The Macabre Jest

"There is power in playing the fool."

While there is no shortage of highwaymen and brigands amongst the rough landscape of the Outer Provinces, an initial glance towards the Inner Provinces would make it look a much more civil place in comparison. The presence of the Provincial Army usually keeping the roads clear of this unsavory lot. However, no society can exist without the disaffected, and the Inner Province is no different. While the outward appearance would at least lead one to believe that crime has at least lessened, the truth is that it changed.

There are many organized crime syndicates scattered throughout the Provinces, with each typically sticking to the confines of their territory. Any attempt to pin down the largest is any form of raw number would be ultimately fruitless, yet, without a doubt, the group known as The Macabre Jest is one of the many jocking for the title.

The origin of the syndicate traces back to fairly humble beginnings, as not even a group but a commonality. While it is unclear when it started, traveling circuses and carnivals became known to run gambling rings alongside their usual operations. Constantly moving around and tapping into fresh clients as they roamed from town to town. Born from a collection of these groups of illusionists, conmen, daredevils, deviants, and outcasts was the Macabre Jest. Eventually growing in size and members, settling in Vitalis, and branching into a myriad of different enterprises. Their most profitable proving to be: fencing, forgeries, gambling, loaning, an extremely effective protection racket, and a smattering of legal ventures. They've since grown large enough that most of their members no longer have any involvement with entertainment or circuses, with the top of the organization now resembling more of a guild or company than a carnival. However, one can still find traces of the adrenaline-soaked nature that defined the early Jest within it's more fanatical lower members. Often making any interaction with the Jest a coinflip as to whether you face the surprising polite side of the organization or the utterly deranged one. Yet either way, an encounter with the Macabre Jest only ensures one thing, in the end, they will claim the last laugh.

A large part of their success as an organization is the fact that House Libratus, and to a greater extent, the entire governing body of Levin, offers their silent approving of the Jest's activity. There are many reasons behind the support of the criminal syndicate, however, the greatest of which is the immense utility they provide the city. Crime may be unavoidable, but that is not to say it is uncontrollable. Yet to accomplish such a goal, a force with a massive amount of members, little to no restrictions on their actions, ample resources, and insider knowledge of illicit activity would be needed. The Macabre Jest is this force, for, while their activity is hardly more legal than any other gangs, their extensive history and size renders them immune to the mistakes and recklessness of smaller younger groups. They are, in a way, ordered chaos, and it is much easier for Levin to manage a single shark than a shoal of piranha. This two-way arrangement has benefits for both parties, freeing Levin from the burden of constant policing under the promise that they leave both the legal and illegal operations of the Jest undisturbed.