Here's take two of the entry.
Or, rather, entries - I've split off the discussion of legal drugs into a "Popular Trade Items" stub.
====== Organized Crime in Fenspace ======
Not everybody who's made it Up is nice.
===== History =====
Organized criminals got into Fenspace the same way everyone else did: they handwaved some vehicles (or had someone else 'wave some vehicles for them) and headed up. Then, for the most part, they settled down in quiet locations away from the major traffic lanes and built up their resources.
However, it's difficult to actually //commit// crimes when you're hidden like that, so they started preying on honest folk (some more quickly than others).
===== Organized Criminal Groups =====
Most Fen lump all organized criminals under the heading "Boskonians". This is a gross over-simplification.
Many major organized crime groups are active in space, not always in co-operation with each other. (The rivalry between at least one Columbian drug cartel and at least one Yakuza group was the direct cause of the destruction of Crystal Osaka in 2013, for instance.) If they are known to exist on Earth, they probably have at least a representative somewhere in space to keep an eye on their interests.
(Edit: Incorporate Cobalt's list of organized Fencriminals here...)
===== Types of Organized Crime =====
Organized crime on Earth breaks down into some clearly-identifable activities, some of which do not translate well to Fenspace.
==== Extortion ====
In Fenspace, extortion is widely considered to be a form of robbery, which is illegal.
Small groups of Boskonians make a profit extorting protection money out of isolated fen. ("That sure is a nice oxygen reclamation system you have there. Would be a shame if something were to happen to it.")
Extortionists have the advantage of being able to move fast, and their threats are often very effective.
In regions where the Patrol is nearby (such as the Supers enclave in Kandor City) or where citizens routinely take the law into their own hands (such as the Browncoat settlements on Ganymede), extortion is risky. In other areas, it can be quite luacrative - most people will pony up the money because of the chance that the Boskonians could sabotage their food and water and air supply before the Star Patrol could do anything to save them.
==== Gambling and Prostitution ====
As of 2014, gambling and prostitution are not illegal in Fenspace.
But that doesn't mean they're safe. Organized crime is accustomed to being in charge of these businesses on Earth even where they're legal, and they don't take infringement on their "turf" lying down. A new establishment in either of these fields should expect extortion and terror tactics to be used against it until it capitulates, unless it becomes more expensive for the criminals to continue the harassment than they'd gain after the takeover.
Successful casinos and brothels in Fenspace either have arrangements with the local organized criminals, are owned by the criminal element outright, or are //very// good at protecting themselves.
==== Slavery ====
Slavery is illegal in Fenspace, and has been since the Articles of Confederation were signed at KandorCon.
The scarcity of usable living room in space makes owning slaves problematic, so slaving operations in Fenspace focus on obtaining "stock" for the Earth market. There is enough demand among unscrupulous mundanes for biomodded pleasure-slaves that capturing, forcibly biomodding, and brainwashing Fen is a sufficiently profitable activity for organized crime to handle.
==== Illegal Drugs ====
As of 2014, there are no illegal drugs in Fenspace.
This is less because of the libertarian nature of Fenspace, and more from the fact that addiction to incapacitating or mind-altering drugs is self-correcting in space. (People who drug themselves into a state where they can't tend to their own needs quickly end up dead from oxygen deprivation, either because the air in their suits or cars ran out, or because they walked out an airlock without a pressure suit.)
Since avoidance of "hard" drugs is a survival trait in Fenspace, there is little market for organized criminals to fill. Generally, they don't bother.
Organized crime //does// take advantage of conditions in space to harvest or otherwise create drugs that can be sold on Earth. The most nortorious of these is thionite, a powerful hallucinogen derived from certain strains of Venusian terraforming bacteria.
==== Illegal Weaponry ====
As of 2014, there are no illegal weapons in Fenspace. (The use of weapons of mass destruction, such as "kaboomite," was outlawed in the treaty of KandorCon, but ownership of them is not illegal per se.)
However, many Fen don't bother to go armed. One can only cram so much into a vehicle, and there's no hostile wildlife in space. More importantly, there's no pre-existing source of food Out There. Given a choice between a chaingun that he'll probably never use or an extra day's worth of groceries that he'll definitely eat, most Fen choose to pack the food. Weapon caches exist mainly on larger ships and stations that have room for luxuries (such as //Grover's Corners// and //Stellvia//), and in areas where the local culture is heavily influenced by Fen from areas of the United States where personal weapon ownership is encouraged, but most of these people brought their weapons with them when they left Earth.
Also, weapons larger than sidearms and rifles are too expensive for most Fen to purchase. As of 2013, only Boskone and the Great Justice team have military-spec hardware in any great numbers, and most of that is homebuilt.
Since most of the people in Fenspace who want weapons already have the weapons they can afford, there is little market for organized criminals to fill. Generally, they don't bother.
Just because handguns are legal in Fenspace doesn't mean they aren't controlled. The vast majority of large ships and stations regulate who is allowed to carry weaponry while on-board in order to reduce the chance of accidental death and structural damage. (While most handwaved hulls are impervious to firearm bullets, there are plenty of tubes and conduits that handle electronics, oxygen, and temperature control to be ruptured in a gunfight.)
==== Corporate Malfesance ====
Because of the unique nature of Fenspace economics, it quickly becomes obvious which companies are being looted from within (the amount of biomass coming from the companies increases without obvious cause), and the companies' owners can take appropriate steps before major harm is done.
==== Data Piracy ====
As of 2014, it is not illegal to share data of any sort in Fenspace. Most factions have rules against divulging secrets, and many respect the concept of copyright to greater or lesser degrees, but the highly libertarian nature of Fenspace as a whole makes it impossible to place an outright ban on data transmission.
This gives certain people ideas. Download servers that are illegal on Earth, ranging from the political to the mercenary, flourish in many areas of space. Some of these servers are operated by the criminal element.
Because of these servers, many Earth-based governments do not allow their citizens to access the Interwave, and some of the governments that do allow such access monitor it closely.
==== Terrorism ====
Terrorism in Fenspace is kind of an odd duck. Fen are beautiful examples of targets for all kinds of terrorists, from al-Quaeda to Operation Rescue, but //terrorism// tends not to happen in Fenspace. This is based partly in the diffuse nature of fen government; it's harder to strike fear in a nation when that "nation" is made up of less people than the population of Luxembourg and spread out all over a volume millions of times larger than Earth.
A few terrorist (or "terrorist") groups, like the Sons of Turner (a white-power movement affiliated with like groups in North America and Europe) or the Red Brigades (the classic communist terror group from Italy, revived for a new century) have found homes in Fenspace. However, these groups seem mostly content to isolate themselves within small habitats as they try to create their utopias. If or when these attempts fail, the situation may change.
The biggest terrorism-related threat plaguing Fenspace, and the one Great Justice (and after them, the Patrol) spend most of their energy combating, is the threat of groups using fen technology to strike at Earth. The idea that a group could throw "small" asteroids and comets at juicy targets on Earth is //very// tempting. It's bad enough that this [[fiction:early:we_don_t_need_that_hammer_lucifer|almost happened to Aukland by accident in 2011]; most people in Great Justice and the Patrol have spent at least one sleepless night dreading that someone might try doing it on purpose. Thankfully, most terrorist groups don't have the contacts necessary to pull this kind of stunt off. One (thankfully rare) exception to this are the Sons of Rome, a negative-growth deep green movement that attempted to drop a dinosaur killer on Earth in early 2014. The attempt failed, but a large number of the Sons escaped the Patrol.
====== Popular Trade Items ======
//or, How can I make some credits in Fenspace?//
===== "Legal" Drugs =====
Technically speaking, all drugs are legal in Fenspace (barring local regulations to the contrary), but some drugs are just too dangerous to use in the unforgiving environment of space.
Use of alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana in moderation does not incapacitate the user to life-threatening extremes, so there are markets for these drugs in Fenspace.
**Alcohol** is trivally easy to make from any starch-based foodstuff, and many Fen do so. The stereotypical Belter is known for making back-of-the-car "white lightning," and the //White Stallion// does a nice side business selling small batches of whiskey that aren't up to their very high standards.
The settlement in the //Grover's Corners// is top-heavy with
home-brewers; their beers, meads and ciders are considered among some of the better "local" product available in Fenspace. (They are also hard to come by - the crew came into Fenspace expecting to brew mainly for themselves, and at the moment they are limited to approximately ten five-gallon "brew buckets" at a time.)
And Crystal Sapporo (in Venus orbit) is home to one of the most noted breweries in Fenspace.
The //Corners'// crew are typical in selling their brews for a quarter their weight in biomass (or the equivalent in other valid currency) plus an amount of water equal the brew sold.
**Marijuana** is almost trivially easy to grow, as long as the necessary hydroponic greenhouse space is available. //Hephaestus// grows a strain guaranteed to be handwavium-free. The Martian Terraforming Project grows acres of hemp mainly intended for cloth and paper fiber, but some of that crop ends up in pipes and cigarettes as well.
**Tobacco** is somewhat more difficult to grow in Fenspace, and remains a major Earth export. (As with all botanical matters in Fenspace, there are persistent rumors that The Jason is working on this problem, but as of 2014 he hasn't announced anything.)
Additions, deletions, other changes, further kibitzing of any other sort?
-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Or, rather, entries - I've split off the discussion of legal drugs into a "Popular Trade Items" stub.
====== Organized Crime in Fenspace ======
Not everybody who's made it Up is nice.
===== History =====
Organized criminals got into Fenspace the same way everyone else did: they handwaved some vehicles (or had someone else 'wave some vehicles for them) and headed up. Then, for the most part, they settled down in quiet locations away from the major traffic lanes and built up their resources.
However, it's difficult to actually //commit// crimes when you're hidden like that, so they started preying on honest folk (some more quickly than others).
===== Organized Criminal Groups =====
Most Fen lump all organized criminals under the heading "Boskonians". This is a gross over-simplification.
Many major organized crime groups are active in space, not always in co-operation with each other. (The rivalry between at least one Columbian drug cartel and at least one Yakuza group was the direct cause of the destruction of Crystal Osaka in 2013, for instance.) If they are known to exist on Earth, they probably have at least a representative somewhere in space to keep an eye on their interests.
(Edit: Incorporate Cobalt's list of organized Fencriminals here...)
===== Types of Organized Crime =====
Organized crime on Earth breaks down into some clearly-identifable activities, some of which do not translate well to Fenspace.
==== Extortion ====
In Fenspace, extortion is widely considered to be a form of robbery, which is illegal.
Small groups of Boskonians make a profit extorting protection money out of isolated fen. ("That sure is a nice oxygen reclamation system you have there. Would be a shame if something were to happen to it.")
Extortionists have the advantage of being able to move fast, and their threats are often very effective.
In regions where the Patrol is nearby (such as the Supers enclave in Kandor City) or where citizens routinely take the law into their own hands (such as the Browncoat settlements on Ganymede), extortion is risky. In other areas, it can be quite luacrative - most people will pony up the money because of the chance that the Boskonians could sabotage their food and water and air supply before the Star Patrol could do anything to save them.
==== Gambling and Prostitution ====
As of 2014, gambling and prostitution are not illegal in Fenspace.
But that doesn't mean they're safe. Organized crime is accustomed to being in charge of these businesses on Earth even where they're legal, and they don't take infringement on their "turf" lying down. A new establishment in either of these fields should expect extortion and terror tactics to be used against it until it capitulates, unless it becomes more expensive for the criminals to continue the harassment than they'd gain after the takeover.
Successful casinos and brothels in Fenspace either have arrangements with the local organized criminals, are owned by the criminal element outright, or are //very// good at protecting themselves.
==== Slavery ====
Slavery is illegal in Fenspace, and has been since the Articles of Confederation were signed at KandorCon.
The scarcity of usable living room in space makes owning slaves problematic, so slaving operations in Fenspace focus on obtaining "stock" for the Earth market. There is enough demand among unscrupulous mundanes for biomodded pleasure-slaves that capturing, forcibly biomodding, and brainwashing Fen is a sufficiently profitable activity for organized crime to handle.
==== Illegal Drugs ====
As of 2014, there are no illegal drugs in Fenspace.
This is less because of the libertarian nature of Fenspace, and more from the fact that addiction to incapacitating or mind-altering drugs is self-correcting in space. (People who drug themselves into a state where they can't tend to their own needs quickly end up dead from oxygen deprivation, either because the air in their suits or cars ran out, or because they walked out an airlock without a pressure suit.)
Since avoidance of "hard" drugs is a survival trait in Fenspace, there is little market for organized criminals to fill. Generally, they don't bother.
Organized crime //does// take advantage of conditions in space to harvest or otherwise create drugs that can be sold on Earth. The most nortorious of these is thionite, a powerful hallucinogen derived from certain strains of Venusian terraforming bacteria.
==== Illegal Weaponry ====
As of 2014, there are no illegal weapons in Fenspace. (The use of weapons of mass destruction, such as "kaboomite," was outlawed in the treaty of KandorCon, but ownership of them is not illegal per se.)
However, many Fen don't bother to go armed. One can only cram so much into a vehicle, and there's no hostile wildlife in space. More importantly, there's no pre-existing source of food Out There. Given a choice between a chaingun that he'll probably never use or an extra day's worth of groceries that he'll definitely eat, most Fen choose to pack the food. Weapon caches exist mainly on larger ships and stations that have room for luxuries (such as //Grover's Corners// and //Stellvia//), and in areas where the local culture is heavily influenced by Fen from areas of the United States where personal weapon ownership is encouraged, but most of these people brought their weapons with them when they left Earth.
Also, weapons larger than sidearms and rifles are too expensive for most Fen to purchase. As of 2013, only Boskone and the Great Justice team have military-spec hardware in any great numbers, and most of that is homebuilt.
Since most of the people in Fenspace who want weapons already have the weapons they can afford, there is little market for organized criminals to fill. Generally, they don't bother.
Just because handguns are legal in Fenspace doesn't mean they aren't controlled. The vast majority of large ships and stations regulate who is allowed to carry weaponry while on-board in order to reduce the chance of accidental death and structural damage. (While most handwaved hulls are impervious to firearm bullets, there are plenty of tubes and conduits that handle electronics, oxygen, and temperature control to be ruptured in a gunfight.)
==== Corporate Malfesance ====
Because of the unique nature of Fenspace economics, it quickly becomes obvious which companies are being looted from within (the amount of biomass coming from the companies increases without obvious cause), and the companies' owners can take appropriate steps before major harm is done.
==== Data Piracy ====
As of 2014, it is not illegal to share data of any sort in Fenspace. Most factions have rules against divulging secrets, and many respect the concept of copyright to greater or lesser degrees, but the highly libertarian nature of Fenspace as a whole makes it impossible to place an outright ban on data transmission.
This gives certain people ideas. Download servers that are illegal on Earth, ranging from the political to the mercenary, flourish in many areas of space. Some of these servers are operated by the criminal element.
Because of these servers, many Earth-based governments do not allow their citizens to access the Interwave, and some of the governments that do allow such access monitor it closely.
==== Terrorism ====
Terrorism in Fenspace is kind of an odd duck. Fen are beautiful examples of targets for all kinds of terrorists, from al-Quaeda to Operation Rescue, but //terrorism// tends not to happen in Fenspace. This is based partly in the diffuse nature of fen government; it's harder to strike fear in a nation when that "nation" is made up of less people than the population of Luxembourg and spread out all over a volume millions of times larger than Earth.
A few terrorist (or "terrorist") groups, like the Sons of Turner (a white-power movement affiliated with like groups in North America and Europe) or the Red Brigades (the classic communist terror group from Italy, revived for a new century) have found homes in Fenspace. However, these groups seem mostly content to isolate themselves within small habitats as they try to create their utopias. If or when these attempts fail, the situation may change.
The biggest terrorism-related threat plaguing Fenspace, and the one Great Justice (and after them, the Patrol) spend most of their energy combating, is the threat of groups using fen technology to strike at Earth. The idea that a group could throw "small" asteroids and comets at juicy targets on Earth is //very// tempting. It's bad enough that this [[fiction:early:we_don_t_need_that_hammer_lucifer|almost happened to Aukland by accident in 2011]; most people in Great Justice and the Patrol have spent at least one sleepless night dreading that someone might try doing it on purpose. Thankfully, most terrorist groups don't have the contacts necessary to pull this kind of stunt off. One (thankfully rare) exception to this are the Sons of Rome, a negative-growth deep green movement that attempted to drop a dinosaur killer on Earth in early 2014. The attempt failed, but a large number of the Sons escaped the Patrol.
====== Popular Trade Items ======
//or, How can I make some credits in Fenspace?//
===== "Legal" Drugs =====
Technically speaking, all drugs are legal in Fenspace (barring local regulations to the contrary), but some drugs are just too dangerous to use in the unforgiving environment of space.
Use of alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana in moderation does not incapacitate the user to life-threatening extremes, so there are markets for these drugs in Fenspace.
**Alcohol** is trivally easy to make from any starch-based foodstuff, and many Fen do so. The stereotypical Belter is known for making back-of-the-car "white lightning," and the //White Stallion// does a nice side business selling small batches of whiskey that aren't up to their very high standards.
The settlement in the //Grover's Corners// is top-heavy with
home-brewers; their beers, meads and ciders are considered among some of the better "local" product available in Fenspace. (They are also hard to come by - the crew came into Fenspace expecting to brew mainly for themselves, and at the moment they are limited to approximately ten five-gallon "brew buckets" at a time.)
And Crystal Sapporo (in Venus orbit) is home to one of the most noted breweries in Fenspace.
The //Corners'// crew are typical in selling their brews for a quarter their weight in biomass (or the equivalent in other valid currency) plus an amount of water equal the brew sold.
**Marijuana** is almost trivially easy to grow, as long as the necessary hydroponic greenhouse space is available. //Hephaestus// grows a strain guaranteed to be handwavium-free. The Martian Terraforming Project grows acres of hemp mainly intended for cloth and paper fiber, but some of that crop ends up in pipes and cigarettes as well.
**Tobacco** is somewhat more difficult to grow in Fenspace, and remains a major Earth export. (As with all botanical matters in Fenspace, there are persistent rumors that The Jason is working on this problem, but as of 2014 he hasn't announced anything.)
Additions, deletions, other changes, further kibitzing of any other sort?
-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012