The Ktepma Syndicate

> "The Hand of *what* is outside!? Christ.. we're gonna need more men."
>
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Also known as The Scarlet Syndicate, The Ktepma Syndicate is one of the largest criminal organizations to ever exist. Founded and led by Nothos Ktepma, the Ten Arms of the Syndicate control the underworld across hundreds of universes, with their influence being felt across far, far more. Rarely does a normal member of society interact with the Syndicate, as the organization is more concerned with those already in criminal pursuits, or those who pursue power in other ways. But, for those who seek power within the law or outside it, the Ktepma Syndicate should never be crossed lightly.

## The Head - Ktepma Syndicate Leader

### Operational Style

Nothos Ktepma built his Syndicate from the ground up, fighting, conning, lying, and cheating to build the colossal organization his Syndicate has become. Nothos has structured the Syndicate as a vast meritocracy, in order to ensure that those with power are those most suited to wield it. His Hands are his most powerful lieutenants, those who have proven themselves worthy to lead their various Arms, and constantly work to keep themselves from being outdone by their subordinates.

The Head does not exert significant control over the workings of his Arms, instead choosing to give directives and trust his Hands to carry them out with precision. Nothos in his capacity as The Head handles negotiations with outside parties, overall goals for the Syndicate, expansion, and grand strategy. When dealing with disputes between Hands, Nothos typically does not intervene, instead choosing to let them work it out themselves. However, he does not tolerate outright combat or hostile actions between his Hands.

Not even Nothos is immune to the meritocracy that he built for the Syndicate, and consistently fends off attempts to take his position. So long as these attempts make the Syndicate stronger as a whole, Nothos tolerates and even encourages them. However, when the organization is at stake, Nothos tolerates no dissent or division.

#### Responsibilities

The Head's actual function is to direct the Syndicate's interactions with outside elements, and designate top-level priorities for the organization. This includes inter-organization diplomacy, large scale contracts, and the Syndicate's expansion into new areas or markets. Nothos is an extremely able negotiator, and utilizes every tool at his disposal in order to accomplish the goals he sets for his organization. The Underworld is a cutthroat society, and Nothos is very used to the sort of backstabbing, intrigue, and shadow contracts that compose the criminal world.

Expansion of the Syndicate's turf and assets also falls under the Head's authority. Typically, when taking new territory, Nothos moves in phases. First, Arm of Secrets agents move through the target underworld. They make contacts and ascertain the structure of the local mob. Once enough information has been gathered, the Syndicate begins to move in force. The exact methodology used to push their influence varies. Some local Underworlds are subjugated by squads of Arm of War soldiers wielding Arm of Blades technology, putting an armored boot on the throat of the more poorly armed competition. Others require a lighter approach, where Nothos simply drives his competitors to ruin through better prices, better product, and select assassinations.

Once the local Underworld is pacified, the Syndicate moves to integrate itself into the society. Former members of defeated organizations are absorbed into the various Arms of the Syndicate, which move into the area and set up the shadow industries that form the bulk of the Syndicate's revenue. Rather than prey directly on the middle and under classes, the most profitable route for the Syndicate is to draw them into its various businesses. An average citizen brushes shoulders with the Syndicate when they visit an Arm of Hands casino, an Arm of Vice brothel, or even at an Arm of Glory deathmatch. Higher echelons of society gain access to Arm of Death assassins, Arm of Shadows shadowrunners, and Arm of Secrets informants. At the same time, the Arm of Lies works to infiltrate the society and prevent official interference, while the Arm of War uses smaller squads of its soldiers as enforcers to keep the newly conquered Underworld in line.

Though the opening moves of a Syndicate conquest can be quite sudden and brutal, the aftermath almost always results in a safer society for the average individual. The Syndicate's stranglehold on crime means that the streets are generally safe to walk, and introduces regulation into a normally unregulated market. Furthermore, Nothos refuses to deal in drugs or slaves, and these exploitative industries are stomped out anywhere under Ktepma control. In this way, the Syndicate often has the benefit of public opinion on its side.

### Ktepma Syndicate Headquarters: Asteris

Asteris is a massive structure situated in the first layer of the Farlands, stabilized to allow physical form and prevent being swamped by the countless seething souls swirling through the endless expanse. From the outside, Asteris looks to be a massive cone, composed of long white hexagonal prisms.

There are one hundred and forty four levels to Asteris, each one smaller than the one above it, and each one having a different environment contained within, like a microcosm of reality. Floors can contain forests, oceans, jungles, or vast cities, and are allocated to present as many different environments as Nothos could fit within.

Asteris is populated by billions of people of varying species. These people are mostly mortal, and were rescued from civilizations which were about to be destroyed by disasters such as supernovae or planetary collapse. Generations have gone by on Asteris since the original populations were rescued, and society has come to fill Asteris easily. These days, Asteris serves as a constant supply of new recruits for the Syndicate, and contains many of its research facilities.

## The Arm of Blades: Arms Dealing

### Operational Style

The Arm of Blades is one of the largest and most notorious sources of weapons across the multiverse. Led by Lawton Ktepma, the Hand of Blades, they arm and equip everything from planetbound armies to some of the most powerful entities in existence. Ktepma weaponry is exceptionally expensive when compared to other sources, but also produces weapons of exceptional quality.

The digits of the Hand of Blades are primarily alchemists in their own right, picked personally by Lawton, and on many instances, trained by him. More than just alchemists, however, Lawton seeks out all creators of all types, using every method possible. The variety of techniques, knowledge, and powers held by these Blademasters give the Hand the ability to forge any weapon, achieve any effect, and create any combination. His staff has increased to include wizards, arcanists, artificers and technothurges. Anyone who builds or creates is welcome among the ranks of the Arm of Blades.

Weapons sales within the Arm of Blades are divided into three categories.

#### Pregame:

These weapons are built using conventional means, using conventional resources, and are thereby limited to mortal manufacturing, and mortal magic. Therefore: These can be paid for using mortal currency. Since the Ktepma Syndicate is multiversal and operates on grist, the proceeds for this are entirely used to fund other operations on the mortal level, as well as to spread Ktepma influence.

#### Postgame:

The postgame line is intended for mass alchemical production. High quality weapons lovingly designed by Hand of Blades’ experienced alchemists to make a super weight one soldier into a super weight three disaster. These weapons are made primarily with alchemy, and generally consist of highly moddable melee and ranged weapons, as well as full-body alchemical armor. Truly a cut above mortal technology, a single soldier armed and armored in Ktepma Postgame is all but immune to conventional weapons

#### Custom:

This is where the magic happens. Incredibly expensive, and the absolute pinnacle of quality. Clients who can afford the fee may buy a weapon to exact specifications, dictating functions, form, aesthetics, and powers. And The Hand of Blades one-ups their imagination every damn time. Built by The Hand himself, every ounce of his alchemical mastery is leveraged to make some of the greatest weapons that have ever existed. Across the multiverse, Ktepma customs are equal to the legendary weapons forged across the aeons. And for a not so modest price.. one can be yours.

### Arm of Blades Headquarters: Lavos

Lavos is a new addition to the Hand of Blades’ production. It is not inaccurate to say that it has become the primary factory out of which Ktepma munitions are produced. The Neptune-sized structure looks *wrong*. The surface seethes with energy, a forcefield constantly changing its parameters and juiced with enough power to destroy a world without cracking double-digit percentages on output. Protrusions jut from the otherwise spherical structure, serving enigmatic purposes and giving it a truly ominous appearance. You would not want to see Lavos hovering aboard your world. The Interior of Lavos is impossibly immense. Were Lavos simply hollow, a gas giant could easily fit within its immense walls. Of course, it's not empty. Not even close. Dominating the center of the immense space are a pair of alchemical platforms, floating opposite one another and ringed by concentric circles of machinery. Slots for incoming ships and other items line the edges, thousands of them. Smaller ports for alchemy of smaller components float within the cavity. Assembly lines and factories fill the immense volume with wall to wall, and the production capacity is beyond mortal comprehension. Between the immense size and the incredible production of alchemy, the output of Lavos puts the production capacity of entire empires to shame.

## The Arm of Death: Assassination

### Operational Style

Athren Ktepma is a man who values results and precision, in that order. When a target arrives on his list, that target is dead. They may not know it yet, and they may appear to be alive. But don’t let that fool you. From the moment Athren Ktepma decides to kill someone, they are dead. He favors subtlety, stealth, and tactics, taking after his ancestor in style, but refining it to a point that not even Nothos can match. There are a thousand ways to kill, and Athren knows each one intimately. His title, his Soulbound Eldritch Deity, and his psionics enable him to infiltrate any stronghold, circumvent any obstacle, and kill any target. Without mercy, without exception.

As the Hand of Death, he commands the Ktepma Syndicate’s assassins, and is not shy about letting them know where they stand. Leaderboards are displayed prominently in his headquarters, displaying mission completion time from assignment to death, number of casualties, and number of kills. Athren tops the leaderboard easily, with hundreds of targets eliminated. He believes assassination is a solitary activity, and is loathe to assign more than one assassin to any target unless pressured by other Hands or The Head himself.

### Headquarters

The Web is a small, shattered planetoid. Originally a rather interesting crystalline dwarf planet, two hundred miles across, it was in the beginning stages of being torn to shreds by the massive tidal forces of the black hole it was orbiting when Athren found it. The dwarf planet was split apart into massive shards of crystal still orbiting in close proximity.

With liberal use of spatial magic and the former Hand of War, the planetoid was brought into lower and lower orbit, and warded against the immense gravitational force and radioactive output of the black hole. When they were finished, the supernaturally reinforced planet held an incredibly tight orbit, hugging the black hole so closely that the it hovered mere inches over the event horizon itself. Nestled within the intensely radioactive ablation belt around the hole in reality, one side is constantly bathed in incandescent plasma, the other nearly brushing up against the utter blackness of an event horizon. The shattered crystal planet is held together by means of massive chains, born of Athren’s Eldritch Soulbond, and carved into the massive crystals are training facilities, bunks, planning rooms, armories, and everything else a fully functional assassin’s headquarters needs.

## The Arm of Shadows: Shadowrunning

### Operational Style

Despite a casual and sarcastic attitude, Jansin Calvid takes every operation seriously. The sheer number of operations performed by the Arm of Shadows prevents her from micromanaging, but The Hand of Shadows is known for taking personal charge of high risk missions, and even going on runs that are too important to fail.

Sin is known for her loyal group of follows, built up over her meteoric rise to her current position. Each time her status would rise, she would also promote several of the others in the organization whom she had worked with. Never would she place anyone in a role she didn't think they were capable of, but she would always choose someone she knew was competent in the required skills over someone she had just "heard" was exceptional, at least until she had a chance to see the new person in action. Now that she's at the top she always takes the time to meet or work with any rising stars before they get too high up themselves, typically without revealing her true identity.

The Hand of Shadow's attention to detail and knack for nurturing talent has led to wild success across board, which has afforded her the time to personally investigate any instances of failure. She never punishes solely the person who appears responsible or their immediate superior without a full understanding of what happened. Failures that are the result of a lack of information or preparation usually fall on the shoulders of the team leader, technical issues bode poorly for the support crew, and an act of incompetence carries ramifications for both the person who screwed up and the one who brought them into the organization. However she's not ignorant to the fact that sometimes when something goes wrong it actually isn't the fault of anyone involved, and that nothing could likely have prevented it, and in cases where that assessment is accurate she'll be lenient.

### Arm of Shadows Headquarters: Uniliateral

Sin keeps a number of HQs and safe houses on hand, many known only to her. She prefers to switch up where she gives her orders or carries out operations, often going to her subordinates rather than having them come to her, but her official HQ is located in the heart of a multiversal empire and represents the former base of operations for that own empire’s intelligence community. The Unilateral facility takes up slightly less than a square mile and is 10 stories high, though it has several courtyards, as well as areas with single rooms that are several stories high.

Unilateral had originally been the property of the Kaseeden Empire, a galactic force with several member species and dozens of “lesser” noncitizen races. Designed to deal with both domestic threats and the expansion into the multiverse the Unilateral complex featured top of the line communication equipment, access to and support for thousands of satellite facilities, multiple landing pads, an up to date local defense system, and a hard line to the Kasseeden capital. Within there are rooms for coordinating both military and espionage missions, training areas, data processing centers, and even housing and entertainment for troops stationed there or officers and technicians who don’t want to make the commute from town.

In reality, since being acquired by Sin, Unilateral performs much of the same function, but chooses its operations with the Ktepma organization in mind over the Kaseeden Empire. Its already cutting edge defenses and equipment have been upgrading to bleeding edge, and with access to not one but two near bottomless supplies of funding it’s easy to upgrade essentially as soon as new technology is developed or discovered. The Kaseeden military has been entirely phased out over a period of decades, allowing for the creation of complex wide drills for what to do in case there is a discovery, as well as entire departments that focus exclusively on Hand of Shadows business. Several sublevels have been added with their own Ktepma level systems and training programs, and visiting runners can find easy access to them through portals without ever having to walk through the front door.

## The Arm of War: Mercenary Soldiers

### Operational Style

Unlike his predesessor, Arland Ktepma, Quathr Ythres' reign as the Hand of War is marked by stability and discipline. Although not possessing Ktepma-brand explosive charisma, the new Hand's reforms have been a step in a more serious and involved direction for the Syndicate military. These reforms include changing the rules for promotion to encourage leadership capabilities over raw strength, and the prioritization of inter-Arm cooperation and communication. Tough, irritable, practical, responsible, and with a penchant for unconventional tactics, he has steadily developed respect among his troops, and many a military has come to fear his armies. Assuming, of course, that they ever see them coming.

As the Hand of War, Quathr leads all direct conflicts that the Ktepma Syndicate is involved in. His branch is paramilitary in nature, and is a genuine combined-arms force, consisting of ground troops, vehicles both quick and armored, and even fighters and warships freshly alchemized from Lavos and among the most powerful vessels in existence. Quathr's Arm of War is small by multiversal standards, with roughly a million current operatives. But when each soldier is armed and armored in Ktepma Postgame equipment two generations ahead of what is released to clients, you don’t need many troops to lay down the pain.

### Arm of War Headquarters: The Suverenaya

Suverenaya is the first and only Ragnarok-class Super-Dreadnaught, fresh from the alchemical forges of Lavos. Assembled as a masterpiece of collaboration between master alchemists and warship builders, this ten-mile long behemoth of a vessel is on its own more powerful than the vast majority of societies in the multiverse, and qualifies as a type III civilization. There are no visible weapons on the Eversteel plating of the vessel, and from the outside it is beautiful in its elegance. Sleek and dangerous, the armor appears jet black, a shade darker even than the ambient night of space. Over this blackness, layers of shifting grey flames, in varying shades, course along the material in slow motion, as if they were trapped in the skin. The aesthetics are secondary, of course, as the material is the strongest the Hand of Blades is capable of making, and that is no small claim. Within the vessel, power plants operate off of Green Sun energy, harvested from self-sustaining fragments torn from the cosmic inferno that Arcadius orbits. Onboard the ship are integrated alchimeters, capable of flash-alchemizing the ship itself, effectively granting it instantaneous repair, so long as the grist holds out. But, the final straw, the true reason for the Ragnarok-class’ power, is the armament. What is the armament, you ask Arland? He laughs. And laughs.

What armament? Ragnarok-class Super-Dreadnoughts are armed with adaptive alchemical weapons. Any weapon for any situation at any time can be flash-alchemized on the hull, loaded, and fired in instants. Every weapon in the Ktepma armory is available to it, every tool tailored to every foe they’ve ever faced, and every devastating creation of the Hand of Blades himself. Any or all of these systems can be manifested, fired, and swapped instantaneously. As such, the Suvernaya is infinitely versatile, and can attack any enemy, any situation, with ease.

The massive vessel houses the entire Ktepma Armada, held within extradimensional bays. Why be bound by three dimensions? Sort of pointless, isn’t it. At the start of battle, the Suvernaya can spew out battleships, carriers, cruisers, destroyers, gunships, fighters, all of alchemical make and all hilariously dangerous in their own right. Arland’s soldiers are all based aboard the Suvernaya, though they are generally split up to act in smaller groups on various tasks, assisted by the banks of teleporters connecting all points of the vessel, and the troops aboard with any place in the multiverse they might choose to visit.

## The Arm of Hands: Gambling and Laundering

### Operational Style

August Ktepma's casinos are massive fun houses of games and prizes, a combination of dave and busters meets the lotus eaters as you are constantly engages with activities for all kinds. Every form of gambling can be found here, from  Xiaolin Showdowns and Shadow Games to the traditional tables of blackjack and craps. Bookies even collect bets on the upcoming tournaments in the arenas run by the Hand of Glory, many of which are built within or alongside August’s casino. Within the casinos, tokens and points earned through games can be exchanged for money or services within the casino, including escorts provided by the Hand of Vice, as well as prizes like weapons, armor and vehicles.

Unfortunate as they are, losses do accumulate, and those who are unable to pay the house are briskly and conveniently escorted to their session with the full knowledge that they will be returned without having lost even a minute of their time in this world, with the option to lose their memory of the time worked if they so wish.

All of August's facilities are set with conduits of his power that affect one's perception of time and cost/benefit analysis, so much so that members of his organization tend to avoid them like the plague with exception of the few who are protected enough to resist the pull. A gifted social engineer, when visiting the home of the Hand of Hands, one always feels as if the odds are ever in their favor.

Moreover The Hand of Hands considers himself both the least prominent and most important member of the Ktepma Syndicate, being responsible for a vast majority of their financial stake in the multiverse and has a nasty habit of refusing to deal with highbloods with rare exception. He is perfectly professional, personable, polite, and all around pleasant to engage with.. But beware. Spend too long, and you might end up playing a game you’re fated to lose.

### Arm of Hands Headquarters: Kado and Midas

August’s Magnum Opus is Kado, a demiplane, designed, funded, and built by the Hand of Hands himself. Every fundamental force, every ounce of time and energy was painstakingly crafted to build a world that exists outside of existence itself, housed permanently within the mind of the Hand himself. The plane is a combination of magic and alchemy of unprecedented efficiency, such that he may very well rival the hand of blades in skill. In this mindscape, physical laws and properties are only limited by one's understanding of the world itself, allowing for him to store dozens of planetoids, housing billions of workers in unified orbit around an artificial star, all by his design. Within each planetoid, a supercomputer churns away, processing specific tasks for the Syndicate, for other Hands, and for August himself. Kado cannot be entered or even detected by anyone but the hands and Nothos himself, and even he cannot discern the method August used to create his realm.

Where Kado is his private realm, his more public headquarters is a planet known as Midas, which houses casinos, hotels, lodgings and tourist attractions for the whole family. The entire planet is in constant shift, with a different but equally marketable climate and habitat every few sweeps.

## The Arm of Glory: Bloodsports and Media

### Operational Style

Luxana Ktepma is not your usual combatant. She is, in her own right, a force of nature. She’s the first direct descendant of Nothos Ktepma and Erisia Orexis, which, some people have said makes her crazier than most. They aren’t wrong. There’s nothing quiet about the girl. She’s not stealthy. She’s not sneaky. Snarky and sassy and headstrong, carefree and loud. Her usual approach starts with a simple taunt, a sassy remark or two, and then immediately running into each fight with gusto. Always grinning, always happy. Excited and always on some kind of adrenaline high. She’s not the kind of girl you want to let sit around bored. Idle hands do the devil’s work, they say.

It’s common for people to hear Luxana before they see her, which has resulted in  a few of her more unique nicknames. Her fighting style is big and loud as well, rocket launchers, grenades, big guns and a bigger ego to follow. Each explosion comes with a grin. Each knockback brings a laugh. When it comes to watching those she oversees, she’s rather straightforward, pushing each combatant to their limits and beyond. Strength and Courage builds resolve and power. It’s not surprisng that she’s got a bit of a following. For all of her crazy vices, sins and flaws… She’s a crowd favorite around HQ.

### Arm of Glory Headquarters: Tartarus Playground

The Tartarus Playground is aptly named after the abyss, the place of eternal suffering for the Titans themselves.  Where your souls go to be judged, facing divine retribution. If this place is a dungeon, it certainly doesn't look like it... but it is its own demiplane. One that a certain cute, lithe Time player enjoys overseeing. The landscape around is black and charred, lit up with the lights and sounds of explosions, where mushroom clouds dot the horizon from miles away. A chaotic place with an endless fallout. The forms of what could very well be actual Gods or Titans are seen lumbering hundreds of miles away, just silhouettes. The air is usually hot here, and the centerpiece is a vast, sprawling, decimated city, scattered with broken skyscrapers, ruins and holes from nuclear detonation. Yet... there's no radiation. It seems, for all intents and purposes. Perfectly safe. If, you know... you're not afraid of ceasing to exist suddenly.

Luxana tends to use the Tartarus playground as a “proving field” for all those underneath her. All combatants, whether they’re meant for competition or field work, come here for at least one training session with her. More often than not, people escape with their lives, if not bloodied and beaten and bruised. Those that pass her trials, which… some Ktepma agents have tagged as ‘torture’, are allowed to move forwards and compete in her challenges, gaining access to the Battlefield of Charon.

It’s no surprise that Luxana doesn’t have an “Office”. She’s not the type. Instead, she can be found riding the waves here, if… you can catch her. And perhaps… that’s part of the first trial.

## The Arm of Secrets: Information Brokering

### Operational Style

The Hand of Secrets is a very telling title for Erisia Orexis. Much like her title suggests, she works from the shadows and nobody but a select few hands and leaders know how she operates. Rumors suggest that she plugs herself into a large chair with tubes and wires, and that she no longer needs sustenance to keep herself going while she works. Other rumors suggest that she's a limitless workaholic and dedicates her life to the cause of the Syndicate, heading off every single deep-dive that's given to the Arm of Secrets. But while those might be \*partially\* true, the real truth is that the Arm of Secrets is an elite force of hackers, shadow runners, information specialists and spies that insert themselves into their work with ease, and almost always walk out with more information than had been bargained for.

### Paragon Black

Eris' personal bodyguard and occasional workhound, Paragon Black is an agent of the shadows, and Eris' most favored. Nobody knows what they look like under the masks they wear, nobody knows their voice, for nobody has ever heard them speak. They communicate through actions, rather than words. Paragon Black accompanies Eris herself on Syndicate dealings that require her outside of Asteris, though the point is clear. Eris always shows up "alone" and leaves "alone".

### Arm of Secrets Headquarters: The Matrix Arc

Generated and located on Asteris, the Matrix Arc's origins start on Floor 84: The Sprawl. Floor 84 specifically is a large, metropolitan city that seems to be an almost exact replica of Future Terra's Neo-Tokyo. A bright, angled, neon city filled with towering skyscrapers, winding, twisted highways, and occupied by civilians and self-sustaining businesses alike. But The Sprawl is not the centerpiece of the Arm's Headquarters. Nor are the citizens of The Sprawl aware of it.

The Matrix Arc is a realm unlike any other. Upon stepping into the city, members of the Arm of Secrets make their way to Shibuya Station. From there, they are given a choice, ride the subway train that will take them to the next spot, or visit the gift shop for a snack or souvenir. If they choose to activate their key card and step onto the train, the moment they step through the doors, the world around them shifts, and they are transported into another realm entirely. -- When they step out, they arrive in the Matrix Arc's main entryway, and from there, can get straight to work.

In reality, the Matrix Arc (Or The Arc, as the digits call it) seems like an artificially generated realm, and while this is partially true, what it is in truth is rather unique. The Matrix Arc exists in real space, in a specially formed and created realm meant just to house it. It's design is a vast, circular space station with many rooms, floors and amenities, meant to house Eris, her projects, her Digits, and anyone else working for the Arm of Secrets. The Matrix Arc has a seamless connection to the Syndicate's networks and interfaces, through the power of a Matrix Network that Eris lovingly has named The Iridescent Coil. -- Everything inside The Arc is a perfect marriage of Reality and Artificial. Augmented Reality becomes real. Real objects become Augmented, with seamless transition generated from a power source that blends the two in a way that reflects like a dream. But it is, in fact real. Tangible. Powerful. Access to the Coil provides the perfect environment in which The Arm of Secrets thrives in their work.

Access to both The Arc and the Iridescent Coil are known to be impossible without the proper encryption, augments or pass-codes, which change daily.

## The Arm of Lies: Con Jobs and Politics

### Operational Style

It isn’t entirely clear who the Hand of Lies is, in fact their identity is known exclusively to themselves and Nothos. The casual observer, however, would have no idea who runs the Arm of Lies, and may even be deceived into believing there is no Hand, but instead a council of collective leaders. The Arm of Lies is composed of the Hand, 19 lieutenants, and a collection of hundreds con artists, actors, and even genuine professionals completely ignorant of the Arm’s existence. By all outward appearances the Hand is on the exact same level as their lieutenants. They all receive any orders from Nothos at the same time, share a single headquarters where each has their own room and projects, and have equal knowledge of and control over the network of unwitting agents that makes up the Arm. They are also each individually expert liars and tacticians with wide ranging powers and talents. While all the lieutenants are aware they are not the Hand, and also that the Hand is one among their number, none have been able to confirm the identity of their leader.

Because of their commitment to remaining anonymous the Hand does not hand down orders like a normal leader. Instead it is their practice to manipulate others into carrying out their wishes “of their own volition.” Since this operating style is shared by all of their lieutenants virtually every interaction at the top levels of the arm is fascinating to watch, playing out like a cross between a reality tv show and a grandmaster chess match. Once the higher ups have all finished the intricate dance of manipulating and being manipulated by each other they will begin the process of involving the lower levels of the arm, who frequently carry out the actual cons that benefit the syndicate. Those on this level may sometimes know they are a part of a con, but never understand the scale of the operation or who it goes to benefit. Many promising con artists are unwittingly in the employ of the Ktepma Syndicate, running regular schemes that bring profit or influence to the organization. Like the Lieutenants they never receive official orders, but rather are pushed towards the activities they need to fulfill through subtle manipulation. In other instances the Arm makes use of non con artists: actors, diplomats, scientists, businessmen, and others who have been placed in roles that can be exploited for the sake of more complicated cons. These assets may not ever realize they are a part of a con, which allows them to play their roles with total conviction.

This structure makes the Arm of Lies one of the more inefficient Arms in the syndicate. While they have numerous recurring cons that bring a steady influx of money and resources to the syndicate, new or specific cons take some time to set up, so that a single major operation might take years or longer to arrange, and it’s not uncommon for vast amounts of resources or manpower to be wasted on seeming misdirection. The advantage of this, however, is that the entire Arm can be mobilized and focused on a single herculean task with virtually no risk of detection by their mark. The Hand alone retains the full picture of their operations, and even if multiple lieutenants were to defect and attempt to warn a high priority mark for the Arm, it would barely disrupt their plans, and even with full knowledge of what was coming the mark would be totally unable to prepare a counter for it.

In the rare instance a con must happen in a narrow time frame or not at all, the Hand has two options at their disposal. The first is direct involvement: when an order from Nothos is deemed significant enough, all 20 members of leadership will collaborate on and execute a plan that can involve multiple roles for each member. These cons are true sights to behold and can be thought out and executed virtually overnight. The other method is also one of the most powerful tools in the Hand’s arsenal: a small collective of empaths, telepaths, orcales, and other individuals with powers that make lying extremely difficult. Much like the rest of the arm they are unaware of their involvement with it, but the Hand alone appears to have the ability to successfully manipulate them into engaging in cons without revealing their roles. This group of individuals is often called “The Middle Finger” of the Hand of Lies, since their use both shows the Hand’s superiority in tricking even those who should be immune to such deceptions and often is the result of a failure on the part of the lieutenants to themselves have carried out the same con quickly enough.

## The Arm of Truth: Research and Development

### Operational Style

There's a certain kind of person that wants nothing more than to learn everything there is to know. Colvin Ktepma means to carry that desire to its natural conclusion, and unravel every secret reality has to offer him. In this, the Hand of Truth excels. Countless scientists, mages, researchers, and scholars of all type flock to the banner of the Arm of Truth, drawn en masse by his very simple, very appealing offer: Funding.

The Arm of Truth is easily the biggest drain on the Syndicate's financial resources, but the legions of passionate researchers it employs make up for that with an unending stream of discoveries, innovations, and inventions. Every one of these discoveries is owned by the Syndicate, patented, and resold to foster a constant stream of income to mitigate the drain that the scientists put on the system.

Typically, researchers at the Arm of Truth work on a minimum of two projects at any one time. One is allocated to them for their personal passion, while another is assigned based on the present needs of the Syndicate. This ensures that the researchers continue to work towards constructive goals, but continuously put out miscellaneous discoveries that serve to round out the Syndicate's capabilities.

The Arm of Truth is primarily headquartered aboard Asteris, taking up a number of the lower levels for Research and Development purposes.