Black Sun

Black Sun is a criminal syndicate that came into prominence during the Clone Wars as the Jedi Order focused more on military affairs and less on law enforcement. Black Sun was allied with the Shadow Collective and its leader, the renegade Sith Lord Maul. The syndicate maintains bases on Mustafar and Ord Mantell and has many of the Falleen species as members.. Tenacious, well-led, and adaptable, Black Sun became a galaxy-spanning organization that far exceeded the Old Republic's capacity to combat.    Now in the Imperial era, those who know of Black Sun's extensive reach and control suggest the organization is at least as powerful a sizeable population of the Empire, and possibly a real threat to Imperial power as well. Few can say for certain, however, just how massive Black Sun is, or how far its reach really extends. The leadership goes to great pains to ensure that Black Sun's involvement in any enterprise is well hidden from the galaxy at large. Often, a criminal venture can appear to be a wholly independent operation, with even the ostensible leader having no idea he's embroiled with the Black Sun. Smuggling, slavery, racketeering, kidnapping, extortion, spice, illegal weapons, and all other manner of illegal activity lie within Black Sun's purview. At the same time, the organization has grown so powerful as to own many businesses and corporations, and even a few planets here and there. If there is a way to earn credits, Black Sun has someone doing it for them.   

Organization

  For all of its many holdings and byzantine interconnections throughout the galaxy, the central leadership of Black Sun is fairly straightforward. The known galaxy is divided up into nine "territories," over which there are nine Vigos. The term is an old Tionese word meaning "nephew," which is meant to further cement the idea that a great and powerful family runs the whole organization. This projects both a unified front and creates a sense of familial obligation among many who serve. The currently known Vigos are a Rodian, Clezo; Durga the Hutt; the Human known simply as Green; Kreet'ah, a Kian'thar; Lonay, a Twi'lek; Perit, a Mon Calamari; Xizor, a Falleen; Vekker, a Quarren; and Wumdi, the Etti Vigo over the Corporate Sector. Above all of the Vigos is the Underlord, a veritable emperor in his own right. Black Sun's current Under-lord is Ziton Moj who gained power by allying with Darth Maul during the Clone War.  Moj is known as incredibly ruthless and while he delegates much to his Vigos, he is always careful to sleep with one eye open in case they betray him.    Each of the Vigos oversees a rather vast network of his own, with numerous sub-lieutenants managing each of the many disparate operations. In order to protect the greater organization, people beneath the Vigos only tend to know a few others that are actually part of Black Sun; there are, in fact, countless thousands employedby Black Sun who have no idea who their real employer is. Smaller gangs and groups with their own names and identities operate with apparent independence, with only their leadership connected to the higher levels.  

Activities 

  Black Sun's activities are many and varied, and each Vigo ends to focus on his or her own portfolio of interests. Clezo is conservative and business-minded. He prefers to maintain a highly diverse portfolio of activities, seeking to control all criminal activity within a few systems rather than corner a particular market or criminal undertaking. His holdings are known to include several bounty hunting groups and guilds, including the highly Imperial-connected House Tresario guild. Careful planning and maintaining the revenue flow are his trademarks, and though he constantly seeks new opportunities, he never does so at the expense of his current operations.   Durga is as scheming and crafty as any other Hutt, and his primary concerns seem to revolve around manipulating other Vigos while appearing the loyal and subservient lieutenant to Ziton. His endeavors include exploiting all of the transport and smuggling in and around Nar Shaddaa, and keeping a firm grasp on the Klatooinian Trade Guild's operations. Durga has a healthy interest in gun-running and slavery, and serves as Black Sun's connection to Hutt affairs while also serving the Hutts through this connection to Black Sun. Of course, ultimately, Durga serves himself.   Green spends a great deal of his time and energy trying to organize resources and support to become the next Underlord. His revenues are far lower than they should be, yet his value as a spymaster with truly extensive networks remains high enough to keep him in his position for now. Racketeering, extortion, and blackmail in the Core Worlds are his main stocks in trade. He is trying to expand his spice smuggling efforts, yet has been directly forbidden to export to Coruscant; another has been granted exclusive rights to that highly lucrative market.    Kreet'ah, who inherited his position from his mother, is a loyal and long-serving lieutenant of Ziton. His main focus as a Vigo is corporate espionage. This includes stealing valuable secrets and technology, massive revenue slicing, and using his extensive spy network to reroute transports, manipulate markets, and extort funds from countless corrupt corporate officers. His most valuable service to Ziton is his ability to predict and convey market trends and corporate maneuverings.   Anyone working in the Outer Rim has a chance of running afoul of Lonay's operations. The Twi'lek focuses his efforts on several sectors in that part of the galaxy, building allies not only among the Black Sun, but with other criminal groups and even corporations. His highly flexible organization focuses on the typical Outer Rim endeavors of slave trading, spice smuggling, gun-running, and countless vice crimes.   Ex-slave and master slicer Perit has, perhaps, the most secure position of any of the Vigos, though that hasn't prevented him from reportedly surrounding himself with nigh-impenetrable electronic security and a small force of assassin droids. Ziton delivered the Mon Calamari from slavery and directly employed him to help manage the Falleen's holdings when still a Vigo himself. A master of technological and computerized crime, Perit is able to manipulate entire markets via slicing, and his veritable army of technologists is one of the greatest assets in the entire Black Sun organization.    Once Ziton became Underlord, he handed over his Vigo position to Xizor. Another likely potential employer for fringers, Xizor is Black Sun's master of shipping and transport. His holdings and activities may have the widest possible range of galactic area of any Vigo, running from the Core Worlds to the Outer Rim Territories. He has multiple syndicates of pirates, smugglers, shipjackers, black market traders, slavers, and the like all working for him; most of them have no idea they are tied to Black Sun. He also manages corporate assets related to shipping, and he's created such a serpentine net work of connections and conflicting interests as to make it impossible to know what he's really up to at any given moment. Interestingly, Xizor does a great deal of trade deal of trade in ships, weapons, and supplies to the insurgent movements, apparently without Ziton's knowledge.  The most stable and least ambitious of all the Vigos is Vekker, who came to power by simply being patient and loyal. His criminal empire is, for the most part, not particularly criminal; he oversees a rather vast empire of casinos and entertainment businesses. There are the usual vice-related criminal activities that go along with much of his territory's interests, yet he mainly focuses on keeping the paying customers happy by the billions and, thus, keeping the steady revenue flowing. As his holdings serve well as legitimate fronts and laundering opportunities for the rest of Black Sun, this keeps him in decent standing with his fellows.