Stakeholder Choice: A Colonial Trader Quest

The city of Bombay is overcrowded yet again, its neighborhoods slowly divided amongst one another and the merchants' societies of the city splitting along lines of religion and caste instead of cooperating. Such is the verdict of the paper delivered to Vijay Chandekar, the Marathi-language Bombay Herald that in its strident language and its burgeoning circulation is a conduit to the teeming city that's growing faster than the old merchant can keep up with. Today, though, is different.

As he leafs through the Herald, there's a banner at the top of each page that catches his eye. On the thin, cheap paper of the vernacular newspaper is a bolded black statement. The same statement on each page, catching the morning sunlight as Vijay reads on his balcony. Today is the last issue of the Herald, it says, The Herald is in breach of the Sedition Act.

Chandekar sighs at that, reading the issue more slowly as if to savour the last time he'll see the newspaper. Each new paper seems to fold so fast, even if it's not even in a language the English can normally read.

The articles are the same fare that he's seen before, at that. The usual worried editorializing about the villages emptying their skilled men to the cities, the poor and poverty stricken coming to the cities to escape the census bureau's stamp of caste in the countryside. Worries and ribald complaints about taxes and tariffs and restrictions. And most of all, the occasional insult aimed at the Viceroy. Nothing out of the ordinary barring the actual issues examined, which is why Vijay had bought it in the first place.

It seems that the issue for the police, then, is actual substantive complaints rather than just insults. Vijay sighs and folds the paper carefully, setting it down next to him on the chair. He'll try to get it filed and framed later, the last issue of the Herald after six law students and a printer founded it a few months ago. Things haven't gotten easier by much since '57, even if the violence has stopped. More migrants, rumors of grain prices rising and the poor having no food, and the paranoia about nationalists in every corner. Hopefully things don't get worse.

In the distance, Vijay Chandekar can see the Union Jack flying in the breeze.

---

---

You have 2.5-0.5(Debt Service)-1(Family Upkeep) = 1 Profit
You may borrow another 2 Profit
You have 1 Profit of debt

Trade Actions: Take as many as you can afford

[]Expand Bombay's Facilities: The Bombay infrastructure – the warehouses, the clerks, all of it – needs to be able to handle more of the local trade. Similarly we need to have the lawyers on call to deal with the English, since as it is the courts are biased. Before anything else, we need to expand the family's assets in Bombay. Costs 0.5 Profit, increases income from Bombay trade.

[][CALCUTTA]Shift Trade to a different commodity: There are other things that are more profitable than dyes in Calcutta, and it might be a good idea to shift to a different market on that route. For all that dyes are profitable, they're also being grown more and more on the large European-owned plantations that lock you out of the middleman business. Shift commodity on the Calcutta station to one of: Tea (1-3 Profit), Spices (0-2 Profit). Costs 1 Profit, reduces Contacts by 1 in the area.

[]Expand Calcutta's Facilities: The Calcutta station can be expanded by allowing Indrajit to tap into his network of contacts in the nearby fishermen's communities. While this isn't strictly legal (since the Shipping Act forbids it), the fishermen can use the money while the fact of smuggling can hide other sins. Indulge your brother this, for he'll turn a profit and sate his nationalism as well. Costs 0.5 Profit, increase Calcutta income, and add modifier Smuggling: Raise floor of profit on all goods by 1.

[]Cementing things in Singapore: Get a company registered in Singapore and get Adit set up in the right area of the Straits Settlements, and make sure that you have a proper network in the rubber trade before you think about diversifying. While the opium trade is tempting, you don't have much history in the city to begin fiddling with that yet. Costs 0.5 Profit, registers legal front in Singapore, opens networking options in Singapore. I will roll a d100 for local contacts from this option.

[]Sell your stake in: You need the money for other ventures, and liquidation is thus the order of the day.
-[]The Iron Mine: Sell the iron mine in Goa, the same mine that Gheewalla sold you. Jamsetji Tata is making noises about wanting to build a steel mill, so let him have it. Gain 2 Profit.

-[]The Stake in the Abbasi Mill: You have a half share in the Abbasi mill. With the Tata mill, it's one of the few Indian-run textile mills in Bombay. Recent increases in the excise on textiles produced locally will affect profits in the long term in any case. Gain 1.5 Profit.

[]Networking: Spend some money on networking, on entertaining guests, and on making the right sort of friends in the area they're needed. If you do them favors – anything from entertaining them to forgiving some loans of theirs – then you might have the backing you need later on. Costs 0.5 Profit.

-[]Write in station: Yes, a new station is acceptable. Singapore is not yet acceptable.

--[]Focus on:
---[-]British Establishment: Locked. You are not famed enough.

---[]The Local Merchants: Wherever in India one goes, there are enough smalltime traders in the feeder routes that agglomerate to your warehouses, the ones who ship from the villages or even the village market-stall men themselves. These men and women are a useful source in the chain, albeit one that has little official power.

---[]The Other Shippers: There are also large traders, of all stripes. There are other Hindus in the commodity trade, dealing in grain and spice and tea. There are the Islamic horse traders of the peninsula, selling the magnificent horses of Persia and Arabia in the subcontinent. There are Parsis, dealers in cotton and silks and sellers of opium to China. All that and more, and it's best to know one's competition – and potentially gain allies there.

---

Family Actions: Take up to two

[]Adit's Letters: Use the time to cultivate a proper relationship with Adit, and get some idea of how things are over there. A young man in Singapore, one who's made intemperate statements about Englishmen before, at that. Renu is worried, your brother Shiv is worried, it's almost enough to make you worried.

[]Getting Into Cambridge: One of the local boys has gone to England to study, and word has trickled back that the English universities are willing to take candidates. An English education can be useful for making connections with the British, albeit at the cost of losing connections to one's home. Sends one nephew overseas to England to study at university.

[]Shiv's New Friends: Some of Shiv's friends are murmuring about the new land use laws and the English district collector's antics near Poona. Best to let them vent at home, and if that means you gain some trust so be it. Improves relations with Poona branch, potential networking chances (a d100 flat).

---

Special Actions: Take up to two:

[]Entertaining: Vijay has been more withdrawn from public life than before following the death of two of his brothers with their families in '57 and the aftermath. Perhaps now that it's been a year, now that the funerals are long since done and most of the city is slowly going back to its routine, perhaps reentering the public sphere is a good idea. Will rebuild one old contact (rolled in background), and allow actions to entertain or engage in charitable giving, thereby raising the profile of your family and gaining access to more opportunities.

[]Make in India: Tata has been floating ideas of Indians doing things themselves, especially hotels. While the hotel thing is more from him being refused entry to English clubs and the rest of it is from the restrictive laws, he has a point. Why not put him in touch with some of the other nationalists? Chatterjee, Naoroji, and the others might as well hear him out. Prosperity can help the nation as much as political consciousness. Outcome unknown.

[]Istanbul: The completion of the Suez Canal has made Ibrahim Abbasi a very happy man. His network in Egypt and the Hejaz means that he can still engage in the horse trade and cotton trade, while he now can explore the wealthy milieu of the Ottoman Empire's European side. He's offered to put you in touch with some of them, and to take one of Shiv's sons along. DC30 for nothing happening to the boy, potential Turkish contacts.

[]Benevolent Society: There are a number of Chinese benevolent societies that pool resources among the port laborers and are in open conflict with the Malay and Indian workers in Singapore. See what you can do as someone who has the money and the contacts – through Adit and Gurudas – to tamp it down and bribe your way into their trust. DC30, outcome unknown.

Free Actions:
[]Pay Down Debt: You have debt that you might as well pay rather than roll over with more interest to be paid in the coming years. Cost at present: 1 Profit. If this is not taken, omit this option from a plan. This need not be taken.

AN: Yes, turn time has been halved due to the paucity of funding and paucity of options due to that.