SWRPF Archive Galactic Trader: The Golden Rule

* * *GALACTIC TRADER: THE GOLDEN RULE* * *

?There is but one rule to live by ? the Golden Rule. He who has the gold makes the rules.?
--Rath Sienar, President, Sienar Fleet Systems

[image=http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/DanJassim/Carrier/aa_carrier.jpg]

Background

It is one year after the conclusion of the Yuuzhan Vong conflict. After many months of suffering across the galaxy, peace has finally been restored and the process of rebuilding the worlds of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances (GFFA) has begun.

But the galaxy is still in crisis. Interstellar trade was just as badly wounded as the systems that fell victim to the Vong. The galaxy?s major interstellar freighter companies had been wiped out or bankrupted in the conflict. Racketeering, piracy, and theft spread as trade and smuggler groups sought to make themselves the single channels for commerce across a hundred planets. Entire star systems were on the verge of declaring war with each other over economic issues.

In desperation, and after many late nights at the GFFA?s Bureau of Commerce, the leadership of the GFFA unanimously passed the Sustainable Economy (Temporary Measures) Act, which instituted a number of economic reforms. Two of those reforms were of note:

(1) Hundreds of markets in thousands of star systems across the galaxy were gathered into 12 overarching markets, each market operating from one notable planet, a ?Trade World?, in each area. Interstellar traders would henceforth have to buy and sell their goods to one of the 12 markets rather than to individual planets. The goods would then be distributed to the member planets of the market as needed.

(2) Due to the remoteness of star systems in the Outer Rim Territories, the responsibility for, and profits from, managing all trade across the entire Outer Rim would be given to a private organization by granting a Trade Franchise to that organization. The Trade Franchise was to be awarded by the Bureau of Commerce (BOC).

The BOC immediately called for applicants for the Trade Franchise. Naturally, interest was great ? the Trade Franchise would effectively grant control over all trade in the Outer Rim Territories ? a prize lucrative enough to make the owner of the successful trading group rich beyond his or her wildest dreams.

The BOC?s requirements were simple: the merchant with the greatest amount of cash and assets at the end of a ?test year? would be awarded the contract for the Outer Rim Trade Franchise, and in doing so gain the prestige of becoming the foremost interstellar goods merchant in the galaxy.

It is the beginning of the ?test year?. For those interstellar trading companies who have expressed interest in the BOC contract it is a time of great excitement. There are great riches to be found among the stars. With the absence of massive, overarching corporations to stifle small operators, the opportunities to be had are phenomenal. Who will emerge from the test year as the first of the new trillionaires in the trading business?

Time will tell.

[image=http://galactic-voyage.com/images/SW%20pics/The%20Empire%20Strikes%20Back/rebel%20fleet.jpg]

Gameplay

Characters

?Galactic Trader: The Golden Rule? has two types of characters for players to choose from.

Traders: The trader is what the game?s all about! As a trader you own a merchant shipping company which will buy and sell goods across the galaxy?s 12 markets over the course of a galactic year. Starting with a certain number of credits, it will be up to you to buy your transport vessels, decide which goods to buy, which to sell, where to buy and sell, and when to buy and sell. You?ll battle to put your organization in the lead to take out the Trade Franchise awarded at the end of the galactic year. It?s also open to you to fly one of your own vessels if you so desire to see that at least one cargo ge

 

This looks very interesting, Saint! I'm eager to get a CS off, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow!

 

No need to rush, Peng: most likely I won't be starting before at least a couple of days so people have a chance to absorb what is (admittedly) a pretty big post...

 

I like the idea of this game though i do have a few questions.

1. when picking what markets you of is your base of operations one of them? as in does it automatically take up a spot?
2.you said we get personal ships if we are traders that have no cargo capacity. do we start of with any transport ships in our service or do we have to buy them at start of game?
3. 2 brings me to 3, how many credits do we start with?
4. do captains pick who the work for?
5. You didn't mention this but I thought I should ask, can one engage in piracy?
6. 5 brings me to 6, can u be a mercenary hired to protect convoy's?

i realize 5 and six will probaly be No but i felt i should ask (though even if they were possible id likely be a trader)

P.S. I think i may like this

 

1. when picking what markets you of is your base of operations one of them? as in does it automatically take up a spot?

The base of operations is the planet you start from. The two "known" markets are the two markets your trader is most familiar with. They do not have to include the market that your base of operations is in, though it might stretch credulity not to be...

2.you said we get personal ships if we are traders that have no cargo capacity. do we start of with any transport ships in our service or do we have to buy them at start of game?

No, you'll have to buy your ships from the start.

3. 2 brings me to 3, how many credits do we start with?

It'll be 5,000 credits. This gives everyone a small amount to start with, but enough to buy at least one ship.

4. do captains pick who the work for?

They can, or I can assign them if they wish.

5. You didn't mention this but I thought I should ask, can one engage in piracy?

As I said in the opening post, anything is theoretically possible...whether you engage in piracy or whether you hire people to work for you.

6. 5 brings me to 6, can u be a mercenary hired to protect convoy's?

As a character? I might consider that once things are up and running. For the moment, people should stick to traders or captains.

 

Saintheart Approved...

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Name: Lord Ovior Serian
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 51
Homeworld: Kuat
Skin Color: White
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color / Style: Brown / Slicked Back Style
Clothing / Appearance: Thick Ceremonial Robes / Tall and Gaunt, Very Elegant and Serious

Bio: Lord Serian was born and breed like most Kuati nobility, pampered and privileged. His family was one of the many influential supporters of Kuat Drive Yards, and thus profited heavily from the Imperial military build-up. When the Empire fell, times got tough for the family, with many of his relatives going bankrupt. Lord Serian, however, diversified his investments and focused on galactic trading, especially in industrial equipment and machinery. During the war, his company shifted to foods and weapons to fight the Vong, and sustained very heavy losses. When time came for trade bids after the war, it was Lord Serian that was the clear choice for the Kuati nobility.

Base of Operations: Coruscant
Known Markets: Coruscant and Correlian Markets

Trading company name: Kuat Trade Works
Trading company symbol:[image=http://www.bothan-online.com/IMG/png/CNK_kuat.png]

Personal vessel: Starwind-class Pleasure Yacht "Gold Rusher"

 

thx ill go ahead and send tell on char

 

How could I have overseen this? Again a great idea, this time as if it was made for me to play . . . (yeah, that means I am working on a char-sheet).

I will be a Captain, so any traders interested in hiring me . . . pm me please.

EDIT: Or are we doing things like this in-game? Negotiating the prices and so on . . .

 

looking at the amount of work u likely had to do to organize all this i have to say im impressed

 

Yuul_Shamar: Thanks for that -- it did take a considerable amount of time, so I'm hoping the interest matches the work I put into this.

SirakRomar and everyone who wants to play as a captain: There are two ways you could potentially get into it. One is to simply approach one of the current traders (by PM, obviously!) and ask if they're interested in you flying one of their ships for them. (And I'm realistically not starting this game without a semi-decent number of traders, or else its primary focus is lost.) Please remember, of course, that some traders will probably be anxious to fly their own vessels, especially at the start.

Or you might consider asking a trader by PM if you can sign on as a crew member aboard a vessel that already has a captain; that way even traders will have somebody to interact with on their initial flights (especially if the number of ships available is low, which I do anticipate in the early stages).

In terms of how, as a captain, you hook up in-game with a trader, it's probably best if you decide that by PM agreement with the trader you're interested in.

Another way, if there are no spots available among current trading players, is to PM me and I'll attempt to create a few scenarios for you myself with an NPC trader, although I have to caution you that the player traders will have priority of update simply because it is their commerce that both drives the game and is the focus.


Having said that, I'd encourage people to think about trading: I do not anticipate there will be terribly many things to remember, and I will be keeping records to confirm against people's calculations.

 

Character Sheet: Captain (approved)
Name: Nick Quitar
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Coruscant
Skin Color: Tan
Eye Color: Light Blue
Hair Color / Style: Brown Buzzcut
Clothing / Appearance: Dark brown vest used for holding weapons, and other important things over a lighter brown long sleeved shirt, with dark leather pants.
Bio: Nick Quitar was born in Coruscant to a wealthy family. However, he soon found that his parent's rich and extravagant lifestyle was not the lifestyle that suited him. Nick became a space pirate and mercenary until after the Yuuzhan Vong fell. Afterwards, he reformed and became a ship captain to try and help instead of harm trading.

 

GM Approved!
character sheet: Trader

Name: Yuul Shamar
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Coruscant
Skin Color: Light Tan
Eye Color: Grey-Blue
Hair Color/Style: Brown/Short(no special style)
Clothing/Appearance: Yuul usually wears a white silk shirt with dark(usually black) colored pants. along with this he wears a deep blue cape that is tied together on the front with a silver chain near his neck.
Bio: Yuul was born on coruscant shortly after the emperor's death aboard the Death Star. Coming from a wealthy trading family, Yuul grew up comfortably. However during the Yuuzhan Vong war when they attacked coruscant most of his family was killed and the family lost most of its wealth. After the war Yuul seeks to rebuild his family's fortune once again. He is currently 27.

Base of Operations: Coruscant
Known Markets: Coruscant and Correllia
Company Name: New Horizons Trading Company
Trading Company Symbol: looks like a black hole but without the hole in the center so sort of a colorful spiral.
Personal Vessel: a Sorusuub luxury Yaht. for those that know what lando's ship looked like it's that class.

 

GM APPROVED!

Sorry to pull an about-face, Imp, but the allure of being a trade tycoon was too much.


Name: Erken Ferrs
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Naboo
Skin Color: White
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color / Style: Short brown hair, kept stylishly windswept
Clothing / Appearance: Deep red coat coming down to his knees, shin-high black boots, black trousers, and a brown vest covering a white shirt. High quality clothes that are functional as well as attractive.

Bio: Erken Ferrs was, as a child, trained to follow in his father's footsteps as a trader. He knew of no other life, nor did he want anything else. He'd heard romanticized tales of his grandfather's risky encounters with pirates, how he'd fought them off single-handedly.

The image in Erken's mind of a what a trader was was one a devilish, roguish man, wooing women and making money, helping those in need and running the gauntlet of pirate vessels.

He quickly found out that life as a trader is more about quick decisions, risking your livelihood, and keeping up appearances, but that doesn't stop him from trying to convey the romantic ideals he once had.



Base of Operations: Coruscant
Known Markets: Hapes Cluster Market, Devaroni Market

Trading company symbol: [image=http://old.ttvnol.com/uploaded/Condor/hawk_symbol.jpg]

Personal vessel: Punworcca-116 Sloop, modified with Solar Sail

 

oooooooh i can't wait...

come on people join in this will be fun.

p.s. any captains interested?

 

OOC: Let's keep the chatter down a little bit, guys ... but on that last note, rest assured, there are several eager captains who've PMed me over the past few days.

 

yay!!! any additional traders?

on an extra note, ok i'll limit post til the game starts...

 

OOC: I'm still thinking on this one. On one hand, it looks like loads of fun... On the other hand, school starts in two weeks and then I've got no time.

A tough call - but don't be surprised if you get a PM.

 

GM Approved!

Trader

Name: Caun Villa
Race: Corellian
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Corellia
Skin Color: Tanned
Eye Color: Green
Hair Color / Style: Blonde / Shaggy, bangs cut just above the eyes
Clothing / Appearance: A Captain's two-piece jumpsuit, smuggler's boots, Rancor-leather vest, and semi-squared sunglasses / toughened, slightly muscled, tall, wide-shouldered
Bio: Caun was raised from infancy to be a trader. Born into a family owning a nice chunk of real estate on Naboo, Caun was never bored in his childhood.

Though his parents gave him private tutors to teach him the art of trading and marketeering, even some of the seedier elements of the trade, Caun was a natural explorer and adept soldier, which led to his service in the GFFA.

Few months after Caun left the service of the GFFA, the Yuzhong Vong invasion occured and he was forced to hide in the Tatooine system, where his vessel was nearly destroyed by a Vong scout.

When the war ended, he came out of hiding, his cargo hold still containing the medicinal supplies that had been destined for Coruscant. Learning of the strong desire for such supplies, he made a hefty amount of credits.

From this, he planned on buying more ships and put more captains into his service. In fact, he used 1,000 of the 6,000 credits he had obtained, to hire a very desirable-looking woman to captain one of his ships.

Base of Operations: Etti IV
Known Markets: Corporate Sector Market, Imperial Remnant Market

Personal Vessel: CEC YT-1300 Freighter
[image=http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/1/1c/Falcon_NEGVV.jpg]



Captain:

Name: Ysanne Vern
Race: Coruscanti
Gender: Female
Homeworld: Coruscant
Skin Color: Slightly Pale
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color / Style: Red / Wavy, shoulder-length
Clothing / Appearance: Tight synth-leather full-body jumpsuit, black high-heels / pleasingly-shaped, long-legged, very desirable
Bio: Ysanne was taken off the street, after being abandoned by her real parents, by a pirate organization known as Black Sun. All throughout her childhood, she was taught to steal, to survive the streets, even to kill.

At the young age of thirteen, she was put into their service as a slicer and mechanic, as well as an enforcer.

When a GFFA raid eliminated the Black Sun base on Taris, where she had been, she was sent to a foster family. They found her wildly and uncontrollable, only comfortable when she was either at a computer terminal, at a shooting range, or under the hull of a transport with a hydrospanner in her hand.

She left her family when she turned eighteen, roaming the Outer Rim working as a dancer, and sometimes as a bounty hunter; whatever was availble.

When a trader calling himself Caun Villa asked her to pilot a trade ship of his, she found the 1,000 credits hard to refuse. As they spent time together, she began to find him... irresistable.

 

Trader

Name: Ziggy Quapo
Race: Arkanian
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Arkania
Skin Color: White
Eye Color: Gray
Hair Color / Style: Gray
Clothing / Appearance: Fine Arkanian clothing
Bio: Ziggy Quapo was born on Arkania and raised by a merchant family. As time went on he helped his father doing different things such as trading around town, making deliveries, and counting small amounts of money. He later owned his own ship and started to trade in his system. He soon expanded to a few other systems, and is fimiliar with some of the core words, but not many, he now owns a trading company on Arkania, and works out of there.

Base: Calamarian Market
Markets: Corouscant Market, Hutt Market

Captain

Name: Captain (Admiral) Glorougus Arkan
Race: Mon Calamari
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Mon Calamari
Skin Color: Salmon
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color / Style: bald
Clothing / Appearance: Wears Admirals clothing
Bio: Captain Glorougus Arkan was born on Mon Calamari to a family that was fairly wealthy and held political status. His father was the one of the Admirals in the Mon Calamari Military. Captain Arkan took after his father, and too joined the military. He quickly came up the ranks and reached the rank of Admiral. A trader, approached him one day, and asked him if he could captain his ship. He took the job and now sails around the galaxy trading between the worlds.

 

OOC: All right, ladies and gentlemen: that's a total of five traders who are signed up, and three captains. That's sufficient to get started. However, I will wait a further couple of days for anybody who wants to get in with the rest of the group at the start (I've had one or two "maybe/working on CSes" messages from other potential players.)

However, for anyone reading this thread and wondering if they can join after the game's begun: Join up! There is no cutoff date for joining, and I will be happy to help anybody into the game even if they're a late starter!

 

OOC: So we can start posting?

 

OCC: Yeah, I want to start posting as well. When can we start?

 

OOC: I've approved two more characters, -- one trader, one captain -- and once they've posted up, we'll be starting. That should be within the next 24 hours. Can I just ask that people hold off until the "opening post" is up. And thanks again for the eagerness!

 

Approved Trader

Name: Arturo Viola
Race: Human
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Homeworld: Empress Teta
Skin Color: Olive
Eye Color: Dark green
Hair Color / Style: Black hair, slicked back
Clothing / Appearance: Always well groomed and clean shaven, wears elegant tailored white robes

Bio:

Arturo was born in Cinnagar to an infamous family with links to organised crime. His father, Vincent, ran an antiques and artifacts shipping business, but also dealt in spice smuggling and human trafficking. Despite their wealth, the family never managed to buy their way into the upper circles of Teta's nobility, much to Vincent's frustration.

Shortly after the beginning of the Vong invasion, Vincent was arrested on numerous charges. He was on bail awaiting trial when the Vong took Coruscant, and the family managed to flee. They found no shelter amongst the other wealthy Tetan families and became refugees for a while, eventually ending up on Naboo. Vincent died of a heart attack during this time.

Arturo had grown by this point from an impressionable boy into an embittered and vengeful man. He returned home to Teta with nothing left. He was determined to bring money back to the Violas, and to get revenge on the nobles that had turned their backs on his father. He decided that he would start by gaining a foothold in the carbonite industry, Teta's primary export. As a great deal of carbonite is used for storing Tibanna gas, he has become well acquainted with worlds such as Bespin.

Base of Operations (this being one of the twelve Trade Worlds mentioned above): Coruscant
Known Markets (being two of the markets mentioned above): Coruscant Market and Bespin Market

Personal vessel: Naboo Star Skiff Pursuit

 

Name: Esaane
Race: Trianii
Gender: Female
Homeworld: Triani
Skin Color: Under her fur . . .
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color / Style: A pale yellow
Clothing / Appearance: A belt with a blasterpistol and various tool. Often she wears, untypical for her species, a black coat of leather
Bio: While her brothers headed of to become Trianii Rangers Esaane herself never felt any desire to do so . . . she wanted to see the galaxy. Joining a bunch of smugglers she travelled the galaxy, seeing her share of violence, crime and even war, while making a few credits.

While her crew was a good team, dealing fairly with clients and one another, the constant criminal operations of smuggling were not really her way of living. She was interested in traveling, a gifted pilot and always ready to take a buisiness-opportunity . . . but who needed to break laws to make money? Constantly?

She left her crew in good regards and made her way to the commercial-planets to search for a new job as a regular captain.