Depatar, the City of Masks, is an unusual place that was set up as a business in clandestine meetings. Five separate criminal syndicates constructed the city as both a neutral ground to meet on. Then they discovered that criminals weren't the only ones interested in private meetings, and saw a way to make a profit in addition to providing themselves with a safe haven to meet in. The purpose of the city is to allow individuals to meet and/or conduct business without anyone else finding out about the meetings. As a security precaution, to help protect all of their clients, the Depatar requires all non-residents of the city to travel fully covered from head to toe. Many guests take the opportunity to don unusual or creative masks or costumes, and hence the nickname "City of Masks". To aid in creating privacy for its guests, many Depatar residents travel in disguise as well, offering their services to guests as decoys or duplicates. The city has created an entire industry around deception and intrigue.
Also, the atmosphere in the city provides an ideal setting for those wishing to sell "unusual" goods to do so safely. In other words, Depatar is perhaps the largest black market in the system. For enough credits, nearly anything can be bought there, and many of the business operator take great delight in being known by their elaborate masks rather than by their real faces.
The city has a complex and confusing bureaucracy, requiring permits for nearly any activity, though permits only identify whom they apply to by costume. This has allowed the creation of quite a market for documents ñ both real and forged ñ within the city. The official government of Depatar has seen no reason to discourage this practice. In fact, the city's 5 council members are each part of one of the syndicates that make huge amounts of credits producing permits and selling them to guests of the City of Masks.
This chaos is somewhat regulated by the major permit sellers, who have set up an agreement about the selling of permits. Individuals who sell permits are called "permitors". Whomever sells the first permit to a guest of Depatar has first right on acquiring the guests any other permits (since they have been retained as the individual's permitor). The right of permitor only applies as long as the guest doesnít ask another permitor specifically to acquire a permit for them (the permitor is not allowed to solicit purchase of a permit from the guest, they must instruct the guest that their current permitor should be able to procure a permit for them, but if the guest is unsatisfied with their current official, they may purchase a permit for a transfer of representation.). If a guest purchases a permit for the transfer of representation, then the right of permitor is transferred to the new "official". This prevents guests from being harassed constantly during their stay on the city, and also creates a level of dedicated service, since not meeting a guest's desires loses the "official" their easy meal ticket. It also tends to give guests a built in guide, since most smart "officials" aren't going to leave their meal ticket alone to be stolen away.
Most permits that are sold are good for either a few minutes up to a couple of days. Longer permits are obviously more expensive, and the legality of the activity in a normal community also has an influence on price. Performing an activity without proper permit, or a guest traveling without mask are all punished by the same penalty ñ expulsion from Depatar. How severe the council feels the infraction was determines whether or not the expelled individual gets to leave via ship or whether they just open a door and "throw the bum out".

Sample permit prices are listed below:
Visitor Permit (allows landing of ship on Depatar and interaction with a Permitor): 100 credits/day Weapons Permit: 150 credits/day
Purchase Permit - Goods Legal in most of the system: 5 credits/hour + 1% of price of goods purchased.
Purchase Permit - Goods Restricted in most of the system: 100 credits + 5% of price of goods purchased.
Purchase Permit - Illegal goods in most of the system: 500 credits + 25% of price of purchased goods, goods must be out of Depatar within 48 hours.
Travel Permit (allows holder to travel the city in a particular mask): 25 credits/day
Gambling Permit: 5 credits/hour + 5% of winnings.

These are just examples. Basic activities should run 5-25 credits/day, with prices for other activities based on how illegal they are in the rest of the system.
It takes about 4 hours to get approval through the government for a permit. Forged permits can be done many times in as little as 6-30 seconds, depending on the resources of the permitor and the complexity of the permit.