Welcome to Farport (FT)

[Reixia]

The Purple Dragon Enclosure is far away. No, farther than that. Even farther than that. Look, we'll not get anywhere if you keep making suggestions. The Purple Dragon Enclosure is farther away than most people in the Milky Way Galaxy can comprehend, and almost all of it is either controlled by the Dominion of the Reixia or was depopulated by the Dominion of the Reixia. In precise terms, it is 333,000 light years from Sol.

There is only one way, at present, of safely and securely arriving within the Purple Dragon Enclosure from the Milky Way without spending centuries at it. The She Shiu Wormhole, which is located in the nebula of The Eridani Imperium, leads one after a (relatively fast) trip to the system of Alai Crost. And it is here, on an ancient ruined world, that the Reixanxi have built Farport, the only trading post in their entire Empire where foreigners are welcomed with open hands.

What do the Reixanxi want?

Silver, mostly. Other precious metals and gems, but mostly silver. They won't explain why.

What do they trade for?

Anything found within the bounds of the Empire can be traded at Farport. Exotic fruits, Reixanxi herbs like Ghost Lotus Tea, spidersilk, other luxury items. Curios, relics and oddities from a distant civilization that mean little to the Reixanxi merchant selling them but might be worth a fortune to a collector back home.

Who's welcome?

Everyone is welcome, whether they want to trade or just to live in peace and security. All quarrels are left on the other side of the wormhole. That's one of the Rules.

Getting there

Go through the wormhole, and you can't miss Farport. It's the only planet with a biosphere in the area. You'll receive communications telling you where to go. Just follow the transmissions, Welcome Guest.

Getting out

Just leave the starport and join the queue for an orderly and dignified exit. Happy travelling, Welcome Guest!

Going to the Empire

That is entirely unnecessary, Welcome Guest. Everything you could need is right here in Farport. Why would you ever want to leave? There is nothing in the Empire for you.

[Reixia]

Concessions

A concession on Farport is the permission given to a foreigner to set up a shop or trade freely in Farport. There are three grades of concession:

Merchant

A Merchant's Concession grants permission to its holder to trade for goods on the open markets. The most famous market in Farport is Peddler's Bazaar, where merchants from across the galaxies come to meet and trade. A merchant's license is applied for from the Office of Concessions in the Plaza of Stars. They must be applied for in person, and the office is open from dawn to dusk, with a three hour break from the 11th hour to the 13th hour. The cost is fifty kilograms of gold and silver.

Trader

A Trader's Concession grants its holder the right to a stall in the bazaar. Trader's Concessions are available yearly, and last for ten years. They are bid for in an auction.

Factor

A Factor's concession grants its holder the right to establish a trading post and factory. Factor's concessions are hereditary and/or corporate in nature, and are granted upon petition to the Governor. A factory is essentially the sovereign territory of its owner, and imperial law is only loosely implemented within its borders. There are, at present, six factories:

A GCC Factory, a Dornalian Factory (New Dornalia), a Nimatojin Factory (Sunset), a Menelmacari Factory (Menelmacar), a Kadrian factory, and a Chimer factory (The Eridani Imperium).

[Reixia]

Means of Trade


The Reixanxi at Farport trade primarily in 'pounds' of gold and silver. This should not be confused with the American measurement known as a pound, but are actual melted gold and silver rounds, stamped and weighed, that work out to roughly half a kilogram. A 'pound' of silver is worth roughly 1.5 times as much as an equivalent weight of gold. To convert your silver and gold into 'pounds', the merchant's association has set up a series of weighing and stamping stations throughout the shuttleport and the bazaars. Many of the factories have their own casts available, and some of them are open for outsiders to use.

Another option is to bring in trade goods and then sell them for gold and silver pounds already cast. This is less pure profit than otherwise, but can be handy for people who do not want to carry kilograms of precious metal around with them.

A new innovation that has caught on in some of the bazaars are 'pound notes', which are printed paper plates detailing the amount of gold and silver pounds available to purchase. As of yet these have yet to gain official sanction, but the Governor has expressed a willingness to study the matter. Places where 'pound notes' are accepted will often be labeled as such on the bazaar map or have signage indicating this.


Trade Goods Accepted

Gold and silver, silver and gold. Apart from that, though?

The Reixanxi are primarily interested in trinkets and curiousities, rather than bulk trade goods. There is a thriving trade in seeds and other agricultural goods, and some limited interest in heavy machinery. Toys that are years out of date in the Milky Way often find an eager market in the Reixanxi curio shops. Some of the merchants trade in 'experiences', seeking new and unusual drugs, videos, books and foo

A surprising trade good, one frequently dominated by Kadrians, is chocolate, especially higher purity cacao. Officially, all chocolate products with higher purity than 70% cacao must be licensed by a representative of the governor, who legally maintains the first right of refusal on all exotic goods. Unofficially, though, many Reixanxi traders treat it as if it were worth almost as much as gold, with pure cacao beans and butter worth many times their weight in silver.

[Reixia]

Things to Buy

The Reixanxi merchants on Farport can be divided, broadly, into three categories:

Merchant Houses

Merchant Houses are the primary economic unit on Farport. They make up the majority of bazaar stall holders. They usually sell bulk goods, such as 'Purple Rice from the Emperor's Table' and Red Brass. Price fixing is suspected, but unproven. Amongst the more prominent Merchant Houses are 'High Holy Suit Trading Company' and 'Three Brothers Central Merchants Consortium'. Some merchant houses have a line in toys and trinkets from the Dominion's thousands of worlds, or (usually poor) translations of Dominion movies, books and shows.

Apothecaries

Every bazaar has an apothecary or two, usually selling simple herbal concoctions and local teas and drugs. The real business is on the Avenue of the Herbalists, running between the East Bazaar and the Cherry Hill Bazaar. Here, merchants can haggle for hundredweights of Ghost Lotus Tea and other famous Dominion drugs. As always, caveat emptor. It makes no difference to the Apothecary who you are or what you intend to do with their products back in the benighted wastes of the milky way.

Haggling is expected, encouraged and probably useless. So-called 'Welcome Guests' have no access to the Dominion's internal market, and thus no way of knowing what any product is actually worth. As always in the Dominion, it's not what you know, but who you know. Build a relationship with someone and they'll (probably) be less likely to cheat you.

Free traders

Free traders are a rare sight in Farport, but not unknown. Often not even Reixanxi, these unusual individuals come from one or another world in the vast Dominion and are often eager to sell their local goods. Sometimes these traders have goods that have never been seen before in the Milky Way, and may never be seen again. Some of the more famous and frequent free traders include Ss'rakthor, who only sells his people's claw-swords and talon-axes to those who can defeat him in combat, and The Mendicant, a heavily swaddled figure whose goods range from the ancient to the sublime.

Goods and Services

The most important trade goods in Farport are the so-called 'Holy Trinity': Tea, Silk and Crystal.

Tea

The Reixanxi have a variety of teas, all of which have some positive effect on the user, and often a seriously detrimental effect down the line. They only sell these goods in their processed forms, denying traders any knowledge of their origins or raw forms.

The most famous and profitable tea is Ghost Lotus Tea, sold in packs of 10 in most apothecaries. A clear liquid with a scent that vaguely resembles orchids, its refreshing qualities are second-to-none. One drink, and a night's sleep, will restore any drinker to the prime of their lives, fit and healthy and ready to meet any challenge. This effect lasts a year, and then the user rapidly ages, an experience often described as 'excruciating'. Subsequent drinks will restore the youth and vigor once more, though the effective dose increases and the duration decreases after a certain point.

Rumors that drinking too many cups of ghost lotus tea at once will turn the drinker into a monster are unproven. Rumors that drinking three doses of ghost lotus tea, and then not subsequently drinking it for the rest of your life, will lead to the drinker rapidly aging into dust when the drug wears off are considered 'anecdotal'.

Other teas include Memory Root, sold as a powder, which enables the user to forget raw and painful memories (but will, if overindulged, cause the user to forget to breathe) and Jade Orchid, which speeds up awareness and reaction times (but occasionally fails to wear off, leaving the user trapped in a world that moves far too slowly).

Silk

Reixanxi silk is a miracle fabric, and one the Reixanxi guard very well. It is rarely sold as a fabric or a raw good, the preference instead being for the Reixanxi to fit a customer in the shop and then turn out clothing to match. Theories swirl as to its origins: Caterpillars? Spiders? Strange trees? The Reixanxi refuse to say, and their subjects seem to be just as much in the dark as foreigners. Indeed, many Reixanxi seem uncertain as to the origin of the material.

The 'Silk' is capable of withstanding blades and bullets, resists water, keeeps its owner comfortable in summer, and takes any color dyed to it with remarkable readiness. Its most famous dye is the so-called ''Imperial Rainbow', which its sellers claim is the only dye the Emperor of Reixia wears and is almost as secure a secret as that of the silk. This dye enables the silk to change colors based on what its sellers say is the mood of the wearer, though in reality it's more related to the body temperature than any psionic effect.

Crystal

One thing everyone knows about Reixia is that it's full of crystals and gemstones. Indeed, even on Farport, travelers can find crystal gardens (the most famous being on the Avenue of the Governor, open to the public from the third hour to the ninth hour), where crystals grow amongst the flowers and trees, much like flowers and trees. While, of course, one of these 'wild' crystals would be a valuable souvenier, it also rather defeats the purpose of traveling to Reixia for a crystal.

What most people want are the so-called 'cultured' or 'charged' crystals, gems which come in a variety of sizes and colors and have a variety of purposes. Anyone who's met a Reixanxi aristocrat or high merchant knows that they are often adorned with rings and necklaces. What they may not realize is that the jewelry is for more than just for display.

A large tear-drop 'sapphire' could serve as a personal assistant. A 'ruby' might be capable of firing a short range laser in a pinch. An 'emerald' could detect poison. An amethyst might send and receive messages. Though they are not as efficient as an implant, the Reixanxi seem to prefer to adorn themselves in gems and are quite willing to sell them to foreigners. Most gems are powered by a combination of sunlight and body heat, though many of the more esoteric functions don't work perfectly away from Reixia.

Of course, these aren't the famous crystals. Every 'Welcome Guest' has seen a Seer and her naval escort, her collarbone or navel adorned with a shining silver-blue oval gem. Some may know that those allow a connection to the great crystal at the planet's core, and from there to the crystal network that unites the Dominion. Much of Reixanxi high technology runs on the radiation given off by these crystals, from the nearly whisper-silent conveyances that carry the elite to the staves that the governor's guards carry, even the lights that flicker on when night comes, providing a soft warm glow that still allows the stars above to be seen clearly.

You might think it's impossible for a foreigner to purchase one of these crystals, and you'd be right. The Dominion guards its secrets well, and trying to steal them is a fatal mistake. But they do sell 'mock' crystals, similar to a battery. Plant these crystals in a garden and they'll provide the power that Dominion equipment needs to run for some time (usually about ten years). Some foreigners, of course, have built adapters to allow standard technology to access the crystal's energy, and vice versa. These crystals are often reputed to improve fertility, health and beauty in adolescent females, though the Reixanxi pointedly do not advertise this effect. Similar crystals, red-gold in color, are also available for sale, but seem much rarer than the blue-silver ones, and are often purchased by Kadrians or Chimer whenever they come on the market.