Secret League of Yew - "S.L.Y."
Professionals of stealth and assassinations
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About
The Secret League of Yew, better known as "SLY" or the "League", is a multinational organized crime group in the Eastern Continent of Arda. They are a for-profit group which collects and fulfills contracts from a number of groups for the ends of acquisition, assassination, information gathering, espionage, and more. They operate in nearly every nation of the Eastern Continent and as far as Nestoria in the Western Continent. They are made up of a series of agents, controllers, and the enigmatic leaders known as the necrosages.
Feared by the peoples of Arda, they are spoken of in hushed whispers by the common folk of the land. The agents blend in with the people of the land in order to not draw attention, and to study their targets where they live and work, and thus the most paranoid of people try to remain out of the common eye to avoid detection by the League or its agents. These agents most often work alone or in small groups, depending on the size and complexity of their contracts.
History
Little is known about the history of the League, but scholars who believe in its presence have no end of theories about its origins. The truth, however, is only really known by the eldest and potentially deathless members of SLY known as the necrosages. The necrosages are only spoken in whispers even among the agents of SLY, and none except the most proficient agents are said to have laid eyes upon them and lived.
There is a significant amount of evidence which points to the fact that the League had its origins in the Eastern Continent, but for how long they have operated in the land is contested. From these, it is most likely that the organization began in the nations of either Harad or Romanorum, where the League keeps a large presence, and both have a seemingly limitless demand for their services.
As a league of thieves, spies and assassins, it is unsurprising that these furtive peoples are not known to play a role in history. More likely, they are not known to play an overt part in history as their continued existence is largely tied to their secrecy and discretion. While numerous attempts had been made in the past to uncover and exterminate the League, all such efforts have failed long-term. The cellular nature of the organization makes it easy to cut off compromised cells and simply install new ones once the public eye has receded.
Members
New agents are largely recruited among the urban poor of the cities of the Eastern Continent, especially those in the lands of Harad and Romanorum. These poor are often pushed into lives of crime from a young age to survive in these cities, especially those who were abandoned, came from broken homes, or simply ran away from their homes. These people often learn to steal, lie, coerce, or resort to violence to live in a city that may be unable or unwilling to help its most vulnerable members. They will often begin in a smaller crime group, such as a thieves guild, gang, or urchin band before they are scouted to join the Secret League of Yew.
When a new potential recruit is being scouted to join the League, they are contacted by a League agent in disguise about a series of low-profile or fake contracts which is intended to test the recruit's mettle. They are then often unwittingly shadowed by an elder member of the League who will assess their performance and judge their potential value to the League. If the recruit acquits themselves well in these tasks, they are offered the chance to join one of League's local groups, known as "cell". With the greater pay, gravitas, and resources of the League, few will reject the offer. Those who do reject the League's offer will either have their memory "blanked" by a SLY spellcaster, or otherwise quickly disposed of.
Each member of the League are given a badge or icon to prove their identity to their fellow agents or controllers. These are often used as a way to single out potential infiltrators into their organization, and forgetting one's badge could quickly turn into a fatal error. The badges also possess an ability to "ping" each other to aid in the identifying process.
Structure and Organization
On a functional perspective, the League has a robust and well-organized methods of organization of their forces. That said, they only have two (or three, depending on perspective) real "ranks" per say, which is the agent and the far more enigmatic necrosage.
| Rank | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agent | The rank and file of SLY. Each of these agents are trained with one or more particular specialties, such as acquisitions, information gathering, or assassination. They can take contracts at will. For the sake of control and security, they are usually kept near a single cell, but particularly proficient agents are highly-sought after and can travel freely between cells. |
| "1.5" | Agent "Controller" | The agent "controller" is not a technical rank in the League, but largely is seen as a differentiation in duties. Regardless of the formalities, the controllers collect requests from the region(s) they serve, negotiate prices, and connect agents with potential new contracts. They are also responsible for creating safe houses for the agents of their cells, most of which are fronted as local businesses such as stores, inns, or brothels. Each controller has a code name to differentiate their "public" and League identities, usually related to the businesses they front as. As a result for these administrative responsibilities, they are often treated as the superiors of the League, and are usually the first contacted by the Necrosages for special missives. |
| 2 | Necrosage | These shadowy figures are the heads of the League. Little is known about the Necrosages, but there are no end of wild stories. They are said to be anything from liches of powerful assassins to a cabal of greedy and deathless vampires. Whatever the truth, they act as a council to direct the efforts of the League, such as the creation of new cells, when to cut off old cells, or even manage particularly delicate or high-profile requests. They also choose the next agents to become controllers, and it is said that invaluable agents can join their council to direct the future of the League. |
The League is split into small groups known as "cells". Each cell is a small unit of agents who are directed by an elder agent known as a controller. The controller negotiates and collects contracts, and dispenses these tasks to the agents of their cells. While the controllers are aware of the presence of other cells, most agents are kept in the dark about other agents to prevent this information from falling into the hands of the authorities should the agent be caught. These cells are organized to have little contact with each other, but each follows the directives set by the leaders of the Secret League of Yew, the necrosages. By limiting the amount of information available at each branch, it again limits the amount of information that could be leaked if a cell becomes compromised.
Scope
The Secret League of Yew is most active in the lands of the Eastern Continent. As a region with a long history of both governance and conflict, there has been little shortage of work among the nations of the Eastern Continent. As of the 1400's AW, they have footholds in every nation of the Eastern Continent except the Enlightened Kingdom, and this is largely due to the self-imposed isolation of the Enlightened up until recently. They are also believed to have a presence in eastern Nestoria.
Of these nations, they are most active in Harad and Romanorum. These nations have no end of ambitious peoples who will stop at nothing to realize their ascension to power or get the edge over their competitors. In Harad, they are common contracted by an agent of of one of the powerful Merchant Lords. League agents are commonly used to steal records, trade secrets, and assassinate the heads of smaller businesses who could pose a potential future threat to their profits. As a result of the endemic poverty of the region, new agents are easily found, and many have previous experience in lives of crime. Due to the great demand of SLY services in the region, they maintain multiple cells in the nation, and likely has the greatest concentration of agents than any other of their regions.
In Romanorum, the need for services is similar, but their methods vary greatly due to the general temperament of the Romanoran peoples. The most common requests come from the Senators of the Romanorans. Unscrupulous Senators will request the assassination of their political enemies, while those who (perhaps ironically) see themselves as people of integrity, will instead inquire that League agents to get dirt on their foes to shame out of their political careers.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Continent, there are multiple branches which offer generalized services which often involve the ruin of rival merchants or even hired to engineer the downfall or local tyrants. The primary exception these are in Magnos and Rian. In Magnos, the primary purpose of their agents is to coax information from scholars and steal trade secrets of their enchanters and creators of magical tools. Such are often repurposed to fit the needs of the League. In Rian, while the League does have a presence in these lands, they are rarely needed. Brawls and duels spawn frequently from the squabbles of merchants and tribal leaders, and such are seen as "honorable" affairs to defeat one's rivals in person than rely on assassination or subterfuge. Thus, when the League is hired to "assassinate" targets in Rian, they send agents who masquerade as disgruntled warriors or berserkers who taunt and challenge their targets before killing them, appearing to be a mundane "honorable" encounter rather than an intended assassination.
Allies and Similar Organizations
The League, as an illicit and for-profit organization of thieves, spies, and assassins, does not maintain any known relationships or alliances. If there were, it is not in either party's best interests to validate these claims. Regardless of this, it does little to prevent the vast amount of rumors and hearsay about the League's connections with numerous and powerful politicians and merchants throughout the Eastern Continent. These high-profile bourgeois figures are seen to have the most to gain from the well-timed death of their potential competition or political enemies. As a result, they are some of the first suspects in an investigation on the behalf of law bodies of Arda, but thanks to the shrewdness of the contractors or the cunning of SLY agents, little ever comes of these investigations. As compensation for their services, the agents or the greater League are rewarded in gold or favors, such as the release of an agent or the halting of a potentially-telling investigation.
While SLY is perhaps one of the most fabled and prolific of the underworld of Arda, they are not the only ones in the field. There are numerous smaller and more local underworld organizations, but few can match the skill and resources that the League has. In fact, the League often infiltrates or scouts these smaller crime groups to recruit promising new agents. While these smaller groups do present some competition for similar contracts, SLY will rarely act against them. In their eyes, the presence of these smaller groups give local authorities more overt targets, and makes misdirection attempts easier.
The most famous similar group is in the lands far to the west, in Cathay. In those lands, the underworld group known as the Tu Fei reign supreme. The Tu Fei are a group of elven agents who much like SLY, partake in espionage and assassination. However, unlike the League, they also engage in human trafficking and a greater drug trade. In Cathay, new slaves and servants of exceptional skill or beauty are prized, and often take these peoples from the neighboring lands of Nestoria, Ado, or Mujmal. It is unclear if the Tu Fei operate for sheer profit as the League does, or if they commit these atrocities at the behest of one or more of the Eight Noble Families. Others suspect the Tu Fei are used a tool of the Cathanese Imperial Throne to destabilize Nestoria and other nearby nations by flooding them with addictive drugs such as opium or the assassination of powerful figures who oppose Cathay's interests.
While their objectives differ greatly, SLY and the Hashashin (the "Shadow Assassins" of Al-Andalus) share a number of similarities in training and tactics. The Shadow Assassins instead use their skills of assassination and subterfuge against Shadow worshipers throughout Al-Andalus and beyond, becoming the hidden scourge of the unwary followers. Unlike the League, they are motivated by religion instead of love of gold. They are described as fanatical worshipers of the Heavens, and especially the Cult of Mendos. Many train from a young age to become capable and skillful assassins who are skilled with magics. Others have joined seeking to protect their home of Al-Andalus out of sight of the normal guards. While the Shadow Assassins are a "secret" organization of the Cult of Mendos, they are known to be based in Damask. As a result, even the League will actively avoid sending agents there to avoid open confrontations with the fellow dwellers of darkness. Instead, the League will stake out in other large trade cities in the region, such as Kaffa or Ashkelon.
See Also
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