The Ebon Syndicate
It is said that beneath every unexplained success lies an undiscovered crime. If so, the crimes of the Ebon Syndicate’s number beyond reckoning. In many respects, the Ebon Syndicate is the Augustine Trading Company’s dark mirror—an organization with a finger in every major criminal trade. Assassination, slave trading, drug trafficking, theft, and the black market all fall within their ambitions.
The syndicate employs and controls thugs, beggars, thieves, professional killers, extortionists, and spies. Its Shadow Academy ensures these agents operate with the highest skill and efficiency. The Ebon Syndicate began with an Altenheim based bandit named Hiram Greyman. One night, after a battle with the city watch left his men dead and Hiram badly wounded, the bandit fled into a hedge maze. There, delirious from blood loss, he followed a hawk moth that led him through to safety. Since then, Greyman thought himself favored by the gods and used the hawk moth as his personal symbol. He rebuilt his gang and went on to establish the Syndicate, which over the centuries grew into the powerful shadow organization it is today. After Greyman died, his name became a title that was passed on from one syndicate leader to the next. The current Greyman is Natalia Koscheii, who is infamous for her ability to escape the most meticulous assassination attempts. The syndicate’s presence is most felt in the largest and most prosperous cities of Etharis. All the smaller crime organisations bow to the syndicate. Freelancers receive one warning before their lives are shortened, and any group that tries to muscle into the syndicate’s territory is treated without mercy. The syndicate maintains a tenuous peace with the other factions. Groups like the Watchers and the Augustine Trading Company are technically at war with them, but will often hire their services, as the syndicate’s spy network outmatches any other. The syndicate’s insignia, the hawk moth, is a nocturnal creature known for its swift flight and short lifespan. Similarly, the agents of the syndicate move quickly through darkness, taking what they want, with the full knowledge that life is short among fellow rogues.
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