Magda
13 Nov 2021Iridium Nova
"Low prices, high quality. All for you.". - Every Imperial citizen knows this motto. Magda is probably one of the most ubiquitous Imperial companies, with a distribution center in every major Imperial city and the patronage of Zemina Torval, the Empire's answer to capitalism. Magda has been making big strides lately, having secured a number of lucrative relationships with other Imperial moguls, but like so many who call Shinigami home, they seem to be under the heel of the Shinigami Cartel. Or are they?Magda is big enough and successful enough that they could move their headquarters to a system that isn't an organized crime haven. So why don't they? The answer digs deep into relationships going back to their very beginnings, and it's part of how the Cartel came to achieve the level of power they have. You see, in any other system, a group like the Shinigami Cartel would have been trampled into dust by now, but instead they're at the top of the food chain.
Every Imperial citizen knows Magda. What they don't know is the seedy truth about Magda. You don't get to be a major Imperial store chain and home delivery service without some "creative" business practices, and you don't attract the attention of Zemina Torval if you're just peddling farm-fresh goods at the local swap-shop. Magda has always had criminal connections, though of course they'll deny it, but it's how they got to be as big as they are, and the beauty of this arrangement is that nobody really thinks much about it. Magda looks like a harmless grocery company, making everyone's lives easier and tastier with their network of shops and warehouses, not getting involved in politics, and keeping their policies legal and progressive. Meanwhile, their crime cohorts take care of all their dirty laundry off the books and Magda lets them hog all the influence.
Sound familiar? It's a time-tested formula that goes all the way back to the birth of corporations, over a millennium ago. Rockforth, Cooper, Esco, Krogan, all the way back to the very first companies that introduced the art like the East India Company and Walmart. Like it or not, but crime fixes the problems society can't fix, and that's why it's still with us. The people who realize that and understand what that really means are the ones who succeed. Illegal doesn't always equal immoral, and not everyone who makes laws is doing it for the good of society. Now, this doesn't mean that you have to break the law to be successful, you just have to be okay with it when someone else breaks the law in a way that benefits you. And as someone who's job it is to do just that, I certainly appreciate the business. That's how it works in this 'verse. If you only play by the rules, you get played by those who don't.