terminus, making him the highest-ranked political figure in the Foundation.

* DoWellButNotPerfect: When Sutt tells Mallow that they must take out Korell in a direct offensive to avoid appearing weak, the Trader answers that if they prove strong enough to do that, the Imperial viceroy backing Asper may consider them a threat.
* EnhanceButton: Hober Mallow records the events when a Foundation missionary seeks refuge aboard Mallow's ship on the planet Korell. He later enhances an image on the Visual Record that shows an [[InvisibleWriting invisible tattoo]] on the missionary's arm. The tattoo says KSP, proving that the missionary is actually a plant - a member of the [[SecretPolice Korellian Secret Police]]. It ''is'' stated to be blurry though.

* GalacticSuperpower: The Korellian Republic is a powerful neighbor made up of a half-dozen star systems. During this story, they go to war against the Foundation, believing that their weapons, given to them by the First Galactic Empire, would allow them to effortlessly crush the upstart Second Empire.

* InvisibleWriting: The Korellian SecretPolice tattoo their members with ink that is invisible in regular light, but shines when exposed to intense UV rays. Noticing the KSP tattoo on the so-called priest of the Foundation is what Trader Mallow uses to prove he isn't guilty of murder.

* JustIgnoreIt: Mayor Hober Mallow's strategy for the war against Korell in Foundation consists of not making any major offences. The Foundation defends its territory, but that's basically all. How does this work to win the Foundation the war? Korell is economically dependent on the Foundation -- thanks to Hober Mallow, as it happens -- and so Korell finds itself without any population-unifying war sentiment, just a steadily worsening economy and quality of life as more and more things shut down without replacement parts from the Foundation.

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: A few trader ships missing lead the Foundation to send Mallow to learn what happened to them. He discovers an Imperial general using Korell to fight a ProxyWar against the Foundation, testing to see if they would be valuable targets.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: When he goes to the Republic of Korell, Hober Mallow finds himself involved in a problem when his crew lets a Scientism priest in the ship before a mob can try lo lynch him, a problem Mallow solves by kicking the priest off the ship and into the mob. Thirty minutes later, Mallow receives an invitation to meet with Commdor Asper Argo, Korell's ruler. Mallow reveals at the trial for his "murder" of said priest that the priest had been a Korellian secret police agent, trained to behave like a priest to act as bait that would provoke Foundation ships into breaking Korellian law - which is implied, but not stated, to be the reason why the ships Mallow had been sent to look for were destroyed.

[[caption-width-right:350:The main reveal of the book. [[spoiler:It's the emblem of the Galactic Empire... and a Periphery leader has it on his bodyguards' blasters.]]]]

* AltarDiplomacy: It turns out the plot was started because of [[spoiler:an Imperial general/viceroy marrying his daughter to a Periphery ruler in order to have a beachhead for his planned conquests]]. From the description, the husband is at least two-three decades the wife's senior.

* ConspiracyPlacement: Members of Korellian Secret Police wear ultraviolet tattoos that say "KSP". Ultraviolet lights are rare on Korell, but Foundation Trader ships record in that light spectrum on a routine basis. [[spoiler:Mallow uses this evidence to prove that the so-called Foundation priest was actually a KSP agent trying to trick them into breaking an interstellar treaty.]]

* ContrivedCoincidence: When Hober Mallow visits Korell, he is in a out-of-the-way spaceport, with the nearest city 150 kilometers away, when a priest appears, immediately followed by a mob. This fact clues Mallow in the fact that [[spoiler:it is a ruse played by the Korellian leaders to prevent the Religion of Science from spreading to their world.]]
* CourtroomEpisode: Secretary Jorane Sutt puts Master Trader Hober Mallow on trial for murder because he knowingly allowed a priest of the Foundation to be taken by a mob who were clearly ready to kill the priest. After three off-screen days of the trial, taking place in a large forum called the council chambers, Mallow agreed to making it public, so not only is it crowded with everyone who could fit, the trial is also being broadcast to every planet under Foundation control. Today is Mallow's first opportunity to refute/rebut the prosecution's case, which he does by revealing [[spoiler:the so-called priest was actually a Korellian agent pretending to be a Foundation priest, to justify the destruction of Mallow, his ship, and his crew]]. The crowd grows wild, and Mallow takes advantage of popular opinion to get himself elected Mayor of Terminus, making him the highest-ranked political figure in the Foundation.

* DoWellButNotPerfect: When Sutt tells Mallow that they must take out Korell in a direct offensive to avoid appearing weak, the Trader answers that [[spoiler:if they prove strong enough to do that, the Imperial viceroy backing Asper may consider them a threat]].
* EnhanceButton: Hober Mallow records the events when a Foundation missionary seeks refuge aboard Mallow's ship on the planet Korell. He later enhances an image on the Visual Record that shows an [[InvisibleWriting invisible tattoo]] on the missionary's arm. [[spoiler:The tattoo says KSP, proving that the missionary is actually a plant - a member of the [[SecretPolice Korellian Secret Police]].]] It ''is'' stated to be blurry though.

* GalacticSuperpower: The Korellian Republic is a powerful neighbor made up of a half-dozen star systems. During this story, they go to war against the Foundation, believing that their weapons, [[spoiler:given to them by the First Galactic Empire]], would allow them to effortlessly crush the upstart Second Empire.

* InvisibleWriting: The Korellian SecretPolice tattoo their members with ink that is invisible in regular light, but shines when exposed to intense UV rays. [[spoiler:Noticing the KSP tattoo on the so-called priest of the Foundation is what Trader Mallow uses to prove he isn't guilty of murder.]]

* JustIgnoreIt: Mayor Hober Mallow's strategy for the war against Korell in Foundation consists of not making any major offences. The Foundation defends its territory, but that's basically all. How does this work to win the Foundation the war? [[spoiler:Korell is economically dependent on the Foundation -- thanks to Hober Mallow, as it happens -- and so Korell finds itself without any population-unifying war sentiment, just a steadily worsening economy and quality of life as more and more things shut down without replacement parts from the Foundation.]]

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: A few trader ships missing lead the Foundation to send Mallow to learn what happened to them. He discovers [[spoiler:an Imperial general using Korell to fight a ProxyWar against the Foundation, testing to see if they would be valuable targets]].

* SecretTestOfCharacter: When he goes to the Republic of Korell, Hober Mallow finds himself involved in a problem when his crew lets a Scientism priest in the ship before a mob can try lo lynch him, a problem Mallow solves by kicking the priest off the ship and into the mob. Thirty minutes later, Mallow receives an invitation to meet with Commdor Asper Argo, Korell's ruler. [[spoiler:Mallow reveals at the trial for his "murder" of said priest that the priest had been a Korellian secret police agent, trained to behave like a priest to act as bait that would provoke Foundation ships into breaking Korellian law - which is implied, but not stated, to be the reason why the ships Mallow had been sent to look for were destroyed.]]

A few months after Mallow returns to Terminus, however, he's accused of murdering a Foundation priest by letting a mob tear him to shreds. However, Master Trader Hardin Mallow has anticipated their threats and evidence, and has prepared for that in turn. He capitalizes on his skyrocketing popularity to become Mayor of Terminus, and then reveals that he's also been preparing for Korell declaring war upon the Foundation with nuclear warships. But just like he anticipated the murder trial, he's figured out a way to win the war already.

* AltarDiplomacy: It turns out the plot was started because of [[spoiler:an Imperial general/viceroy marrying his daughter to a Periphery ruler in order to have a beachhead for his planned conquests]].

* EnhanceButton: Hober Mallow records the events when a Foundation missionary seeks refuge aboard Mallow's ship on the planet Korell. He later enhances an image on the Visual Record that shows an [[InvisibleWriting invisible tattoo]] on the missionary's arm. [[spoiler:The tattoo says KSP, proving that the missionary is actually a plant - a member of the [[SecretPolice Korellian Secret Police]].]]

** The Commdor of Korell is listening to Hober Mallow's sales pitch, which involves claims that the Foundation-made jewelry will sell for ten thousand credits, while he is only asking for a thousand credits of processed iron (and other metals) in return. That's a profit of nine thousand credits, which pleases the Commdor.

%%https://archive.org/details/Astounding_v33n06_1944-08_Gorgon776/page/n7

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/farstar.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Hober Mallow’s ship, the ''Far Star'']]

** Korell's Commdor's greed, stoked by his establishing a greater industrial network with the Foundation's technology, which led to his fall when his war declaration against the Foundation left him without the essential maintenance for that technology, ruining him and his main supporters.

* {{Infodump}}: When Mallow has to explain how Seldon identified important eras of conflict, it clues him in that Jaim Twer isn't the retired trader they claim to be (since if he was, he wouldn't [[TheWatson have to ask]] what a Seldon Crisis is).
* IntrepidMerchant: Initially, merchants were expected to help spread the ScamReligion the titular society used to control its neighbors. Back in "Literature/TheTraders", Trader Ponyets has a single-man ship, compared to Master Trader, who has an entire crew at his Beck and call. Despite that, he has a single-man shuttle that he uses to verify how close Foundation's territory is to the collapsing Empire. Mallow's riches from trading give him the [[RedBaron title]] "first of the {{Merchant Prince}}s", and the Foundation's [[PlanetOfHats Hat]] changes to ProudMerchantRace.

* JustIgnoreIt: Mayor Hober Mallow's strategy for the war against Korell in Foundation consists of not making any major offences. The Foundation defends its territory, but that's basically all. How does this work to win the Foundation the war? [[spoiler:Korell is economically dependent on the Foundation -- thanks to Hober Mallow, as it happens -- and so Korell finds itself without any population-unifying bombardments, just a steadily worsening economy and quality of life as more and more things shut down without replacement parts from the Foundation.]]

** "To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well."
** "A nuclear blaster is a good weapon, but it can point both ways."

* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: The religion [[ScamReligion created]] by Salvor Hardin (in "Literature/TheMayors") to make Foundation technology palatable to the Four Kingdoms has been ridiculously unsuccessful at converting new systems to the Foundation's rule. Master Trader Hober Mallow realizes that the time for rule by religion is over and now it is time for rule by capitalism.

-->''"Korell is that frequent phenomenon in history: the republic whose ruler has every attribute of the absolute monarch but the name. It therefore enjoyed the usual despotism unrestrained even by those two moderating influences in the legitimate monarchies: regal 'honor' and court etiquette."''

* SecretTestOfCharacter: When he goes to the Republic of Korell, Hober Mallow finds himself involved in a problem when his crew lets a Scientism priest in the ship before a mob can try lo lynch him, a problem Mallow solves by kicking the priest off the ship and into the mob. Thirty minutes later, Mallow receives an invitation to meet with Commdor Asper Argo, Korell's ruler. [[spoiler:Mallow reveals at the trial for his "murder" of said priest that the priest had been a Korellian secret police agent, trained to behave like a priest to act as bait that would provoke Foundation into breaking Korellian law - which is implied, but not stated, to be the reason why the ships Mallow had been sent to look for were destroyed.]]

* ContinuityNod: Sef Sermak, the opposition leader from ''Literature/TheMayors'', is mentioned as a historical figure who broke the power of the aristocracy in the Four Kingdoms with his land reforms.

-->''"An atom-blaster is a good weapon, but it can point both ways."'' -- '''Salvor Hardin'''

-->"Three Dynasties molded the Beginning: the Encyclopedists, the Mayors, and the Traders--" -- ''Essays on History'', by Ligurn Vier

* LegendaryInTheSequel: Mayor Salvor Hardin, from the events of "Literature/TheEncyclopedists" and "Literature/TheMayor", is well-known enough, [[DistantSequel seventy years later]], that two new epigrams have been attributed to him.

-->"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right." --'''Salvor Hardin''’

"The Merchant Princes" was reprinted in ''Literature/Foundation1951'', the compilation of the first four stories. It was also republished in ''Literature/ScienceFictionClassicStoriesFromTheGoldenAgeOfScienceFiction'' (1989). Not to be mistaken for ''Literature/TheMerchantPrincesSeries'', an AlternateHistory series about a family of [[TheMultiverse dimension-hopping]] traders by Creator/CharlesStrauss.

[[redirect:Literature/TheMerchantPrincesSeries]]