Darkports--Pirate/Smuggler Havens

[taalismn]

Darkports--Pirate/Smuggler Havens
“The authorities are going to be on the lookout for any privately-owned frigates with damage looking for repairs, so pulling into places like Thrant or Solstice is out of the question. Hell, after what you guys did, I wouldn’t recommend pulling into even any of the Central Alliance worlds unless you’re looking to commit suicide by cop. However, I CAN sell you the location of a safe harbor that won’t ask questions and fix you up good...it will cost you a good chunk of your big score, but I figure you can’t be fussy or choosy if you want to remain out of the Altess’s hands...”

“Sonny, around here names like ‘Deth-reaper’, ‘Star-shooter’ and ‘Deadly Dred-man’ don’t invoke fear, only laughter. No, the people you stay clear of around this place are the people who don’t need names because everybody knows how dangerous they are, and give them a wide berth. ”

“-Your family got taken by the Jank? That’s too bad, Take my advice and write off ever seeing them again....go make yourself a new family. Nobody ever taken to the Darklands of the Jank has ever been seen again. Nobody, except the Jank themselves, KNOWS where the Darklands are, save that they are pits of utter depravity and darkest villainy.”

Darkports are communities that don’t recognize intergalactic treaties or laws with regards to piracy, or at best pay lip service to them. Darkports offer pirates, smugglers, runners, and the more lawless of adventurers places to resupply, offload loot, get repairs, recruit crews, get intelligence, and rest up from their actions elsewhere. Darkports are typically located in out of the way star systems, but not too far removed from access to galactic trade routes. Pre-space travel, Port Royal in the Caribbean would be a classic example of a darkport.
Darkports are generally independent communities that flout galactic laws, especially when it comes to trade tariffs. contraband lists, and proscribed trafficking. Darkports should not be confused with regular star-polity locations that recognize and accommodate privateers in times of war, though the charge is often made by the opposing side that such communities are pirate havens(this is especially true, for example, of how the TransGalactic Empire regards virtually ALL Free Worlds Council spaceports). Darkports are rarely ever members of and virtually never receive recognition from larger star-nations, though, for whatever reasons of its own, a stellar polity may ignore the presence of a darkport within or near their declared borders.

Other aspects of the Darkport may be rolled up using the appropriate tables found elsewhere(such as the Star System/Planet generation tables in Rifts: Anvil Galaxy, Space Station charts in Rifts: Three Galaxies, or Colony tables in Rifts: Thundercloud).

Darkport Template
a)Size
b)Origins
c)Administration
d)Economy
e)Wealth
f)Security
g)Defenses
h)Access
i)Notoriety
j)Facilities
k) Supplies
l)Features
m)Perks

a) Size---How large?
01-15% Outpost---Usually not more than a few hundred people. Usually only one or two pirate bands operate from this post at any given time. -30% to Wealth.

16-30%Small---Size of a small town with 1d4x1,000 people. Typically no more than a dozen smaller ships are serviced by a darkport of this type.

31-65% Modest----3d6x1,000 people, with a rise in the capability to service/accommodate more ships.

66-95%Well-Established---Small city of upwards of 5d6x1,000 residents. They can either busily accommodate more than a dozen fair-sized vessels, or else there is a large and segregated underclass living to service a small elite population of the privileged.

96%-00% Massive---These rare megaports are home to upwards of 1d4x10,000 people and may encompass several satellite communities/port facilities, sometimes separated by function or services catering to different needs or desires(such as separate settlements for different species, markets, or perversions).

b) Origins---How did the darkport get started?
01-20% Failed Colony---The site of the darkport was once a legitimate colony effort that failed. The pirates found the remains and moved in, repurposing the original site and facilities, and it grew from there. There are few, if any, original colonists left to contest this.

21-40% Conquest----The darkport was once a legitimate independent colony, until a pirate band decided to move in and take over. There is still a remanent and increasingly bitter population of original colonists, now second-class citizens(or worse) on their own world.

41-60% Lapsed Colony----The darkport started as a legitimate indie colony, but economic hardship forced the original colonists to turn to other sources of income to survive. Or else the colonists turn a blind eye to the activities in the spaceport as long as the spacers don’t victimize the colonists.

61-80% Haven---The darkport was deliberately established as a base of operations for illegal activity/’free trade zone’ outside the bounds of more ‘civilized’ and ‘restrictive’ space.

81-00% Abandoned Military Base---The darkport was once a military facility that was mothballed or abandoned before pirates moved in. The original owners haven’t returned(may have lost dominance in the region, or lost interest), but somewhere there may be remaining records of the layout of the base and its defenses. +20% to Defenses. +10% to either Defenses or Supplies.


c) Administration----Who runs the darkport?
01-30% Civilian----The darkport is run by the civilian government of the colony-side. This can be the original colonists or retired pirate captains and officers. In a few rare cases, this might be a legitimate, but utterly corrupt civil official of a larger polity who is ignoring their responsibilities in favor of lining their own pockets.

31-50% Organized Crime---The darkport is run by a larger organized criminal organization such as the Galactic Black Market, cartel, or clan. They keep tabs on comings and goings and who might be competition for their businesses. +15% to Security. Automatically has the Perk: Friends in Low Places.

51-55% Corporate----Though thinly disguised(roll again for the cover government), the real rulers of the darkport are an unscrupulous corporation such as Naruni Enterprises, that uses the darkport to carry out clandestine actions against competitors, test equipment, or launder bad money. +10% to either Defenses or Supplies.

56-65% Paramilitary----The darkport is run by a single pirate group or mercenary organization. This organization sets the laws and is responsible for defenses. Like Organized Crime, they tend to keep a close eye on who uses their facilities and who’s moving what, even if they publicly turn a blind eye and respect their clients’ privacy. +15% to Security, +20% to Defenses.

66-90% Council of Captains---The darkport is run by a committee of active pirate or mercenary officers who share the responsibilities of defense and civil planning. +10% to Security, +15% to Defenses.

91-00% Government----The darkport is secretly sponsored by a less-scrupulous star polity such as the TransGalactic Empire or the Splugorth. This can be for reasons of cultivating a force of disposable, deniable minions, or as a honeytrap to draw in pirates for an eventual mass-extermination/arrest. Or perhaps the darkport is run by a new species using the ‘port to acquire specimens and samples to study, and the ‘port’s visitors are part of a sociological experiment. Odds are, few people actually know who really runs the darkport, as edicts and rules are handed down through a proxy. +15% to either Facilities or Supplies, +10% to Security

d) Economy---How substantial a part of the local economy is piracy and smuggling?
01-30% Minor---The darkport has other means of support in event the side trade in loot and contraband were to dry up. +20% to Wealth.

31-80% Substantial--Piracy and smuggling account for a good half of the darkport’s revenue stream.

81-00% Wholly Dependent---The community lives ship to ship. Without illicit trade to keep money flowing in, the darkport’s days are numbered before it faces economic collapse. -10% to Wealth

e) Wealth----How prosperous is the darkport in regards to darkside trade flowing through it?
01-25% Poor---Outside the ships and associated businesses, the attached community is pretty desperate and things look bleak. Unless one works directly for the darkport, there’s not much employment or support services.

26-75% Modest----Most inhabitants of the darkport make enough to get by on, and still have a little socked away for lean times. There are up and down times in the local economy, but on average there’s a satisfactory mean.

76-90% Rich---- There’s a lot of wealth in evidence and most people in the ‘port live comfortable lives with enough to lavish on a few luxuries and extravagances.

91-00% Obscenely Wealthy----The ‘port is rolling in freely-spent wealth. +20% to Supplies

f) Security---How tightly regulated are activities within the darkport? Even pirates have laws, and means of enforcing them, and many don’t like others messing up their safe havens.

01-20% Anarchy---There’s little if any local law enforcement; laws are regulated by individual local businesses and ship crews with regards to their own safety and security.

21-65% Lax----- There’s a local constabulary, but they’re rather easy-going when it comes to enforcing local laws, tend to look the other way if the lawbreakers are too powerful to handle, and are amenable to bribery. Only if the criminal activity is particularly grievous, blatant, or threatens the businesses of the more affluent local interests will the police take immediate action.

66-85% Strict---- The darkport has a well-organized and diligent police apparatus that regularly patrols the hangars and business districts, keeps an eye on local businesses, and reminds shoreleaving crews to keep their activities to approved areas. Offenders will be detained, arrested, and tossed in a cell until they get a hearing from the local government. Most infractions , however, can be settled with a hefty payoff.
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81-00% Draconian----Visiting clients are free to enjoy themselves, but only within very rigidly defined areas. Stepping outside those bounds will get offenders immediately apprehended and marched back into their appointed areas. Those who do more than simply trespass will be severely punished, up to capital punishment.

g) Defenses----How well defended is the ‘port?
01-30%---- None; the darkport is dependent on the good will and bravery of its clients to defend it. If the pirates and smugglers decide to cut and run, the darkport is essentially helpless. Groundside, there’s little efort to set up comprehensive defenses in depth, and fortifications are left up to individual property owners.

31-65%----Militia; the darkport has a locally-recruited standing force of defenders. They may possess a relative handful of older improvised gunships and fighters for aerospace defense, planet/port-side defenses consisting mainly of remounted light starship weaponry(salvaged or scavenged off decommissioned ships or dismantled prizes), and ground forces with some ground vehicles. There’s an effort to fortify the more important darkport facilities and residences, and establish lines of defense.

66-85%---- Mercenary Army: the darkport has retained the services of a well-trained and well-equipped and trained professional security force/mercenary unit. There is a good amount of effort put into designing defense in depth, with various fortified fallback positions, strongpoints and holdfasts.

86%-00% Fortified----Orbital battlestations, minefields, planetary shields and surface to space batteries, and a mobile force of fighters and larger ships make cracking this nut particularly expensive. Major fortifications and both passive and active lines of defense guard all approaches to the darkport.

h) Access----How easy is it to find and gain access to the darkport? Some darkports are deliberately very hard to find, while others restrict newcomers to only specific parties as matter of their security.
01-40% Members Only---Only prepaid members with special ID codes are allowed to approach the darkport.

41-65% Tightly Restricted---Only certain species or nationalities are allowed access.

66-85% Coded Passwords---- Specially encrypted ‘keys’ are needed to access navigational beacons and get past security. These keys are only given to select parties or purchased(at high cost) from special brokers and contacts(the finding of which can constitute quests in themselves).

86-00% Open Port----Open to anybody who can find it, with the possible exception of obvious law enforcement.


i) Notoriety---How well known is the darkport?
01-20% Secret--Only a handful of people in the business know about where the darkport is located. To others, it’s mere rumor. Or else, few people know that a legitimate colony/transit port is actually a center of organized crime.

21-60% Obscure----The darkport is known of, but scant details are in circulation, and only a few people know exactly where it is. a few more proportionately know vaguely where it might be, or details of how it operates.

61-85% Known---The place is known of, but exact information is often years out of date, and it garners only casual interest from most groups, including law enforcement. If the darkport is operating out of a recognized colony or legitimate location, the authorities have strong suspicions, but not enough hard evidence to move in force to quash activities there.
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86-00% Notorious--The darkport is well-known as a haven of lawlessness and criminal activity. Though others in high places know of it, however, they may be unable to do anything about it.

j) Facilities---What spaceport facilities and services are available?
01-10% Hangar Space Only---The darkport only provides ships with a place to park and time to do their own repairs(or hire services from another visitor).

11-30% Light Repairs---The facilities can only accomplish light repairs, replacements, and minor systems adjustments.

31-70% Major Repairs---Can replace weapons systems, major engine components, and replace large chunks of hull and underlying structure.

71-90% Extensive Overhaul----Can perform full overhauls and major modifications,

91-00% Full Shipyard --This level of capability can virtually rebuild damaged ships. Given enough time and material, the facility could assemble small starships of their own design.

k) Supplies---How well-stocked is the darkport for resupplying ships?
01-30% Basic Supplies Only---The darkport can provide only the most basic of supplies, such as food, water and air, and some basic repair supplies, but anything else must be special-ordered(and may take time to arrive). Ammunition and fuel are at a premium and hotly bid over. High end equipment such as weapons systems and cruise missiles are virtually non-existent.

31-75% Modest---The darkport has stocks of food, water, and basic supplies, as well as common spare parts and fuel stocks, and small quantities of ammunition.

76-90% Well-Stocked---More often than not, the darkport reserves will have what is needed, though high-end and specialized items like exotic fuels and cruise missiles may be in short supply(and proceed accordingly).
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91-00% Large Reserves---- The darkport stocks large reserves of food, repair parts, ammunition and fuel, including fairly exotic/specialized parts and materials.

l) Features---- Can be chosen or rolled for multiple times:
01-15% Trading Post---A better than average open market in loot, contraband and weaponry.

16-20% Hospital----The darkport provides extensive medical services(though frequently at substantial markup). May also provide augmentation services such as cybernetic implants and bionic conversion. The darker sort of facilities may perform biotech augmentations or brain/body transplants.

21-30% Casinos----Particularly opulent palaces of chance and the downfall of many an arriving crew, flush with ill-gotten wealthy. Fools and their money are soon parted.

31-40% Merc Market----Hiring post for mercenaries, including bonding and banking services.

41-50% Intelligence Brokers----The darkport has a better-than-most intelligence network; for a fee, they can provide information on star systems, defenses, potential targets, and possible patrols. On general, this means a 75% chance of having up-to-date information on any system in the immediate sector, 55% on regions outside it.

51-55% Scrubbers----The darkport provides services in ‘cleaning up’ hardware and merchandise and providing falsified ownership/purchase documentation. While they likely can’t help you give you undisputed title to that TGE battleship you highjacked, they can remove the incriminating serial numbers from that Scorpion starfighter you swiped....

56-65% Breakers---While any sort of port facility can do a breakdown of a ship, these people specialize in quickly and efficiently stripping prize vessels for parts and anything else of value.

66-75% Slave Market-----The darkport sponsors the flesh trade and provides the means for pirates to unload captives for cash.

76-80% Narcotics Farm/Factory--- There’s a drug lab or farms producing highly addictive and proscribed substances for illegal sale.

81-85% Weapons Factory---The darkport has a side trade in producing its own weaponry, typically common domain designs or knockoffs.

86-95% Communications Node---The darkport has access to advanced communications; either a large and comprehensive communications center, or a tap on somebody else’s com-network, allowing for sector-, arm-, and even intergalactic communications.

96-00% Exotic Fuel Refinery---This could be an illicit antimatter production facility or something more exotic, like a dark matter refinery or cold-fusion diamond-cutting plant. It produces a powerful energy substance that allows for faster speeds and greater performance in starship systems, provided the ships have the right equipment to utilize the power source/fuel. There’s also the chance that the same exotic substance can be weaponized(antimatter especially).


m) Perks---These are special advantages to the darkport that distinguish it.
01-20% Difficult to Approach---The darkport is shielded from long range detection by some sort of phenomena, such as a nebula, standing plasma storm, dense asteroid belt, or cloaking field. Furthermore, the approach in may be difficult to navigate without pre-knowledge.

21-40% Friends in Low Places---The darkport is part of a larger cartel or organized crime network spanning galactic sectors, and shares resources and information.

41-55% Friends in High Places---The darkport enjoys the covert patronage of others in legitimate star nations. This might be the intelligence services of a star nation, using the ‘port as a convenient and deniable asset, a private citizen, politician, or military officer using the pirates for their own corrupt purposes, or a powerful corporation selling on the sly.

56-65% Neutrality--The darkport claims it plays no favorites and is an independent polity in its own right.

66-75% Backdoor---The darkport has access to a secret route to a profitable travel route. This can be an uncharted wormhole or hyperlane through cosmic phenomena that make ships transiting it difficult to detect on long rage scanners, making it harder to backtrack the pirates to their lairs.

76-00% No Man’s Land----The darkport sits in a region between two mutually antagonistic polities. Even if the star nations are aware of the darkport sitting on their borders, they dare not make any aggressive moves in the area, for fear of the action being detected and misinterpreted, or used as an excuse, for retaliation by the other star nation. The darkport’s clients may be preying on one or both of the star nations, or wisely do not, further complicating matters from a legal perspective.

[Warshield73]

Another great chart. I need to take a look at this and see how well it works with the colony and space station charts you mentioned. I have a few places I created that had darkports as part of them so this should give me a few ideas. Surprised it's not a point buy chart like some of the others, I always like those as they keep you from going too wild. Also, might add some notes about sponsorship, a FWC sponsored DP in TGE space is going to have a lot of differences compared to a corporate sponsored DP in both services and structure.

Probably need to bring in some other creation tables for some of the other businesses/services available and I think I would add a general sort of alignment like you do with merc companies. I am also thinking about magic in use in a DP and these could be great set up for demon/infernal activity leading to the minion war.

As usual lots to consider.

[taalismn]

Thanks for the feedback. Might add your suggestions as follow-up optional charts like 'Magic Tolerance'.
I used to favor point systems, but really, things are rarely equal in RL, and most players aren't going to be building a darkport, they're going to be encountering one. and random rolls give the GM a quick resource to kludge up a rough outline of a dark port and adjust as they see fit(like, as you say, a CCW-sponsored guerrilla port in TGE territory).

Same goes for Alignments. I admit that ethics are subjective given the wide range of cultures in the 3G, but I'm generally taking 'lawlessness' to encompass a wide range of despicable behaviors, like slavery and murder-for-hire. In its heyday, Port Royal was supposedly a British colony, but this was at a time when slavery was legal and the cost system, when it was working, was rather hang-happy. So overall it would be Aberrant? A TGE dark port that DIDN'T tolerate slavery, but condoned privateering? Would that be considered Scrupulous or Aberrant?

[Warshield73]

I largely agree with you that a random roll chart can be as useful as a point buy, I just find as a GM that a point buy forces me to make choices instead of going all out.

I know ethics are subjective, but the alignment is part of the system and it more has to do with who the DP will do business with not just what they will do. Also, can't imagine why a TGE sponsored DP wouldn't allow slavery but it is an interesting question.

[taalismn]

Also, can't imagine why a TGE sponsored DP wouldn't allow slavery but it is an interesting question.

It WOULD be rather unique circumstances, I agree. One possibility is that the 'port is being backed as a honeytrap meant to lure in anti-TGE forces and bandits...The supposed head of the 'port might not be in the loop ad think that they're providing sanctuary for freedom fighters when in reality his second in command is taking notes on where freed slaves and war material goes after it's brought into port, to see who takes up the contraband.

[Warshield73]

Also, can't imagine why a TGE sponsored DP wouldn't allow slavery but it is an interesting question.

It WOULD be rather unique circumstances, I agree. One possibility is that the 'port is being backed as a honeytrap meant to lure in anti-TGE forces and bandits...The supposed head of the 'port might not be in the loop ad think that they're providing sanctuary for freedom fighters when in reality his second in command is taking notes on where freed slaves and war material goes after it's brought into port, to see who takes up the contraband.

In this situation you would have two, the public alignment and the true alignment. I believe there are merc companies or other creations that have this set up. In a point buy system it actually makes sense because it costs you twice as you need to find operatives, in your example, who would be capable of one while faking the other.

Still a good idea for a dark port, most of the ones I have created are in TGE space or in the border areas. To me the most important part of a DP is who, if anyone, supports it. Two DPs in TGE space are going to be very different if one is organized crime and the other is FWC front. Likewise in CCW or UWW space DPs sponsored by the TGE, Splugorth, or Oni Zabatsu. From the people who work there to the products they offer would all be different so even in a percentage chart I think I would focus on who sponsored and what that means for a place.

[glitterboy2098]

i could see a TGE sponsored darkport not allowing slavery if it was in the CCW. it might be a hub for slavers, but it would be a case of slaver gatherers operating out of it, then shipping their wares on to the TGE. with no organized slave ownership or sales allowed at the darkport as part of their efforts to disguise it's existence from outsiders (especially if operating in the shadows of some CCW settled world) as well as limit their liabilities if the CCW does come in and break their operation up.

that said.. do we know what the TGE policy is on slavery? because as former slaves themselves, i could see the Khreeghor banning it or at least heavily regulating it to protect the slaves.

[taalismn]

that said.. do we know what the TGE policy is on slavery? because as former slaves themselves, i could see the Khreeghor banning it or at least heavily regulating it to protect the slaves.

"We don't call it slavery, we call it something else."

They take over entire planets, but that might be called 'citizenship induction' in their parlance.
There might be some cases in which overt slavery by others is dealt with harshly and the slaves liberated, especially if they're Splugorth slaves. In which case the Kreeghor can be very well-disposed towards protecting and repatriating the ex-slaves*...for the most part. The TGE would make sure that there's a big media focus on such cases, with the ex-slave being expected to say nice things about their rescuers(which most will).

Generally, TGE officers are expected to act and believe that their duty is to stamp out slavery by OTHER people...and ignore the forced labor and coercion of 'criminals' and 'malcontents' going on under their noses.

*(Provided you're not identified as a FWC member or known CAF intelligence asset or the like, in which case you might just 'disappear')

[Furoan]

that said.. do we know what the TGE policy is on slavery? because as former slaves themselves, i could see the Khreeghor banning it or at least heavily regulating it to protect the slaves.

Anvil Galaxy Page 83 (the overview of TGE daily life) indicates that Slavery is legal. 'Most' slaves are convicted Criminals, war captives or the descendants of other slaves are said to make up the majority of the slaves, and then mentions that wealthy households usually have at least one slave.

Slaves don't receive wages but they can save up money they receive to buy their freedom, but its fairly common for them to be abused for the amusement of their owners, and they have few rights.

The makeup of slaves probably also depends on the race with 'more important/worthy' races being less likely to be enslaved.