Trade Cartels

In the wake of the T’au invasion and the formation of the Vi’Shi government, the Trade Cartels became major powerbrokers. With the new planetary adminstration heavily reliant on their help for the reconstruction of the planet’s infrastructure, they were able to free themselves from past restrictions and shape the rules of postwar society in their image.

Though the Cartels band together to protect their common interests, they are just as much rivals and even deadly enemies, constantly trying to outpace one another. Corporate sabotage and espionage are the rule rather than the exception, often conducting proxy warfare with the help of crime syndicates. It is therefore not surprising that all major cartels have their own standing army in the form of private militias to keep their holdings safe.

Three of the largest Trade Cartels active on Nyo’munda are the Baizatsu Conglomerate, Teknum Industries and Yutau-Vejovani Incorporated. But in the volatile markets of Nyo’munda, numerous others stand ready to take their place. Competition not only comes from Nyo’mundan mercantile organizaztions, but also those as those from other T’au controlled human worlds and other T’au client races. These include Cartels such as the AI-driven MAKROTOSH, nutripaste producer EmperorEats, stripmining company DemiCore, media giant PictFlix, news conglomerate 41st Millennium Vox, and numerous others.

Baizatsu Conglomerate

“Human and Xenos behavior is economic behavior. The particulars may vary, but collaboration and competition for limited resources remain constants. Need and greed rule the stars and the rewards of wealth await those wise enough to recognize this deep thrumming of our common pulse. Human, Tau, Kroot… Our diets may differ, but we all need to eat. ”

Master Morgan of the Baizatsu Conglomerate

The Baizatsu Conglomerate has grown considerably since the arrival of the T’au. Originally producing industrial machinery, vehicles, and simple consumer electronics, they have now expanded their offer with AI technology, mechanical constructs and suits for the Gue’vesa auxiliary regiments, as well surveillance drones used by the government. Oh, and the kids love their gravboards.

Quickly becoming one of the richest men on Nyo’munda, Guild Master Morgan is eager to keep the T’au in power and assembly lines running. His employees, typically young and hotheaded, are some of the most fervent T’au idolizers. Some of them go as far as to cut off their pinky finger in order to emulate the fourfingered hands of their T’au masters, and to better operate their machinery and weapons.

Industrial vehicles and machinery have long been a mainstay of Baizatsu’s portfolio

Members of Baizatsu Conglomerate security forces – note the use of exoskeletons to enhance combat capability

‘Boring Baizatsu’ used to be the phrase, a symbol of a dull, stagnant industry. Ever since the T”au annexation, it has become one of the most popular Trade Cartels amongst hive youth. Baizatsu inspired fashion has trickled down to the livery of street gangs, whilst becoming a Baizatsu certified mechanic is considered a lucrative profession with lots of growth potential.

Baizatsu autonomous servitors, built on the basis of simplified T’au drone AI, have become widespread, fulfilling many different functions

Baizatsu reclamation teams are often sent out into the Exclusion Zone. These missions usually involve the retrieval of prewar, Mechanicus based technology, as well as the recovery of T’au technology considered lost in the war. Missions of the latter type are conducted in secret, as the T’au Empire tends to only share what they consider outdated technology, in order to keep their client races from challenging them.

Reclaimed technology is dismantled and reverse engineered in Baizatsu research facilities

Teknum Industries

A glaring neon glow illuminates this street

Breathe in these human vapors, sweat and heavy heat

High tech cathedrals rise and fall in great ravines

Colossal steeples to the god of the machines

“The Ancient Black Gold” by unknown poet

For centuries, Teknum Industries has been in the business of producing Mechanicus sanctioned cybernetic enhancements and small arms. In the past, they were the main supplier for the Planetary Defence Force and Hive Enforcers. Amongst their main shareholders and board members are techpriests, members of Imperial noble houses, and former landowners. It is therefore no surprise that Teknum was long considered the most powerful Trade Cartel in operation, practically owning the entire city of Teknopolis.

However, the annexation by the T’au Empire has set Teknum on a steady downward slide. With their loyalty questioned by their new masters, and unable to evacuate all important personnel and holdings offworld during the Second Xenos war, those left behind were put in a difficult position.

Publicly, Teknum has elected to serve the planet’s new masters. Privately, they support Imperial resistance cells both in the Hive Sprawl and in the Exclusion zone. Nor do they shy away from deploying assassins against dangerous collaborationist competitors. However, one may question the sincerity of this resistance policy, as the families in charge of the Cartel make sure they can play both sides; both profiting from the occupation, as well as ensuring that they can do an about-face should the Imperium return to bring Neomunda back into the fold.

Members of Teknum Industries often wear elaborate clothes in rather somber tones, usually a mixture of white, black, gold and earthly tones. Baroque touches remain, linking them aesthetically to the Imperium of Man’s noble houses.

Teknum Industries favours discretion, often relying on assassins to conduct cutthroat diplomacy for them.
These are often heavily enhanced, to the point where they might be mistaken for a servitor.

Fencing remains a popular past time amongst the former Imperial nobility. This bleeds through to their choice of fashion, with padded jackets, fencing helmets and sleek and slender powerswords a common vestimentary feature.

“The Tragedy of the Flesh” by Blanchelango the Elder, on display in the lobby of the Teknum Industries headquarters

Yutau-Vejovani Incorporated

“My gift to industry is the genetically engineered worker, or Geneserf. Specially designed for labor, the Geneserf’s muscles and nerves are ideal for his task, and the cerebral cortex has been atrophied so that he can desire nothing except to perform his duties.

Tyranny, you say? How can you tyrannize someone who cannot feel pain? We are merely diversifying our race, much like the Castes of our glorious benefactors, or the selective breeding the Imperium’s noble houses have practiced for millennia.”

Chairman Yutau

Yutau-Vejovani Inc. are the foremost producers of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and many other organic products. Their boardroom is entirely populated by Genestealer Cultists, offspring of the Cult of the Twisted Helix hailing from Vejovanium III.

The origin of the Cult of the Twisted Helix is very much unlike that of regular genestealer cults, as their leaders have willingly turned themselves into artificial hybrids, striving for perfection, power and immortality.

It is unknown to what extent Tyranid hive fleets in general, or their originating hive fleet specifically, are attracted to their psychic presence in the warp. It is also unclear to what extent they are susceptible to the hypnotic effect of regular genestealers, which they seem to have been able to surpress through the use of narcotics or gene therapy.

What is clear however, is the sway their leaders hold over their underlings, which seems as absolute as that of typical Genestealer Cults. However, there seems to be some degree of rivalry between different leadership organisms, suggesting that they may not be acting in as unified a manner as other cults.

Yutau-Vejovani ostensibly serves their T’au overlords by keeping the population docile, producing sedative pharmaceuticals and conducting eugenic experiments under the excuse of creating a caste of loyal human workers for the T’au Empire. However, in doing so, they further the reach of their genestealer taint.

Sleeping pills and soda pop aren’t their sole products. They have a thriving weapons division, focused on the creation of biomechanical horrors. They expanded on standard servitor creation protocols by using the brains and body parts from Tyranids and other Xenos, crafting hybrid monstrosities that rival the battle suits used by the T’au. More recently, they have begun experimenting with creating living organisms, sometimes even sentient, to implant on one’s body, effectively making living, breathing suits of weapons and armor.

Though they plot to eventually overthrow the T’au invaders, they are currently satisfied with maintaining the status quo as the occupation has proven beneficial in many ways. They have more leeway than ever, and have easy access to Xenos strains and DNA to toy with. In the meantime, they continue expanding their power, spreading their hardworking neophytes in strategic places and even carefully bringing some of the T’au under the thrall of the genestealer’s kiss…

Gene-enhanced corporate assassin wearing a biosuit

Members of the Twisted Helix cult dress in a variety of colors, but the most commonly used is surgical gown green.
Organic patterns resembling chitin or scales, whether genuine or simulated, are also popular.

For Yutau-Vejovani researchers, fleshcrafting is not so much as science as it is an art.
Grafting, splicing and breeding are staple ingredients used in the creation of these horrendous hybrid monstrosities.

Living weapons and armor are grown in the amniotic vats of the fleshgarden, until they are ready to be harvested. Some of these function like any tool or piece of clothing would, others attach themselves to the host, some even permanently. In some cases, it can be difficult to say where one organism ends and the other begins.

Hive ganger shows off her fresh pair of ornately grown legs

Yutau-Vejovani laboraties are often lit by a sickly green light, whether from computer monitors or the fluid of massive statis tubes

Yutau-Vejovani art and architecture often has an organic feel to it, as if it has been grown rather than built. Some rumors even suggest the existence of entire facilities formed from a giant living organism.

Infection of T’au specimens is rarely undertaken, as it is likely to alarm Nyo’munda’s overlords. But never say never.

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