How is a Traveling Merchant Related to the Fellowship Adventure?

[Gladiola]

I saw a comment a while back, I think on the beta forum, that prior to a Fellowship Adventure, Traveling Merchants begin showing up in the Magic Academy crafting menu. Sure enough, so far today I've been offered Traveling Merchants 3 times across two cities. What is the relationship between Traveling Merchants and FAs? Do they help people be more successful for some reason? Does their production count toward a badge? Or is it needed to make up for other long productions?

I don't want a traveling merchant because my boosted materials are much in demand by my alliance, at least for my t1 and t2 boosts, which are marble and crystal. A Traveling Merchant 2 would give me silk and scrolls, and I don't want to bring more scrolls into existence -- we have enough of those already! (I am boosted in elixir for t3, which is not as in demand but more popular than magic dust, from what I can tell.)

 

[Aritra]

I could be wrong, but I don't think they're related at all. I kept TMs until very recently and found them to be effective free bonuses of unboosted goods, especially useful if the trader was quiet (timing) and wholesaler was expensive. I gave it the space and it earned its keep. Now, I need it less so I'm using the tiles for other things now. If you have a trader that keeps your goods flowing where they need to, then the TMs probably aren't much use to you.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

No relation at all. I see them a few times a week every week, no matter what else is happening. That person was presenting anecdotal evidence because she was seeing them like that. But everything in crafting us purely random. Some people see certain items a lot more or less often than other people.

 

[Lelanya]

Lol x
I see them more often when the FA is looming close. They are helpful in producing more tier 1 goods, for manufacture of bracelet badges.
I myself rarely use the TMs I prefer to build what I need, not what I don't. That said some of my smaller casually played test cities have the version 3.
The TMs seen in rotation now, are likely triggered by the end of the event cycle. Inno likely sees a metric of smaller cities that get stuck on goods production at this point, this is their way of providing assistance.