Of all the possible destinations across the galaxy, Nar Shaddaa was definitely amongst the most intriguing ones. The moon, the Crowning Jewel of the Underworld as it was also known, was perhaps the best example of a galactic dystopia. It may have been controlled by the Hutts and their agents but the latter kept the reigns loose enough to allow for plenty of freedom. So long as someone had enough ambition as well as the skills to match it, then the Smuggler Moon was the place to come to. Opportunities always revealed themselves to those that knew where to seek them out...

"I've come to see Rhazha", the blond Human asked in a casual manner, showing no particular signs of fear or hesitation at the sight of two large Gamorreans standing guard in the narrow dark alley. "Who be you?" one of them asked in a brutish voice - in so doing further enforcing the cliche regarding his entire race: "a bunch of dumb boars" as some unknown spacer once said... "I'd say an old friend but everyone knows Rhazha has no friends. Just tell him it's a business associate - from Onderon."

The porcine humanoids looked at each other before the same one that spoke earlier uttered a simple "Stay here!", next passing through the door he was guarding and disappeared inside. "So, nice weather we're having huh?" the blond Human joked... unsuccessfully so considering the remaining guard just barely tilted his head sideways and otherwise remained as silent as before.

Less than two standard minutes later the other Gamorrean returned and motioned inside "Rhazha says he'll see you now."

"Outstanding", the Human smiled and stepped forward, not feeling particularly bad for leaving the two guards behind. And they were so much fun to be around... The inside of the decrepit building pretty much matched the outside. The structure itself looked unsteady and there were dozens of crates and hundreds of objects scattered all over the place. Most were vehicle or starship parts, also a few worn suits of armor and some weapons scattered around.

"I thought it was you", a voice echoed throughout the room and moments later a flying oversized bug appeared. "Rhazha, is that anyway to greet your favorite Human in the whole galaxy?" the blond smuggler feigned with a combination of sadness and outrage. "I despise all Humans equally, Goldy", the Toydarian replied as calmly as before.

Though he may not have looked like it, Rhazha was actually one of the Hutts' best fences on the whole moon. On other worlds that would've perhaps meant nothing really, but on a world where shady dealings were the most frequent item on a daily menu, well the position was quite different, involving a certain degree of safety and prestige. And it only came at a small price too - a slice of all profits and business deals as part of the profit for the large slugs and of course the obvious commitment of never going against the general interests of the Hutts, not on Nar Shaddaa and not in the whole galaxy either. "So? What brings you here?", the alien continued undisturbed.

"Wait, you mean you don't already know? Come on Rhazha, I thought you knew everything that happened on Nar Shaddaa..." Seth Qorbin tried his hand at flattery. He knew the alien would never show any weaknesses, but the Human also knew their species was close enough to the Hutts for such methods to actually work on them.

"I heard you've landed on the Queen's Barge. I also heard the ship was spotted near Bakura a week or so ago. Strangely enough there are also some rumors regarding some weapon depots being raided in the same system in about the same timeframe. If I were to guess Goldy, you'll next ask me what's the going rate for weapons on the black market."

Seth brought his hands together and enthusiastically began clapping. "Your information network is as fearsome as ever", the Human smiled. "How 'bout it then? Interested in a few weapons? According to my sources they should fetch around three hundred large ones. I'll let you have them for two eighty. Deal?"

"Has the Bakuran Fever messed up your mind Goldy? I won't be able to sell these at that price now that they're hot. And if I happened to know some customers that wouldn't mind, then they likely wouldn't pay as much anyway. Two hundred."

"Two sixty and I'll throw in a case of thermal detonators that I planned to keep for myself."

"Two thirty and not a credit more", Rhazha rebutted. "Rhazha, as much as I may like you, the fact remains you're not the only fence on Nar Shaddaa. It would be a shame to break this beautiful friendship we have on account of you trying to swindle me on a single deal..."

"Two fifty, the thermal detonators AND you never call me your friend again Human..."

Seth nodded his head and stretched his arm forward to shake the bug's. "You've got a deal. Since we've already concluded one mutually beneficial deal... how about moving on to another? You see, guns aren't the only things we got from our trip to Bakura. I've also got 10 tons of namana back on the Barge. Yours for a measly extra one hundred thous. Deal?" Qorbin asked ans put more pressure in his hand, lightly squeezing the Toydarian's.

The "we" Seth mentioned of course referred to the rest of his crew - a Sullustan navigator, a Human gunner and three more Humans as well as a Duros for boarding actions, raids and useful bodyguards for situations that were bound to devolve into hostile negotiations. The Onderonian did not particularly care about any of them, and knew that some were only in the trade short term, intending to make enough creds in a few short months and then retire to start out some more respectable businesses. Regardless of their motivations for joining the Queen's Barge crew the fact remained that they were just that - crew. That meant Seth would need to consider their well-being too, not simply his own when both selling the loot and next splitting the earnings.

"I'll give you one better - seventy five for the fruits and information regarding a shipment of military supplies. You probably won't be able to handle it alone so for another five grand I'll also provide you with some contacts that would be willing to help out. You'll need to negotiate their pay separately but I suspect even with a one, maybe two hundred thousand creds investment you could still earn up to five hundred in return. How 'bout it Goldy? Do we have a new deal?" the flying alien asked and squeezed his hand back in return. Surprisingly enough the Toydarian had plenty of upper body strength despite its somewhat frail appearance.

"Was thinking of taking a little break after this job but five hundred gees for a simple raid does sound rather appealing too... You got a deal Rhazha. Feel free to send your goons to unload the cargo after you've sent your payment - same account as before. Before we discuss the details for this new job however there was one final thing I needed to talk to you about..."

The man took a few steps back and retrieved a datapad from one of his pockets. Next he threw the datapad to the Toydarian, "You heard of them?" the Human asked. "I'm familiar with their slice of galaxy but to my knowledge nothing interesting ever happened in that sector. Why the interest Goldy?"

"They're a mining colony we stumbled across purely by accident whilst hiding from an Imperial patrol. We noticed some of their members were showing signs of withdrawal so like the nice guys that we were, we decided to sell them some spice. We made a tiny profit too but we only had a limited stash at our disposal... which is where you come in. See, we sort of told them that we could provide them with a lot more in exchange for a percentage of their operation."

"Spice is expensive Goldy, you know that. What would they give in return anyway?"

"Aurodium - I hear the Hutts are always looking for more sources." Noticing the Toydarian's eyes flicker Seth smiled and continued "Keep them well supplied and they would apparently be able to provide you with anywhere from half a ton to a full ton of it per month. That's roughly one million creds right there. Subtracting the spice's price, as well as the transportation costs and also the tribute to the Hutts... well you should still make a few hundred thousand creds profit each month. And in exchange all I want is a measly three hundred kays finder's fee."

"Assuming your story checks out Goldy then two hundred after the first transaction."

"Two eighty and I take half of it now."

"Two ten and you only get fifty upfront."

"How 'bout two forty: eighty right now, the rest after you make your first deal. Also a decent discount next time I'm buying anything as well as the promise to first inform me of any other big opportunities. Deal?"

"Fine, but mark my words Human - if this deal turns sour then not only you'll not see a single more cred, you'll also be expected to pay for my own expenses and headaches."

"A fine deal as always Rhazha... Now then, how about we discuss that raid you mentioned earlier?"

OOC:

WC: 1589
The action takes place before SQ joined the VE, back when he was still a savvy smuggler. First part shows dealings between Seth and his crew and the Toydarian as a representative of the Hutts, the latter part shows Seth making a deal on behalf of a mining colony - spice vs. gold.

I've edited the post and added a few paragraphs making it more obvious that the two parties are actually, at least partly, representing larger factions in their dealings. I admit to have left those details vaguer before on account of circumstances. Specifically the fact that the fence was a Toydarian - a species known to follow the rule of the Hutts, and the action taking place on Nar Shaddaa - a location known to again be controlled by the Hutts. As for Seth, the combined use of "we" and "I" in his dialogue was not a mistake on my part - the "we" was always supposed to refer to the crew of the Barge.

According to wikipedia, diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. Since it's now clearer that groups are indeed involved and since negotiations are clearly taking place between them, that's one item down. The usual issues it deals with are peace-making, trade, war, economics, culture, environment and human rights. It should be quite obvious I believe that the issue in this case is trading (exchange of goods for credits).

According to our own wiki, diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states, using persuasion, tact, and conversational skill in order to gain strategic advantage or to find mutually acceptable solutions to a common challenge. Since talking is involved, conversational skill is clearly included. Since bargaining is also involved however that denotes the presence of persuasion, with at least one faction managing to get a better deal from the other one. The back and forth should reveal that both sides are quite persuasive... as well as headstrong. Acceptable solutions are also found as a result though.

I would further like to point out what diplomacy is supposed to mean within the star wars universe. I'll be quoting from the Star Wars revised Core Rulebook (p. 82) - "Diplomacy includes etiquette, social grace, tact, subtlety and a way with words. A skilled character knows the formal and informal rules of conduct, social expectations, proper forms of address, and so on. This skill represents the ability to give the right impression, to negotiate effectively, and to influence others."

Continuing with the skill's description and possible uses there is also a separate part specifically dealing with haggling, thus clearly implying that haggling could be achieved through the skill of diplomacy.

There is also the matter of the skill having an entirely different form when the cert system first started out - what was basically needed and expected there were negotiations. Said negotiations however were not in any way restricted to political matters or official settings, absolutely requiring the need of larger groups or the need for certain steps to be taken for the skill to count. I believe the initial spirit of the skill was to demonstrate that a member could manage a negotiation in which he/she would be able to promise and compromise things until a solution he/she would be happy with would be achieved.

From my perspective this would make further sense considering the current skill seems to only focus on issues that one would mostly tend to associate with a politician or ambassador rather than a regular grunt in a military organization.

Regular shows of diplomacy would include, according to official sources: persuading a chamberlain to see his master, negotiate peace between Ewok tribes, haggling a good price for a droid, convincing the Rodians that captured you to ransom you back to your friends rather than handing you over to say Jabba the Hutt.

None of these examples though necessarily require the need for factions or representatives, and yet they still count. In almost all of these examples only one party would really be in trouble - which come to think of it makes perfect sense in real life too. Diplomacy in real life doesn't occur solely when both parties have some problems they wish to discuss. An economic embargo amongst other forced isolationist measures taken by say US against say Iran on account of the latter's nuclear program - those would still count as diplomatic measures meant to "convince" the latter to give up their ambitions.

Also related to this last issue - the first scenario of the skill involves a member dealing on behalf of the VE with a local businessman. The former clearly represents the VE's interests but who's to say that the latter isn't just representing his own interests? In the end it wouldn't really matter anyway as the interaction itself between member and businessman would still be pretty much the same, regardless of other factions having their back or not. And if the interaction itself is the key feature, then it makes no sense for the background to matter more as a result...

PS - This post also happens a good example of diplomacy

Hah, I think you may be right there. Whilst I personally do enjoy and to an extent prefer the hybrid we've all helped create, the truth is I'll always first look at it as a game first and then as a collection of great stories. I personally do this because it's in fact the game that sets the rules, the settings and the mechanics that the players have at their disposal and generally need to consider. I like to think that the players become writers afterward in order to better flesh out those rules and restrictions - making them original and awesome as a result. It's not a question of right and wrong though, but a matter of personal preference...

Roger, will keep that in mind for next time and thanks.

PS - The dual wielding rogue is not a proper archetypical character model... says the man playing as one