For those potentially interested in playing in a Great Merchant House in the future:
There has been a change to the employee structure of all GMHs, in an attempt to encourage more mobility within and between clans. To that end, PCs in GMHs no longer have the ability to grant life oaths. Instead, a life oath is granted by a senior-level (NPC) member of the House, to someone that a player of a family member recommends. Because of the increased value/rarity of a life oath, there is now a limit on contract lengths. There is also a better-defined path for exceptional employees to become adopted members of the family they work for, to the extent that this is a reachable, realistic goal for an exceptional GMH employee.
Discussion on the change started here: http://gdb.armageddon.org/index.php/topic,50297.msg918934.html#msg918934