
     On the fringes of Regency space in the Spinward Marches lies
     Mertactor, a nexus for mercantile activity.

     As a planet on the frontier, Mertactor is known for its free
     spiritedness and lawlessness.  Felons fleeing the authority of the
     Regency Navy, RQS and/or bounty hunters frequently stop off at
     Mertactor on their way to the independent worlds and client states
     spinward and rimward of the Regency.  Merchants carrying illegal goods
     find Mertactor to be the ideal port to sell their wares.  For the
     disenfranchised, disillusioned and disingenuous, Mertactor is the last
     port on a journey to the outlands of unincorporated space.

     The first colonists set foot on the system mainworld's terra firma in
     the early 300s.  The majority of lots had been purchased by Moran
     interests, which, under pressure from the Moran government, designated
     Mertactor (then known as 567-910) as a population overflow world.
     Consequently, Mora issued the Relocation Initiative of 324.  The
     initiative was not looked well upon by the displaced colonists or the
     small band of colonists already on 567-910.  Although Mora publicly
     used "population relief" as their motive for the deportation, the
     deportees included an inordinate number of religious dissidents,
     ex-cons and other malcontents.  Draw your own conclusions.

     To villify the Moran Matriarchs, the colonists deported from Mora
     named their world after the notorious freebooter, Wilhelm Mertactor,
     who had raided, raped and pillaged the coreward subsectors of
     Gushemege in the twilight years of the Ramshackle Empire.  An
     ambitious public relations campaign by the Moran Matriarchs was
     demoralized and many a political career fell by the wayside in the
     ensuing scandal.

     Surprisingly, the Mertactans refused the clemency of the Moran
     government in 328, when they were offered repatriation as compensation
     for their "unjust deportation."  The Mertactan colonists had become
     accustomed to their small but verdant new home and the majority
     decided to stay.  By appealing to the IISS Exploration department's
     colonial bureau, Mertactor was granted independence.  Imperial
     officials saw this as an opportunity to prevent the relocation scandal
     from travelling all the way back to the Iridium Throne.  As part of
     the deal, the IISS was allowed to establish a base on Mertactor.  It
     wasn't until after the Fourth Frontier War that Mertactor finally
     accepted overtures made by the Imperial Government to apply for
     membership.

     Descending from working-class deportees, Mertactans are proud of their
     uncompromising heritage.  Mertactans tamed the wilds of their planet,
     forging an advanced and forward-thinking society.  The Mertactan
     Chamberlords reserved approximately 25 percent of the planet's
     wilderness as preserves to avoid the ecological calamities that had
     occurred elsewhere in the region due to reckless colonial bootstrap
     programs.  The remaining portion of land was tendered to offworld
     corporate interests with a mind to develop the planet's resources and
     promote trade and industry.  In order to preserve their independence,
     however, the Chamberlords carefully screened out any megacorporations,
     megacorporate shadow companies and sectorwide corporations in order to
     prevent a takeover attempt by any one corporate entity.

     Their conservative approach backfired and industry never really took
     off on Mertactor.  Seeking to teach the upstart colonists a lesson,
     the megacorporations had colluded with mid-sized corporations to
     boycott the Mertactans.  Employing every type of coercion imaginable,
     the megacorporations managed to squelch independent-minded investors
     from circumventing the boycott.

     Undaunted, the Mertactan merchant fleet took the initiative and began
     establishing trade agreements with the worlds of the Daryen
     Confederation and the Sword Worlds.  Famous Mertactan free trader and
     gambler Michaela Wallace took her business all the way to the fringes
     of the Zhodani Consulate, and established trade ties with the Zhodani
     that have survived numerous frontier wars and exist to this day.
     While most of the early Spinward Marches colonies also traded with the
     established interstellar governments of the region, few dispute that
     Mertactan mercantile savvy can open twice as many doors in half the
     time.

     Modern Mertactan industry is essentially just subsistence for the
     planet's lucrative mercantile sector.  Rather than a producer of
     industrial or agricultural goods, Mertactans like to think of their
     system as "the best damned conduit for trade in the Regency."

     Landing at Mertactor downport can be a harrowing experience.  The
     unregulated close orbit and airspace of the planet are subject to more
     accidents per capita than on any planet in the sector.  While there
     are ample spaceports on the planet, only the B-quality facility in the
     capital city of Seacheard and the C-quality installation in Kaydah
     provide services for interstellar craft.

     While dodging free traders and air/rafts, visiting travellers will be
     impressed by the lush earth and blue skies of Mertactor.  Thanks to an
     absence of big industry and an abundance of scattered wilderness
     preserves, the planet has been able to maintain its clean air and
     natural landscape.  Due to the planet's rather small size and close
     horizon, the clear azure skies seem to almost surround the reclining
     viewer.

     Offworlders are frequently uncomfortable with prolonged exposure to
     Mertactor's low gravity.  Generally, hostels that cater to offworlders
     provide 1G suites to appease those who can't abide Mertactan
     lightfootedness for extended periods of time.

     Mertactor's thriving tourist industry offers a plethora of activities
     to visiting travellers.  In the city of Seacheard, visitors will be
     astonished by the beauty of the Daryen flame sculpture exhibit at the
     Seacheard Museum of Art.  Donated by First Frontier war hero, Admiral
     Koenig, the exhibit features some of the finest Daryen artwork to be
     produced in the last millenium.  At the Colonial History Museum,
     visitors may view artifacts, holovids and antique equipment from the
     Spinward Marches' colonial past.  Of particular note is an exhibition
     featuring what the museum's curator claims are the original blueprints
     for the Type-S scoutship prototype.  Children will enjoy visiting The
     Wild Frontier, Seacheard's largest amusement park replete with an
     imported Moran virtual reality entertainment center.

     Inghvernar, Mertactor's largest ocean, lies 280 km to the west of
     Seacheard.  Mertactans on holiday flock to Inghvernar's golden
     beaches.  Well-travelled offworlders will be less impressed by the
     beachfront of this body of water which would only constitute a large
     lake on most larger planets.  On Inghvernar's east coast is the
     Lubvenar Fossil Museum, where travellers can discover the rich natural
     history of Mertactor through an exhilariting series of exhibits and
     holodynamic displays.

     Kaydah, the seat of government, features the impressive Mertactan
     Legislature Building (MLB).  Constructed of reinforced synthetic
     sandstone, this ivy-draped obelisk seems to thrust right out
     Mertactor's terrestrial crust and through the planet's thick
     equatorial jungle as if it had been there since time immemorial.
     Standing atop Mount Aseldon, the MLB looks over the busy streets of
     northern Kaydah like an alert sentry.

     On the southern end of the city, is the Plankwell Subsector Capital
     Building.  Though the Capital's architecture is aesthetically pleasing
     with its sharp edges and metallic industrial styling, political
     representatives from throughout the subsector complain about the
     dearth of office space in the building.  The building was intended to
     be much larger when the subsector capital was set to be on neighboring
     system, Collace.  However, when the Mertactan Chamberlords
     successfully lobbied the Archduke to establish the capital on
     Mertactor, they immediately contracted a local architecture firm to
     design the building.  Due to the time constraints of the agreement,
     the job was rushed, with the result being an attractive but largely
     inadequate building.

     Despite the Mertactan historical animosity toward Mora, the native
     government is rather obviously influenced by that of the domain
     capital.  While not a matriarchy, women traditionally get preference
     for most cabinet posts and tend to be elected to Chamberlord positions
     at a rate of just over 60 percent on Mertactor.  The Chamberlords are
     a select group of nine individuals, elected for lifelong terms by a
     subordinate network of sheriffs, who are popularly elected by the
     rather disproportionately sized counties of Mertactor.

     As befits any cosmopolitan world, the fashion and culture of Mertactor
     are heavily influenced by visiting merchants and adventurers.
     "Anything goes," is the motto on Mertactor.  One will find visiting
     travellers sporting anything from traditional Vilani lagaash robes to
     the virtual nudity of Glistenite tailored vaccsuits.  The jaded
     Mertactans are nonchalant and accepting of such diversity.

     Perhaps the most outstanding educational establishment on the planet
     is the Mertactor Mercantile Academy.  While the academy is on par with
     most other Regency educational facilities for the most part, its
     language department is outstanding.  Just about every language spoken
     within 80 parsecs is taught at the academy, including each and every
     vargr language in the Extents.  The academy emphasizes cultural
     behaviors and idiosynchrasies as well in order to train the ambitious
     merchant cadet for any eventuality.

     Mertactan trading companies benefit from the presence of the academy.
     Some of the most finely trained merchant personnel in the Regency can
     be found in Mertactan trading companies.  Mertactan traders are known,
     however, to be quite bloodthirsty in their competition for business
     insystem and will stop at nothing to obtain their goals.  The rather
     ineffectual law enforcement administrations of Mertactor are unable to
     prevent trading blocs and factions from colluding, bribing, embezzling
     and on occasion shooting each other to death.

     Within the last 80 years, the rimward encroachment of aslan ihatei has
     had an interesting effect on the mercantile subculture.  Disputes
     between trading companies are now frequently resolved by dueling.
     Unfortunately, the aslan code of honor is absent in Mertactan dueling.
     Shooting or stabbing one's opponent in the back or poisoning his food
     the evening before the duel is not uncommon.

     Visiting free traders should not fear, however.  Oddly enough, the
     virulence shown by one fellow Mertactan trader to another is not
     extended to offworlders.  It is thought that a general sense of pity
     for the poorly trained foreign trader makes him unworthy of such
     treatment.  The prevailing attitude is "if he's not Mertactan, he's no
     good at trading anyway!"  Though you'll never hear a Mertactan say
     this in public!

     The Mertactan Free Trade Administration operates the planet's sole
     orbital starport and city.  Built in 1004, FTA Orbital was originally
     intended as a place where offworlders could comfortably trade without
     having to make planetfall.  The idea never took hold with visiting
     merchants, however.  Declining public funds resulted in the
     government's inability to properly maintain the facility.  FTA Orbital
     quickly deteriorated into a D-level facility.  Ironically, trade
     traffic has actually increased over 300 percent at FTA Orbital since
     the decline.  FTA Orbital now features the most active black-market
     trade in the subsector.

     To coin an ancient Terran metaphor, Mertactor has a Jekyll-and-Hyde
     culture.  To offworlders and potential trading partners, Mertactans
     are amiable and welcoming, while to one another they are the most
     vicious of opponents, professionally speaking.  While the divisiveness
     of Mertactan society may appear anarchic or perhaps downright hostile,
     it is embraced by Mertactans as an integral part of their culture.  To
     survive in a universe fraught with danger and deception, Mertactans
     believe that "It is better to do unto others before they do unto you."

