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The Merc Market

jatay3

SOC-13
Like every other market Mercs-and all other types of what I will call "strategic materials and services"(SMS)such as munitions, and supplies of all kinds-are dependant on the laws of economics.
This means several things. One is that it is an important element of intelligence to keep an on the SMS market. If the price is going up that could mean an important event is about to take place. Moreover where the event takes place can be predicted by what is purchased(for instance water might be an SMS on Enos, it would certainly be so in an asteroid belt).
Another point is that the SMS market can be manipulated. This in fact is probably an important tool of the Imperium. For instance the Imperium can quell a minor war simply by outbidding all the factions. Or it can decide the outcome in favor of the party that it desires to win without making to many waves(the person handleing the operation can if necessary be disavowed).
Of course other large organizations can do this as well: megacorperations, powerful nobles, and outside powers.
This sort of thing becomes irrelevant during a giant intersteller war. Finding intell there is impossible as prices will be at a fixed high until the end of the war. And of course no one is wealthy enough to manipulate the entire Fifth Frontier War, say, by playing with the SMS market(though even then the practice might have local effects). However the constant border wars and operations-other-than can be affected strongly by this. Some of these take place on worlds of great significance. And the sum of all these little wars ammounts to something of
In any case the state of the SMS market is an important part of Traveller politics. The Great Game cannot be understood without it.
 
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