Business System
From a peasant that has a small market stall, to a merchant that has a dozen caravans roaming the wastelands. A Tinker running a metalsmith shop, a Healer running an infirmary, a Naturemaster running a Potion Shop, or a Marauder that runs a mercenary company, or even a Scavenger looking for people to finance an expedition to some fabled ruins... These are all businesses, or more simply, "biz", in Afterfall jargon.
Businesses play a huge role in society, keeping people fed, and allowing to achieve stuff that no single person can achieve on its own. Sounds great huh? Not really...
Being an entrepreneur was not for everyone, and considering how risky the Afterfall is, and how population fell, far fewer have what it takes to succeed.
Sounds familiar? As you can see, some things change little.
Business in the Afterfall is about survival of the fittest and meanest motherfuckers.
Rule of law in the Afterfall, when it exists, tends to be weak, incomplete, fragile, flexible or asymmetric, and laws most of the times have nothing to do with justice. Laws are usually tailor made to favor a ruler or a ruling class.
In the Afterfall there is no state to hold the monopoly of violence, so you only really own what you can defend. Hence, businesses usually need to pay protection rackets to gangs, and bribes and tributes to warlords and chieftains. Most of the times, they hire their own muscle to protect themselves.
The thing is, any unscrupulous entrepreneur, greedy or desperate enough, with enough muscle at his disposal, can choose to use it to literally attack his competitors, keep his workers in line, collect money from debitors, capture slaves from nearby tribes, or even overthrow a settlement's chief. All this is actually considered business as usual.
In many senses, business in the Afterfall can look a lot like today's organized crime, or how business was conducted in the distant past (think of ancient roman publicani, the East India Company, trans-oceanic slave traders, etc.).
Hence, business is fertile ground for interesting stories involving intrigue, treachery, greed, violence and (mis)adventure of different kinds. That is why we provide a Business System.
The system is chiefly composed of these main articles:
Businesses play a huge role in society, keeping people fed, and allowing to achieve stuff that no single person can achieve on its own. Sounds great huh? Not really...
Not a piece of cake
Not really.... Clients change their minds, or go bankrupt. Technology, laws and governments change... and do not forget about natural disasters, disease, violence, war, treachery, blind greed, bribes and rampant corruption.Being an entrepreneur was not for everyone, and considering how risky the Afterfall is, and how population fell, far fewer have what it takes to succeed.
The Precarious Afterfall Business Ecosystem
Due to the reasons above, the number of businesses big enough to provide employment is very low, so, ironically, a lot of people with poor skills are left with no other choice but to start a small biz, and become self-employed. This leads to a scenario of very few big businesses, and lots of very small struggling businesses, ran by their owners and families, that barely produce enough to feed them. An big businesses prey on the little ones. This creates lots of inequality.Sounds familiar? As you can see, some things change little.
Business as Adventure
Businesses in the Afterfall are not about neverending meetings between smiling hypocrites in ties and dull number crunching.Business in the Afterfall is about survival of the fittest and meanest motherfuckers.
Rule of law in the Afterfall, when it exists, tends to be weak, incomplete, fragile, flexible or asymmetric, and laws most of the times have nothing to do with justice. Laws are usually tailor made to favor a ruler or a ruling class.
In the Afterfall there is no state to hold the monopoly of violence, so you only really own what you can defend. Hence, businesses usually need to pay protection rackets to gangs, and bribes and tributes to warlords and chieftains. Most of the times, they hire their own muscle to protect themselves.
The thing is, any unscrupulous entrepreneur, greedy or desperate enough, with enough muscle at his disposal, can choose to use it to literally attack his competitors, keep his workers in line, collect money from debitors, capture slaves from nearby tribes, or even overthrow a settlement's chief. All this is actually considered business as usual.
In many senses, business in the Afterfall can look a lot like today's organized crime, or how business was conducted in the distant past (think of ancient roman publicani, the East India Company, trans-oceanic slave traders, etc.).
Hence, business is fertile ground for interesting stories involving intrigue, treachery, greed, violence and (mis)adventure of different kinds. That is why we provide a Business System.
The system is chiefly composed of these main articles:
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