The Syndicate

Organized crime in the Third Horizon is controlled by a handful of families and their respective street gangs. The faction is based on Coriolis, but has no seat on the Council, much to their chagrin.   The syndicate was founded at the same time as Coriolis, and is viewed by many as the illegal shadow of the Consortium. The faction is made up of a group of wealthy families from the crew of the Zenith who joined forces with Firstcome criminal groups on Algol, Sadaal and Zalos. Together, they took control over the street gangs that had started to form on Coriolis.   The Syndicate wants their operations to run smoothly, and this requires a certain level of law and order. They cooperate with the Guard to combat petty crime because it disturbs their more lucrative forms of business: protection rackets, gambling, pimping, drugs and smuggling. In the first decades after its birth, the Syndicate grew to own almost the entire Guard through threats and bribery.   The courts and the governor needed a drastic change, and asked the Zenithian Hegemony for help. The Hegemony created the Judicators. This new tool of law enforcement decimated the Syndicate’s lower levels, especially the street gangs. Soon, however, the crime families learned to adapt, and balance returned once again. Today, the Judicators are less involved with the Syndicate and focus their resources on other forms of crime.   The basis of the Syndicate is the gangs that run the different plazas on Coriolis. Things get violent from time to time, as the gangs’ methods include a certain level of territorial disputes and revenge. Outside of the station, the middle layers of the organization, the so-called charpurs, run the operations. They operate above the gangs, organizing things like smuggling and drug production.   The only areas the Syndicate stays away from are slave trading and the smuggling of faction tech. Unfortunately, other players are less scrupulous.  

THE FRONT

The Syndicate’s contact with the legitimate economy is handled by front men in the Consortium companies, bureaucrats on Sadaal, drug cartels on Algol and supposedly even the rebels on Zalos-B. These contacts are used for smuggling, drug production, proxy trips and illegal research – sometimes with human subjects.   The Syndicate is not considered to possess any faction technology of its own, with the possible exception of the rumored “black ships”.   The biggest concern for the Syndicate today is the rumors going around that they have begun to associate with the Algolan slavers, which has led to a renewed interest from the Judicators. Both the Church of the Icons and Ahlam’s Temple have, unsuccessfully, tried to fight the Syndicate’s power.  

THE CHALLENGERS

The Syndicate is the largest criminal organization in the Horizon, but not the only one.   There are three rising threats to their power in the Horizon: The Serpent, the Slavers and Ferekam, criminal groups dealing in slave trade and gun running.