The Black Market | Shinseina World

The
Black Market

Shadows Behind Every Wall

Contrary to popular belief, the Black Market isn't merely a chaotic collection of people selling illegal items or a haven for unlawful activities. In reality, the Black Market is an unseen empire, a vast criminal network woven deep into the fabric of Shinseina. Neither a place nor a single organization, it is a living web of deals, deception, and power. It governs the underworld through secrecy, ruthlessness, and fear, thriving on the chaos left in the wake of war, politics, and ambition.

At the core of the Black Market is the belief that everything has a price, be it knowledge, power, life, or death. Its influence is subtle yet all-encompassing, reaching from the slums to the noble courts. While monarchs and clans may rule in daylight, the Black Market rules in shadow.

The Economy Below

The Black Market functions as a decentralized network of operatives and cells, each running local operations and reporting through encrypted methods to higher ranks; there is no part of the machine that can not be replaced, even the heads can be replaced on rare occasions.

Even if one part of the system is compromised, the whole remains unaffected, flexible, and untraceable. That fact is what makes the Black Market what it is, more than just a mere criminal group, but a system that governs it all.

Key Operational Features:

Cells and Operatives: The organization is divided into cells, each with its own operatives who handle local operations and report to a central coordinator. This compartmentalized structure ensures that even if one cell is compromised, the rest of the network remains intact.
Secretive Communications: Communication within the Black Market is conducted through encrypted messages and dead drops. Specially trained messengers and informants use coded languages and signals to relay information, ensuring that no single message can be easily intercepted or understood.
Underground Markets: While there isn't a single physical location known as the Black Market, there are numerous moving marketplaces and safe houses scattered throughout the cities and hidden in the land. These hidden hubs are where transactions take place, often disguised as legitimate businesses or hidden with magic in special locations.

Hidden Economy

Beyond the obvious criminal enterprises, the Black Market sustains an entire parallel economy that doesn't solely rely on just the common world; in fact, they have an economy so deep that even if a city they operated in were to fall, they would be unaffected.

Debt Lending & Collection: Money can be borrowed, but the price is often more than coin.
Commission Services: Custom magical items, curses, or weapons can be ordered discreetly.
Black Auctions: Dangerous relics and forbidden spells change hands behind veiled curtains.
Covert Contracts: Need a mercenary, spy, or tamer? There's always someone available—for a cost.

Nine Heads of the Serpent

At the top of the Black Market is the ruling council known as the Nine Heads of the Serpent. These nine individuals each oversee a major aspect of the organization, including:

Illegal Goods: They trade and smuggle contraband items and other things.
Assassinations: They are in charge of targeted killings or assaults.
Kidnapping: They are responsible for abducting for ransom, or for some other reason.
Narcotics: Production and distribution of illicit drugs.
Trafficking: Enslavement and sale of individuals.
Information Brokerage: Gathering and selling intelligence.
Weaponry: The creation and sale of illegal arms.
Order: They oversee the order within and outside the Black Market, keeping everyone in check and in line with the Black Market.
Overseer: They are the controller and overseer of the entire Black Market.

Each head is shrouded in mystery, with their true identities and appearances concealed even from the nobles and high-ranking members within the organization. They are known only by their code names and their reputations alone are enough to command absolute obedience and fear within the ranks.

Trust Above Power

Power in the Black Market means nothing without trust. Advancement and privilege are based not just on strength or status, but on loyalty and proven reliability.

In the Black Market, members rise from Bronze to Onyx rank based on demonstrated loyalty and success rather than mere power, and to reinforce this level of secrecy, all members are bound by magical contracts to ensure betrayal is met with dire, often fatal consequences.

Beyond mere contracts are the enforcers of the Black Market, the Serpent's Fang. An elite enforcement group answering directly to the Heads, they ensure loyalty and eliminate threats.

An Unspoken Alliance

The Black Market's strength is such that even the nobility dare not cross it lightly. Monarchs have formed a silent accord with the Nine Heads, so long as the organization does not threaten national stability or public peace, they are allowed to operate in the shadows.

In return, the Black Market provides stability to the criminal world, keeping chaos from spilling too far. On occasion, even nobles and monarchs have been known to request favors from the Market; quiet assassinations, hidden information, or forbidden knowledge.