the number of points of sacred time magic that you can put into trade (or maybe that you do put into trade, but you can be foregiven the occasional lapse, so if you mostly put in two but one year only put in one you probably won't lose a trade partner if you are maxed out)
PLUS 1 for a shrine, 2 for a temple, 3 for a great temple
PLUS 1 if you have trading or market blessing active
PLUS 1 if you are in a tribe
So, for example, if you had two points of trading magic, and a shrine supporting silver tongue, you could be pretty sure of supporting three trade partners, but four would be hard to keep up.
As I said before, I don't swear that this formula is precise, but it seems to be about right.
For what it is worth, Issaries is often the first temple I build, and often one of the few great temples that I raise. It takes a while to build up your variety of goods and your trade routes, but it is one of the most important things you can do early on.
--Bryan
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