Charter of the Guild of the Merchantsof Padorn of the Third Charter

By this charter, We, being the Souvereigns of Padorn and Elohim, of Tortoise and Moeth, of Atlantis and the Mountain of Clouds, of Razza and the Grasslands, Duke Leto of House Atreides, and the King under the Stone Mountains create a guild of merchants to be known as the Guild of the Merchants of Padorn of the Third Charter. We grant to this guild all land and all buildings, all living stock and equipment in possession of the Guild of the Merchants of Padorn of the Second Charter after the adjustment of its assets partaken in our Order of Dissolution and decalare that no claims remaining against the Guild of the Merchants of Padorn of the Second Charter after the mentioned adjustment shall be brought against the Guild of the Merchants of Padorn of the Third Charter by anyone in Xyllomer. In the further course of this charter, the Guild of the Merchants of Padorn of the Third Charter will be referred to as the Guild.

§§ I Organisation    ::top

The Guild shall consist of a High Treasury and a number of sections, namely Padorn, Lonar, Tortoise, Atlantis, Marais, Dore, Aldea Morir, Tilverton and Dalzungund. All lands and goods of the Guild shall be divided between the sections as is appropriate by their location at the time of issue of this charter, and all further property of the Guild shall be asigned to the High Treasury. Each section of the Guild shall be represented by a Chief Clerk, and the High Treasury shall be represented by a Supervisor of Trade. The Chief Clerk of each section shall be responsible toward the Supervisor of Trade for all acticities of his section. The Supervisor of Trade shall be responsible toward Us and Our sheriffs, judges and bailiffs for all activities of the Guild and he shall see that all legal claims toward the Guild or members of the Guild are met. By Our grace as creators of this Guild, We shall at any time have the right to dismiss and replace the Supervisor of Trade, any Chief Clerk or any other emloyee of the Guild at will. Should the Supervisor of Trade, any Chief Clerk or any other employee of the Guild be proven to have acted in violation of the law of the land or any part of this charter, one of Our judges may remove him from office and from the guild.

§§ II Trading    ::top

It is be the purpose of the Guild to facilitate trading in Xyllomer. Each section of the Guild shall maintain a tradepost wich will allow our subjects to trade goods with local distributors and producers using the mediation of the Guild for mutual benifit. No local distributor or producer may evade the Guild in selling his goods to sections other than the one that is appropriately his by location, and noone shall buy such goods from anyone without the mediation of the Guild. Trading shall not be obstructed by any form of tariff or toll unless a genuine service is thereby purchased. Any form of taxation is to be imposed on the Guild as a whole, and not to individual members or their transactions.

All activities of the guild are to be conducted in a way that ensures that the Guild will never owe more money to Us or to Our subjects than the established value of all its lands, buildings, equipment, living stock, goods, money and other valuables. The Guild shall lend money to noone, and no property of the Guild shall be yielded to anyone lest it be in return for an appropriate asset or service or by the will of the law. These principles are to be fulfilled by each individual section and the High Treasury taken for themselves, as well as by the Guild as a whole. Any service or good purchased by a section of the Guild shall be paid for by that section itself.

If, in the course of its operation, the Guild is asked by any of Our subjects to store goods or money owned by this subject, it shall be obliged to do so, and the goods or money will be considered to be under supervision of the Guild as long as they are stored on lands or in buildings owned by the Guild, or transported using animals or devices owned by the Guild. The Supervisor of Trade, the Chief Clerks and all clerks and employees of the Guild shall be with their lives responsible that all property of the Guild or under supervision of the Guild is properly cared for and maintained, and that all Guild proceedings are carried out in accordance with the law and this charter.

We grant to the Supervisor of Trade and the Chief Clerks the right to impose fees on any of our subjects for the use of services of the Guild, and We permit that the fees asked of a member be different from the fees asked from a non-member. A Chief Clerk shall receive as an income a share of 25 per hundred of all profits thus raised by his section after the profits have been diminished by the costs created through the maintenance of his section. The remainder shall at convenient times be transferred to the High Treasury, and the Supervisor of Trade shall receive as an income a share of 25 per hundred of all money thus obtained, after the deduction of expenses. All funds that remain shall be partly invested and partly stored as cash, as is to be determined by Us in a separate bill.

§§ III Membership    ::top

We furthermore declare that any of our subjects may become a full member of the Guild of the Merchants of Padorn of the Third Charter unless he has been banished or outlawed for proven violation of the law or of this charter and that his membership shall not be revoked unless the same conditions are met.

It shall be the duty of the Supervisor of Trade to appoint a Chief Clerk for each of the sections of the Guild so that none of them remains vacant, and it shall be his privilege to replace any Chief Clerk at any time he holds it to be appropriate. Should his position be vacant, the Chief Clerks shall elect a Chief Clerk to be appointed Supervisor of Trade by the Master of the Rolls. Should they deem it necessary, the Chief Clerks may elect a new Supervisor of Trade at any time, but not without consent of the Master of the Rolls, and not without giving note of their intentions at all public noticeboards of the Guild at least one full week beforehand. The aforementioned proceedings are to be done in a matter that ensures that none of our subjects is at the same time Chief Clerk of more than one section and that the Supervisor of Trade is at no time Chief Clerk of any section. Should it be found at any point of time, that the Supervisor of Trade or any of the Chief Clerks is no member of the Guild, his position shall be considered vacant and all his privileges void.

§§ IV Violations    ::top

Should harm be done to property of the Guild or under the supervision of the Guild, and it is established by evidence that the property was protected and cared for in accordance with the law and this charter, neither the Guild nor any of its members may be held responsible to repay or replace the lost property. Any such loss will be, if the owner cannot be determined, shared by the guild and each member of the guild by fixed proportions.

No possessions of the Guild or of members of the Guild wich is under supervision of the Guild shall be claimed by any of Our judges, sheriffs, officers or other bailiffs, or by anyone else without the consent of the Supervisor of Trade, unless the one intending to claim the good is legally its owner. We grant to the Supervisor of Trade the right to proceed against all who violate this, or who damage, destroy, embezzle or steal property of the Guild or property of members of the Guild that is under supervision of the Guild, or who harm or murder any member or employee of the Guild in an attempt to commit a felony such as the ones aforementioned in any way that he chooses, providing that these proceedings take place entirely on the land or in the buildings of the Guild and that, insofar as possible, the culprit be turned over to the bailiffs of the judge of the area in wich the crime was comitted. To this purpose, the Supervisor may at will choose representatives to aid him in these proceedings. These proceedings and representatives may be determined beforehand, so that action may be taken in absence of the Supervisor of Trade. All these functions may be fulfilled in lieu of the Supervisor of Trade by any Chief Clerk, but only insofar as his own section is concerned, and he shall be responsible toward the Supervisor of Trade in all these matters.

Text by Governor Quichotte