Because they are paranoid that a Tradewar could always be declared against them, Navigator Houses go to great lengths to not appear militarily weak and pay well to maintain private armies. [[Mercenaries]] and [[Assassin]]s are used as well, but if a House can not or will not pay to hire or maintain an army, they will instead train their slaves or penitents to become their soldiers. But because of how expensive a Tradewar often is, they normally do not last long. Regardless of what their reasons were for waging them, the warring Houses will not often see it worth justifying the cost it would take to win a Tradewar or the potential loss in profits they can occur. Due to this premature ending, Tradewars tend to produce bitter enmities between the warring Houses and leave many scores unsettled. The '''Great Navigator Houses''' though, do not see Tradewars as open conflicts. Instead, they are merely viewed as an extension of the Great Houses' customary means of conducting a competition between rivals.{{Fn|15}}

==Sources==