Crownless
The Crownless are a network of loosely-affiliated criminal cartels, generally referred to as "families" within their own ranks, which operate in the western parts of Kataris. Notorious for their ruthlessness and violence, the cartels are nonetheless thought to adhere to an exacting code of honour, the breach of which is punished in a brutal and often fatal manner. Whilst much of the history and activities of the Crownless are closely guarded from outsiders, one fact is widely regarded as an open secret - that all full members of the Crownless are wererats, infected with lycanthropy during the process of their initiation into the organisation.
Among the most prominent of the Crownless cartels are the Rattenvanger Crime Family of Cameri.
Structure
An individual Crownless cartel, or family, is made up of a variable number of members, usually between two dozen and a hundred or so. Members are often related by blood, and those who are "born among the rats" - the children of those who are members of the cartel - are almost inevitably inducted into the organisation when they come of age. Each cartel is led by an "Uncrowned Monarch", sometimes styled as "Rat Queens" or similar; these leaders appear to be chosen by common agreement of the family, though the specifics are not widely known.
Each family holds a specific urban territory over which they are granted exclusive domain; conflicts between different families are apparantly rare.
Culture
The so-called Crownless Code is said to consist of several binding oaths, the breach of which is punishable by death:
- Do not reveal the secrets of the family to oursiders.
- Obey the hierarchy of the family and abide by the judgements of the Uncrowned Monarchs.
- Do not kill, steal, or harm another member of the family.
- Do not break your word.
- Do not give the gift of lycanthropy to the unworthy.
- Do not harm children, the holy, or the innocent - the latter two terms apparantly having specific technical meanings.
History
The history of the Crownless is unclear, and is apparantly considered a closely guarded secret that its members would rather die than reveal. It is consequently unclear when the first of the Crownless families was founded, though they were said to be active at the time of Erastes' Landing in 688AK.
Some scholars have theorised that the Crownless may have originated as a secret society within the Empire of Kataris.
Whilst the Crownless generally do not cooperate with the national or civic authories that rule the lands in which they dwell, there are reports that in the closing years of the Long War certain families sided with the Alderni against the League of Savura. The extent of this alliance, and the reasons for it emerging, are unclear. In particular, the Rattenvanger Crime Family is known to have helped smuggle members of House Zaal out of Cameri when it was besieged by the Savurans.
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