Xinfei Merchant Guild

Biodata

Background / History

Establishment in Bunta City

Xu Yi established the guild with Heinz’s wholehearted support. Its initial business centered on Magic Fans: during its first month, it sold fewer than one thousand fans and recorded sales below two thousand gold coins 169 925.

Xu Yi protected his control early. When discussing investment with Viscount Leslie, he refused an arrangement requiring disclosure to the Kingdom Nobles’ Council and would consider ordinary commercial investment only if Leslie accepted a minority stake without final decision-making authority 23.

Three months after its founding, the guild received an invitation from Bunta City’s Commercial Association. It subsequently joined after agreeing to share Magic Fan technology for a fee of five silver coins per fan. Xu Yi intended the arrangement to make other manufacturers dependent on Xinfei machinery and production standards rather than simply surrendering its advantage 75 81.

Industrial Growth and Supplier Development

The guild’s early manufacturing base consisted of two modest factories. Despite their workshop-like appearance, they produced more than ten thousand gold coins’ worth of magic machinery each month 112.

Its acquisition of an iron mine, financed through a loan from the Chimera Chamber of Commerce, changed how Bunta City’s established merchants assessed it. The guild had outbid the Falkor Merchant Guild despite holding only 87,463 gold coins before the auction 127 141.

The Small Merchant Guild Support Plan created a local component-manufacturing network. Within less than a month, sixty-three small guilds had joined the industry; Xinfei’s orders offered each an estimated minimum monthly income of five hundred gold coins. Their agreements lasted five years, after which they could set their own component prices 184 185.

Great Mage Camilla’s appointment as a special-grade researcher brought national publicity, increased orders, and a flood of mage applicants. Xinfei could not employ them all, so Xu Yi helped other members of the Bunta City Magic Machinery Commercial Association recruit the surplus 238.

Falling Rain Valley and Overseas Expansion

Earl Stark’s policies drove Xinfei and many associated manufacturers away from Bunta City’s urban operations. Most moved to Falling Rain Valley and its surroundings, which became Xu Yi’s viscount’s fief 338 365.

This relocation sharply reduced Bunta City’s tax receipts. Income generated on the fief was no longer taxable by the city, while Xinfei’s newly granted free trade rights directed taxes on foreign trade to the Kingdom Treasury. Within Bunta City, only its Product Service Center and New Concept Modern Living Magic House continued paying local taxes 365.

Rather than return when Earl Stark relaxed commercial restrictions, Xinfei announced substantial investments in the Black Rice Wasteland and Stantin Duchy. Its Five-Year Plan proposed further expansion across the Lampari Kingdom, although Kennard acknowledged that manpower remained a major obstacle 355.

Production Ban and Return to the Lampari Kingdom

The Magic Industry Administration compelled Xinfei to transfer technologies to ten designated merchant guilds for token fees. After accounting for technical assistance, the transfers were effectively giveaways 535.

The Administration then prohibited Xinfei from manufacturing magic machinery in the kingdom. Xinfei closed factories across six cities while retaining service centers and research facilities. Workers and component suppliers suffered, and the designated guilds offered lower wages. Count Samo refused to enforce the prohibition in Sewell City 544.

Xinfei continued expanding outside the kingdom and shipped machinery back from the Black Rice Wasteland and Stantin Duchy. Its growing military machinery business helped offset the financial damage caused by relocation 544 562.

During the Lampari civil war, Xinfei supplied Servini with military machinery, handled transport, and uniquely allowed her to purchase on credit with priority delivery. Its support was a principal reason for her army’s battlefield strength 604 605.

The Bunta City Product Service Center reopened on February 6, 3785. Queen Servini attended the reopening sale, and the guild accepted the kingdom’s administrative oversight of its returned assets 612 613.

Stantin Duchy Consolidation

Xinfei became central to the Stantin Duchy’s economy through employment, roads, streetlamps, and automatic water supply infrastructure. Its influence was so extensive that the duchy was described as effectively belonging to a single merchant guild 779.

The relationship with local nobles was nevertheless contentious. Grand Duke Wellen repeatedly attempted to seize the guild, while other lords blocked Mana Signal Tower construction. Angklu secretly coordinated opposition to the towers; Xu Yi subsequently removed him from the congressional chairmanship and abolished private noble fiefs 660 781 842.

When Congress abolished private fiefs, Xu Yi was the first to surrender his own land to congressional administration, despite Xinfei’s main base standing on it 784.

Continental Military Power

After repeated attacks on its transport fleets, Xinfei conducted a military operation against the Mana Magical Kingdom in May 3793. It described the action as punishment for mages who had robbed its ships; the kingdom called it an invasion and denied the accusations 979 992.

Reports stated that Xinfei’s Guard Corps defeated the kingdom’s regular troops and routed the Glory Mage Legion outside the capital. The reported dead included 218 mages of fifth rank or higher and four Great Mages 992.

Xinfei later faced widespread attacks on its overseas facilities and the seizure of branches and factories. The Two Great Empires accused it of subversion and closed its businesses, causing financial losses and severe casualties 1098 1101.

The ensuing war threatened the guild’s survival: the empires sought control over the magic industry and its military technology. Xinfei and its allied countries defeated them, with Xinfei’s support identified as the principal reason for the victories of the Lampari Kingdom, Drake Duchy, and Rulson Kingdom 1133 1151 1153.

Afterward, Xinfei helped the Candel Empire restore control over its Southern Province. Continental stabilization brought a surge in business, but postwar agreements and expansion plans also demanded enormous investment and additional personnel 1156.

Leadership Transition and Later Policy

Kennard resigned after fourteen years to establish a magic machinery guild backed by the Emma Family. Both he and Xu Yi described the separation as amicable, and Xinfei arranged cooperation with his new organization 1066.

Freya was widely regarded as Xu Yi’s heir, but he distinguished ownership of his personal estate from leadership of the guild. He maintained that Xinfei’s president needed the ability to guide an organization whose decisions affected employees and countries across the continent. Freya eventually became president 1065 1182 1239.

Xinfei completely withdrew from the Mana Magical Kingdom, closing branches, selling factories, ending joint ventures, and relocating personnel. Xu Yi acknowledged the immediate losses and questioned whether the guild could preserve peace through permanent deterrence 1201.

Under Freya, Xinfei declined to participate in wars between countries and publicly rejected intervention in the Candel Empire’s internal conflict. It instead proposed a multinational civilian rescue force. Its guarded caravans continued trading in war zones and attracted refugees, skilled workers, and researchers 1269 1270 1279.

In April 3817, the guild announced plans to launch a satellite. Much later, the Malo Empire rejected Xinfei’s proposed ceasefire terms while seeking victory over the Lampari Kingdom. Contemporary claims that other powers had caught up with Xinfei’s military technology were assessments, not a demonstrated defeat of the guild 1239 1280 1281.

Growth and Financial Milestones

Organization and Personnel

• Management reorganization: Xu Yi clarified overlapping responsibilities among middle managers without substantially changing the overall leadership structure 314.
• Research funding: A later plan proposed raising the Magic Research Institute’s annual budget from five million to eight million gold coins 757.
• Personnel priority: Xu Yi regarded employees as more important than physical facilities, believing the guild could be rebuilt if its people remained 537.

Industrial Capabilities

Civilian Magic Machinery

• Household products: Magic Fans, Magic Desk Lamps, air conditioners, refrigerators, and Automatic Magic Rice Cookers were among its documented products 81 127 163 1057.
• Farmland machinery: Increased agricultural productivity around Bunta City and helped end chronic food shortages there within two years 312.
• Engineering machinery: Supplied equipment and materials for road construction and supported cement and engineering machinery plants 799.
• Ordinary-user accessibility: Pioneered magical tools that ordinary people could operate, bringing formerly exclusive magical applications into everyday life 776.

Machine Tools and Automation

• Production systems: Other manufacturers relied on Xinfei machine tools and specifications, including the Fasak Merchant Guild’s Magic Fan production 81.
• Automatic machining: Sanchelli’s lathe shaped steel plates automatically after operators entered the required machining parameters 615.
• Capacity expansion: Wider use of automatic machine tools, greater mineral supplies, and factory expansion substantially increased output 735.
• Technology access: Xu Yi later announced that machine-tool and farmland machinery technologies would be sold at public prices to countries, guilds, and individuals, with assistance sufficient for buyers to manufacture complete products 1016.

Metallurgy and Materials

• Steelmaking pioneer: Xinfei was the first merchant guild to own steelworks and refine steel; it later possessed methods for smelting seventeen steel types 1073.
• Specialized alloys: Developed alloy steels, while nonferrous metal deposits opened additional research possibilities that iron-based materials could not provide 305.
• Steelmaking apparatus: Sold mana steel smelting equipment and transferred some steel technologies to other mineral-industry guilds 1073.

Transport and Communications

• Land, sea, and air logistics: Used magic locomotives, Mana-Powered Ships, and Mana Airships to transport supplies faster than conventional carriage-based systems 1059.
• Ocean-going construction: Completion of a large Mana-Powered Ship demonstrated progress toward an integrated industrial system capable of manufacturing complex, large-scale machinery 618.
• Large transport airships: Their reported carrying capacity equaled two Large Cargo Magic Locomotives 1041.
• Communication networks: Built Mana Signal Towers and completed the first phase of the Stantin Duchy’s magic communication network 799 860.
• Satellite project: Announced a planned launch in April 3817 1239.

Research Constraints

• Specialist mage shortage: Xinfei needed researchers who understood machinery requirements and could construct arrays with precise magical parameters, not merely ordinary spellcasters 836.
• Power limitations: Raising an array’s tier increased output but could make it impossible for the guild’s ordinary array-drawing mages to reproduce 1023.
• Documented speed plateau: Mana Sedans and Mana Airships remained around 150 and 200 kilometers per hour respectively for a year because of these power constraints 1023.
• Competition: A Lampari guild eventually produced refrigerator technology exceeding Xinfei models in freezing efficiency and temperature, demonstrating that competitors could surpass it in individual fields 1035.

Business Strategy

Standards and Technology Transfer

• Mandatory manufacturing standards: Recipients of household machinery technology had to follow Xinfei standards. Xu Yi argued that standardization saved resources without prohibiting innovation 442.
• Supporting services: Technology sales included training, technical guidance, factory setup, and production assistance; buyers also needed suitable Xinfei machine-tool production lines 443 485.
• Research-oriented transfers: Xu Yi expressed willingness to transfer any technology to guilds that mastered it and invested seriously in further development 613.
• Theoretical knowledge: Xinfei eventually shared its magical mechanical theoretical framework, going beyond the transfer of individual manufacturing techniques 793.
• Staged cooperation: Countries received more advanced technology after reaching defined industrial levels. At level two, the Venice Duchy obtained Magic Repeating Crossbow and Small Magic-Powered Stone Thrower manufacturing technology 976.
• End of household exclusivity: Release of thirty-seven additional technologies opened every household machinery category Xinfei then produced, including previously restricted air conditioners and refrigerators 1057.

Expansion and Investment

• Joint ventures: As its own production capacity limited direct exports, Xinfei increasingly supported factories jointly established in other countries 757.
• Civilian priority: Xu Yi rejected proposals to make military machinery the guild’s main focus, despite its profitability, and retained civilian machinery as the central business 882.
• Reinvestment: Most profits went into continued investment rather than Xu Yi’s personal income 490.
• Publicity: Its product launches inspired imitation by other guilds. Newspapers and billboards strengthened its reputation, and Xu Yi proposed a documentary collaboration with the New Moon Merchant Guild 163 296 883.
• Brand protection: Xu Yi refused a proposal to use Xinfei’s brand in exchange for thirty percent of the resulting profits 1028.

Military Forces

Force Development

Composition and Equipment

• Mixed-race force: Included humans, elves, dwarves, and orcs. Hart considered its varied equipment compatible with superior combat effectiveness because of each race’s strengths 543 915.
• Individual military machinery: Even human guards possessed capabilities far above ordinary soldiers through specialized equipment 543.
• Miniature weapons: Human guards concealed Miniature Mana Hand Crossbows and Miniature Magic Explosive Arrows; other races declined to use them because of their small size 543.
• Mana Repeating Guns: Fired powerful mana bullets at ranges above two hundred meters 1135.
• Protective equipment: Hard steel armor resisted ordinary blades even without activated Mana Shields 1135.
• Heavy support: Mana Cannons, Mana Tanks, Mana Airships, and Infantry Mana Rockets gave the corps overwhelming advantages against conventional armies 1135.
• Mage-killing capability: Its military machinery could kill even Archmages 1041 1153.

Doctrine and Vulnerabilities

• Preservation of personnel: Guards were instructed to preserve fighting strength against enemies they could not defeat. Equipment and training represented at least ten thousand gold coins of investment per guard 1087.
• Protected transport: Cargo fleets sailed with escorts, while large cargo ships carried emergency military machinery 979.
• Documented naval losses: Three successive attacks caused heavy casualties and destroyed two Large Cargo Mana-Powered Ships and five Mana Guard Frigates 979.
• Production bottlenecks: Earlier military output could support Xinfei’s own guards and selected partners but could not meet the demands of a thirty-thousand-soldier army 576.

Relationships

• Lampari Kingdom and Servini — A foundational market and long-term partner. Joint projects included more than one hundred Mana Signal Towers, seventeen skills-training academies, and road expansion supported by Xinfei materials and machinery 799.
• Count Sean Samo — Supported Xinfei for its employment and economic benefits; advised Xu Yi to strengthen the guild and later refused to enforce the production ban in Sewell City 168 544.
• Stark Family — A recurring political threat. Viscount Leslie initially supported the guild, but Earl Stark’s policies pushed its operations out of Bunta City 80 168 338.
• Rulson Kingdom and King Trutz — Major industrial partners. Agreements covered twenty household machinery factories, vocational training, and harbor expansion; Trutz nevertheless worried about dependence and Xinfei’s mineral demands 589 929.
• Nixi City — Retained ownership and jurisdiction over its expanded harbor, while Xinfei received absolute priority at seven of ten docks; a private understanding kept two docks vacant for its ships 589.
• Amli Merchant Guild — Cooperated on roads and construction. Xinfei supplied machinery and materials for Lampari projects and partnered with Amli to improve Nozdormu’s roads 799 919.
• Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom — Received household technology, a production-base partnership, military machinery worth five hundred thousand gold coins, and guard training 919.
• Candel and Malo Empires — Important markets and technology-seeking powers that later fought Xinfei and its allies before entering closer postwar cooperation 964 1133 1156.
• Chimera Chamber of Commerce — Financed Xinfei’s early mine acquisition and later became an important Candel expansion partner. Its acquisition ambitions made Xu Yi cautious 141 1068.
• Mages’ Guild — Headquarters revoked Xinfei’s partner status and urged a boycott. Several branches declined to enforce further action, while the Lampari branch praised Xinfei’s support for low-rank mages 964 992.
• Night Song Tribe — Operated the Plastic Processing Factory independently despite Xinfei’s nominal ownership, using a gap in Lampari commercial law concerning other races 331.
• New Moon Merchant Guild and Stille — Provided an employment-agent arrangement for nonhuman workers and became a proposed documentary partner 316 883.
• Dero Kingdom — The Nam Co Mine clash killed more than ten Xinfei employees, left over forty missing, and prompted dispatch of a five-hundred-strong investigation detachment 1084.

Workforce and Social Impact

Employment and Benefits

• Early wages: Ordinary workers initially received five gold coins per month, compared with Bunta City’s previous highest guild wage of ten gold coins per year 1057.
• Veteran compensation: The five hundred transferred soldiers were offered fifteen gold coins monthly, practical benefits, injury and death compensation, promotion opportunities, and pensions 320.
• Comprehensive benefits: Xinfei’s benefits remained more generous than those of other guilds even after its wages ceased to be Bunta City’s highest 400.
• Interracial employment: Employed dwarves and elves for their abilities, but nonhuman recruitment also brought accusations of conspiracy and scrutiny over Labor Permits 239 316.
• Low-rank mage employment: More than one thousand mages of level three or below worked full-time on machinery power-core arrays during its Stantin expansion 607.

Disruptions and Controversies

• Mass layoffs: More than eighteen thousand dismissed employees found other jobs within half a month, often at higher salaries. Xinfei’s delayed orders benefited competing household machinery brands 690.
• Slave-for-technology exchanges: Offered steelmaking technology in exchange for slaves meeting specified requirements. Nearly twenty thousand people were acquired within half a month and transported across the Endless Sea from Black Rice Harbor; their destination and fate were not disclosed in the passage 756.
• Withdrawal resignations: Many employees resigned rather than relocate during the complete withdrawal from the Mana Magical Kingdom 1201.

Economic and Humanitarian Influence

• Bunta City: Its machinery, supplier network, and investment helped transform a small frontier city into the Lampari Kingdom’s most prosperous city 312 612.
• Xinfei City: The city built by the guild became the Stantin Duchy’s leading commercial center, with surrounding factories and a major logistics role 936 1157.
• Research as a mage career: Demonstrated that machinery research could provide substantial rewards and professional value outside traditional magical combat 1153.
• Wartime civilian support: Under Freya, proposed coordinated rescue efforts and maintained protected trade that created areas of relative safety around its caravans 1269 1270.