@danstr. Have you ever seen the trade license of most pirates? They mostly have pretty good levels. I think it makes perfectly good sense for pirates to have a shop to fence the loot they liberate.

The trade license comes from procurement to fix standing.

No, they come from selling loot. Lot and lots of loot. Pirates are the best traders. They "buy" low and sell for a great profit.

It really comes from both. Fixing Standings and selling stolen goods help boost trade license. Shit traders have never learned to protect their goods. That being said the largest money makers never make it to the common market, or have an effect on licenses. The Pirates you see that have a high trading licences are the pirates who have been around for a long time. If you are a trader worried about a pirate having a higher trading license than you, quit being such an easy target.

"I'm not saying it's a rule, I'm saying it makes no sense for a pirate guild like EDIT to have a *shop*. "pirate" and "trader" tend to only mix when it's in Greyspace, and some murder."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_market