Usurped

Main > Rules > World Statistics > World Tags > Usurped

The interstellar trade conducted on this world has been completely suborned by some outside power. The local government or society does not control the terms of the trade or benefit much, if at all, from the fruits of it. Most often this is the product of a weak world and a powerful far trader combine seizing control of the spaceports through a mixture of bribery and threats. Sometimes a foreign world is also able to force all trade to pass through its "customs houses", often placed in orbit where less technologically-sophisticated locals can't overwhelm them with numbers. A few alien races might do the same thing- or humans might do such to an alien world unable to throw off this unwanted "administrative assistance". The locals receive only a pittance for their products and the far traders are gouged on the prices in turn, with the surplus collected by the usurping power.

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

• Colonial customs officer with a distaste for the locals
• Plastic-souled combine bureaucrat who wants off the world
• Local collaborator hated by their neighbors
• "Negotiator" who handles all contact with buyers and sellers

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

Bitter local nationalist

Reckless far trader smuggler

Corrupt customs official

Brutal trade enforcer

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

The local rulers desperately need the usurpers for something

The usurpers have colorably legitimate claims on the world's wealth

The usurpers are backed by extensive local collaboration

Only the usurpers know how to turn local resources into a rare specialty

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

Tightly-restricted local specialty

Cache of goods taken by the usurpers as profit

Equipment vital to maintaining the trade stranglehold

Weapons cache meant for local rebels

Things:
^{What regulations might complicate things}

Not even personal gear is allowed out of the starport without a tariff

Far traders are forbidden from communicating with sellers

Far traders are restricted to the starport

Far traders must befriend the usurpers before trade is allowed

Tags: Lopop,Regional, Politics, Trade