Kleptocratic

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The planet has a dominant trade framework, but that framework is hopelessly corrupt. Nothing happens without money, and possession of wealth is license enough for every variety of crime and wrongdoing. The local officials are ferociously greedy, peeling every spare credit off a far trader and making very narrow estimates of how much profit the offworlder will need in order to justify return. The endless corruption makes for poverty and suffering among the common folk, but those who control the levers of wealth do very well.

Leaders:
^{Who might be encountered while conducting business}

• Corpulent port master with detestable tastes
• Local trade official who doubles as a crime boss
• Supervisor of a security department that's just another gang
• Paranoid bureaucrat being pressured by numerous murderous "friends"

Enemies:
^{Who might be encountered who opposes the group}

Abominably corrupt ruler who demands loathsome tribute

Hard-bitten underclass entrepreneur with no god but profit

Offworld reformer who blames far traders as the root of the problem

Savagely vengeful renegade

Complications:
^{How might the situation on the world be more complicated}

A reformist movement is growing stronger but is hostile to far traders

The society used to be much less corrupt before a disaster or war

The corruption is carefully and ruthlessly hidden from the populace

Without the grease of corruption the local legal framework would paralyze society

Things:
^{What items might be found on the world}

Goods "mislaid" as a bribe payment

The forbidden tech that all the local factions want

The goods due as protection money to keep someone from getting killed

An offworld criminal's stash of looted goods

Things:
^{What regulations might complicate things}

Openly acknowledging the corruption is a grave crime

Bribes are never paid in money

Far traders are squeezed much more harshly than locals

Corruption is ruthlessly punished when revealed yet remains ubiquitous

Tags: Politics, Trade