While cartels have existed in some form or another since the Second Cycle, the deregulated free market and reliquary contracts created by TAERA, have enabled a new underground trade of 'reliquary contraband'.

The groups of merchants and traders part of these market alliances are collectively called 'Pendish Cartels', a name inspired by the oration 'The Fear of an Obsolete Market', dictated by noted economist Pend Eclohn; he believed markets had to be deregulated in response to the complete collapse of trade networks between the city-states, and that in their greedy search for profit, markets would ensure the city-states could find a way to survive.

While operating as part of a legitimate front of trade in markets and on the road, significant amounts of substances, artefacts, relics and other contraband is secretly traded in cities and frontier townships. Crackdowns are conducted often in city-states, necessitating the adoption of the complex and ever evolving 'Kinesic-Cypher'; a language communicated through subtle movements of the body and implied language. Those with knowledge of this language can ask for almost anything of the Cartels; weapons, drugs and even assassins.

The decentralised and disorganised nature of the organisation, and the evolving interpretation of their hidden language makes it difficult to catch more than one or two members at a time for breaking TAERA'n and city-state laws.

By the upper echelons of government however, they are seen as necessary evil; with the remoteness and lack of access on the frontier, the Cartels can often act faster and more efficiently than TAERA in the delivery of lifesaving supplies and equipment. For that, many turn a blind eye to the haggling and exchange of questionable, sometimes dangerous materials in every market in Enaeth.