Stone Syndicate¶
Contested
This page is named in the open question Hobard's captors and property.
"I may not be an upstanding Proturas citizen and I am guilty of all kinds of shady shit … but at the end 'o the day, Im working to bring order to the Warrens and look after these people." — Berek Beetleslayer (S062)
The Stone Syndicate was "a brutal gang which runs The Pale Pit and openly runs the southern parts of the Warrens" of Proturas, led by "the (in)famous dwarf, Berek Beetleslayer" (S061, S028). "They rule the territory with a heavy hand, accosting and robbing outsiders and beating the opposition or forcing rivals to fight in the pit. Their name is derived mostly from the fact that most of the gang is equipped with simple stone clubs" (S105). In 834 AL it was secretly ruled by a witch, torn by a succession fight, and finally broken up by the city.
Also called: the Syndicate.
Organization¶
The Syndicate was a federation of crews under an overboss. At the succession meet there were twenty-two crews, each under a crew boss (S038). Berek kept enforcers of his own outside the crews: Turek, son of one of Berek's war comrades, "has never joined or run a crew … he works directly for Berek", and "says Berek is good for the Warrens and he is proud to help keep the order around here" (S062).
Its seat was the Pale Pit, "a tavern built around an abandoned clay pit (white)", used as a fighting ring and "one of the central gambling hubs in the Warrens" (S105), with cells beneath it for prisoners (S061, S040). The condemned fought there at the end of each shift; the Pit's spectacles are described on the Warrens page. "Berek is a tough, pragmatic showman. He loves making an example of rivals" (S028). He also offered pit-fighters a way out: "for fixing 'me forge and making this dagger, we'll call that an even exchange for your freedom" (S062).
The Syndicate's pitch to recruits was that it was the honest gang. "I have no hidden patrons ner agendas, and I'm no worshipper of demons and dark gods. I'm the real boss round here and I tell it like it is" (S062).
The witch behind Berek¶
That pitch was false. Berek "uses a seer/witch … whom he keeps a pretty closely guarded secret. She has a secret cave," and from her he learned that the White Hand were connected to Teneb'Urat (S028). In truth the original Berek "died some time ago", and the Berek the Warrens knew "was a simulacrum". "A Mystic named Isador has controlled things from the shadows. She took over when the original Berek died. She rarely steps foot herself into the PIT" (S038). The cast list calls Berek "Head of the Stone Syndicate. (controlled by Isador)" (S068). "The populace of the Warrens will fundamentally be better with BEREK than ISADOR. A witch vs a war veteran" (S039).
The succession of 834 AL¶
Squeezed by the White Hand from one side and by the Drowned Ring and the Dockside Cutters from the other, and hunting a beast "loosed in the Warrens by the Hand" (S062), the Syndicate began to crack. Its crew bosses muttered that "'ol Berek's stone has finally cracked" (S062). Then Berek was killed, or seemed to be: "His head sits on a spike outside the Pale Pit. Widely spread that Dunstan killed him, but most insiders know that he was killed by the Crimson Watch" (S038).
A boss of one of the larger crews, Adros, took control of the Pit and called a meet to elect a new overboss, guaranteed by hostages. Its rules were strict (S038):
Quote
No weapons, only crew bosses, no placeholders, no lieutenants. If the boss is unable to attend, they don't get a vote.
2 Hostages will be taken for each boss that is going to attend. The hostages must be prominent, well-known crew members. These hostages will guarantee no violence from the boss as their life is forfeit. Each nominee holds 1 hostage from each crew.
The bosses will vote on a new leader from 2 choices. In the case of a tie or not nearly unanimous, it will be determined by a fight in the pit between the two bosses.
After a new overboss is selected, all bosses will be expected to swear immediate loyalty. Failure to do so may result in imprisonment, death as well as the death of your hostages.
Each boss could nominate up to three; the two most nominated stood. They were Adros and Dunstan. Dunstan claimed Berek's death as "a GIFT to you" and promised to sell the Pit, which Berek had refused to sell for 20,000 gold, and split the proceeds among the crews. Adros answered that the Pit "goes beyond simple coin … it is Status, it is Intimidation and it is Power. … what exactly is a lord without his keep?", and accused Dunstan of being bought by the White Hand (S038). "Dunstan is elected by a slim majority. 7 out of 13 present voted for him. 9 did not attend"; three bosses who refused to swear were killed on the spot (S038). Many crews reported offers to join the White Hand, and some proposed merging with it outright (S038).
Isador had marked the voting tokens "to plant a scrying signal on everyone that voted for DUNSTAN" (S039). A new Berek returned and "killed most of the traitorous crew bosses. The rest are imprisoned below the Pit"; Dunstan fled to an estate outside the city and was killed there (S040, S041).
Fall¶
The Syndicate did not outlast the year. When the Proturan Council declared war on the Boreal Elves in 834 AL, a war bond paid for police and infrastructure in the Warrens, annexed as the County of Claydun. "The Stone Syndicate and Drowned Ring have been dismantled. Many of its bosses are captured and a few in hiding." Isador "is nowhere to be found. Her place has been ransacked and is sealed by the authorities." Berek "has been imprisoned and is on trial for murder, racketeering and extortion", held at Sharpstone Prison, and "the Pale Pit is being dismantled. (Claydun Hall & Courthouse will be built on the site)" (S051). The Dockside Cutters planned to blame their next robbery "on remainders of the Stone Syndicate" (S051).
Relations¶
- Dockside Cutters: rivals. The Syndicate stole from them a Proturan Bank vault token, which Berek hid in the cage of the Pit's minotaur, Taun (S029). Berek warned recruits that "Cutters have already shitted on you and your crew more than once" (S062).
- White Hand: the enemy within. The Hand "infiltrated both other gang's", and Dunstan's crew worked for it (S061, S038). The Moleworm set loose in the Warrens was the Hand's work, "put there by White Hand to undermine the other gangs" (S028).
- Dala Stonefoot, agent of the Witch Queen Marcella, "is on friendly terms with the leader of the Stone Syndicate" (S028, S061).
- Hobard: the White Hand, having wrung a confession from the relic dealer, "released him to the Stone Syndicate .. who plan on killing him for sport." Berek reserved the fight for "a special event (tomorrow with some advertising)" and meant to fight Hobard himself, for "he knows Hobard could likely defeat most of his 'trials'" (S061).
- The Proturan Wardens watched the Pit through an agent, the old man Kaermus, "a Proturan Warden in disguise" (S038).
Earlier accounts¶
The earlier story-arc notes give the captured relic dealer to the Drowned Ring instead of the Syndicate (S028); see the open question named above.