Commerce

The worlds of the Imperium are highly specialised and woven together in a huge, interconnected web to transport goods and services to ensure mutual survival. Few, if any, planets could hope to survive on their own for more than a few months without external support. Forge worlds need food and raw materials from other systems, agri-worlds can seldom produce the machinery required for their harvests, and hive worlds are often so densely occupied that their only local product is the world’s population. The Commerce skill represents the understanding of trade, value, and exchange, which allows these worlds to continue to exist at a planetary level, and also more locally at a habway marketplace. Many within the Imperium’s vast bureaucracy, and even its military, learn this skill. All humans must practise it to a certain degree, as they acquire the basic necessities for life. Ultimately, thieves and merchants are the most adept, as they must know the value of any goods they plan to steal or sell. When Commerce is used against an opponent (such as to gain a bonus on a Requisition test) it is always an Opposed test (see page 24). Commerce opposes, and is opposed by, either Commerce or Willpower

Evaluate
A character can use the Commerce skill to determine the worth of an item or commodity. The GM should make this roll in secret, modifying the result depending on who the Acolyte is dealing with and the setting (see below for example modifiers). A success tells the character the Availability of the item he is evaluating, while a failure tells him nothing. If he fails by more than 3 degrees of failure, the GM should give him a false Availability

When to use Commerce as a GM
The GM can call on a player to use the Commerce skill when they want to gain a bonus when attempting a Requisition test, they would like to track down a rare item in a hive market, or when they want to know how much an item is worth. Some example modifiers include
 * +30: Dealing with a highly-trusted trading partner.
 * +20: Dealing with a trusted market vendor.
 * +10: Dealing with a familiar and friendly merchant or one who owes the character a favour.
 * +0: Dealing with an unknown individual.
 * –10: Dealing with an trader who is suspicious of the character.
 * –20: Dealing with a merchant from a non-Imperial culture.
 * –30: Dealing with an openly hostile trader.