Yamshchiks

The Yamshchiks are a smuggling operation active in the early-mid 2800s. Named for the Russian postmen who operated the Mongol Yam postal routes, the Yamshchiks smuggled various illicit substances into Velconi territories, primarily hallucinogens but also illegal weaponry.
== Method of Operation ==
Due to the more militaristic nature of Velconi society and the zero-tolerance policy for crime in the Empire, it was notoriously difficult to smuggle anything into Velconi space. Following the Velconum Empire's colonization of several Fringe-worlds including Kemper Havel and Pirus, the group of smugglers that would go on to become the Yamshchiks devised an ingenious method.
Velconi ships patrolled the newly established (and largely failed) Fringe colonies much less as they believed there was little reason for anyone to attack them. As a result, they became the easiest place for smuggling vessels to sneak in. Ships would drop out of FTL and immediately turn off almost all of their systems, going into a low power mode that made them difficult to detect. Bypassing local patrols, the smuggler would then land on a site controlled by the Yamshchiks in a remote part of the colony.
From there, the Yamshchiks bribed or blackmailed various local people to get their shipments on board the cargo bays of legal transports. Sometimes, spaceport workers snuck in the substances among legitimate cargo and the crew of the ship carrying it was left completely unaware. Other times freighter captains were directly bought out. Either way, the shipment would be brought onto more heavily-guarded Velconi territories, where it would be retrieved and distributed.
Over time, the services provided by the Yamshchiks grew more devalued as criminal groups set up production facilities on the Velconi-controlled Fringe-worlds, negating the need for dedicated smugglers to transport these substances there. They continued to hold on to their connections in the spaceports for some time, attempting to make sure that transport of illegal substances to other Velconi worlds still had to go through them. However, by the 2900s they had become completely obsolete and dissolved.
== Significant Members ==
* Cassidy Carran
* James Carran
Category:Crime Groups