Dark Trade continues to haunt the faction, though victories have been won against some of the Dark Trade Demons, its practice is becoming more wide-spread amongst the other factions.

The question most people ask is "What is Dark Trade?". The answer is not easy. It is not as simple as "Evil" trade, "bad" trade, or even "unfair" trade. To try to put it plainly it is:

An example of this would be that if a farmer made a deal with the demons of Dark Trade to double his crop production. Dark Trade might accomplish this by draining all the sustinance out of the surrounding 10 farms lands. This would double the crop production of one, but at the cost of destroying 10 farms worth of crops. The individual gains but the world as a whole loses out.

Dark Trade stems from the Pits of Taxation. This realm is the home of the demons of Dark Trade and is where all items, money and power that are taxed, stolen or otherwise removed from Erdreja end up. However it is impossible to remove anything from the Pits without leaving more behind. Many groups have entered the Pits in search of items that have been lost. Most have returned, less comrades, items and even their patterns.

Previously the demon of Bankruptcy controlled the Pits, but he was defeated by the Knights of Ancalime and the Unicorn faction. Recently the Demon of Fraud and Deception was destroyed when fed a potion of Truth and then executed when it could not use this temporarily stopped its powers. Now the foremost Demon of Dark Trade is Usury. He has power of over contracts and can re-word contracts to his desire, even after they have been signed. The other major demon is Gluttony. Gluttony is the least intelligent of the demons, but any that strike him with items of worth have them taken to the Pits of Taxation for all eternity.

Serving the Demons of Dark Trade are the Men of the Horn who are the grunts of the Pits of Taxation. There are also many Dark Traders who have given over their patterns and lives to serving the Demons of Dark Trade. They trick others into acts of Dark Trade and sacrifice much of the wealth, magic and power of Erdreja to the Pits in return for tiny amounts of personal power.

Dark Trade in all its forms is tricky, sneaky and hard to detect. Many dedicate their lives to eradicating its influence. Many more fall into its powers without realising. Its taint cover the unwary.