The Criminal Underworld

No matter where you go or what time period you're from, crime is always present. Whether it be organized crime, petty street gangs, or a lone thief, as long as laws exists there will be people willing to break them for survival or a greater purpose. Fact is, people will always be willing to pay for jobs that are unsavory that they otherwise cannot carry out themselves for whatever reason.

Although criminals exist everywhere in the world there are certain places where they thrive. These "Underworld Districts" are commonly associated with ghettos in larger settlements. They only exist in large enough settlements (at least Village-sized dwellings) and grow as the dwelling does. A village-sized dwelling will naturally accumulate a Crime Rating of Level One over three months upon creation. This is a byproduct and consequence of having a large population. By developing a criminal rating your dwelling will automatically create an "underworld", a system of crime which happens beneath the public eye. These will essentially serve as an Administration and a Market for people who are rogue and otherwise cannot report to a Kage for missions or buy from the typical market.


Before diving into the world of crime one must realize that a lot of criminals, although may not be intelligent, have a lot of street smarts. Stepping into the criminal world is harder than one may initially believe. Naturally, everyone starts off at E-rank in terms of criminal background. This does not matter if you are a D-class Genin or X-class Kage you will start off at the bottom. The only exception to this is Missing Nin. Instead a Missing Nin's criminal background will reflect their Missing Nin rank. This criminal background rank works as a trust system. A player may only take missions and have access to knowledge of missions equal to the trust rank and below. This is to prevent a random joe to walk into a speakeasy and find information about hit on a Kage. Clearly this information will not be passed around publicly and only given to the most trusted members of the underworld. Your trust is earned by utilizing one of the methods below pertaining to your rank.

E-rank - You are a stranger to the community with nothing to your name. Criminals have no idea if you're just a sod who doesn't know where he's at, or an undercover agent. Regardless, people do not want any business with you. At your rank you cannot even view the black market, though you are capable of selling to a fence. This is your only way to earn trust if you do not have a preexisting background. Alternatively, you may join with a local gang and start earning trust through completing D rank missions with them. However, you cannot generate Renown through criminal activities yet.(Sell 50,000 ryo worth of goods to rank up | Complete 5 D-rank Underworld NPC Missions)

D-rank - You have done business before to the point where you are associated with those in the underworld. You might even know a person or two by name of significant value. Occasionally you might have the opportunity to do basic jobs like vandalism or theft. But you are still the lowest ranking of thug. At this level of trust you are able to buy from the black market and view their wares. Renown in the Underworld will start to generate from this point. (Complete 3 D-rank Underworld NPC missions | generate 250 renown through criminal means | Sell 100,000 ryo worth of goods to rank up.)

C-rank - A notable thug or Ronin you have a degree of respect in the underworld. People often seek your service as they know your loyalty and skill is enough for what they're looking for. Minor kidnapping, muggings, theft, sabotage, and even murder may be your missions. You are trusted enough that people are even willing to do some of your dirty work to raise up in the ranks themselves. This allows you to purchase D-rank NPC assuming your dwelling meets its requirements. (Complete 6 C-rank Underworld NPC missions | Complete 2 PC Underworld missions | generate 500 renown through criminal means | Sell 200,000 ryo worth of goods to rank up)

B-rank - Being a Jounin-level Ronin or having years of experience in the underworld makes you a prime patron for various missions. At this rank of trust you are trusted with valuable information regarding hits on Shinobi. This comes with knowledge of the dozens of depots that dot the continent allowing you to carry out PC assassinations and trafficking much easier than before. (Complete 4 Underworld PC missions | generate 750 renown through criminal means | Sell 350,000 ryo worth of goods to rank up.)

A-rank - A high ranking Jounin Ronin or being an influential figure in the underworld puts your character at a trust ranking of A-rank. Skilled Ronin and thugs are willing to work for you as they both fear and respect your presence hoping to rise to your ranks in achievement. This allows you to purchase C-rank NPC assuming your dwelling meets its requirements. (Complete 10 Underworld PC missions | generate 1500 renown through criminal means | Sell 500,000 ryo worth of goods to rank up.)

S-rank - Being a legendary Ronin or organization leader of criminals you are held to the highest degrees of respect in the Underworld. You are a powerful influence in the underworld and a lot of criminals will actually be willing to protect you as you serve as a means to keep a dwelling's crime rating in check.




Once a dwelling reaches a village-size population it will develop a crime rating. Your dwelling's crime rating determines the saturation and activity of the Criminal Underworld in your settlement. The lower your village's crime, the less overall crime it has and weaker the black market. The higher the Crime Rating the stronger the criminal presence in your village as well as a stronger black market.

There are a total of four Crime Rating levels listed below:

• A Crime Rating of Level Zero means the absence of any real criminal presence. Petty thievery and the very rare occurrence of murder or rape may exist, but nothing preventable by any means. The dwelling is very safe at all times of the day and most likely has a very disciplined military presence. This is the Crime Rating for Towns and below. As such, the presence of a Criminal Underworld is unavailable.
  
  
• A Crime Rating of Level One will be the development of small street gangs and the presence of muggers and otherwise more skilled thieves. This is the maximum Crime Rating a Village-sized settlement may have. A Level One Crime Rating gives the dwelling the basics of the Criminal Underworld such as a black market, a fence, and a location where missions may be posted, whether it be in the basement of a ruined home or a speakeasy. Your dwelling is still very safe during all hours of the day, though one might occasionally run into some trouble if seen lurking the worst parts of the village during dark hours. But even then, the crime encountered would be insignificant.
  
  
• Level Two attracts a larger presence of crime such as professional thieves, larger street gangs, and even organized crime. This is the maximum Crime Rating a City-sized settlement may have. A Level Two Crime Rating gives the dwelling a more influential black market, a fence with greater funds, and perhaps even a more suitable building for business. For a price one may even be able to hire a group of hoodlums looking for work (D-class NPC). Your dwelling is still quite safe during daylight hours, though nighttime is where most criminal activity thrives leaving no part of your dwelling completely safe. Wandering a ghetto at night is certainly looking for trouble.
  
  
• Level Three indicates a very large criminal presence, so much so it is a well-known issue in your dwelling and many civilians are cautious to wander around in public during daylight. Gangs are bold enough to fight in public during daytime and organized crime may have a strong presence in your dwelling's politics, if not control it by proxy entirely. This is the maximum Crime Rating a Metro-sized settlement may have, and the highest Crime Rating of them all. The greatest black market, fencers, and lifetime criminals consider your dwelling their home. Hiring some skilled thugs are easy with the right money (C-class NPC).
  

The presence of crime can always be controlled by ordering your dwelling's Shinobi to intervene. This can be registered as a PC mission for your Shinobi to take. Although the details of this mission is completely up to the person whom registers it, the end result will be removing ONE Crime Rating Level from the current number. This would mean it would take three missions for PCs to completely wipe a Metro from all criminal activity. Otherwise, simply using a Police Station and Prison can help control the growth of crime in your dwelling.

A dwelling's Crime Rating will naturally regenerate one level every three OOC months until it has reached its maximum value. At Metropolis dwelling however, this regeneration increases in frequency of every two OOC months instead of three. This can of course be suppressed by your order if you do not wish to have any criminal presence in your dwelling. Otherwise, you may even accelerate the growth of crime in your village by paying in 20,000 ryo for each level.



Although crime is generally a negative influence on a dwelling, criminals do play their role in the grand scheme of all things regarding economy and Shinobi business. Aside from having access to unique items otherwise not commonly found on the market, having a designated district for criminals to thrive allows a dwelling to keep an eye on everything that would otherwise be done behind their backs. Human trafficking, assassination targets, organ trafficking, information in the criminal world, mercenary Shinobi, and otherwise a means to communicate with rogue Shinobi and big name criminal organizations. As such, Missing-Nin will naturally be attracted to the more saturated Underworld due to the value the black market may have making higher Crime Ratings a positive feature to have.


A Fence, or in other words an NPC willing to buy your stolen and salvaged goods for ryo, are essential for allowing criminals to sell goods to. They typically have strong connections with larger organizations which is how they move product about the Underworld. The prices will vary with the Crime Rating of your dwelling. A higher Crime Rating will mean business is good, thus a Fence will have more money to offer for a trade. A Fence will buy anything from stolen jewelry and weapons to even transportation. Below is a chart determining payout:

Crime Rating Level One:

Common Items | -25% Base value
Uncommon Items | -10% Base value
PC crafted Items (D - C) | Base Value
PC crafted Items (B - A) | +10% Base Value
PC crafted Items (S) | +20% Base Value

Maximum Ryo per Item: 100,000 ryo

Crime Rating Level Two:

Common Items | -10% Base value
Uncommon Items |  Base value
PC crafted Items (D - C) | +10% Base Value
PC crafted Items (B - A) | +25% Base Value
PC crafted Items (S) | +50% Base Value

Maximum Ryo per Item: 500,000 ryo

Crime Rating Level Three:

Common Items | Base value
Uncommon Items | +10% Base value
PC crafted Items (D - C) |+25% Base Value
PC crafted Items (B - A) | +50% Base Value
PC crafted Items (S) |  +100% Base Value "Ahh! I'll buy it at a high price!"

Maximum Ryo per Item: 1,000,000 ryo

Items sold to a Fence will appear in the Black Market, albeit at a higher price than it was sold at. So be careful what you sell! Sold items will remain on the Black Market for up to six months before being sold to an anonymous buyer.

Common Items: These are defined as everything found in the marketplace, including weaponry and raw materials. They are nothing special, though worth something to those down on their luck.

Uncommon Items: Any village-specific item, or item not commonly bought on the market. They must have some exclusive value to them.

Anything otherwise considered Legendary (Seven Swords of the Mist or Sage Tools) will be appraised in a case-by-case basis.

To determine the value of these goods they are gauged by a simple formulate below. For crafted items, the crafting time is priced at 2,000 ryo per day:

For crafted items (weapons/armor/engineer) I was planning to determine their value using a simple formula, x being the percentage:

(mat. value + craft time) x = Black Market Value

Consumables (poisons/medicines/drugs) will have less of a percentage value increase due to their short production time and low investment to actually create. The formula for Chemistry will look like this:

(chem value) x = Black Market Value



While criminal districts exist in large dwellings, all around the continent there are depots which serve as "drop offs" for criminals to claim mission rewards that have been carried out. These are optimal for assassinations and kidnappings, as carrying out such tasks within village borders will generally alert the Shinobi presence and give you more trouble than it's worth. These depots are initially hidden and their locations can be learned after having at least a Level One Crime Rating by having a trust rank of at least B-rank. PCs wishing to learn about these depots must visit an Underworld District to acquire knowledge or otherwise be told by someone knowledgeable of these locations. Each country, major and minor, will have at least six of these depots.