In a towering space station split by wealth and corruption, your business runs on merchandise with flexible origins.
You鈥檙e a former scavenger who secured a storefront thanks to a generous loan and questionable timing. Now rent is rising, factions are watching, and most of your best margins live in legal gray zones.
Start as a gunsmith, chemist, water merchant, fence, farmer, or from absolute rock bottom. Every product line has its own profit curve and its own way of ruining you, weapons bring inspections, chemicals bring addiction, water brings liability, contraband brings raids.聽Some trades need heavy machinery and permits, others just a good hiding spot and a straight face.聽The better the margins, the worse the consequences when something goes wrong.聽You鈥檙e not choosing a theme for your shop, you鈥檙e choosing which kind of trouble you鈥檙e willing to monetize.
You never really know who鈥檚 on the other side of the counter.聽Today鈥檚 customer could be a security fisher for evidence, a revolutionary seeking leverage, or a fallen elite testing your usefulness.聽Every sale is a gamble.聽Approve it, refuse it, report it, or look away; someone is always taking notes.聽Reputation buys access and protection, but it also paints a target on your back.聽On this station, every client is a potential profit and a potential trouble.
Every item you stock carries its own risks. Cigarette packs need visual inspection before resale. Water must be tested and filtered. Weapons require permits and modifications. Profitable chemicals rely on closely guarded recipes. Rare items need proper appraisal to avoid overpaying. You can cut the product鈥檚 quality, relabel counterfeit products as genuine, or fence discounted, stolen goods if you believe Security won鈥檛 reach you. But beware, there鈥檚 always the mob justice.聽Suppliers overstate value, customers push their luck, and contraband often comes with issues you only notice after the deal is done.聽Your margins depend on how well you assess what鈥檚 in front of you.聽 Misjudge the item or the person selling it, and you absorb the cost.
Rent increases over time, regardless of how well your week went. If you fall behind, the consequences are practical. Your store loses attractiveness, fewer customers walk in, revenue drops, and the gap widens. Recovering from that slide often means taking on riskier deals just to stabilize your cash flow. You can choose to play it cautiously or invest in expensive merchandise, hoping for a strong return. But if that item gets confiscated, fails inspection, or simply doesn鈥檛 sell, you may not have enough left to cover what you owe.聽Every purchase becomes a calculation. Every risk carries weight.
A sentient AI chip went rogue and took its hosts with it. Augs look like everyone else ... until they don't. Stay alert, pick up on the signs. Every faction agrees on the policy, and you have the gun to enforce it. But missing the signs, or misreading them, carries its own price
