The Garnet Shroud

The Council of the Garnet Shroud is an association of slave traders and other merchants of misery. The council's main function is to ensure that the various business efforts, schemes, and claimed territories of its members do not interfere with each other. Members are typically ruthless and not averse to espionage, bribery, or assassination to expand their influence.
Ruling from their hidden base high in the Ringard Peaks, very little activity in the Scarred Coast escapes their notice. While the number of council members at large fluctuates between 80 and 120 at any one time, the true power lies with the Inner Council. Each of the members of the Inner Council represents one or more organizations with an eye to profit and power.
Secrecy and subterfuge, blackmail and backstabbing, torture and treason are simply some of the tools used by members to advance their own goals. The most successful weave webs of intrigue in layers around their many nefarious plots.

Membership

Membership in the council is maintained by a hefty annual fee. Membership in the council entitles members to seek arbitration or mediation in disputes with other members. Licenses may also be purchased for specific activities in various territories, granting the rights to a share of the profit of any acrtivities which fall within that portfolio.
The town guard and a small number of bureaucrats are the few employed directly by the Garnet Shroud, and even many of these secretly report to one (or more) of the council members.

Emblem

Many Council Members display membership through a garnet brooch or pin. The more ostentatious the jewelry, the more powerful the individual. Losing one's symbol of membership or having it stolen results in a serious loss of reputation. The symbol of the Garnet Shroud is a quartered shield of red and white, with the symbols of a cloak and flail.

Type

Illicit, Syndicate

Alternative Names

The Guild of Guilds, Red Cloaks