This board will contain rumors going around and current bits of interesting news.

You may pick one and investigate it to see if there is any potential profit to be had from it.

When you pick one, tell me which one on the OOC thread is of interest to you.  Also, which character is going to investigate it and what skill they are going to use to investigate it.  If you get stuck as to what skill to use, etc. ask me on the OOC thread and we can discuss.

Please do not post any questions here.  I want to keep this thread for just my posts of news and rumors.

Let me know if there are other questions on the OOC thread please.  Thanks.

One outgrowth of the expansion of interstellar finance within the Third Imperioum was better methods of accounting.  Credits are a purely virtual construction:  there is no coin or bill.
Instead, each credit is really a serial number issued by a sector's central banking authority.

This means that a single credit can be validated against the central bank's ledger.  This is what occurs each time a credit is used.  A merchant queries a database then submits a transaction to log the credit in their name.  The database logs the transaction and files the transfer with the central banking authority.

This system made anonymous transactions difficult.  But of course, where there is a need, someone will supply a solution.  In this case, 'private banking cooperatives' came in to being.  PBCs function as a middle man. A credit is transferred to them.  They mix the credit in with their other credits.  They then reassign those credits into new accounts.

To add another layer, the PBCs will often name their accounts after a cypher.  The account holder is issued a Personal Encrypted Account Key, or PEAK.  The PEAK takes the place of the holder's identity information.  Most often, PEAKs are small handheld console devices that function as both an account ID and a personal banking unit.  The holder can initiate transactions with a third party through the PEAK, have the funds deposited in to their PBC account, and then reclaim the proceeds later by presenting the PEAK at the PBC's personal banking unit.  This keeps the holder completely off record from the transaction.

The downside is that if their PEAK is stolen, they lose access to their account.  PBCs assume the person with the PEAK is the holder of the account.  That is the risk holders take for their anonymity.

Surprisingly, the Imperium has supported this system.  Laws are in place to make theft of a PEAK a serious crime, but the unauthorized use of a PEAK is a minor infraction.  Critics of the system observe that this system allows the nobility and corporations to fund illegal and off book operations.

To which everyone replies, 'Well yeah.  Duh.'

The recent scut-up on Wyltz has put a kink in a very important line:  the shipment of fungi orders to the Bowman Belt.

The belt is in District 268.  Independent, the system pretty much has a gas giant, it's gaggle of moons, and the Bowman Belt:  an asteroid belt that is vast no matter how you look at it.

The belt is obviously home to a lot of belters working their claims.  Water is supplied mostly from a couple of the gas giant's ice moons.  But food is always in short supply.

Gohature makes a good chunk of change supplying the Bowman Belters with edible and long lasting fungal foodstuffs.  But the chaos on Wyltz has already thrown a spanner into the works.  Ships that count on using the high port off Wyltz are already backed up.  The lockdown of so many guests on Wyltz while the flooding and transport are worked out means that vital supply-side logistical experts and businessmen are trapped underwater.  And the virus was uploaded in transmissions to various locales off Wyltz.  Meaning the whole shipping network came crashing down.

The belters are going to be willing to pay top dollar for food shipments

There is one starport in the Bowman system, located on the gas giant's moon Alpha.  There is a scout base on site, but it mostly does survey work in the belt.  The belters are in a constant gang fight with a certain pirate fleet.  But neither side is fearsome or well known.

"Excuse me.  Are you by chance going in the direction of Pavabid?"

The woman asking is a sweet smiling, round cheeked, chubby woman wearing the black and gray uniform of some religious order.

Pavabid is a world in District 268.  Rumor has it that it's under the thumb of a theocracy labeled heretical by the Church of Stellar Wisdom.  It doesn't forbid outside contact.  But it restricts offworld trade to the planet's sole downport.

"I need to get back home.  I'm willing to pay quite a bit of credit.."

She holds out a hand comm.  The comm reflects a banking account holding two million in credits.

"I think this should cover any question about me being able to afford the fare.  Would you be willing to talk to me about it?"

Apparently among the casualties from the Wyltz fiasco is the crew of the ship The Skyward Glance.

They left their passengers high and dry.  That in and of itself isn't uncommon.  What's different here are the passengers themselves.

The Glance was to transport the crew and cast of a movie being shot by Black Sun Entertainment (Yes.  THE Black Sun Entertainment.  They've made such classics as My Dinner With A'Kohokostan and Went With The Solar Wind)

The producer is desperate.  She needs to avoid cost overruns.  She's looking for transport to the location for the film shoot on a moon in the Noctal system over in District 268.  The Glance was also supposed to provide security for the duration of the shoot.  So she not only needs a ride, she needs a crew to keep an eye on things.

Avantium Shipyards is one of the premier operators of shipyards throughout the Marches.  The highport here at Wyltz is one of them in fact.

Some of the Avantium bigwigs got stuck due to the cluster fuck that is this situation.  And they are looking for transport back to the Elixabeth system in District 268.  It's where the Avantium HQ is located.

What Everyone Knows

Kaylin is the forty something year old Duchess of Mora.  She survived her husband, the former Duke, after a palace coup failed to topple his house but did succeed in killing both the Duke and his heir.

Kaylin, who was only a teenager during the coup and the Duke's second wife, rose to power by displaying a shrewd disposition and willingness to make questionable alliances.  She solidified her grip on power and got the Imperium to recognize her claim to the Ducal seat all before she had turned twenty four.  The woman obviously has ability.

Imperium politics being what they are, there is no Archduke position to rule over the Spinward Marches.  If the Emperor were to establish one though, Kaylin would be a top contender for the seat.  She has created a solid network of alliances, playing off other houses against each other with a suprising amount of skill.  She also has quite a few allies in the Navy.  Rumor has it her lover is General Elliot Clangston, head of the Imperium Marine Forces for most of the lower Marches.

The Ice Cloud

There are a number of rumors about Kaylin's supposed intelligence network.  While it is acknowledged she has one...someone in her position would have to have one after all...who comprises it and who oversees it is a matter of great debate.

Most stories told about it give the network the name The Ice Cloud.  Though why that is no one really knows.  The rumors run from the fact the network is stationed in some kind of ice system to the members of the network are known for the cold heartedness.

Whatever the truth, Kaylin always seems to be two steps ahead of her competition.