The FFTC, as it is known, isn't really one trading company but a co-operative organization of lots of smaller, independent, companies. It trades along the frontiers and the local trade routes that the big merchant houses don't find profitable, but its co-operative nature means it is more flexible, and the poorer sections of a trade route can survive for years on minimal profit.

Originally formed in the 1990s with a couple of players who had been captured by Zakharan slavers, but who managed to free themselves and travelled 'home' across Zakhara. During one of the last phases of the adventure, they captured a ship, and rather than claim a share of the Bounty, agreed to let a couple of NPCs run the ship as a business. Then FFTC became a tool for the next couple of game groups - which both included the original players. Over the years, something more than a dozen PCs have held 'shares' in FFTC affiliated companies and organizations. These include Alfonse, Belle, Berwyn, Flower, Zona, Drea, Meriloss, Sean ap Bernd, Gagak, Caleb, Adaltrude, Owaddry, Diomedes, & Continh - and I think there were a couple more that I don't have a note of.

The FFTC appear in most of my paper-based and NWN settings and will, apparently, survive for millennia, as a variant appeared in my Traveller setting as well. The PCs normally see a general store that services a small town or village, that buys raw materials (Furs, uncut gems, natural magic components etc) and sends them for export. However, they often run the small ships that link the frontier to the larger world, and generally runs the frontier port itself.

PCs who have owned (or still own) shares in FFTC include Alfonse, Belle, Berwyn, Flower, Zona, Drea, Meriloss, Sean ap Bernd, Gagak, Caleb, Adaltrude, Owaddry, Diomedes, & Continh - and I think there were a couple more that I don't have a note of.

The current organizations include …

• The LAS Company, based in Port Elizabeth
• Occidental Trading based in the Farran Isles (Originally PC owned)
• Kassen Company based in Bime (Originally PC owned)
• House Marisi based in Angasa
• Al’Nisr Shipping, based in the Razadi Islands
• House A’Dair of Porters Bar
• Free Captains of Stilmouth
• There are a number of free captains associated with the FFTC
• The FFTC owns a number of vessels, whose income is used to provide pension for its members.

For more detail, see this page - although be aware this was the implementation for a colonisation game that never happened.