The Black Sunset Syndicate

"Watch where yer goin' lad!"

Samuel nearly dropped the tray of food when he stumbled on the coil of rope laying on the ships deck."Pardon sir," the boy's cheeks tinted red as he tried to hide his embarrassment before the rest of the crew, "Cook told me to take this to the cap'n right away."

"Yer the new cabin boy," the older sailor chuckled, "Keep yer wits 'bout on a ship, lad." The friendly jeers of the ship's crew were suddenly cut off by a frantic call from the rigging, "Black Sunset!"

The jovial mood fled and almost all of the crew on the deck ran to the railing, staring at the horizon and praying they were wrong. "Enmir help us!"

Samuel was puzzled by the sudden change in the crew's mood, "What's a black sunset?"

The sailor turned his eye from the horizon down to the boy, "Lad, get down to the gunner and tell him to get the cannons ready then find a place and hide."

"Sir, but the cap.." his words were cut off as the sailor knocked the tray from Samuel's hands and barked at him, "Now boy!"

The captain came out of his quarters and started calling out orders, the crew frantic to do whatever they could to get away. They all knew what awaited them if they were captured. The crew had known it was foolish to set out without an escort, but the new captain had insisted they would be fine. They were all about to pay for his foolishness.

The Black Sunset Syndicate started as a group of smugglers who setup base on the island of Maezes with the goal of plundering the ruins to sell their finds on the black markets of the eastern islands. After the original crew of the Sunset's Bane discovered a secluded harbor to anchor in they encountered a group of Forgotten Fellfolk. It took some tense negations for the two groups to begin to work together. The Forgotten guided the smugglers to ruins and the smugglers brought the fellfolk aboard their ship as crew and taught them how to sail. The two groups called themselves The Black Sunset Syndicate and within a year they had begun to make a tidy profit from their looting. They captured another ship and renamed it Dawn's Fall, using it as pirates and raiding other ships. As their funds increased they began to build a more permanent settlement in the harbor, now called Last Light Cove. It was around this time that a group of their scouts found a cave that contained a lage deposit of the Andaelite crystals. Due to the back breaking work and inherent dangers of mining Andaelite, they decided to take captives when they raided ships and villages. They brought these captives back to the cave and set them to work mining out the crystals as slaves. Once they started selling the Andaelite on the black market their operations began to grow steadly. They captured a trade ship, the Night's Jewel, and begain using it to smuggle their goods over to the eastern islands directly. No one is sure just how extensive the orginzation is, but current estimates put the group at over 500 members.

Structure

The head of the BSS is the Night Admiral, who is also captain of the Sunset's Bane. There are three positions directly under the admiral: Captain of the Dawn's Fall, Captain of the Night's Jewel, and the person in charge of the hideout (title suggestions welcome!).

The syndicate is organized into three main branches. First and primary are the pirates and raiders who take the Sunset's Bane and the Dawn's Fall out to capture ships and raid coastal settlements. They bring back supplies, booty, and slaves to Last Light Cove. The second group are those land based in Last Light Cove. This includes the scavanger parties and the Andaelite mine. The third group consists of the smugglers, traders, and scouts who operate throughout the archipelago. These are covert members who keep their connections to the Black Sunset hidden and try to operate as legitimate civillians. The Night's Jewel isn't known to be a BSS ship and is believed to simply be an independant trade ship.

Founding Date

120 A.S.

Type

Illicit, Syndicate

Alternative Names

BSS, The Black Suns

Demonym

Black Sun

Leader Title

Night Admiral

Location

Last Light Cove

Related Ranks & Titles

• Night Admiral

Controlled Territories

• Last Light Cove

Related Ethnicities

• The Forgotten Fellfolk

Ship at Sunset by Gerhard G.

Describe a famous criminal organization and the unlawful acts they commit in your world.