Proturan Underworld¶
Beneath the factions of the Proturan Council runs a second city. The faction survey of Proturas lists its "below-board factions" in one line: "Five Major Crime syndicates, Two Warlock Guilds, … One Fel casters guild" (S078). This page is the overview of that underworld: the syndicates and gangs that have pages of their own, and the lesser groups that do not.
The five syndicates¶
The Factions of Proturas name no syndicate; they count "five major crime syndicates" (S078). The names come from an earlier draft of that survey, since superseded, whose list survives only in the source register: the Bone Harvesters, a warlock crime syndicate; Dead Men's Fingers; the Ebon Mask; and Death's Gaze, an assassins' guild (S079, superseded by S078).
Gap
The integrated sources say nothing of the Bone Harvesters, Dead Men's Fingers, Death's Gaze or the Ebon Mask beyond their names; the draft that named them is not integrated. No source says which five organizations are the "five major crime syndicates" of the current survey, nor whether the Dockside Cutters or the Warrens gangs below are among them.
Gangs and guilds¶
| Organization | Territory | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Dockside Cutters | Dockside and Stepside, Spillwater | A thieves' guild "more than 100 years" old, led in secret by the Tolassovores. |
| Stone Syndicate | Southern Warrens, the Pale Pit | Berek Beetleslayer's club-armed gang, dismantled in 834 AL. |
| Drowned Ring | Northern Warrens, the Gallows | The Hangman's gang of drowned initiates, dismantled in 834 AL. |
| White Hand | The Warrens, pushing into Spillwater | A new gang fronting for the Tenebrians of Teneb'Urat. |
The two warlock guilds are the Warlocks of the Path, "part of the Old City", and the Concord Warlocks of the Raven Concord, "part of the Dwellers" (S078); the Warlocks of the Path are described with the council's subsidiary factions. The Fel casters' guild is not named.
The Crimson Watch¶
"ASSASSIN's GUILD: The Crimson Watch. (Their symbol is an eye with a drop in crimson) They are feared assassins who use a wide variety of tactics to kill their targets. Rumors whisper of summoned demons, rogue warlocks, deadly poisons and terrible curses. Regardless of the method, they are reputed to be very efficient and those marked for death seldom escape their fate" (S038).
In 834 AL the Watch was hired against Berek Beetleslayer: "Widely spread that Dunstan killed him, but most insiders know that he was killed by the Crimson Watch," and his rival Adros accused Dunstan of being "the one who hired the Crimson Watch to kill him" with White Hand money (S038). The White Hand's mistress Lamystra meant to have the warlock Valtor "lure the group out in an ambush by the Crimson Watch" (S038).
The Silver Moon¶
The Silver Moon is a mercenary company whose captain Veldin and lieutenant Uffe Birkson fought beside the party of the Proturan Campaign (S068). Its leader is Lord Monmort, but the company is "secretly led by Coruucormys, Silver Dragon and Patroness of the Silver Moon", who goes "disguised as a PALADIN bodyguard of the figurehead of the Silver Moon" (S042). Revan, who carries news to "the head of the Silver Moon", met Veldin at the Blue Ram tavern in the Upper Stairs (S042).
The Silver Moon owns things it prefers others to keep. When the Raven Concord fell in 834 AL, its elder Grimbac left "titles of ownership for some items in the Ravenhold vaults. These are legally stored by the Concord, but are actually the property of the Silver Moon", titles that "prove under Proturan law their ownership". They include the Black Blade of Despair, the Crown of the Undying King, the Knife of Soulstealing, Morwen's Book of Bloodrot, the Rod of Enslavement and the Tear of Inwe. Grimbac urged that only Lord Monmort receive them: "He can be trusted" (S051).
Gap
The sources do not say why the Silver Moon's treasures were held by the Concord, what the company's trade is beyond mercenary service, or where it is based.
The Blue Banner Brothers¶
A merchant house, or a gang, whose Spillwater warehouse the relic dealer Hobard's crew robbed at the opening of the Proturan Campaign, on a tip from a client coded K31. Hobard paid off the warehouse guard, Neer, as usual; "the agreement normally is not to take so much that is will be noticed", but this time "the reward is so large Hobard doesn't mind burning some bridges" (S036). The haul included a small mithril dragonskull, a dragon-egg stand and the blood of Vixseranyol (S036, S068).
Gap
Whether the Blue Banner Brothers are a lawful company or a criminal one is not said.
The law¶
The underworld's opponents are the Proturan Arbiters, the "Proturan Police Force", which "has jurisdiction over all murders and other serious crimes" (S068). In 834 AL, as part of the articles of war against the Boreal Elves, "a bond was raised to hire a police force and build basic infrastructure in the Warrens", annexed as the County of Claydun; the Stone Syndicate and the Drowned Ring were dismantled and the Raven Concord declared traitors (S051).
In Play¶
The party of the Proturan Campaign began as Hobard's crew and passed through every part of this world: the Cutters' initiations, the Syndicate's pit and election, the White Hand's tunnels, and the Silver Moon's titles (S036, S051, S068).