Umbral Serpents
They don't deal in coin. They deal in choices you can't afford not to make.
The Umbral Serpents are Novendragos’ most insidious criminal syndicate—masters of illicit dragocite, black-market relics, and carefully curated secrets. While the Drakarchate controls arcano-industrial order and the Heliox Assembly writes law, the Serpents specialize in everything beneath those systems: blackmail, bio-sorcery, illicit implants, and the acquisition of ancient, volatile technology. They do not merely seek profit; they engineer dependency. From their hidden strongholds in the Shadowmere Depths of Platinus, their influence extends into every level of society. Nobles, scholars, technomancers, and even rebels find themselves entangled in the Serpents' webs, whether they know it or not. Their motto, whispered in the dark alleys and gilded halls of power, is a chilling testament to their methods: "To be unseen is to be inevitable."
Founding and Purpose
The origins of the Umbral Serpents are a carefully guarded secret, a history they have rewritten a dozen times. Most scholars believe the syndicate coalesced from the remnants of several powerful merchant families who were ruined during the economic chaos of the Motaran Wars. Refusing to be bound by the rigid new laws of the Draconic Accord, they took their expertise in logistics, trade, and subterfuge into the shadows.
Their purpose is twofold. Publicly, they seek to control the lucrative black market, accumulating immense wealth and influence. Secretly, their ruling council, The Coil, seeks to hoard forbidden arcano-biological knowledge from the pre-Accord era, including dangerous relics from blood sorcerers and the Azhra, believing that true power lies not in participating in the current system, but in possessing the knowledge to one day shatter and remake it.
Role in Platinus
The Umbral Serpents are the undisputed masters of the Shadowmere Depths, but their influence is felt everywhere. They have Whispers in the Merchants' Guilds of the Vaerocasian Bazaar, indebted nobles in the Highdrake Enclave, and even compromised scholars in the Lumenarch Collegium. They are the secret poison in the veins of the Gilded City.
Structure
At the heart of the Umbral Serpents lies The Coil—a ruling council of seven whose titles represent different functions in the organization:
- The Fang – Enforcer of internal discipline and external punishment
- The Scale – Keeper of wealth and forbidden resources
- The Tongue – Voice of diplomacy and deception
- The Eye – Overseer of intelligence and surveillance
- The Hood – Master of identity suppression and memory tampering
- The Sheath – Weaponization expert; designs tools and augmentations
- The Skin – Infiltration and cultural manipulation
Each member rules in secret, known only by their title and operating through layers of proxies.
The Serpents divide their operatives into four primary categories:
- Whispers – Spies and infiltrators embedded in noble courts, guild offices, and arcane academies
- Fangs – Trained killers and saboteurs, often enhanced with illegal biotech or dragocite implants
- Molts – Low-level agents: smugglers, street dealers, pickpockets, and runners—easily replaced
- Uncoiled – Retired or cast-out agents; some willingly leave, most vanish under suspicion
Culture
To many, the Serpents are just a whisper of fear or a symbol of society’s decay. To others, they’re salvation—a second chance, a tool of vengeance, or a way to rewrite one’s fate. They represent the seductive underside of the Draconic Accord: order bought at the price of silence.
The Serpents' influence reaches high and low—nobles consult them in secret, disenfranchised workers sell secrets to earn favor, and Rogue scholars rely on them to access lost knowledge banned by the Heliox Assembly or Alchemedica Institute.
Some call them The Hollow Cartel or The Second Mouth, mockingly referencing the way they offer a kinder face while the first one consumes you. But within their own ranks, they prefer simply “The Coil.”
Public Agenda
The Umbral Serpents reject the illusion of order that cloaks Platinus in gold and silence. While the Heliox Assembly masks control as harmony and the Lumenarch Collegium hoards knowledge in the name of caution, the Serpents declare another path. They champion free commerce unfettered by guild restrictions, giving salvagers, inventors, and outlaw artisans the access denied by bureaucracy. They reject sanctioned ignorance, unlocking forbidden archives and redistributing knowledge buried by the Drakarchate’s redactions. Their justice operates in the blind spots of the law—swift, proportional, and quiet—serving those ignored or crushed by Kendron’s rigid caste of privilege. They do not seek thrones or titles, only equilibrium. To walk in shadow is to reveal the lie of unbroken light. For those trapped by gilded bars, the Serpents offer a key—not to power, but to freedom. Seek them where the Accord forgets to look. The unseen are not absent. They are waiting.
Assets
The Umbral Serpents wield no banners, yet command a vast shadow empire whose strength lies not in open might, but in control. Their wealth flows unseen—uncut gemstones, unstamped bullion, and Overlord Plates circulate through a lattice of front businesses in the Vaerocasian Bazaar and Windemere Wharfs. Their stronghold lies beneath the Shadowmere Depths, where hidden labs refine illicit dragocite and alchemists concoct forbidden brews. Smuggling routes twist through the Fallen Mountains and along veiled riverways, some aided by unregistered sky-ships. Their agents—Whispers, Fangs, and Molts—form a tiered force of spies, assassins, and street enforcers, each outfitted with bleeding-edge, proscribed enhancements. But their true power rests in the Vault of Whispers: a sealed repository of secrets, stolen schematics, and pre-Accord relics, potent enough to ruin nobles, destabilize cities, or bargain with entities better left unnamed. Gold can be stolen. Secrets endure. And in that endurance, the Serpents thrive.
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