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Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum β

Cold Trade

The Cold Trade is an Imperial term for the illegal, but highly profitable, smuggling of Xenostech and other illicit goods into the Imperium.[1]

Rogue Traders and Chartist captains are known to partake in Cold Trading, where they can make a large profit, by traveling to out of the way systems to buy illegal goods and then later selling them in the Imperium for inflated prices. The risks for doing so are high for these Cold Traders, though, because if they are caught by the Imperium, they could have their ship impounded and be stripped of their license.[1]

Pirates and other criminal classes are known to be relied on by the Traders and Captains to find the illegal goods that power the Cold Trade, but sometimes this ends in betrayal. Instead of arriving at a rendezvous for an expected trading of goods, the pirates will instead rob the Traders and Captains leaving them with nothing but their lives. Some of these outcasts even attempt to simply conduct the Cold Trade themselves, but risk their lives in doing so. For if they are captured, then the Inquisition will become involved and will ensure these Cold Traders are tortured, before being executed for their crimes.[1]

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