Exsanguine Syndicate

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## Exsanguine Syndicate

### Specialty

Assassination, Coups, Tracking/Hunting Targets, Bodyguarding, Guerilla Warfare, Private Security, Drug Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Racketeering

### Species

Primarily run by humans, but hires & initiates many non-humans

### Allies

Valbor Syndicate, Kelthorian Protectorate

The **Exsanguine Syndicate** is a mercenary group and criminal organization that is heavily funded by the Kelthorian Protectorate, but run by the Kelthorian Fringe Riders, a massive gang with connections in every system. Guns-for-hire from every species are found at it's hubs, and many xenos species and abhumans are found amongst the numbers of the humans who make up most of the Fringe Riders.

With millions of blooded Riders and contracted killers at their hubs, the Syndicate is a prominent criminal organization in almost every segmentum. With many contracted mercenaries and full-fledged veteran members, their influence reaches even the Planetary Governors, who have relied on the Syndicate in the past. Hundreds of jobs and requests are submitted every solar hour, with a menagerie of ships entering and exiting the stations.

What most don't know is that the Exsanguine Syndicate's headquarters is stationed on Kelthore, and is privately run by the Kelthorian Fringe Riders, a gang inherited by the Reaper's Children when they were given Kelthore. If this was known, business from squabbling Imperial nobles would go down. The Syndicate is more akin to a corporation than a private killing force, and if something should hurt their profit they disengage and leave the issue to the Praecones Mortis or the Reaper's Children instead.

However, as several major gangs like House Goliath or House Escher have been engaged in a turf war with the Fringe Rider sets on Necromunda, the many millions of Fringe Rider sets start gang wars with their rivals, regardless of the consequences. With billions of contracted veteran killers, there are some oddities within the crowd. Ex-Skittarii and a Man of Steel have accepted jobs at Syndicate mercenary hubs, along with a whole rouge T'au detachment.

## History

The Exsanguine was founded only a few years after the Bastion's escape to uncharted space, when the Protectorate realized that it would need a source of income and a force of killers that weren't affiliated with them. It first started as a small mercenary company in the Segmentum Obscurus, but soon rose to fame through the constant success of high difficulty missions.

The Protectorate realized that they could use the highly influential and well connected gang members of the Fringe Riders that they found on their planet. Instead of turning them into servitors, they were given an obscene amount of funding and told to make source of income.

Soon after beginning their rise to fame, the Exsanguine Syndicate established several other bases and watering holes across the segmentum, establishing at least one on each planet. As their fame grew, so did their job offers, and with that, their number of employed mercenaries rose. Some with long term contracts others with short, single job contracts.

As the Syndicate has grown in power, the number of initiated and blooded members of the Fringe Riders has grown. Now, wherever the Exsanguine set up a hub, new sets of Fringe Riders are formed across the planet.

## Syndicate Headquarters

The headquarters and main base of operations is located in the Bastion, the massive space station that encloses and protects the world of Kelthore. Kelthore is the home of the Reaper's Children, Praecones Mortis, and the original Fringe Riders of the now galaxy-wide gang.

For protection, The Kelthorian Bastion has an armament of hundreds of thousands of gun batteries. Using almost all serviceable types of ship mounted weaponry, the Bastion is protected by anything they can fit into a gun battery and make it work, as well as macro weaponry, lances, torpedoes, making common use of melta warheads, and five-hundred hull-mounted Nova Canons arranged in a pattern to cover all angles around the Bastion with their blast radius. Ammunition is used preciously as they can produce most ammunition for their ships except Nova Canon shells, which take massive amounts of supplies to be produced.

In addition to the Void Shields, the hull armour is several hundred metres thick of adamantium armour plating. Inside the massive Bastion, when something hits the Bastion, no one can even hear it on the inside. Hundreds of Defence Turrets have been placed near key areas such as landing bays, command centers, barracks', medbays, and repair stations. For smaller targets, such as fighters, the Bastion sports thousands of Sabre Gun Platforms, Rotary Missile Launchers, and Skyspear Missile Launchers. Rotary Missile Launchers and Hellstorm gun batteries dot the hull of the Bastion and provide the finishing touch on the defenses. If that wasn't enough, the bastion supports a unique type of gun battery for crippling capital ships. The gun battery consists of a Deathstrike Cannon, ringed with double-barreled Turbo-Laser Destructors, and those are ringed with a second layer of Apocalypse Missile Launchers.

Currently, the planet of Kelthore is drifting in uncharted space, and it's been left to float in peace by the Imperium, who are dealing with larger threats. Several WAAAGH!s have been put down with ease, providing scrap and materials for the Bastion and the Protectorate's fleet. Several dead worlds with remnants of human settlements have been scrapped to provide for the project of creating another space station that protects a world within its vast inner space. The second Bastion is well under way in construction, and the process is sped along by the Aetherwights.

Also frequently found in the trade centers of the Bastion are the trader species of the Stryxis, being employed to clone laborers and and create Aether weapons for the forces of the Kelthorian Protectorate.

## Syndicate Organization

The Fringe Riders are the majority of the Syndicate's initiated Soulless, but many xenos are also in the ranks of the Exsanguine. The organization is run by Representative Kalaziel who is given mostly free-reign unless the Protectorate need something from them. The funds generated by the Syndicate allow the Protectorate to form new trade alliances and non-aggression pacts to further extend their web of influence.

## Contracts

Instead of binding mercenaries to their cause, they sign contracts. These contracts are the agreed upon terms for a set period of time, and it pays the mercenary extra to remain an exclusive hired-gun to the Syndicate. These contracts have made it easier for the Syndicate to keep the majority of their mercenaries exclusive to them, and keep them that way for longer.

## Fringe Riders

There are no issues with whoever is initiated, and there are many millions of members who have committed untold atrocities. As such, if they are hired permanently as a Rider, they have several bionics implanted and many enhancements. Due to the majority of gang members being veterans of years of gritty gang warfare, the influence and power of the Fringe Riders has increased exponentially over the years.

### Implants

At the time of acceptance as a Fringe Rider, and a newly initiated member of the Syndicate, their skin is replaced by an unknown substance, which can take the appearance of the person's original look, as well as turn into a tight body armour, not unlike the suits worn by Eversor assassins or Lucifer Blacks. Almost a fusion of the two, the armour functions as a business suite, and it is a well-known trademark of the Exsanguine Syndicate and the Fringe Riders.

Several organs are replaced so that the host may be able to breathe in water, or in toxic gas, as well as see perfectly in the dark, move faster and hit harder. Several neurochips are installed so that they may talk to each other without others hearing. As one of the few gangs in the galaxy that is well supplied with military grade tech, they have pushed back other gangs on planets they live on, establishing a large cut of territory for themselves.

### Command Ranks

* **Wraiths** - The Captain of 5 Ghost Cohorts, Wraiths are little more than a killing machine with a brain and heart. Silent, untraceable killers, the only time they are seen is when they want to be.

* **Spectres** - The Captain of 5 Soulless Cohorts, they coordinate the resources and Soulless under their command to be the most effective group of soldiers. The elite Deathly Cohorts they command are the soldiers and brutal enforcers of the Syndicate.

### Specialist Ranks

* **Ghost Sergeants** - Veterans so old and scarred that they are more machine than man, they have decades of experience and their minds have been hardened to the brutalities of enforcing the Syndicate's will.

* **Ghosts** - The hunters of the Exsanguine's enemies, the Ghosts are all grizzled veterans, and have experienced many conflicts. They can operate on their own or work in Cohorts of up to 10. Usually targets aren't dangerous enough to deploy more than one Ghost.

### Line Ranks

* **Soulless Sergeants** - The leaders of a Cohort of 10 Soulless including themselves. Veterans of countless conflicts, they guide to their squad to survival and onto the path of the Soulless.

* **Soulless** - The bulk of the Syndicate's employees are the Soulless, the starting position of any who join the Syndicate. These augmented soldiers operate with the skill and effectiveness of renowned regiments such as the Lucifer Blacks. They are the private military force of the Exsanguine and provide security for the Syndicate and VIP customers. In appearance they look like the Lucifer Blacks, but their weaponry is Xenos and archaic.

### Special Units & Formation

* **Fringe Rider Bikers** - Addicted to the thrill of high speeds as well as high-caliber, low-recoil automatic weapons, they combine their passions to strike with lightening speed, simultaneously avoiding obstacles and bullets on their bike. Riding in groups of anywhere in-between 5 to 30 gangers, their jetbikes and auto-pistols will be the last thing their marks hear before death.

## Sets, Crews, & Gangs

Since the Exsanguine Syndicate hires many criminals and blood crazed psychopaths, they end up making contact with major gangs on worlds they frequently get requests from. An example would be the Houses of Necromunda. They have worked with the Delaque gang many times and have established ties with them, hiring them out with weapons and technology or better fight their constant wars with the other Houses.

The Fringe Riders aren't accepted as much, but are strong enough to fight with the Houses at once with their numerous sets brutally killing any parties of the opposing gang when they see them. House Cawdor is one of those gangs marked as kill on sight. They extreme rivalry is from the use of xenos and abhumans on missions. Many sets and crews of the Cawdor gang have been slaughtered and their remains hung as decoration or worn as trophies.

### Criminal Connections

The Syndicate and the Fringe Riders have ties to some prominent gangs in the galaxy, but are growing to the point where they must be included in that same category. They have an extreme rivalry with House Cawdor on Necromunda, and engage in many gang wars between sets.

## Recruitment

Recruitment into the numerous sets of the Fringe Rider gang is brutal, and drives many initiates to insanity within the first five trials. Those who survive must make it through the next four trials before being eligible for the final trial, the replacement of the skin with the bio-armour, which is known as the Flaying of the Soul. It acknowledges the surviving initiates into the ranks of the Fringe Rider set they joined, and the Exsanguine Syndicate.

The Flaying of the Soul ritual is done without any anesthetics, over the course of several days as each molecule of skin is removed and replaced. The bio-armour is extremely resilient, almost as protecting as power armour, though much easier to move around in.

## Notable Sets

* **House Rider** - Founded on the world of Necromunda, in the Have-Cities with several much larger gangs, the set murdered their way to creating a set large enough to challenge the other Houses, establishing a foothold for the Syndicate and the Fringe Riders on Necromunda. One of the first branch sets of the Fringe Riders, they have made a name for themselves and their reputation is one of death and cruelty. Often speeding through the underhive on jetbikes, they are masters of their vehicles, and a drive-by shooting could almost be mistaken as art the way they pilot their bikes.