Merchant: An sole trader or member of a merchant guild, closely associated with others in their business. Freed by talent and wealth from the constraints of a feudal social order, they spend years under a master.
Squalid. You live in a leaky stable, a mud-floored hut just outside town, or a vermin-infested boarding house in the worst part of town. You have shelter from the elements, but you live in a desperate and violent Environment, in places rife with disease.
Faction. A factional enemy could be a religous order, a merchants guild, an order of assasins, or an order of holy knights. It is a enemy that may have agents and spies taht act of their behalf. Could be on the run, part of a rival faction, or want to join