The Knaves of the Seine
The Knaves of the Seine are a bunch of unscrupulous characters based out of Parisius forming a secret society.. Formed primarily by the 2nd in line or younger members of wealthy families & nobility, they are looked upon as living the a life of debauchery. This in turn helps to hide the real truth as to why it was set up.
Structure
Loosely grouped is the best way to descriibe the organisation. The Knaves don't seem to have any formal heirarchy though they will informally adopt a leader when one is needed, adopting the title of Jester. Every one has equal say and the 'Jester' will determine what is to be carried out.
Culture
The members are generally the 2nd born or younger members of either wealthy families and/or nobility. They loosely appear to be a debauched group of friends, though they are secretly using this cover to catch out & bring evil to a stop. Appearing as they do, no-one can argue that they are excellent at hiding their true purpose.
Public Agenda
The public agneda seems to be that of partying for as long as possible, when possible. Most other classes of society can barely tolerate this type of behaviour expecting higher standards of their betters. To this end it works perfectly allowing for the Knaves to slip into areas & groups that would not necessarily expect them to rout out scum & villainy at best, and monstrous creatures & schemes at worst.
Assets
The Knaves have many backers, namely their own families and groups such as the local militia & churches or other religious groups. Favours are earned too when they bring down certain evildoers who would target groups aligned to the betterment of society. Most will have their own coin, a title and/or guild along with contacts through all strata of society. This can range from the local alehouse, to the Thieves of Frankia right up to the local Burgomaster & council of Parisius, even to the local Bishop's office. Many of them are well equipped and trained in any number of skills besides combat, and a few have access to magic & magic items.
History
Started recently in the past few years, the Knaves of the Seine started up after a young noblewoman & sister to one of the Knaves, suffered & died at the hands of a notorious criminal. She was abused, tortured & eventually killed. The criminal escaped Parisius to a small village between Parisius & Orleans before he could be caught. Ther ehe hid for more than 6 months before being drawn back to Parisius. During those 6 months, the younger brother and friends of her banded together and went on a rampage through the worse part of the city targetting any number of people before being brought in line.
After this they knew that they had to think differently before trying to being the criminal to justice. By acting like a group of fools and 'retrobates' they hung round the area that the girl had been attacked. Spreading the word that it was safe now, and that there was no hope of catching the criminal, they found that he was drawn out of hiding in the south. When he returned he was duly captured, beaten near to death, and handed over to the authorities.
Marking this a success, the group decided to do this full time and drew in a few more. Flexible enough they are able to appear like normal law-abiding upperclass ladies & gentlemen day to day, and by night a group of halions out for a good time, and easy targets. This allows them to get attention from those they hunt while preparing to bring the wrongdoers to justice.
So far they have struck against a good number of low level criminals and evildoers, and earned the begrudging respect of the local militia & even the Thieves of Frankia. It hasn't gone unnoticed though by certain individuals & organisations who woukd topple the present order or just see the world burn. They have recently had the odd run-in with a group calling themselves the Bladed Pouch, and couple of undead cults affiliated with much more powerful cults. Thus, they are looking to expand and hopefully gather allies to their side while expanding the idea to other Frankish cities & regions.
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