Crimson Consortium

**The Crimson Consortium** is criminal organization that provides black market goods and services, specializing in illegal medical work and gambling. It's based off of a bureaucratic/corporate structure, so internal hierarchies are inflexible and the Consortium is long-term sustainability oriented rather than chasing the next biggest profit.

## Description

### Activity

They operate in cities via their "Outposts", or buildings that they use as a base of operations. There tends to only be one major Outpost per city. The Consortium is known for organ trafficking, and many higher ranked members have enough medical experience to attempt illegal procedures.

Often, nightclubs or casinos are undercover Outposts.

### Thieve's Cant

Members of the Consortium use a series of hand gestures as their thieve's cant. A part of this code involves placement of a crimson colored metal ring on their hands.

### Code of Conduct

 +1/-3
 +1/-3
 +1/-10
 +2/-2
 +4/-4
 +1/-10

## History

The Crimson Consortium was founded because class divides in the Starboard Alliance made it difficult to access basic needs. A few illicit networks popped up and were seized by Avantika and have been run by her ever since.

## Notable NPCs

### Leader

* ~~Avantika Sulaweski~~ (founder and leader)

### Directors

* Derek Whiteshard (director of Portia's Outpost)
* Ahvahn Korinn (director of Orlen's Outpost)
* Tharivol Amastacia (director of Chunathan's Outpost)
* ~~"Mister" Arnold Sylvectus~~ (director of Eastshire's Outpost)

### Consigliere

#### Eastshire

* ~~Kiquillor Shackleton~~
* Rapacity [imprisoned]
* Glint of Blade [imprisoned]
* ~~Anthony~~
* Adelard

### Members

#### Eastshire

* Dameon (quit the Consortium after a fight with the Eastwind Inquisitors)
* Luke (unwilling member from Skybound District)
* Tony]
* a whole bunch of random npcs that were panic named

## Relationships

### The Requiem

The Consortium has a tendency of holding family members or loved ones of potential members hostage. This helps “encourage” people to make contracts with the Consortium. The hostages are usually sent to the Requiem. Children are brought to the Silver Oak home in Eastshire, since it’s unethical to make them work, and capable people are put to use running errands for the Requiem or some other “hidden” work. They are kept hidden from the people working for the Consortium.

### The Stave

Competitor in the black market, generally not fond of each other.

## Notes (from Wikipedia)

Bureaucratic/corporate organized crime groups are defined by the general rigidity of their internal structures. They focus more on how the operations works, succeeds, sustains itself or avoids retribution, they are generally typified by:

A complex authority structure;

An extensive division of labor between classes within the organization;

Meritocratic (as opposed to cultural or social attributes);

Responsibilities carried out in an impersonal manner;

Extensive written rules/regulations (as opposed to cultural praxis dictating action);

and, 'Top-down' communication and rule enforcement mechanisms.

However, this model of operation has some flaws: The 'top-down' communication strategy is susceptible to interception, more so further down the hierarchy being communicated to;

Maintaining written records jeopardizes the security of the organization and relies on increased security measures;

Infiltration at lower levels in the hierarchy can jeopardize the entire organization (a 'house of cards' effect);

and, Death, injury, incarceration or internal power struggles dramatically heighten the insecurity of operations. While bureaucratic operations emphasize business processes and strongly authoritarian hierarchies, these are based on enforcing power relationships rather than an overlying aim of protectionism, sustainability or growth.