First Plutusian Negotiations

## Something Plutusian Comes This Way 1

Arkham hasn’t seen much attention despite your extensive system colonisation efforts despite being a good candidate for terraforming owing to its density and mostly nitrogen atmosphere mainly because it orbits much farther than any other Clossusian moon and expeditions to it would be extremely costly ; adding to this is its lack of any noteworthy resources or properties. Though you hope to change this one day , this means its an excellent place for discreet meetings and should the meeting go south wouldn’t be an issue to dispose of the trouble makers discreetly.

Talios is with you along with Selica and of course your Teslan claws bodyguards (though you think the addition of Tesla in the name is a bit too cultish) . The “trading fleet” of one Pollus Faustus has arrived in system recently, ostensibly to refuel and resupply (which they technically are ) but in reality mainly for this meeting. The fleet is respectable though many of its ships are old and barely held together, reflecting on the house of Faustus’ falling fortunes in the last century after an inquisitiorial “inquiry “ into some of their dealings.

An ambition class cruiser arrives in orbit around Arkham and it’s not long before the transport carrying Pollus and his staff lands. The Rogue Trader himself seems to lack most of the flamboyancy often acossiated with Rogue Traders. His staff is also notably lacking being composed of merely five individuals, one of whom is an abhuman of a species you have never seen before.

The man himself is blunt and dives into the heart of the matter almost immediately, he knows that you are interested in the happenings of Plutus now that they have cut off all contact , more specifically he believes you would be interested in the often blasphemous (from his point of view at least) experiments conducted in Plutus’ underbelly as well in information on the Janna sub-sector.

He offers to be your eyes and ears into the Byzantine labyrinth, providing intel and regular updates on events and changes there as well as being a trade link to the rest of imperium (which you now can’t do directly because of your independence).

However before he spills the beans he wants you to offer something in return

Choose 1 :

* Offer direct assistance: it’s no question that a rogue trader could always use some extra muscle, something which you have in abundance. In addition to providing elite troops to protect Pollus’ interests as well as using the Corsair armada to prey on his rivals’ shipping. However this risks a war with Plutus should your involvement be discovered which would add yet another ally to the coming imperial crusade (+0.5B T from piracy and merecenarism but has a chance of provoking a war with Plutus )

* Offer indirect assistance : On the other hand a velvet glove maybe just as effective as an iron gauntlet, here you would offer less “overt” support like less expensive ship retrofits for his fleet as well as trade subsidies to Pollus’ fleet throughout the dominion which would improve his fortunes and standing in Plutus perhaps allowing him acess to more valuable intel but this will take a while to fully materialise (-0.5B T from subsidies and intel updates now take two turns but intel has a 50% higher chance of success and less chance of war with Plutus

* Write in

## Something Plutusian Comes This Way 2

You decide to offer Faustus indirect assistance in the form of trade sanctions, subsidies on his purchases as well as free access to the dominion markets. He seems somewhat disappointed by this but accepts without issue.

He then gives you valuable information on the Plutus.

According to him there are four dominant factions on the scene :

* **The Tarmia syndicate**: Ostensibly a shipping company overseen by a governor league in the neighbouring sub sectors it has become a de facto independent force acting as the main providers of ships and protection for any merchant seeking to transport his goods in the Ouranus sector as well as having much influence in the criminal underbelly of a dozen Hive worlds. They are a recent addition to Plutusian society and that makes them all the more aggressive in carving out a slice.
* **The Resvoli house** : An ancient rogue trader line credited for being the ones to originally discover Plutus and claim it for the emperor. As the most powerful house based there and responsible for managing the day to day affairs of Plutus they are technically Plutus’ governors. Though an ancient and well entrenched faction they have seen their authority slowly eroded by the discovery Janna which has caused their careful strategy of pitting every faction in Plutus aganist one another to crack.
* **The Magnitogorsk consortium** : a mysterious organisation that dominates the more illicit markets on Plutus. Wether it be smuggled weapons or forbidden alien technologies the Magnitos can provide it , at a price. Despite catching the attention of the inquisition many times the organisation has never suffered any setbacks hinting at them being protected by radical inquisitiors . Indeed they are usually left alone by the other factions as they willingly pay whatever sums are required of them, provide valuable technologies to sell and don’t stir trouble. However they are viewed with suspicion as rumours abound of sinister experiments being performed on entire populations in unseen enclaves across the planet (though these rumours also follow many other factions ).
* **The Trader alliance** : The most recent faction to arise in Plutus , they were formed in response to the discovery of Janna as some of the weaker Rogue traders banded together in order to be able to properly exploit the rich area . However they were stymied by infighting among those who want to properly claim it to the emperor and the imperium and those who want to rule them as independent kingdoms. This has prevented them from colonising the sub sector at all as whenever an expedition is launched it is usually sabotaged either from within or without.

Each of the above factions has connections throughout the rest of the more developed areas of Ouranus as well as veritable armies of mercenaries and well armed fleets and each (with the possible exception of the Magnitogrosk) would love nothing more than to destroy the others and be the sole power on Plutus, meaning that a civil war is likely if not inevitable.

Faustus cautions aganist taking sides or getting involved in the coming conflict as choosing one side will surely earn the ire of the other three and suggests waiting for them to exhaust each other before pouncing on the weakened victor

Before he finishes he gives you one final but vital intel , the location of one of the Jannian paradise worlds : named Kuwather. The rest of the meeting is spent hammering out trade agreements and the like but all the while you are thinking about the possibilities that come with this information.