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Red Empire

The 'Red Empire' is the largest criminal organization in Bogenhafen and the Lionel County. They have an ironclad grip on the city itself, with many officials and Baron Ortega himself firmly under their control. They also have smaller outgrowths in other cities, such as Black Hallows, Sweetlake and Lakeshore.

Modus Operandi

The Red Empire is a criminal organization cloaking themselves in a veneer of civility. Their preferred ways of making money is smuggling, protection money, luxury 'entertainment', mercenary work and other more 'civilized' forms of crime.

The Red Empire prefers to keep things quiet. They dislike being the center of attention, they prefer to keep things orderly, predictable and profitable.
If faced with an individual stirring up trouble, their first approach to anybody being a problem is bribing or recruiting them.
Their second Approach will be to attempt to threaten them. The red empire is infamous and they know it. anybody from the local area will usually be cowed easily.
If that doesn't work they will attempt blackmail; figuring out secrets or finding weak-spots for any individual they can use to control them (threatening family members or threatening to release dangerous information about the individual, anything goes, really).
Finally, if blackmail is not possible, they will start to send warnings: Goons to beat up the target, making good on any threats they made, any way to force the target to comply or submit. This is where things get bad. Houses burned, businesses destroyed, broken bones, family members held hostage; the things the empire is feared for.
Only once those more 'quiet' forms of 'problem-solving' have been tried does the red empire assassinate the problematic individual. They may also hire assassins to deal with the threat. If they hire assassins, they usually they also make sure to keep one or two steps of separation between their operatives and themselves, to make sure any investigation is slowed down significantly. They don't like making a public showing of this; their preferred way of dealing with somebody is for them to quietly disappear one night and never be seen again.

The red empire is cold, calculating, well funded, well organized and very good at what they do.

Hierarchy

Red King:
At the very top of the Red Empire is a secretive individual simply known as "the Red King". The identity of the red king is a closely guarded secret, to prevent unnecessary (and futile) assassination attempts.

Red Lords / Red Coats:
Underneath the Red King in the Hierarchy are the "Red lords", or as they are are called by the members within the organization: The "Red Coats". These individuals are highly competent in many ways, but their main purpose is maintaining the organization and taking care of any problems that occur. They are unusually loyal for low-life scum and the both fear and respect the red king. They usually have a reputation for brutally maintaining discipline within their ranks and their subordinates usually have a healthy amount of fear for them.

Lieutenants / Red scarves:
The "Red Scarves" are the middle-managers of the Red empire. Above the common foot-soldiers but not in the upper echelons of the organization. They usually lead small establishments or are 'team leaders' when anything needs doing. They are never given a lot of information about the interior of the organization but they have the ability to contact their direct superior, which is one of the red Lords. Red scarves are the organizers on any operation, they collect the members, they manage payments and rewards, they keep loyalty within the ranks and they are treated better as a result. Trying to become a red scarf is seen by many in Bogenhafen as a viable career choice.

Order

The Red Empire highly values order.
They like things to be productive, so they can siphon more off the top.
They like people to be happy, so no wide-scale discontent rises against them.
They like to keep their promises and protect 'their' communities, so that any attempts to remove them are met with push-back from the populace.
Their Members are paid enough to live off their gang income, to make sure they remain loyal.
They are easy to work with and their members can count on the support of the organization to protect them, to make sure that loyalty is maintained within the ranks.
Attackers and traitors are punished severely or disappear entirely, to make sure such behavior is discouraged.

The Red Empire is a large and dangerous criminal organization but it is also overall far more beneficial than whatever gang would inevitably replace them in a city like Bogenhafen. This attitude is something the Red Empire encourages and exploits. They would wish for nothing more than to become legitimized in everything they do.

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