The Society

**The Society** (Formally, the **Society of Nine**) is an extremely organised, codified alliance of the Outback's nine most prominent criminal syndicate leaders. They are extremely well resourced and have demonstrated influence over a very large area of space, from as far west as the Looking Glass Expanse, to the core worlds of the Futara Union. They first came into focus for the 26th Fleet in 2416, when one of their subsidiary 'Chapters' attacked Starbase 381 and began a campaign of targeted assassination attempts on personnel within Special Operations Group Five, in retaliation for the death of Fennec Vulpes.

# The Commission

The Commission is the governing board of the nine most influential and powerful underworld figures in the Outback – the ‘Society of Nine’. A highly organized commonwealth of multiple criminal syndicates and gray-market business ventures alike, the Society is governed through by-laws, codes of honour, formal agreements and a shared profit-based economy that ultimately ensures each party to the Society’s board is held in check by its own financial interests. Each member of the Commission is the Executor of a ‘Chapter’ of assets, and each Chapter comprises the total sum of that Executor’s personal and business estates.

One of the Society’s nine Executors holds the position of Chairman. The Chairman’s responsibility is to preside over the meetings of the Commission and set agendas as proposed by each member of the Society. The Chairman also appoints the Society’s Exchequer, who is responsible for auditing the financial ledgers of the organization, ensuring compliance with the Contracts.

It is strictly forbidden to maintain assets outside of those declared to the Society Exchequer. To date, no Chapter is known to have violated this article of the Contracts.

The Exchequer themselves is not a member of the Commission of the Society of Nine – but instead is chosen from one of the General Secretaries of the nine Chapters. The Chairman is not permitted to appoint the Exchequer from his or her own Chapter, and the Exchequer’s appointment to the office expires with the appointment of a new Chairman.

The Chairman is appointed once every two years by a voting college of the nine executors. Each member’s voting entitlement is determined by their asset ownership within the Society, and rarely are two Chapters equal in size.

The current Chairman of the Society of Nine is Alessia Claren. Claren is understood to have been elected for a second time in January of 2417.

Besides the nine Chapters, the Society is believed to include other syndicates of lesser influence who barter and negotiate with the Commission, strictly subject to the Society’s Contracts, in return for securities, insurances, and small stock dividends. The precise number of syndicates other than the nine major Chapters is unknown at this time, and it is a detail of the Society’s operations that is closely guarded by the Exchequer.

# The Exchequer

The Exchequer fills the role of treasurer, auditor, and stockbroker. They alone appraise the financial values of the Society’s many estates, and determine the dues to be paid by each Chapter.

The form these dues take can vary enormously, and includes interstellar currencies, mineral resources, material assets, and even technology. The dues are paid to the Commission itself, into a tightly managed slush fund called the Trust.

The resources and assets within the Trust are vast, and likely exceed the treasuries of many Outback governments. They are used strictly for the mutual benefit of the Society, and can be employed in any number of ways – as the basis of a war chest, the bribery of individuals who are of great strategic importance to the Commission, and even as barter with other, non-affiliated syndicates throughout the Outback.

While on the face of it, this system of dues would seem to encourage the underwriting of assets by each Chapter, in practice, the net values of appraisal form the basis of each Chapter’s voting entitlement at the appointment of the Chairman, making attempts to conceal assets a foolhardy, and self-defeating choice. Indeed, the greater the value of appraisal, the more influence a Chapter wields.

# The Nine Chapters

There is presently information available for only three of the nine Chapters of the Society.

### Hitalis Resh (‘The Gilded Hand’)

**Executor:** H’Eraanis Gendrick

Male, Draan.

**Age:** Unknown.

Not much is known about the Chapter executor known as H’Eraanis Gendrick himself, although his business and criminal ventures are notorious and cover much of the northern Outback, from the Lurian Nebula through to the core worlds of the Futara Union. Unlike many other members of the Commission, much of Gendrick’s operational infrastructure is political and corporate, and he maintains only small ventures in the black market. Gendrick and his operations work seamlessly between the cracks of governments, using bribery, corruption, and even political lobbying to further his objectives and control financial sectors to his personal benefit. Despite this preference, Gendrick is not above gratuitous acts of violence if they fulfill pragmatic ends. Numerous political assassinations have surrounded the Gilded Hand, though never has a hard link been drawn between these incidents and the Chapter itself.

Gendrick has reportedly worked with other Chapters – in particular the Ai’vel Lekaar - as intermediaries to complete business transactions that he does not want the Gilded Hand directly tied to… usually in return for a healthy percentage of financial proceeds.

### Ai’vel Lekaar (‘The Shroud of Lekaar’)

**Executor:** Dedris Tallick

Male, Irelian.

**Age:** Unknown

The inheritor of a vast criminal syndicate spanning multiple generations, Dedris Tallick’s fortunes expanded substantially in the upheaval that saw the Lekaari disappear from the western Outback (‘Serin Vale’). With many assets linked to the region, Tallick controls a substantial racketeering and black market empire that is supported by a large number of outwardly-legitimate corporate business fronts on multiple worlds, and in many and varied jurisdictions. Tallick’s public investments are believed to include pharmaceuticals, mining, construction and engineering, materials development, supply logistics, and financial services. Most of these business ventures are believed to have ties to black market operations linked to racketeering, extortion and slave trade operations. He is also believed to have significant connections to numerous government officials within the Outback, including within the Futara Union. Dedris Tallick’s Chapter was responsible for the targeted attacks on members of 26th Fleet’s Special Operations Group in 2416. It is unclear how the Society’s sanctions against him have affected his operations.

### Xhung’jion Ryk (‘The Seven Ways’)

**Executor:** Alessia Claren

Female, Parazhoxan.

**Age:** Unknown

In simple terms, Alessia Claren is the wealthiest sex worker in the entire Outback, and this arguably makes her the most well-known member of the Commission. Despite this, she has taken considerable measures to conceal her links to the Society. The current Chairman of the Society of Nine, Claren is renowned for her elegance and extravagance, and amassed a huge fortune in the acquisition and trade of antiquities, artifacts, and items of exotic interest – including those with a pulse. Her expansive trade operations include the largest trafficking and narcotics syndicates in the Outback, and her clientele often includes corrupt diplomats, government officials, and the extremely wealthy. She markets the unique ability to acquire that which others can’t, and built her Chapter on this reputation. Shrewd and cunning, Claren owes her success to no one – having successfully negotiated a difficult path from common prostitute to manage multiple very successful underworld operations in a number of markets.

Parazhoxans (pronounced ‘Para-sho-zhen’) are a race known for their exotic nature and social liberation, in a manner not dissimilar to the Beta Quadrant’s Orions. Claren’s Chapter, the Zhung’jion Ryk, draws its name from the Parazhoxan teachings on mastering the arts of appealing to Mind, Spirit, Soul, Heart, Body, Desire, and Nature – literally, ‘The Seven Ways’.

# The Contracts

The Contracts are the articles of commonwealth that set out the strict terms by which the nine Chapters and their affiliate syndicates interact. Part legal contract, and part code of honour, the Contracts are considered inviolable, and breaching their terms is grounds for serious, and likely fatal, reprisal.

In principle, the Contracts are guarantees that permit the equitable exchange of business between the Chapters and even the parties they deal with. More than a simple agreement, the Contracts represent an understanding by the nine Chapters that united, they are a practically unassailable force of influence in the Outback, and that in turn, should they be divided - as so many other criminal organizations in the region are – they would become extremely vulnerable to the whims of political sea change.

Consequently, the first and most important of these Contracts forbids any Chapter taking action would that jeopardize the Society as a whole.

The Contracts additionally forbid the conduct of warfare between the Chapters. Although rare, disputes are resolved by the Commission at the direction of the Chairman. In extreme circumstances, the Contracts can be used to invoke the suspension or termination of a Chapter’s equity in the Society, effectively isolating them from the support of the whole, or even expelling them from the Society. To date, this has never occurred.

The Contracts also function as a ‘will’ for each of the Chapters in the event of their collapse or irreparable deterioration, with the Commission disbursing the Chapter’s assets among the remaining eight, with a majority of the liquidation going directly into the Society’s Trust.

In practice, the loss of a Chapter is unthinkable to the Society, and Executors will generally appoint successors to inherit their estates. Internal political disputes within the Chapters themselves are not unheard of, though under the Contracts, such internal disputes will not be mediated by the Commission.