"A safe route is not a gift from the sea; it is a purchase, paid for in blood, iron, and the sanity of better men. My dividend is that you still live to sail it."

• Lord Factor Erebus Thorn of the North Bay TC

The Lord Factor is the modern evolution of the Viatarch, a title that now signifies a prince-merchant of immense wealth and quasi-military authority. They are the heads of Nhera's great human Trading Companies, wielding influence that rivals that of formal navies and even some nations.

Where a Viatarch was an envoy, a Lord Factor is a commander, strategist, and high-stakes investor. Their primary function is to commission, fund, and command expeditions to chart and secure safe trade routes through the Fathom-haunted seas. A Lord Factor's power is absolute within their own sphere of influence, and is demonstrated by their ability to gather and command critical resources:

• Private Fleets: They command vast merchant fleets and hire squadrons of naval vessels as escorts.

• Specialized Personnel: They are the primary employers of Nhera's most skilled (and expensive) Psyarchs, whose psychic senses are invaluable for detecting the Fathom's influence and navigating the "currents" of the sentient sea; As well as receiving personnel from the Navy through a secondment system.

• Authority: A route "owned" by a Lord Factor is their personal fiefdom. They charge exorbitant tariffs for its use, patrol it with their fleets, and defend it jealously from rivals, pirates, and the horrors of the deep.

The title "Lord Factor" itself reflects their unique status: the aristocratic authority of a "Lord" combined with the pragmatic, mercantile grit of a "Factor." They are the new, self-made nobility of a world where survival and profit are one and the same.