The Scarlet Crescent

The Scarlet Crescent, also simply known as the Crescent, or rarely, Etchers of the Scarlet Crescent, is the largest organized crime syndicate in Galefridus, with its headquarters in Lionburh. It is an association of criminal groups that operate as distinct branches that claim sovereignty over a territory, with branches located in every major city in Galefridus. The Crescent's core activities are protection racketeering, the arbitration of disputes between criminal organizations within its territory, and the organizing and oversight of illegal agreements and transactions.

## Etymology

The name "Scarlet Crescent" originated from the organization's early days, when they would leave people who crossed them with their throat sliced open from ear to ear - known as a "scarlet crescent."

## History

The history of the Scarlet Crescent is shrouded in myth, secrets, lies, and folklore. Precise details are known to few, but historians and bards agree on a number of facts.

### Early Galefridish Roots

It is unclear when, exactly, the Scarlet Crescent was officially founded, but it originated as a vigilante militia in the 9th century, shortly after the formation of Galefridus. In 811, King Abelot led Galefridus to war with Gavriel, leaving cities understaffed of soldiers needed for everyday needs. As such, crime rates soared, and nobles began hiring mercenaries to act as vigilante law enforcers within their settlements. However, clashes between these mercenaries and local law enforcement - aided in no small part by the mercenaries' thuggish approach to enforcing the law - meant that the mercenaries and town guards spent more time dealing with each other than the crimes both were tasked with stopping. In order to grant themselves more legitimacy in the eyes of local law enforcement and better coordinate their own efforts, these vigilante mercenaries began organizing themselves into formal groups independent of their initial noble employers.

These vigilante groups recruited young men into their militia to hunt down thieves and negotiate the return of stolen property in exchange for the thieves' freedom. The vigilantes would then return the stolen property to the victims - for a fee. Given most reputable combat-capable men had enlisted in the army or town guard, these militias consisted primarily of former criminals, which resulted in a fair amount of collusion between the militias and criminals.

In areas of greater crime rates, in order to enlist help in maintaining order, these militias began hiring or outright absorbing emergent violent gangs. Hierarchies formed to manage different branches of militias in different regions, which protected different territories.

Over time, while these militias did not eliminate crime altogether - and clearly perpetrated crimes of their own - it became clear that territories governed by the vigilante militias had overall lower crime rates than territories they did not protect. This made local law enforcement - and the Lord Mayors that employed them - look incompetent, and so government officials began cracking down on these militias. Rather than eliminating them, this actually strengthened these militias through a code of loyalty between members as they were forced to now operate in a clandestine manner, and local populations protected the militias from town guards because the militias protected them from criminals.

It was in 866 that the first stories of "scarlet crescents" emerged. A bard in Lionburh stumbled upon a group of murdered criminals in an inn's taproom who all had their throats sliced open. The bard described the scene as "a constellation of scarlet crescents," and the term gained widespread use as the calling called for the ultimate enforcement of the vigilante militias. Criminals feared receiving a scarlet crescent, and known members of the vigilante militias were referred to as Etchers of the Scarlet Crescent.

The Scarlet Crescent began to involve itself with politics, bribing, bullying, and extorting themselves into positions in which they could operate more liberally and with less interference from law enforcement. Its power grew over decades as its structure continued to formalize and expand throughout Galefridus.

### Gavric Reign

When Dragos the Red became the first Gavric king of Galefridus in 897, he brought with him draconian laws on crime and corruption, and the Scarlet Crescent's power was severely weakened through the execution of many of its members and political allies. In 922, when King Eustace I killed King Draganos the Red, son of Dragos the Red, and put an end to the Gavric Reign of Galefridus, the Scarlet Crescent were able to begin reinforcing their power base.

### Eustacean Inquisition

When King Eustace II took the throne following the death of his father in 942, he felt the need to live up to his father's heroic deeds, and thus decided to destroy the Scarlet Crescent as his claim to fame. Coordinating with the Church of Pelor, he established the Eustacean Inquisition, a campaign to seek out and deliver divine justice to criminal operatives of the Scarlet Crescent. He recruited from among the ranks of priests of Pelor those most fanatical in their pursuit of justice and designated them Invokers of the Flame, placing them in charge of the inquisition.

Over the next four years, a brutal campaign took place throughout Galefridus. The Invokers of the Flame commanded units of soldiers and went from city to city, town to town, hunting down members of the Scarlet Crescent. Captured members of the Scarlet Crescent would be publicly burned at the stake, and soldiers of the inquisition would torture and kill their way to confessions.

In 946, after growing public outcry at the increasing brutality of the inquisition and the collateral damage it was causing, King Eustace II ended the inquisition and disbanded the Invokers of the Flame. While the Scarlet Crescent was not destroyed outright, it was barely clinging to life. Many high-ranking members had fled Galefridus altogether to avoid the inquisitors, and those that returned found the organization fragmented and in disarray.

### The Gang Wars & Revival

Following the Eustacean Inquisition, the weakened state of the Scarlet Crescent left a power vacuum within the underworld of Galefridus. Various gangs vied for power in different states, leading to a decade of bloody conflicts in city streets.

Once King Eustace II died on the battlefield in 956 during the Gavric War of Restitution, the former leadership of the Scarlet Crescent felt emboldened to reemerge from hiding and reassert the power of the Crescent. Two Crescent-affiliated nobles got elected to the Small Council of Lionburh, a powerful foothold that grew, over the years, into the Crescent infiltrating multiple branches of the Galefridish government, including its guardsmen. By leveraging both criminal and legal enforcers, the Crescent was able to tame the underworld of Galefridus and establish a precarious balance of order and chaos.

## Structure and Composition

The Scarlet Crescent is not a monolithic organization, but rather a structured regiment of about two dozen groups known as syndicates. Each syndicate claims sovereignty over a territory, usually a city and its satellite towns and villages.

### Syndicate Hierarchy

A syndicate is led by an Overseer who is aided by an Underseer and supervised by one or more Consuls.

The Overseer of a syndicate is typically elected by its members through a democratic process - though this process is sometimes subverted through violent coercion. Elections are held annually, and an Overseer may be deposed before election in the event of either gross misconduct or incompetence.

The Underseer is the second in command to the Overseer, and is sometimes a family member of the Overseer. If the Overseer is incapacitated, the Underseer assumes command of the Syndicate, and if the Overseer dies, the Underseer becomes acting Overseer until an election formalizes a new Overseer.

The Consul of a syndicate must supervise the actions of the Overseer and Underseer and serve as an impartial adviser and mediator.

Outside of its members, the Scarlet Crescent makes extensive use of "red men." These are people who work for or aid one or more syndicates but are not actual members of the Scarlet Crescent. These include corrupt officials and prospective Etchers. Red men are considered by the Crescent as nothing more than tools.

While there is, formally, no singular leader of the Scarlet Crescent, there is an informal understanding that the Overseer of the Lionburh syndicate - the most powerful of all the syndicates - is the de facto leader of the Scarlet Crescent. He is informally known as the Overlord.

### Membership

In order to join the Scarlet Crescent, one must be referred by a member of the Scarlet Crescent, who makes a blood-bound oath to vouch for the candidate. A candidate cannot be a relative of, or have any close links with, anyone who has served the Galefridish government as a soldier or politician. A prospective Etcher is tested for obedience, discretion, courage, ruthlessness, and skill at espionage. As his ultimate trial, the candidate is given a target to murder in front of witnesses in order to prove he is not a guardsman in disguise and to bind him via blackmail.

Many street criminals desire to join the Scarlet Crescent, as Etchers receive a great deal of respect and enjoy a number of privileges in society, including the ability to more easily get away with crimes, receiving favors from local businessmen, and effective immunity from offense, since everyone knows that to offend an Etcher risks lethal retribution from the Crescent. To offend one Etcher is to offend the Crescent itself, and the Crescent can abide no offense.

Etchers frequently bring their children into the trade, and these children have an easier time joining the Scarlet Crescent due to the familiarity with the organization that their parents can confer.

An Etcher's legitimate occupation outside of the Scarlet Crescent - if he has one - does not affect his prestige within the organization. Historically, most Etchers worked menial jobs, and many Overseers held no jobs outside of the Crescent. Skilled professionals within the Scarlet Crescent are often given positions to make use of their skillset.

### The Crimson Council

Collectively, the Overseers of each syndicate form the Crimson Council, a commission that meets to resolve disputes and promote cooperation between the branches. A major function of the Crimson Council is to regulate the use of violence outside of a given syndicate's territory and within another's. For instance, an Etcher cannot commit murder within another syndicate's territory without the permission of the local Overseer, and any Etcher-on-Etcher violence between syndicates results in adjudication by the Crimson Council.

The Crimson Council is also responsible for appointing Consuls to each syndicate, and these Consuls report to the Council itself rather than any singular syndicate.

## Rituals and Codes of Conduct

### Initiation Ceremony

When a candidate has passed the trials and is to be admitted into the Scarlet Crescent, he must undergo an initiation ceremony. This is a secret meeting that must include the Overseer or Underseer of a syndicate, at least one Consul, and any number of other senior Etchers within the syndicate. The candidate must pledge his loyalty to the Crescent by cutting the palm of his hand with the sharpened edge of a holy symbol of Pelor - every syndicate keeps a special holy symbol for this purpose. The candidate must then smear his blood across the holy symbol, then hold the symbol over a flame to singe the blood onto the holy symbol. Lastly, once the symbol is hot enough, he must press the heated metal into his wound to cauterize it. As the holy symbol is never cleaned, this ritual symbolizes the candidate forming a blood-bond with every Etcher that came before him, under the eyes of the gods.

The candidate's attitude towards the gods is ultimately irrelevant - the true purpose of the ceremony is to ensure that there is no ambiguity as to the candidate's new status as an Etcher, having performed the elaborate ceremony before multiple credible witnesses.

### Introductions

In order to ensure that the Scarlet Crescent is not infiltrated, an Etcher is not allowed to reveal himself to another Etcher that he does not personally know. A third Etcher - who knows both - must first introduce the two to each other and reveal their status.

### Code of Conduct

Etchers often refer to each other as "gentlemen," and are expected to conduct themselves in respectful and honorable ways - with respect to the Crescent. As such, the following is a non-exhaustive list of rules that Etchers are expected to follow:

* Do not lie to or betray a fellow Etcher
* Do not become publicly intoxicated
* Do not discuss any matters related to the Crescent with outsiders
* Do not put any duty before your duty to the Crescent
* Do not be late to an appointment with a gentleman
* Do not steal from the same pot as a fellow Etcher
* Do not associate with soldiers/guardsmen
* Do not attract unnecessary attention to yourself
* Do not put in writing anything related to the Crescent
* Do not allow outsiders you deal with to be indiscrete about your dealings

## Protection Rackets

The primary activity of the Crescent is to provide protection in areas where the local government cannot be relied on. The Crescent arbitrates disputes between criminals, organizes and oversees illicit business deals, and protects merchants and criminals alike from lawbreakers.

For instance, when a buyer wishes to purchase a stolen good from a fence, both the buyer and seller may desire to have the exchange supervised by the Crescent, since they cannot go to the local authorities if one cheats the other. The Crescent's reputation alone is enough to ensure that neither would cheat the other under the watch of an Etcher, for fear of the violent consequences.

Legitimate business owners also deal with the Crescent, paying them for protection from thieves. The Crescent makes it known within the criminal underworld which businesses have entered a protection contract with them, and any thieves know that stolen goods will be tracked down and retrieved by the Crescent - with violent consequences.

Throughout the decades, a wide variety of clients have paid for the Crescent's protection, from merchants and artisans to even nobles and political figures. While some clients enter into a protection contract against their will through extortion, to this day, many clients seek out and benefit from the Crescent's protection. This is the main reason the Crescent has existed for generations and resisted government efforts to destroy it: those who solicit the Crescent's services protect the Crescent from authorities.

It's estimated that over two-thirds of businesses in Galefridus pay protection money to the Crescent. This protection can sometimes change from protecting a business to protecting a business' *interests* by stifling competition and enforcing collusive agreements.

## Reputation

The Scarlet Crescent's power comes from its reputation to commit violence against anyone, regardless of their status within society - including priests, nobles, and political figures. This reputation allows them to deter their enemies and enemies of their clients, enabling them to protect clients without being physically present.

Consequently, an Etcher's reputation is everything. The more fearsome an Etcher's reputation, the more he can exert power without needing to resort to violence, through intimidation alone. The entire structure of the Crescent relies on its reputation to be able to enforce its power; any weak syndicate is a liability to the Crescent as a whole.

The Scarlet Crescent has very few enemies - or rather, very few enemies that make their attitudes known - because the Crescent destroys their public enemies. The enemies that remain tend to be disgruntled merchants who were victims of coercion by the Crescent and are deemed no threat to the Crescent itself.

The Crescent's allies, on the other hand, are multitudinous and come from all walks of life, including mercenaries, assassins, thieves, spies, merchants, and even some priests. Bards are counted among the Crescent's allies, as the organization treats bards very well - and in turn, bards spread positive propaganda about the Crescent through their stories and songs.