Feedback would be nice on these ideas!
Codex Entry: The Red Sail Traders
They had been there for as long as anyone could remember. Flowing red sails cresting over the horizon was almost always a welcome sight, bringing with it good food and usually good fortune. The trading company didn't have a clear beginning within any of the history documents, and even the oldest, most decrepit scrolls found made brief mentions of them. The only one who would know the origin of the Red Sails would have been the traders themselves.
The group was rich in money, blood and history. Their records were carefully written and preserved, the hoard of gold that passed into the company's possession scattered through the lands and through the workers.
The ships with the red sails carried human, elf, and the occasional dwarf and Qunari who agreed to join. The towns, outposts and stores that was run by them was even more varied; often, it was nigh impossible to know if it even was owned by them unless you were part of the company yourself. If recruited into the company (for you must be recruited, and not just "accepted" like an uncouth mercenary or thug) they present you with a contract in which you must follow. Though it's impossible to receive specifics, for it seems to vary between each, and is against the contract to speak of it, it seems to follow at least a few basic rules that can be told by any Red Sail member. They will watch over your family if it is needed, you have limited access to their history and libraries, you are paid, and have a way to "disappear" if they are responsible for the reason why. And they usually are the reason why.
Being old and large, the Red Sail "Trading" company has leverage behind it's name; their pockets run deep, though they usually never spend large portions of it unless pressed. It's very rare if they spend their older money- gold coins minted in the Tevinter Age, or even gold bars with elvish script flowing across the surface, are only used as gifts to their most prized contacts and never for monetary exchange. They are much more than just traders.
To note, the library in the possession of the Red Sail Traders is extensive to say the least; Any higher-ups of the company are well-read and intelligent, with centuries of trial-and-errors to look through. They mark history, in their own odd fashion, and several key disputed have been settled by the Red Sails. Even more ancient documents has been recently found during expeditions into old hideaways, along with riches and art works (the former of which has disappeared by their own doing, and the latter has been scattered through Thedas to view in larger Trader Posts). Records of scandals, discoveries, inventions, political movements, war tactics, ancient architecture, and religious history can be found in your hands if one was to just ask the right person. It's not sure where the records are kept; only that they are,that some are more free to public view than other choice articles, and they do it in an odd, uncoordinated fashion that still manages to be sorted in such a way to be usable. Almost all interactions or exchanges with them are written down.
-"In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of A Chantry Scholar," by Brother Genitivi
Their leader is unnamed, unknown, never mentioned in public, and yet still the knowledge has become common-place that the person in the position changes every five years exactly. There is no title for this position, and no public fame. There is only hushed whispers, wary exchanges, and the knowledge that one person could cut the throat of the world with but a word and a name on a paper. We can only hope the next one to take power is as kind and forgiving as his predecessors.
- Taken from longer notes of Traven the Bard
Loren,
I've heard what you've been trying, and I'll tell you this: stop now. Before they find out. No one messes with the Red Sails and gets away with it. Not the King, not the Empress of Orlais, not even their own members, and certainly not you. Every town has a spy on it, and every shop you enter could be one of theirs. There's no escaping. They're big, really big, and no matter how well they can hide it they have people everywhere. They'll find out, and track you down. No one messes with the Red Sails and gets away with it. No one.
Martinn
-A note found in an abandoned house, along with a tattered scrap of red sail-cloth