Black Market

The Black Market is the illicit trade business that thrives on Amoi due to the nature of the planet’s culture. The Syndicate that runs it is ruled by the Blondy Iason Mink, and his right-hand man, Katze. The Market deals with selling and shipping contraband across the known universe as well as organising specialised auctions, fencing stolen goods and trading military technology.

The very existence of Amoi, or specifically, Midas, was a thorn in the Commonwealth’s side due to its complete disregard for human rights and dignity in the name of pleasure and entertainment. Whatever itch there was, Tanagura would rush to scratch it, no matter how depraved or perverse it was. It was a unique haven devoid of taboos but most of its products, though sought after, were not condoned off-world. This is where the Black Market stepped in, using illicit channels to bypass such issues.

## Environment

Depending on the specific job, a certain level of intelligence and self-preservation was needed to survive in a dog-eat-dog environment of the Black Market. Surviving in this meritocracy required more than a good head on one's shoulders. Though the violence and brutality did not equal that of the slums, the raw strength was tested daily, so no quarter was given or taken.

But ultimately, it was not the strong who won—it was the winners who were strong. This was one of fundamental truths that worked in the market. Any weakness was immediately exploited.

The past wasn't part of the picture, ability was all that mattered. Those working on the market were encouraged not to ask too many questions and to pledge absolute loyalty. Success was duly rewarded and betrayal exacted its costs. Results, and not excuses, were all that mattered.

> Keep your ears open. Don 't avert your eyes from reality no matter what happens. And keep your mouth shut.
>
>

The three fundamental rules for success in the black market. Three tried and true rules for self-preservation. That is to say, personal opinions and morals had no place here either. For the businessman, everything starts with an unmet demand and grows from there. It's not up to the Market to decide what is ugly or what is pretty.

> Business is all about supply and demand. The color of money is all the same.
>
>

## Legality

Although Amoi was pretty lax with regards to what was allowed, it still had its own laws that were being upheld by the Midas Division of Public Safety.

Because the public, including the police, were unaware of some of Tanagura’s darkest activities, a lot of the business on Amoi itself happened under the table. It was extremely important for Tanagura that things stay this way.

The black market had its rules. And they were not always compatible with the rules and regulations of the Midas Division of Public Safety. For this reason, those working for the market did everything in their power to stay low and off the police’s radar. There was no bribing the police, they were entirely dedicated to their jobs, so the black market operators were instructed to never pick fights with them or cause trouble in the first place.

## Facilities

### Rosas Market

The Black Market Headquarters were located in Rosas (ルーサス, Rūsasu) in Midas's Area 8 - Sasan. There, Katze had his own office where he did his routine work of checking market information. Due to its proximity to the Spaceport, this was the main hub for the Black Market on Amoi. This is where the black market sponsored auctions took place, while the vast underground facilities housed multileveled warehouses.

These were large container holding terminals, stacked with wares as far as the eye could see, without a millimeter to spare between them. The only way to navigate them was through the aerocranes that could shuttle across the area, or from the control rooms. Without an automated navigation system built into the control panel or the carts and cranes, it would be easy to get lost.

Different container types were marked in different colours, such as for example cryo-refrigeration units that were marked blue. Knowing colour codes and terminology by heart was expected of the couriers.

There was also a special holding facility for quarantined cargo, such as pets, where they could be confined in comfort. Guy was held in one of those during his 2 week house arrest.

### Katze’s Main Office

Another important location was Katze’s office from which he conducted his business. Located several levels below an inconspicuous, legal 24 hour drug store in Flare (Area 2) and accessed by an old fashioned elevator, it was a cyber world with state-of-the-art equipment.

The pharmacy had a specific entrance reserved for couriers, who would frequent it to receive instructions from their boss.

## Fencing Stolen Goods

Cruising Midas and pilfering cash and plastic from the inattentive tourists comprised a huge portion of a young slum mongrel’s life. Night after night, they’d risk their lives for thrill and profits. It was a well known fact that the resale value of their pilfered goods was high, making it a good way for young mongrels to get by.

The one who fenced these goods directly from Ceres was Zach, an off-worlder, well liked in Ceres for the fact that he treated the exchange as nothing other than business and extended the due respect to the mongrels he was dealing with.

Zach worked for Katze, who would then get the goods sold on the Black Market.

## Black Market Auctions

Although auctions were a normal part of life on Amoi and were regularly held at the convention center in Mistral Park (Area 3), attracting patrons from all over the universe, some auctions couldn’t happen out in the open.

Sponsored by the black market, these were secret auctions that took place in the Rosas Market in Sasan (Area 8) for those items that couldn't be handled in public, including military technology or obsolete pets.

These were big events that needed a tight security cordon twenty-four hours a day. Access to the auction floor was restricted to authorized personnel only.

## Couriers

Couriers were the arms and legs of the Black Market. Although at the bottom of the totem-pole, they were the ones in charge of delivering the goods across the known universe which made them the lifeline of the market. They were expected to get the merchandise to its appointed place at the appointed time, no questions asked. Complete loyalty and reliability were the basic requirements.

New couriers would normally start as just grunts doing deskwork. Eventually, they would be assigned partners would start delivering goods off world on cargo liners, starting with frontier districts. The back and forth transport took the couriers to ports of call along fixed routes, where they took on cargo, and transported it. It was fairly routine work, but riding cargo ships through galactic space came with its fair share of excitement. Visiting planets they'd never heard about, meeting an infinite variety of people, hearing unfamiliar languages, the ports always brimmed with the strange and the unexpected. It was a good way for new couriers to pile up experience and make a name for themselves.

The couriers were divided into two factions: uniformed regulars called the Megisto, and a mercenary contingent known as Athos. Though they were both treated as the yard dogs of the Market, the mutual hostility of Megisto and Athos had already made them something close to natural enemies.

### Megisto

According to the Zein class system, some people were assigned according to blood line to the Megisto (メジスト, Mejisuto).

Ridiculed as the "devoted dogs of the Market," the Megisto spared no pains following every order of their superiors. If told to fall on their swords they would do so without protest. In that respect, though, their lack of flexibility when things didn't go as planned was a serious drawback.

Routine, hands-on work was their forte, but having become accustomed to taking orders, they couldn't think for themselves and improvise on the spot when called for.

Being born and raised in Midas, like their compatriots they had an almost inborn hatred of Ceres mongrels which meant that they carried a strong prejudice against their boss Katze, who was rumored to be a mongrel, or any of the Athos with the same origin, such as Riki.

### Athos

Athos (アトス, Atosu) were independently employed mercenaries. Bound not by loyalty or fidelity but by contract only, they were full-fledged members of the Market. They came from various races and origins, and for the most part doubled their natural endowments of smarts and courage with equal measures of bravado. In other words, they were all lone wolves of one breed or another.

While they would not bare their claws to those they acknowledged as their equals, they demanded a deep and stubborn pride in their ability to do the job. Mutual trust and money were essential to the contract, as was a certain degree of studied indifference: not seeing, not saying, and not hearing what they weren't supposed to. The members of Athos, hired for money, were each in their own way familiar with the art of making friends as the situation demanded, while at the same time being disinclined to pay the masses any mind.

Unlike the prejudiced Megisto, they didn’t care about someone’s origin and respected people based on their merit. They knew that their boss was a slum mongrel who'd hauled himself out of the cesspool, and how capable and accomplished he was. When Riki joined them as the youngest underling to ever join Athos, they were skeptical mostly because of his age, rather than because he was a mongrel.

On the flip side, they looked down on Megisto who they saw as little more than drones. Their own abilities as hunter couriers who at times also took it upon themselves to scare up procurements were far superior, and their skills were obvious at a glance.

## Key Players

### Iason

Iason Mink was Tanagura’s Head of the Market Intelligence Department and the ruler of the huge Syndicate that controlled the Black Market. He was known as the Ice Man and was both admired and feared by his underlings.

They all knew to the marrow of their bones that Iason, the emperor of the Black Market, was a ruthless meritocrat whose feelings never colored his judgment, which was enough to give credibility to Katze as well. Ability was all that mattered.

While Iason had to rely on those below him to get the job done, it was important to him that they still know their place. The eyes that look up to the charismatic top ranked commander, must always be filled with as much fear as total trust. Iason's presence over the black market was exactly so: absolutely unmatched.

### Katze

Katze, dominated the market as Subzero Scarface, and operated as Iason’s right hand. He had a corner on almost every market involving Ceres. He fenced the cash and credit cards and stolen goods lifted from the Midas tourist trade. He was the agent for Guardian, a distributor in the drug trade, the courier boss, and a few fingers in many other pots. He was, as Iason called him, a man for all seasons. The right person in the right place at the right time.  Like Iason, he was a meritocrat and willing to recruit anyone who could do the job no matter their background.

> When you're living on the black market, there's no profit in the past.
>
>

Katze was a smoother, more demanding, and more efficient operator than his looks let on. Nobody in the black market doubted that for a second. No one knew the precise details of Katze's rise as a broker but the rumor on the market had it that the scar on his cheek was a vestige of that past. Wearing it openly as a badge of honor and taking on the moniker of "Scarface" presented a threatening stance to his surroundings. Katze himself was silent on the issue so whatever the truth might be remained nothing more than speculation.

He was a shrewd businessman that was extremely careful about the traces he left, no matter how shady or dangerous the job he took on. He generally closed his eyes to the quarrels among his employees, but when it came to the work itself, that was a different matter entirely. He expected top professionality from them.

Aside from the Blondies and Jupiter, he was probably the only other person who knew everything that went on on Amoi.

### Riki

Riki wasn’t even 16 when he joined Athos, making him the youngest recruit ever, so it was only natural that he should start out as an errand boy. During this period he proved himself quick on the uptake, determined and never intimidated—a real asset to the team. He gradually took on more valuable assignments.

And as he did so, the job became all the more interesting. Riki plunged into the depths of the black market, taking it in quickly and easily. He began to make a name for himself as "Riki the Black." At the time, not just Athos and Megisto but the Market as well knew where Riki had come from, but his new reputation expunged any doubt as to his ability.

He took Katze’s words of wisdom and advice to heart and lived by them even outside the market. He was also very careful to never cause any trouble with the police, not only in Midas but on any other planet he travelled to.

He'd been working on the market for less than a year, but Riki had learned everything he could during that time, above and below the law. This knowledge proved useful to him in many subsequent situations.

After his five year absence from the Black Market, he returned to work as Katze’s underling, but kept on a tight and safe leash. He was no longer allowed off-world, not even to nearby stations. The menial work frustrated him, however his skills had grown rusty anyway and regardless of his short leash, he would have had to get back into the swing of things before he could take on any bigger responsibility.

### Alec

Alec was an Athos courier working under Katze and Riki's partner. Being Karinese, he has specific mental powers that proved useful on the market. He was especially in tune with machines, which was the reason why he could pilot cargo ships as if on a whim, and was also the preeminent hacker in the Market.

Alec was probably the best hacker in the black market, if not the whole system. He also made hacking chips for other couriers that could be used to access protected data or consoles. Riki used one such chip to hack into the cargo capsule car in Midas and take control of it, knowledge he got while working at the Black Market.

## Other

Some relevant locations were mentioned in the books without much explanation:

* Largo Station (ラルゴ, Larugo) – half a day by aeroshuttle from Midas, it is where some of the shipments were prepared before being sent off.
* Gauche Auction (ガウシェ, Gaushe) - where Iason contacted Katze, asking about Riki following their first meeting.