What I think the nine are, are survivors of the collapse, (here: What if there was a colony in each planet, including the sun, but the colony on the sun was like a space station for Science and a leader from each 9 planetary colonies survived, and they formed the nine?) What if they provide exotics for a reason? And strange coins are like secretly some sort of black market currency? What if there were multiple agents? Get ready to get ya minds blown. Ok, ready? The nine are formed as some sort of project foundation to start a huge new colony, and they use strange coins to buy "parts" for the colony over some black market. [spoiler]Yes I know the sun is not a planet.[/spoiler]