Illegal Commodities

[Collins]

I was discussing with a few people that it would be very entertaining to have illegal commodities that could get you arrested or fined for carrying in certain areas, but if would worth a good amount to the right buyers.

Our ideas were that it could be supplies from beyond the Quarantine wall? Specific herbs that could be rarely found around the wilderness, or grown (hehe)?

Maybe any guards you pass would randomly check your cart, or wagon for said goods and confiscate/fine you for having them. But traders could have hidden areas of a wagon with limited space, or thieves could smuggle goods in/out of town to a fence somewhere who would pay well for said materials.

I guess a basic example of this already would be iron in Corvus? Kinda.

[Rias]

I've been trying to think of how to implement stuff like this, so suggest and brainstorm away in this thread!

[Jaster]

Orifice smuggling. Is that a wench in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

EDIT: Wait.. that reads worse than I thought it would. I mean smuggling things in orifices.. not smuggling wench orifices (orifici, orificees???)

[Collins]

Oh wow, I didn't see that there were replies in this thread.

Let's see, here are a few ideas: (Disclaimer: Names were pulled out of my... you get the idea.)

Gaeyan Tree?

Very rare/endangered/magical tree that is illegal to cut down, but sells for very high on the black market.

This tree would have a high concentrate of Gaea(sp) and would be viciously protected by the Tse Gaiyan, if a logger went to cut it down, the Gaea would immediately send out its little warning signal thingers, and maybe have critter spawns. Respectable towns wouldn't buy it, since the trees are endangered. Places like Corvus probably would pay high dollar for it.

Staffs created of this wood, would perhaps enhance druidy skill due to the Gaea link? So Tse Gaiyan would actually maybe grow this type of tree in a very controlled environment and use the naturally fallen branches for rare and powerful bows/arrows. But would be highly protective of it.

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I kind of hate to have a marijuana reference in game but that's always an option I guess to just go the straight, "this plant is a drug and bad" route. But I do think having an illegal plant or two that have strong poison or magic effect would be very cool to see. Here's some ideas.

Hateroot - A viciously thorned plant, that has the potential to temporarily block a person's inner light if eaten. Used in sorcerous potions and alchemy to enhance and draw in netherim. Especially potent with blood? Can be put into food, and used to disable someone. Illegal in most markets, prized in others.

Goldfern - Ingesting the leaves of this plant is said to grant a person extra fortitude and inner strength, greatly enhancing their inner light, and bodily energy output. Unfortunately, the plant is endangered and protected similar to the Gaeyan Tree. Highly prized by the church, but protected viciously by the Tse Gaiyan.


Lemme know what you think.

[Collins]

... And why is it always something to do with bowels with Jaster? You got issues kid. ;)

[qinweiqi]

I think Collins has the right idea. When a substance is banned, typically it is because it has special properties (addictive, lethal, hallucinatory, etc.), it is considered sacred by a sufficiently large group or it is protected due to scarcity. I think the last case wouldn't fit so well in a "western" type setting, but the others apply quite well.

Here's a couple ideas for special minerals that could be illegal or controlled as well. Perhaps hematite for dampening ESP signals when sufficient quantities are nearby (ESP would be limited to the same room, or a couple rooms away), or malachite, which when crafted into a pair of tuners and attached to a pair of ESP crystals causes them to just communicate with each other.

[qinweiqi]

Also, another plant substance: Vainglory, the key ingredient for a poultice (or other consumable) that'll keep you awake 'til the moment you die but is extremely addictive. Sometimes a fighter's last ditch effort to get away will involve ingesting some vainglory -- sometimes only to die in the throws of withdrawal.

[TwistedAkai]

I'm not sure on Malachite. I've personally seen it in a place where it would be very likely to be mined by new players that don't know any better.

[Lysse]

It might be appropriate for cities to ban the purchase and sale of items that are well known to be made by certain peoples or groups (such as the Hyra, or the Acolytes of the Shadgard Mounds). Not every city would, I imagine. For instance, I can't see the Corvus Outpost as caring, and it's very possible that the items would fetch a good and legal price in the Coalition Outpost.

But, it doesn't seem out of the question that items bearing the mark of a certain ecology based group (to paraphrase Ras) would be welcome in Mistral, or even Shadgard, as those people have negative connotations around them. And, it's easy to imagine that Shadgard citizens would be hesitant to purchase items that are well known to come from the Acolytes nearby, or from the Hyra (which are pretty close as well), due to the reputations of those people.

But again, the Corvus Outpost might not care, and the Coalition might offer a decent and legal price for them, while perhaps Thieves and Traders could have some sort of either task system set up around prohibited item retrieval (people like to collect WEIRD things. You'd know this, if you played a thief and have done tasks), or just special markets that require a small amount of Recognition points to access, but buys the items for a pretty hefty price.


This shouldn't, perhaps, pertain to lock boxes (and, in the case of the Hyra or that Other Group, if they currently drop lock boxes as well they probably shouldn't), since they are more generic treasures.

[Matilda]

I think a lot of what you're looking for is smuggling, which doesn't need to be of an illegal substance. The longest existing and consistent reason for smuggling things is not due to them being illegal, but rather heavily taxed. Rum-running existed long before prohibition and was mainly due to avoiding taxes of various forms. Domestic taxes, and/or duty taxes/tariffs for foreign products provide economic reasons to move goods illegally. This would provide a possible task as smuggling alcohol, or tobacco or on anything that has been taxed (wool was smuggled into England in the 17th century for example).


Another possible banned item is books. Books on sorcery, books that are highly unflattering of local leaders, books on frowned upon religions or maybe things like Contacting Aranas/Malfant for dummies.

[qinweiqi]

I'm not sure on Malachite. I've personally seen it in a place where it would be very likely to be mined by new players that don't know any better.

Sorry, I just picked a pair of semiprecious stones. I kinda know zilch about mining.

I think a lot of what you're looking for is smuggling, which doesn't need to be of an illegal substance. The longest existing and consistent reason for smuggling things is not due to them being illegal, but rather heavily taxed. Rum-running existed long before prohibition and was mainly due to avoiding taxes of various forms. Domestic taxes, and/or duty taxes/tariffs for foreign products provide economic reasons to move goods illegally. This would provide a possible task as smuggling alcohol, or tobacco or on anything that has been taxed (wool was smuggled into England in the 17th century for example).

I hadn't thought about that, but that is very true. I was thinking about how to implement the taxes with minimal effort, and I think the best way would be to have lower public market prices when selling taxed goods and higher market prices when buying taxed goods. A blackmarket or fence would be available for trafficking in tax free trade with better prices (higher sells, lower buys). I'm not sure how you would have that interact with law enforcement though. Inspecting people that come into the city would be absurd if the substance is legal. Maybe a random occurrence of fences that are actually undercover law enforcement? Or maybe have a blackmarket that moves around, so you'd have to find it each time (probably loads easier if you're a member of a less reputable guild) with random raids to break it up and arresting everyone who's there? Eh, that's all I've got so far.

Edit to add: Aha! It could totally be a guild task for the Utasa to locate and inform on black markets. Possibly lead/assist in police raids.