The Underground

The Underground is a very secretive underworld criminal organisation that operates across Aether.

## History

### Formation

Due to the Venlish occupation of Asteria, organised crime was greatly reduced, and when they left, the new Asterian government kept the Venlish laws, but didn't enforce them as effectively. Because of this, former crime bosses decided to band together to form one giant conglomerate, which would assist them in causing the Asterian law system to collapse.

## Information

The Underground specialise in specific areas of crime, all of which give them a means of making money or power. They are as follows:

* Illegal
	+ Drug manufacturing and distribution
	+ Weapons manufacturing and distribution
	+ Organ distribution
	+ White collar crime
		- Bank Fraud
		- Blackmail
		- Bribery
		- Counterfeiting
		- Forgery
		- Extortion
		- Money Laundering
		- Racketeering
		- Smuggling
	+ Robberies
	+ Political Murder
	+ Slave Trade
	+ Gang Violence
* Legal
	+ Entertainment
	+ Hotel Management
	+ Company Management
	+ Restaurant Management
	+ Legal Weapons Manufacturing
	+ War Profiteering
	+ Money Loaning

## Structure

The Underground is made up of various different organisations, all of which answer to an executive board through a chain of command. The Underground is arranged in hierarchical levels.

### Executive Board

The identities of board members are kept completely secret, even from members of the Underground. The executive board maintains the structure of the Underground, and approves/disapproves certain actions.

* Voran Sicarius - Chairman

### Confidants

The Confidants are those who have been trusted with the identities of board members. Each board member also has several confidants working directly for them. There are two types of confidant. One type is responsible for guarding board members, and ensuring that no one discovers their meetings. The other type relays orders from board members to their respective departments.

### Managers

The Managers are responsible for carrying out special objectives and maintaining secrecy & quality. The Managers work separately to the rest of the Underground, and answer only to the Executive Board. They are feared by many within the Underground.

* Ludovic Boros (Formerly)
* Andrik Kesamir †
* Evelyn Wright

### Primary Block

The Primary Block consists of large organisations (often other conglomerates). In order to remain in the Primary Block, an organisation's membership of the Underground must be secret. Otherwise, they are immediately removed from this block.

* Astra, Inc.
* Ironhall Quarries, Ltd.
* Others

### Secondary Block

The Secondary Block consists of medium-sized organisations. Once again, their involvement with the Underground must be secret.

* Canorican Firearms
* Nirvoan Fraternity
* Vittorian Mafia
* Owari Crime Family

### Tertiary Block

The Tertiary Block consists of smaller organisations that maintain the secrecy of their involvement with the Underground.

* Various independent companies that determine congressional boundaries in Canorica

### Quarternary Block

The Quarternary Block consists of significantly smaller organisations that still maintain some degree of secrecy.

* Othil's Bounty Hunters (Disbanded)

### Pariah Block

If an organisation comes under suspicion of being involved with the Underground, then it is placed in the Pariah Block until the public perception is dealt with, or the suspicion has died down.

### Pseudo-Member Block

The Pseudo-Member Block contains organisations that have not officially joined the Underground, but have been so heavily infiltrated by Underground informants and operatives that it is barely independent to it.

* Asterian Police Force
* Asterian Government
* Canorican Orthodox Party

## Known Equipment

### Weapons

Though a broad use of firearms are used by The Underground due to the different gangs, the majority of gangs use firearms manufactured by Astra.Inc.

* Sleeve guns - Operatives will have small guns hidden in their sleeves. These guns are often attached to a spring mechanism, so they can be revealed at a moment's notice. The gun is often an Astra M1. (This gun is based on the 2mm Kolibri).
* Ring revolvers - They are simply small revolvers which can be worn as a ring. They are fading out of use due to their clear appearence.
* Suit case based weaponary - As ordered by Voran, many groups in the Underground are to have weapons that can be disguised as suitcases. This can go as far as to suitcases with a built in silenced weapon to a suitcase with a protruding syringe containing poison. Both of which can prove useful in killing people in crowds.
* Astra Full-Auto M17 - This is a fully automatic weapon that resembles the Thompson Submachine gun. This is typically used in clear up operations and are often used by Voran's hitsquads.
* Astra MG Revolver - This is a simple handgun used by many Underground operatives. It is based on the Landstad Revolver.
* Astra Semi-Auto M6 - This is a semi-automatic hangun used by higher ranking Underground operatives. It is based on the Mars Automatic Pistol.
* Serated Switchblades - These are used for close quarters combat.
* Brass knuckles - These are used for close quarters combat and can come with modifcations such as spikes.
* Aluminium bats - They use aluminium bats for interrogations.
* Garrote Wire - Used in assassinations.
* Explosive Devices - The Underground possess a large arsenal of explosive devices which can be used in robberies or as distractions.

### Other

* Cyanide Capsules - To prevent interrogation, most Underground operatives have cyanide capsules disguised as teeth.

### Payback Methods

* Failed Repayment - If a person is unable to repay a debt, Voran has ensured that the Underground will profit one way or another. If their debt is low enough, he will have the person sent to his organ harvesters', who will sell the organs on the black market for the same amount that was owed. If the person's debt is much higher, then their families will also be sent to the organ harvesters' to make up for the amount.
* Snitching - Snitches have their tongues cut out with a hot knife. They are then branded with an "S" symbol.
* Treachery -
* Failure - If a person's failure has a negative impact on the Underground itself, that person is often simply killed, disposed of, and replaced.

## Strengths and Weaknesses

### Strengths

* The Underground are incredibly scrupulous and thorough in their dealings.
* The Underground has various connections within high profile businesses and runs a very successful extortion operation. This has made the Underground very wealthy. They also profit heavily from war, as they own a variety of weapon companies.
* The Underground essentially control the Asterian Government.
* Because the inner circle of the Underground has been kept secret, authorities have been unable to deal with them effectively.
* The Underground has influence throughout all of Aether as they have operatives with key positions in different organisations.

### Weaknesses

* The Underground is inexperienced in open warfare and relies on covert operations.

## The 5 Key Potential Threats

Voran shared a list of people with his executive board whom he believed could interfere with the Underground's plans, both intentionally and unintionally. They were ranked in order of significance.

1. Chancellor Inara Winters - Despite not possessing a remarkable army, (with the exception of the navy) Inara Winters is highly intelligent, but also incredibly unpredictable. The Underground remains completely unaware of her true aims, and she even has them at a disadvantage due to her knowledge of the Chairman.
2. ???