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Stakeholder Choice: A Colonial Trader Quest

How should I model the governance of the Raj?

  • Easier than they were: How things are modeled now

    Votes: 5 16.1%

  • Realistically: Do it historical justice

    Votes: 26 83.9%
  • Total voters
    31
  • Poll closed .
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[X][ILLEGAL]Opium

It will be much more lucrative than our other businesses, and is the branch speciality besides. It will fund other, greater ventures.
Risk is non-existent for now and we were told we will be able to take action to minimize it in the future (most likely bribing the establishment). It is also explicitly our in with the extra-legal businesses and underworld, which would be worth it even if it made little profit. If the worst comes to the worst and we get discovered, we should be able to solve it with further bribery.
 
[X][LEGAL]Tin
I greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn some of the history of this period and region. I know I don't know nearly anything and this gives me somewhere to start reading Wikipedia pages.
 
Adnate said:
I greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn some of the history of this period and region. I know I don't know nearly anything and this gives me somewhere to start reading Wikipedia pages.
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Thank you! Part of the point is to sort of spark this, and if you want a sourcing threadmark I can put one up. As to clarifications and specifics about history etc in this quest, tag me to ask and I'll clarify as best as I can.
 
[X][LEGAL]Tin

@mouli, why is there no legal way to deal with teak?

Canning here we come! Also, hallelujah for the update!
 
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@mouli, we still have no choices for pharmaceuticals? We can go legal with all that opium by producing morphine, and with glass bottles.
 
kilopi505 said:
@mouli, we still have no choices for pharmaceuticals? We can go legal with all that opium by producing morphine, and with glass bottles.
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You don't have the technical knowledge or contacts to get into pharmaceuticals other than simple laudanum or small-scale morphine easily yet. At best that comes in the later 1880s, although the opium you have is illicit. Going 'legal' to get laudanum and/or opiates would raise questions about the source of your supply. You need to launder that, and that is hard. Your character is not inclined to take that risk, not with smuggled opium that can be easily sold onwards.
Legal opium is another thing, but that means getting a grower's license. That means British or Parsi contacts, as well as bribes.
 
[X][ILLEGAL]Teak: Smuggling teak into Indonesia and selling it onwards to the Dutch has a certain appeal, especially as it's cheaper in Malaya than it is in the Dutch colonies. However, if caught this will wipe out the route in Singapore and put Adit in legal jeopardy. Gurudas has offered to handle this side of things in exchange for a cut, and you can allow that to give you some legal cover. DC5 each turn to avoid detection, this turn there is no roll. Provides 1-3 Profit per turn.

I think that as the British begin to put the squeeze on Indian business and step up their extraction economy, we're going to have to learn more and more about ducking and diving to get by. Tin is legal, but it is also highly desirable for the British, and seeing as they're squeezing us out of the rubber trade I see no reason why they won't quickly do just the same for tin. Illicit teak is, I would argue, more stable, because it relies upon the jurisdiction friction between the colonial powers that will certainly endure for at least another few decades, and it mainly hurts the Dutch rather than the British. In this era of colonialism and mercantilism, we can safely rely on the Dutch to keep tariffs high, and while the risk of detection is an issue I'd argue it's still better than getting established in tin only to get blown out by some Brit-run company with engineering and economies of scale we cannot hope to match. Vote teak.
 
[X][ILLEGAL]Teak: Smuggling teak into Indonesia and selling it onwards to the Dutch has a certain appeal, especially as it's cheaper in Malaya than it is in the Dutch colonies. However, if caught this will wipe out the route in Singapore and put Adit in legal jeopardy. Gurudas has offered to handle this side of things in exchange for a cut, and you can allow that to give you some legal cover. DC5 each turn to avoid detection, this turn there is no roll. Provides 1-3 Profit per turn.
 
[X][ILLEGAL]Teak: Smuggling teak into Indonesia and selling it onwards to the Dutch has a certain appeal, especially as it's cheaper in Malaya than it is in the Dutch colonies. However, if caught this will wipe out the route in Singapore and put Adit in legal jeopardy. Gurudas has offered to handle this side of things in exchange for a cut, and you can allow that to give you some legal cover. DC5 each turn to avoid detection, this turn there is no roll. Provides 1-3 Profit per turn.
 
[X][ILLEGAL]Teak: Smuggling teak into Indonesia and selling it onwards to the Dutch has a certain appeal, especially as it's cheaper in Malaya than it is in the Dutch colonies. However, if caught this will wipe out the route in Singapore and put Adit in legal jeopardy. Gurudas has offered to handle this side of things in exchange for a cut, and you can allow that to give you some legal cover. DC5 each turn to avoid detection, this turn there is no roll. Provides 1-3 Profit per turn.
 
This tale is compelling for me to consider illegal options since the British only sees India as their plaything and any chances of "rights" are nonexistent for this time period. Not to mention the excerpts detailing how the current mercantile class is struggling to keep their own fed.

The very obvious is not get caught, and to not go broke in the unfair British Marketplace. I'll go teak because it's something I never heard of before and the idea of learning more about this era's culture in these goods entices me. I do admit having a few more legal sources of revenue is would be nice to keep the British and any rivals from spotting weakness.

[X][ILLEGAL]Teak: Smuggling teak into Indonesia and selling it onwards to the Dutch has a certain appeal, especially as it's cheaper in Malaya than it is in the Dutch colonies. However, if caught this will wipe out the route in Singapore and put Adit in legal jeopardy. Gurudas has offered to handle this side of things in exchange for a cut, and you can allow that to give you some legal cover. DC5 each turn to avoid detection, this turn there is no roll. Provides 1-3 Profit per turn.
 
Do we have options for going into the fishing and aquaculture business, @mouli? To try and alleviate crop failures in our own way?
 
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[X][ILLEGAL]Teak: Smuggling teak into Indonesia and selling it onwards to the Dutch has a certain appeal, especially as it's cheaper in Malaya than it is in the Dutch colonies. However, if caught this will wipe out the route in Singapore and put Adit in legal jeopardy. Gurudas has offered to handle this side of things in exchange for a cut, and you can allow that to give you some legal cover. DC5 each turn to avoid detection, this turn there is no roll. Provides 1-3 Profit per turn.
 
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