The Nomad Market

Chain link fences surround a ramshackle collection of box trailers, tents, and people. The sound of weapons being test fired punctuate the crowd noise. The visual overload is augmented by a full assault on your nose, with the most delicious smells making way for who the fuck knows what that was. Here you can get whatever you need—food, medicine, guns, clothing—and at a reasonable price or fair barter. It is The Nomad Market and the Arsenaults run a tight ship.

The Nomads Families are the only people who can really move product across the country. This chokehold on trade led to the death of the big box department store. Trade became in what was produced locally or moved in small batches. As the Families began to reclaim more of the shipping lanes, they realized that they could also turn their transportation monopoly into trading companies. The Arsenault Family took this one step further, eliminating the lower sales prices of wholesale by selling directly to consumers. They had enough guns to clear off an old playground and to keep it secure. They had enough trucks with enough diversity of goods to establish a market for out-of-town goods. Weapons, electronics, cybernetics, and more can be found here.

If you are using the clothing rules from Chromebook 4, clothing found at the Nomad Market will tend to be in the style of Generic Chic or Edgerunner, with a dash of Urban Flash. The quality of clothing ranges is mostly average, with the occasional good quality offsetting the occasional below-average quality clothes. Reacti-mesh clothes are regularly seen, but the polylog/polychromic options are rare. A lot of what comes in tends to be armored, since Neo-York is not a safe place to be unarmored in.

Where the Nomad Market makes its money is on objects that are not or cannot be produced locally. So, while autofacs provide many basic materials, the more well-crafted and machined items need to be imported from outside of the city. For most residents of Neo-York, the Nomad Market is the only source of medical supplies, electronics, computers, and cybernetics. There is also a strong business in small arms. Assault rifles, pistols, submachine guns, and the sort are readily available. Explosives and military grade weaponry will need to be found elsewhere. In addition to what the Arsenaults are selling, there is are often many other deals being made at the Nomad Market. While outside goods are never directly exchanged here, it is a public and safe location to broker such arrangements. 

Derek Arsenault (“Deebo”) is the local face of the Nomad Market. He mills through the crowds checking in on folks, helping them find where they can buy specific things, and making sure they are having a pleasant experience. His main purpose of this is not customer service, but intelligence gathering. He records much of what he sees and hears through his cyberware, sending the data to Magdelen Arsenault (“Madonna”), their netrunner, who has written a complex algorithm that will separate the different conversations and sweeps it for keywords. As many of the staff have similar cyberware, Madonna is very busy analyzing the data. They use it to determine what goods to bring in, who the main players are in the area, and who are potential threats. Donelle Arsenault (“Nails”) is the head of security for the Market. Her people watch the market from the tops of the trailers, as well as posting sentries at the entrances. Nails strictly enforces the Nomad Market’s neutrality. Woe be to the poor bastard who shoots something outside of a test fire.

In addition to the Arsenaults, there are a couple regulars at the market. Jimmy Fuckface is an incredibly shady hustler who occasionally has good leads that aren’t setups. Farley Funk is a talented street musician who lacks ambition and the ability to keep it in his pants. Gloria Gold appears to be far too high-class for the Nomad Market, but is frequently available for hire. She is considered one of the best bodyguards in the Lower East Side.

If you are using the Wildside rules for contacts, Nomad Market characters have the following statistics:

Deebo (Fixer) Very capable, Reputation 7, sometimes available, very reliable, 56 points

Farley Funk (Rockerboy) Capable, Reputation 5, sometimes available, reliable, 15 points

Gloria Gold (Solo) Capable, Reputation 4, sometimes available, very reliable, 23 points

Jimmy Fuckface (Fixer), Snitch, Reputation 2, always available, unreliable, 3 points

Madonna (Netrunner) Very capable, Reputation 8, seldom available, super reliable, 50 points

Nails (Solo) Very capable, Reputation 5, seldom available, very reliable, 19 points

Next week, we will explore the Maker’s Block, an old apartment building that has transformed itself into the manufacturing heart of the Lower East Side.