![[the-dark-market.png]] *Added to the Codex on* ***September 5th, 2023*** --- ### Quotes “We don’t serve a flag or country, only the highest bidder. Weapons, intelligence, armies - all can be bought provided you pay the price.” - The Broker “Everyone gets up in arms about the Dark Market, but there’s always been gunrunners. They just have better branding. And who doesn’t like black and red?”[^1] - Boris “The Dark Market continues to support the most extreme militarized factions in the world. They’re an unequivocal threat to global order.”[^2] - Wolff “The Dark Market controls more than just weapons and soldiers. It’s got its fingers in corporations all over the world.”[^3] - Crawford <br> ### Description The Dark Market is a coalition of intelligence operatives, arms dealers, crime lords, military contractors, and data brokers from the various countries that collapsed in the late 2030s. While they slowly rose to prominence during this period, their ascension into an omnipotent enterprise occurred during the fallout from [[Codex/Key Events/The Blackout|the Blackout]]. Using a non-satellite reliant communication network, the Dark Market became the de facto organization for the trade and purchase of all illicit materials, goods, and services, including weapons, military supplies, intelligence, mercenaries, and armies. The Dark Market is a vindictive organization. Led by three [[No-Pats]], its goal is to enact revenge against the world powers and wealthy elite who took advantage of them when their countries were weak – and sacrificed them when their wildhomelands fell. They’ve repurposed intel operations to sow disorder between governments, leveraged armies into proxy wars between nations, and pitted surviving nations against each other, supporting each side as conflict escalates – all while wringing the maximum amount of profit from both. [^1]: This is one of Boris' loading screen quotes. [^2]: This is one of Wolff's loading screen quotes. [^3]: Crawford's quote is taken from the [[Road to Norrland|"Road to Norrland"]] codex entry, which is a transcription of the Narrative Hunt leading into Season 3: Escalation.