Merkatua

[Gringhost]

Merkatua

We like business here. That's what influenced me to name my organization "The Market" in my native tongue. I will be brutally honest, I deal in Spice. I don't care if it destroyed your family, or if I had your hands cut off, or even if you decide to stop taking it, I will make money. And that is the idea of the market. To make money, and deal with those willing.

-Iban Salid on the topic of "Merkatua"​

SHORT HISTORY OF MERKATUA:​

Around the age of 26, Iban Salid started to organize a Spice Cartel on his homeworld of Sevarcos II. By the age of 29, he had become the de facto ruler of the world, and his organization spread through the galaxy. While not officially recognized, more people feared Silad than their Imperial Governor. Supported by smugglers, the Spice Trade began to fly in multitudes of money. All the while rivals began to emerge. Spice dealers came in and tried to undersell products provided by Salid. He turned around and destroyed the dealers' ship, forcing them to buy passage off planet.

Thus began Merkatua's galaxy spanning expansion. While the main business base of the Merkatua is on Sevarcos II, they first placed a business suite on Coruscant. There they faced several competitors, mainly from Esomos Resurgam and his allies. Even with this competition, business was good and Merkatua expanded yet again, this time to the Mid Rim. Where better to expand to other than Naboo, where multiple nobles enjoy various Spices. Here business boomed. Even though the GA attempted to shut down the business, Iban and Merkatua were able to sell more and more spice.

Then came the larger dealers, Hutts from Tantooine. A minor Hutt named Torgaddon attempted to destroy the building where majority of Iban's spice was processed. In retaliation, Iban assassinated the Hutt personally, killing his guard and destroying his fortress. This set other Hutts a message, one which they continue to abide by. Fear Merkatua, or death will come. In response to these threats, bounties have been placed on majority of Merkatuas' members.

FORCES:
There are three corvette size ships, each belonging to whoever holds the position of "Lord". There are sufficiently armed for their size, and are typically used only when heavier fire power is needed to break a blockade so spice can flow. Beyond that ship, Iban has his personal yacht, The Sand Dune. It has armored plating, which has allowed Iban to get away from angry customers more than once. The majority of Merkatua's fleet are the individual smugglers and enforcer ships, though it has a sizable fighter force at it's homebase on Sevarcos II.

Majority of Merkatua's ground forces are the various dealers and businessmen who instigate growth into new places and buildings. Of the few who get their hands dirty, they are called Enforcers. All enforcers are trained personally by Iban on any specific thing they want. He can teach them specialization in hand to hand combat, stealthing, and hacking. These enforcers wear similar clothing to Iban, and are known to infiltrate government, opposing factions, and to assassinate people in these groups. The Enforcers are feared individuals. Now beyond these enforcers are people Iban likes to refer to as Inquisitive Individuals. They have the important job of correlating information gained from enforcers, designing new methods to sell items to the galaxy, and investigating various attacks from enemies.

With each Lord in charge of a different ring of the universe, and Underboss to support that Lord, and Enforcers and Inquisitive Individuals to complete job needed to expand business, Merkatua is a beast with many heads.

RESOURCES:
Most of the money Merkatua brings in is from the Spice Trade, one that spans across the galaxy. The rest of the income that supports Merkatua is from raids on rival Spice Traders and groups who oppose Merkatua's various dealings. These deals can range from Coruscant to Bastion, though they are less prevalent on Tantooine because the Hutts have firm control over the planet.

TYPICAL MERKATUA BASE:

Typically each base will have a generator to support it and it's various energy requirements for up to three weeks. These generators support shields, automatic turrets, and anything else the base has implanted inside. Majority of the Spice is processed offsite, and whenever there are raids by the Alliance or Empire, they cannot find a trace of anything out of the ordinary.

Unless they look far beneath the individual buildings themselves. Each base has delved deep below the surface of the planet to have underground facilities. In the city planets like Coruscant, that means they have begun the process of taking over the undercity, driving out the less desirables. From here they ship out millions of pounds of Spice, from Black Spice to Glitterstim.