History PlayingWith / ProudMerchantRace

** The alien race initially seems to be this, trading extensively with humans, but this turns out to be an attempt to gather information on their targets before their AlienInvasion.

** The alien race initially seems to be this before revealing to be a cover for their AlienInvasion, before it's revealed that this invasion is only to defend their economic interests that's essential to their heavy trading activities.

* '''Zig-Zagged''': The alien race arrives and extremely begins extensively trading with mankind. However, this is shortly revealed to be a ruse for their extensive spying. However, they're revealed only to be spying to sell the information gathered to mankind's enemies. However, this in turn is revealed to be a chance to spy on them, to allow them to take over as a [[TheEmpire brutal military power]]. However, even then, this is only to protect their own trading interests.

** There has to be a proud merchant race, as the writers are trying to tell a story about how capitalism is ultimately evil and corrupting.

* '''Lampshaded''': "Sorry, mom, we're part of a ProudMerchantRace, I have to sell you!"

* '''Straight''': An alien race with strong mercantile tendencies and buying and selling as a backbone of their culture.

** The alien race finds trade to be a religious ideal, and being given a gift without paying its fair price is a {{Dehumanizing Insult}}.
** The alien race buys and sells EVERYTHING it can, with people being charged a fee for every breath of air.
* '''Downplayed''':
** The alien race is [[JackOfAllTrades well-rounded and proficient]] in several fields, but has stronger trading leanings than most other races.
* '''Justified''':
** The alien race is weak and cowardly, so warfare or exploration doesn't suit them, but they have an extensive industrial base in key fields without being a self-sustaining economy, meaning they rely on heavy trading to survive.
* '''Inverted''':
** The alien race is a massively powerful consumer economy, so they buy and import vast amounts of resources, although they don't actually SELL much of anything.

** The alien race initially seems to be this, trading extensively with humans, but this turns out to be an attempt to gather information on their targets before their {{Alien Invasion}}.

** The alien race initially seems to be this before revealing to be a cover for their {{Alien Invasion}}, before it's revealed that this invasion is only to defend their economic interests that's essential to their heavy trading activities.
** The alien race first appears to be a {{Proud Merchant Race}}, before its revealed that they're only a persecuted minority of their [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy warrior culture]]. However, it's revealed that the majority of the race ARE traders, however the warrior-leaders present themselves as the majority of their race for the sake of maintaining the honor of their species and [[KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect downplay the successes of their trader brethren]].
* '''Parodied''':
** An alien merchant is asked why he got into trading, before he points out that its all his species ever does.
** A character who was thought to be the {{last of his kind}}, but after being revealed to be part of the {{Proud Merchant Race}}, immediately starts bartering for everything he can.
* '''Zig Zagged''': The alien race arrives and extremely begins extensively trading with mankind. However, this is shortly revealed to be a ruse for their extensive spying. However, they're revealed only to be spying to sell the information gathered to mankind's enemies. However, this in turn is revealed to be a chance to spy on them, to allow them to take over as a [[TheEmpire brutal military power]]. However, even then, this is only to protect their own trading interests.
* '''Averted''':
** Due to the {{Crapsack World}}, trade is nearly non-existant as all races are isolationist and trapped in in {{Forever War}}s with their allies.
* '''Enforced''':

** The {{Proud Merchant Race}} is created to balance out the game mechanics and counteract the military faction and science faction.
* '''Lampshaded''': "Sorry, mom, we're part of a {{Proud Merchant Race}}, I have to sell you!"
* '''Invoked''': "We should look into building a massive, galactic marketplace to make a gigantic profit. There doesn't seem to be a {{Proud Merchant Race}}, so there's a gap in the market for our race to step into!"
* '''Exploited''': The {{Big Bad}} funds his evil through a fleet of {{Space Pirates}}, knowing that the {{Proud Merchant Race}} will make the perfect target for them.
* '''Defied''': The aliens make an effort to support those who don't want to be merchants.
* '''Discussed''': "Ultimately if a race doesn't become [[TheEmpire evil autocratic imperialist nation]], it seems quite likely that they'll be forced to ally themselves with other nations, helping the resulting peace survive through trade reliance based around their role as traders.
* '''Implied''': An Off-Screen race of aliens is often referred to as where a character bought his {{Hidden Weapons}}.
* '''Deconstructed''': The race quickly spirals into rampant consumerism and materialism, with the government being prone to [[BuyThemOff bribery of government officials]] and secretly only led by {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s, which quickly leads to a downward spiral into strife and {{civil war}} as this exploitation inherently can't sustain itself.
* '''Reconstructed''': The alien race is entirely based around trade, but this is mainly to force other races to become economically dependent on them to make way for their {{benevolent alien invasion}}, so they can conquer the galaxy while still staying as the {{Perfect Pacifist People}} they are, without even having to fire a bullet.

Back to ProudMerchantRace.

'''Basic Trope''': A Proud Merchant Race is one whose [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is being {{Intrepid Merchant}}s.

* '''Deconstructed''': The race quickly spirals into rampant consumerism and materialism, with the government being prone to [[BuyThemOff bribery of government officials]] and secretly only led by {{Corrupt Corporate Official}}s, which quickly leads to a downward spiral into strife and {{civil war}} as this exploitation inherently can't sustain itself.