The following is an article on the culture of the people and the iromakuanhe_astral_commonwealth.

Although the main of people society is peaceful and law-abiding, it is not without a sordid and dangerous criminal element. The greater underworld is not a place dominated by a single style of criminal or organization, with a variety of outcasts, dregs and gang scum locked in a dance of death for supreme command of the underground economy.

Some groups can trace their origins to the very first individuals to be exiled from settlements during the early days of colonization, and claim ancestry with the old bandit kings of lore, either as a form of respect or to lend themselves credence. However, the grand majority of modern criminal agencies only came to exist in their current form as the Commonwealth's communications infrastructure matured and advanced to a level where it could no longer be entirely controlled by the government. This led to the formation of illegal and hidden communications networks, and the eventual disruption of Commonwealth information control and censure against illegal activities.

Very little is illegal in people society, so many of the more modern and civilized parts of the Underworld often own legal businesses and offer legal bodyguard and mercenary services to wealthy associates that have rapport to them such as merchant magnates. The idyllic, peaceful and easy lives offered to people leaves few economic stresses on people, and is potentially the largest limiting factor on the size and manpower Underworld syndicates and gangs. Talent is at a premium and recruitment is low, so the culture is often hereditary and most organizational growth comes from offspring.

The most profitable illegal activities are said to be smuggling, especially precious Veyrinite and relics from unprotected ruins, and the counterfeiting of high-end Solanii weapons. Despite the smaller scale of such operations, one of the primary concerns of Commonwealth law enforcement is black market biotechnology, with a number of secret 'flesh merchants' producing body modifications and tailor-made familiars and marionettes with illegal specifications. Primary concerns are over the safety of modifications, and the fact that many black market biotech producers design and sell familiar-type servants with physical and psychological characteristics identical or near to those of an people, a practice tantamount to a slave trade in people eyes.

The various groups in the underworld are split along many lines as a consequence of their people's dispersal across their star system and the distinctly heterogeneous nature of their culture and society. Traditional and metropolitan culture offer the most clear-cut of the divides, but many are split by geography, creed and the illegal trades they participate in. Some groups that have taken steps to legitimize themselves, such as the Syndicates, do not trade in Veyrinite or flesh, while Pirates are much less discerning because of their permanent status as outlaws.

Bandits were the product of early era colonization attempts, and continued to be a persistent problem in the development of wider desert communities until well into the AR 400's. It the lack of a cohesive system of law in early people settlements on Maekardan that led to the permanent exile of undesirables, leading to the formation of roving outlaw bands who would raid land and air traffic passing between the main settlements.

Even once the unjust practices that led to their formation were formally ended, the Bandit Clans remained a powerful threat to regional stability on Maekardan and Mazerin. Over time, many groups rose to number in the tens of thousands and hand standing forces that rivaled those of the nascent Commonwealth, and formed into small nations of their own. Mountain fortresses and great airships gave the Bandit Kings great power and prestige, and many eventually disbanded their kingdoms peacefully, only to have the mayories of the thriving trade cities they built laid at their feet. Most of the clans went out peacefully and joined the new era that came with the proliferation of MASC technologies, but some stayed true to their ancestry and tradition and remain outlaws for life.

The current bandit clans are little more than thieves and raiders who strike vulnerable caravans in hostile lands, far from the watchful eyes of the Commonwealth government. They tend to be poorly equipped, using second hand or counterfeit technology, and rarely number in bands greater than a few hundred at a time. What remains of the great families cling to isolated strongholds, surrounded by the shambles of a glorious past long gone, old riches and merceneries. Perhaps the only clans that remain active threats are the Marida and Nazarin of Maekardan, and the Soluh of Mazerin.

Because they hail from the same places and lead similar lives, Space Pirates and all but the most backwards of traditionalist Bandits get along in most dealings. These predacious criminals are two of a kind, and rarely compete for prey and trade their spoils freely in spaceport and elevator cities. The distinction between the two is often further blurred by those pirates who settle planetside with the clans, and the numerous bandit clans that have moved to space and become fringe pirates in the safety and isolation of the Outer System.

Bandits keep lukewarm relations with the Syndicates, who tend to keep a cooler and more conservative approach to illegal activities. Many Syndicate houses have legitimized themselves and risen to prominence in proper people society, something that the bandit clans have generally never succeeded in doing due to their stubborn clinging to the untamed regions of colonized worlds. However, the Bandits have few buyers more willing or resourceful than the Syndicates, and keep strong ties if only for the valuable goods that the honorable underworld provides for them, such as weapons, water and the advanced technology of the era.

To compare the Bandits with the Synod would be to compare the mountains with distant and unseen stars, or the far side of a moon. Bandits are figures of myth, social phenomenon with visible repercussions and a visible element of society, while the Synod are unseen bureaucrats, conspirators and far-seeing luminaries who guide society through with an invisible hand. The Synod are keenly aware of the Bandit clans, and may have plans for them, while the Bandits are within the multitudes, unknowing of the great conspiracies in the wider world.