Merchant

The Merchant is a type of agent in Hyrule: Total War's freeform campaign.

Acquisition
A merchant costs 500 rupees and can be hired in any settlement with a market. They are only available to the Gorons, Deku Scrubs, Ordona Province, the Wizzrobes and the Zuna, but can be recruited by any faction that attracts a Keaton Cartel guild.

Functions
The main job for merchants is to trade by standing on resources on the world map, generating income for his home faction.

The main stat for merchants is Finance. The more Finance a merchant has and the farther the resource is from the capital, the more rupees he generate each turn.

In addition, Merchants can also attempt to drive foreign merchants out of business (this works exactly like assassination attempts). The success chance is dependent on how many Finance points the merchants have. The mission can end in one of three outcomes: Merchants can gain Finance by standing on rupees, surviving takeover attempts from opposing merchants, and successfully taking over other merchants.
 * The merchant successfully takes over the target's properties and the target is removed from play.
 * The merchant fails to drive the target out of business.
 * The mission backfires; the merchant is driven out of business.

Factions allied with the Keaton Cartel guild can hire Black Market Traders. They function like normal merchants, however they also passively generate rupee income and are much more resistant to assassination and takeover. They have the side effect of also causing crime in whatever city they are garrisoned in, however.