Rogue Traders sometimes trade within the Imperium, but this is looked down upon amongst Rogue Traders, and is seen as a sign of impending destruction by a trader so weak they are reduced to the activities of a mere merchant captain. As acquiring new ships for a bargain (or even more severely, a second Warrant of Trade) is critical for Rogue Traders, being overly visible trading within the Imperium brings down one's colleagues like Fenrisian Wolves.
We know from Priests of Mars that this is the case. Rogue Traders can get very rich by doing nothing more than trading internally within the Imperium. There was no hint that it was looked down upon.
Haven't read Priests of Mars, but it's not really about the wealth in my view. It's a prestige thing.
The Merchant Fleet is is about 9/10ths of Imperial spacecraft, as one might expect. Of that, how many are Rogue Traders? Not many, that's for sure. A Warrant of Trade is something to fight an interstellar war over.
So if you're one of these folks, the elite of the elite class that even put Hereditary Free Charters to shame, have legal authority that is basically second only to an Inquisitor and practical authority far beyond that, are
legally permitted to entreat with xenos if it serves the Imperium, and you choose to deliver a million billion tons of grain to hive worlds like some fucking peasant instead?
People are going to take note of that, none more so than your vicious competitors.
Are there no depths to which Geedubs will not sink? Should I just go ahead and assume there's going to be a
Archie Meets The Emperor Of Mankind comic series and be done with it?