Lungus Trading Group
Structure
The Lungus Trading Group is a well-organized merchant house, working like a well-oiled machine.
Public Agenda
Civilization has always been a delicate thing. Tribal groups can hunt and gather in complete isolation. Small settlements can grow their own food and dig their own wells without the need for outside interaction. But anything larger than a couple of little buildings and people will eventually need to bring in supplies from somewhere else. The Trench is a massive facility and the Organization knew it had to be stocked to the brim with the resources needed to sustain itself and the people within. Many of those goodies are still out there. Waiting for someone to come along, find them, and haul them across the Trench looking for someone who's willing to pay for them. Some of the Trench's sub-facilities are blessed with piles of debris that hold endless bits of scrap that can be used for repairs or craft new things. Others are storerooms filled to the brim with food and water. And let's not forget the laboratories and hospitals filled with medical supplies. The problem is, most of those sub-facilities are far away from each other and the roads between them are filled with bandits, hostile monsters, and malfunctioning security robots. It takes a brave person to walk those dark, metal halls day in and day out. That's why the Lungus Trading Group has been driving carts of supplies across the Trench for quite some time now. While many other trading groups have formed and fallen, Lungus is still around due to their business savvy, luck, and plain ruthlessness.
Assets
The venerable Trench Dog are the most important asset, as they act as beasts of burden capable of carrying large amounts of goods large distances. Whether they are pulling carts made from trucks or carrying packs on their backs, the Trench Dogs are the key to the company's success
In the aftermath immediately following the Breakout, the Trench was pure pandemonium. Gangs of bandits and large monsters were a serious danger to anyone who set foot outside of a settlement. The Lungus Trading Company will hire just about anyone with a gun and a couple of scars to guide their caravans and fight off the dangers. Yet despite their apparent recklessness, the Lungus Trading Group has the lowest caravan loss rate.
History
The Lungus Trading Group formed relatively soon after the Breakout. Made of organized traders who saw the supernaturals were going to still be trapped within the Trench for longer than they expected, now that the human-run Organization had fallen. Not a grand start hauling scrap and water from Junction to backwater settlements in the Lower Levels. But their adventurous spirit and recklessness helped them grow into one of the biggest businesses in the Trench today.
Territories
The Lungus Trading Group is one of the largest trading companies in the Trench, with branches in almost every major town along the trade routes.
Foreign Relations
By supplying food, water, and supplies through trade, the Lungus Trading Group can be a lifeline for a number of backwater settlements that can be hard to get to. As a major caravan house, Lungus Trading Group finds itself in natural competition with other trading ventures. The companies sabotage and undermine each other constantly, but keep it low-key and rarely attack each other outright. The expansion and development of the Freemen and the Lungus Trading Group yielded a contract between the two, in which the Lungus Trading Group supplies the most military-grade weaponry and many other pieces of equipment. However, this lucrative partnership also resulted in the caravan's list of competitors becoming considerably larger. it included the largest ordnance manufacturing syndicate in the Trench as well as some of the more illicit arms dealers. This sudden entry of enterprise into the Trench's criminal economy has put the Lungus Trading Group into the sights of the shadowy Kwaiden. Who, just as the Lungus Trading Group does with the trade caravan industry, controls the other criminal syndicates through economics, only with much more insidious tactics.
In order to remain neutral in the conflicts between the Trench's major political factions, Lungus Trading Group also does business with Pharaoh's Empire. Despite having to pay tariffs upon entry, many of its caravaners prefer to use trade routes that go through Empire territory. Due to the Empire's ferocity when it comes to guarding its trade routes, the caravans will be much safer on their journey.
Laws
Another feature of the organization is its use of work contracts, a result of the re-emergence of wage labor in the Trench's communities. Employees of the Lungus Trading Company are hired for a specific duration, during which they are provided with food, water, living quarters, and other amenities in exchange for their labor. Their wages are withheld until their contract ends. The employees are informed in advance of the contract's nature, including the fact that leaving before the contract ends will result in forfeiture of wages. On the bright side, the company always pays up. However, non-compete clauses tend to be pretty rigid and even after an employee completes his or her stint with the company, they might prevent them from finding employment elsewhere.
Agriculture & Industry
The Lungus Trading Group focuses on reliable, rugged technologies in their activities. Its primary advantages are its industrial and agricultural capabilities, allowing the company to manufacture goods cheaply in large quantities and cultivate crops and livestock for sale and use.
Trade & Transport
Their rapid rise to prominence was the result of a company policy characterized by others as crazy: The Lungus Trading Group would do any job, no matter the risk. As long as the client paid for their expensive services, Lungus Trading Group would lead its heavily armed caravans to hell and back. One particularly famous story involved one caravan that took a path straight through a dragon's lair just to make it to its destination on time. Now that's service you can count on.
Although the company has the least frequent departures (on the 3rd and 17th of each month), they cover the most caravan destinations. The Trench is a big place and there aren't many trade routes that can be traveled safely, even for a heavily armed caravan. In dangerous regions, the company will usually break apart its caravans into several smaller bands. The reduced efficiency is offset by not loosing all of the merchandize, should a caravan get hit by raiders or worse.
Type
Financial, Merchant League
Alternative Names
LTG
Economic System
Market economy
Location
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