Too, there's non-slave people smuggling! Getting wanted people in and out of places, be they wanted by government or private individuals.
Hot items -- things that have been stolen and resold, or stolen to be resold, or stolen to be given to the person who did the hiring. These don't even need to be things of value; collectors go to some ridiculous lengths to get their hands on things they want. Also, political backstabbing sometimes means either taking said hot item (perhaps some incriminating evidence) or even planting it. Either way, getting caught with it is no bueno.
Things like poaching, tomb-raiding, counterfeit money etc would also be things that'd need to be smuggled around. Just take a gander at what gets smuggled irl -- it isn't just drugs, weapons and people! Different countries around the world have different things that people want that might be .... not okay to be harvested where that thing is from. Take the Au Ra for example. Perhaps as people who are from a distant land with vastly different rules, a tribe or two has customs or beliefs that means they require a certain material for medicinal purposes . . . that is protected under such and such merchant blah blah blah trade agreement blah (hiya Gridania poachers!).
Or perhaps some bit of book has been banned but some scholar really really really really needs to get her hands on the fourth volume, because it is essential to her current research!
Just skirt around the edges a little, sometimes you don't need to be specific (which is then useful in not necessarily breaking lore boundaries) in order to create a need your smuggler is meeting.
Happy customs evasion!
Hot items -- things that have been stolen and resold, or stolen to be resold, or stolen to be given to the person who did the hiring. These don't even need to be things of value; collectors go to some ridiculous lengths to get their hands on things they want. Also, political backstabbing sometimes means either taking said hot item (perhaps some incriminating evidence) or even planting it. Either way, getting caught with it is no bueno.
Things like poaching, tomb-raiding, counterfeit money etc would also be things that'd need to be smuggled around. Just take a gander at what gets smuggled irl -- it isn't just drugs, weapons and people! Different countries around the world have different things that people want that might be .... not okay to be harvested where that thing is from. Take the Au Ra for example. Perhaps as people who are from a distant land with vastly different rules, a tribe or two has customs or beliefs that means they require a certain material for medicinal purposes . . . that is protected under such and such merchant blah blah blah trade agreement blah (hiya Gridania poachers!).
Or perhaps some bit of book has been banned but some scholar really really really really needs to get her hands on the fourth volume, because it is essential to her current research!
Just skirt around the edges a little, sometimes you don't need to be specific (which is then useful in not necessarily breaking lore boundaries) in order to create a need your smuggler is meeting.
Happy customs evasion!
