Lore of the Traders

[Professor Dragon]

We meet Traders everywhere in our journeys. But who or what are they?

Here are questions for consideration.

1) Why do trader wagons have wheels?

Wheels implies movement. Either they have moved in the past, or they plan to move in the future. 
Or are they merely a decorative feature to remember a by-gone era?

I have never seen:

• Trader wagons move
• Wheel tracks
• Roads
• A source of motive power

2) How did trader wagons get to their current locations?

I have spent hundreds of hours traveling these worlds, and have seen trader wagons in inaccessible locations: upon pinnacles, in pits, hemmed in by trees or water.
How did they get there?

• Were they moved there? If so, how?
  Carriage beasts (type?), engines or some type of Jonas contraption, teleportation?
  Was the world different when they moved, and then changed locking them to their locations?
• Were they built in place? If so, why?
  Why build a wagon with wheels in an inaccessible location?

3) How do traders restock?

Traders have regular resupply (weekly or less), during which their buy and sell list changes. Where do these goods come from? Where do they go?

• I have never seen a delivery or supply, despite being present when the stock list changes.
• I have never seen a Trader leave his wagon.
• I have never seen another Trader (or entity) approach a Trader with supplies.
• I have never seen a Trader wagon move.
• I have never seen or heard any type of mechanical device, such as a Jonas contraption, which might be teleporting supplies in or out.

4) How do traders survive severe weather?

The trader wagons, while appearing comfortable, offer no weather protection to our Seraph at all. It is a mistake to seek shelter from a hurricane in winter in a Trader's wagon. Sure, they will offer you a bed, and yet still watch you freeze.

• Are their bodies hardened against severe weather? Or are we just that weak by comparison?
• Do they have gear which is so superior that it protects them?
• Why don't they have weather proof wagons? Solid shutters, sealable doors?

5) Why and how are traders living in temporally unstable zones?

I often wonder why traders are living in temporally unstable zones. It fries our Seraph's noggin, but appears to have no impact on Traders at all.

• They might not be impacted. (How?)
• They might have ways of escaping unobserved to a stable zone (Not noted).
• Are they connected to the Rust World - simply a better mannered, more nicely attired Drifter in effect? Are they monsters beneath? (I may have spent too long in this wilderness.)

6) How are traders still alive?

I mean seriously, they live next to wolf spawns, in temporally unstable areas, on top of a gravel desert, while a heavy Temporal Storm rages.
Some of the most inhospitable environments imaginable, and yet we have some dude up there whose idea of trading is a box of "violet glass" for a pair of "prince boots." 
What is he eating here - fancy boot leather? Because none of his trading list touches on practical items.

7) Why aren't mobs hostile to traders?

Back to the wolves, bears and drifters - because they seem to have a "live and let live" pact going.

Suspicious, if you ask me.

8. Why are they so similar?

In years of traveling, across vast distances, I keep encountering traders with the same name selling the same items.
They give the same answers to questions, and hold the same beliefs.

• Are these clones? Robots?
• Are they are weird gestalt being who exists simultaneously across multiple locations at once?
• Or merely people with a severely limited gene pool, profession choice and imagination?

9) Why are their wagons so evenly spaced out?

I mean, sure, I'm currently living in a broken chunk border location thanks to a game update, and trader existence is similarly broken. But otherwise, the trader wagons show a great tendency for spacing out, rather than grouping up. You'd expect (see earlier points), there to be larger conglomerations of a dozen wagons of all types of trades, or even hundreds.

10) Why don't they have a history? Information on the world? Where is the news?

I come across a person living in the remote wilds. What would be more natural than the sharing of news? Having a talk?

But no, it's "Throw in those feathers as well, and this shovel is yours."

I very much want to hear about these villages that have been mentioned. That seems newsworthy. After all, I've just been dropped into this world of monsters, and I'm told that there is a safe village. That sounds perfect! Give me a snippet!

Do you want to hear about this vegetable farm that I have going? It could feed you in plenty - I have spare. No? Odd.

Again. S-U-S-P-I-C-I-O-U-S.

 

Where do the questions take us?

In short, there are too many mysteries surrounding traders.

We don't know what they are, how they got there, or what their agendas are.

At first, I thought that they were similar lost souls to us, struggling to survive in a harsh land.

Maybe they are just super-tough "humans", with the gear, resources and fortitude to enjoy living out here - as they claim.

 

There is just could be something unnatural to them though. I lie awake thinking about it. In a way, they are more disturbing than the obvious rust world monsters in this broken world . . .

 

Thanks for your consideration.
Professor Dragon.

Edited July 15, 2025 by Professor Dragon

[Never Jhonsen]

You're asking the same questions I've been trying to ask them for years. They don't respond to my quizzes, just chuckle a honk and ask if I would like to buy some food

[ifoz]

4 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

Back to the wolves, bears and drifters - because they seem to have a "live and let live" pact going.

Suspicious, if you ask me.

The actual reason is..... Traders are outdated and the new NPCs fight threats. 
(Or so I hear at least, they do also have attack animations in the files, so).

Traders are relics of the dark days of yore, when there weren't such things as "the modern NPC ai". Tales tell of people who needed to neither eat nor sleep! Can you imagine how preposterous that is? The legend goes that they suddenly vanished from the world, in an event that has come to be known as "1.22".

(I'm being silly, but yeah traders are outdated and the devs have said they plan to rework them, potentially in the 1.22 update).

Edited July 15, 2025 by ifoz

[LadyWYT]

What @ifoz said--traders are outdated, and slated for a rework. Otherwise, I would chalk a lot of the strangeness up to gameplay convenience. Logically, there are several things that don't really make sense, and not just traders, however, we suspend our disbelief and just roll with it. But to try to tackle the question from an in-universe standpoint...

13 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

1) Why do trader wagons have wheels?

It's simple--they need wheels in order to travel efficiently. When the player finds a trader wagon though, the trader has set up camp and is thus no longer moving. Why are traders always in camp when a player finds them? Simple. Traders are very aware of their surroundings, and their wagons are built specifically to set up shop extremely quickly. Customers are difficult to come by, so when a trader spots a potential customer they immediately ready their wares.

 

13 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

2) How did trader wagons get to their current locations?

While traders get excited about potential customers, they aren't dumb either. They can handle themselves well enough in combat, but they keep their livestock hidden to avoid tempting strangers to steal the animals.

 

13 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

3) How do traders restock?

They carry lots of trade goods in their wagons, but only display what they think a potential customer will be interested in. If they fail to entice the customer to buy anything, they'll try different items, usually after several attempts at selling the original stock(but not always).

 

13 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

4) How do traders survive severe weather?

Those wagons are sturdier than you'd think. Perhaps sometimes they don't survive, but the likelihood of the player witnessing such a spectacle is almost zero, since players will almost certainly avoid such severe weather if possible.

 

13 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

5) Why and how are traders living in temporally unstable zones?

If it's just a temporary camp, it's not a big deal. Plus seraphs are likely a lot more sensitive to temporal stability than humans are.

 

13 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

6) How are traders still alive?

If you're going to be venturing out into dangerous wilderness, you're going to be very skilled and prepared, or else you won't live very long. They can forage and hunt when there are no potential customers around, and of course, they aren't going to be selling their own stock of survival supplies unless they happen to have extra. After all, the bulk of their business is going to be in settlements, which are few and far between. They have to make sure they live to see those settlements in order to make money.

 

13 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

7) Why aren't mobs hostile to traders?

You could blame this one on seraphs being a more appealing target, for whatever reason. Otherwise, this is definitely one that you essentially have to chalk up to "gameplay reasons".

 

13 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

8. Why are they so similar?

Trade guilds. Plus there are likely certain items that always sell well, in a wide variety of places. Traders will be inclined to stock those rather than take risks, hence why stock lists look so similar.

 

13 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

9) Why are their wagons so evenly spaced out?

Sometimes they can caravan, but it's probably easier to avoid unwanted attention by traveling alone. That, and less competition for business and resources.

 

13 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

10) Why don't they have a history? Information on the world? Where is the news?

Oh they certainly do, but what makes you think they're going to share with a complete stranger? Especially ones that look as goofy as seraphs? It's not wise to give away trade secrets, and it's not wise to direct potential threats to your hubs of business.

[Professor Dragon]

On 7/16/2025 at 12:26 AM, LadyWYT said:

What @ifoz said--traders are outdated, and slated for a rework. Otherwise, I would chalk a lot of the strangeness up to gameplay convenience. Logically, there are several things that don't really make sense, and not just traders, however, we suspend our disbelief and just roll with it. But to try to tackle the question from an in-universe standpoint...

 

Thank you, LadyWYT, for a thoughtful response to a lengthy post.

And with a sufficient suspension of disbelief, low light, and squinting, it is possible for those reasons to be good enough.

However, if they're able to hide animals of the size to fit between the stays of those carts without leaving a trace, they're much, much better at survival than I gave them credit for.

I stand by my key observation though - there appears to be no way for those wagons to actually move to some of the places that I have seen them.

(I wonder if I can book safe passage with one of them? It would certainly be preferable to me stomping about the wild as wolf bait.)

Professor Dragon.

 

[Never Jhonsen]

6 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

I stand by my key observation though - there appears to be no way for those wagons to actually move to some of the places that I have seen them.

The front of their wagons implies that they were designed for a large beast, or for some traders TWO large beasts, to move them about. Where are these beasts? What do they look like? Am I safe from them?

[AnniPicto]

On 7/17/2025 at 3:15 PM, Never Jhonsen said:

The front of their wagons implies that they were designed for a large beast, or for some traders TWO large beasts, to move them about. Where are these beasts? What do they look like? Am I safe from them?

They may have stopped only because their pet bear escaped. By the way, have you seen him?