Cartel Power Groups

Listed below are the main groups of influence among the Kindly Cartels, the five Chair Cartels of the Executive Court. 

Except for the Peace Makers, Player Characters may come from any Power Group although they cannot be the leadership of that group. It is recommended that those willing to write backstories intertwined with the Kindly Cartels contact Game Staff for further information/guidance.

It is the requirement of Game Staff that players who create their own Cartels as part of their backstory submit a profile of that group to Game Staff (for further use in plot if need be).

The Golden Fortunes Cartel: Purveyors of trade, vice, and inebriants. 

The Patient Scriveners Cartel: Traders, diplomats and bankers, working from the shadows.

The Peace Makers Cartel: Monster slayers, pact keepers, and guardians of the lower Libertina region.  

The Royal Haberdashers Cartel: Known for their fine textiles and fabrics, especially when it comes to their hats and other headwear. Also, they are known for their vampire hunters. 

The Tranquil Garden Cartel: Makers and exporters of tea and other inebriates from their orchards. 

The Golden Fortunes Cartel

Dicers, Goldens

“Pleasure is our Business”

Basic: The Golden Fortunes are purveyors of trade, vice, and inebriants. Roadhouses, spice gardens, gambling dens, and the supplying of such places are their forte and their main source of profit.  

Symbol/Token: Two golden six-sided dice, encircled by a wreath. Only the Simone and Riggs family are allowed to feature six and six. Their tokens are golden rings, tattoos involving dice or cards, and a lucky charm or a set of dice. They are associated with the colors of Dark Gold and Grey Blue. 

Territory: The Goldens lair in Port Atlantica, which has grown from a modest island port to a casino town surrounded by shanty villages. The Golden Fortunes also have influence with the villages in and around the Flooded Pines to the west.

Overview: When the Cartel reached the Flooded Pines, the Golden Fortunes were already there. Francesco Riggs and his followers had a decent-sized hub of a town that drew folk from the rest of the region, though their practices were less than sterling. The Cartel found their operation astounding and invited them in as a franchisee, provided that they forswore some of their darker methods and profiteering -- thus Franky’s Goldens became the Golden Fortunes Cartel and they released all their debtors from their holdings soon afterward. 

Thirty years ago, the Goldens even made it to the Big Five, allowing them freedom from restriction. This was the time of Alessandro Simone, the Ace of Clubs, and a bloody tyrant within his Cartel. After a murderous six years, he was put down by his own family with help from the Scriveners and the Peace Makers. It was too late by then, the in-fighting had weakened the Goldens in the region. Where they were too distracted or too wounded to maintain their holdings’ defenses, the wildlife swept in.  This was especially exacerbated by the Ember War and its brutality. The Golden Fortunes stayed away from the conflict at large. Their presence was lacking in the Battle at Libertina, a slight that they have yet to recover from -- however, that also means that they did not suffer horrendous casualties like the other Cartels did.   

The Goldens tumbled from grace, but caught themselves before falling too far. Their Director, Dina Riggs-Simone, has just finished her mission of “cleaning house”, picking up where the Cartel and her family had left off. As the sole heir to the Riggs-Simone dynasty, she rules with an iron fist and a keen eye. Village by village, leader by leader, she is recovering the Cartel’s influence in the region. She has also made contacts beyond the Cartel, shipping in exotic new delights for the Goldens’ clientele to sample and to enjoy. 

And thus far, it has worked -- the Cartel’s favor is rising in the Cartel and Dina’s leadership is to be credited for their amazing recovery. 

Leadership: Constantina “Dina” Riggs-Simone is also called the Queen of Diamonds or “Diamond Dina”. The brave among her detractors call her the Queen of Spades instead, due to the death count that surrounds her and her retinue. 

A Psion of prodigious power, she has been described as authoritarian, devious, and utterly ruthless. Her Cartel’s withdrawal from the Ember War was said to be at her behest, even though she “executed” the person who suggested it before her Cartel rejoined near the end of it.  

The Patient Scrivener Cartel

Scriveners, Skyrunners

“Patience is a seed and prosperity is the fruit”

Basic: The Patient Scrivener Cartel are traders, diplomats and bankers, working from the shadows instead of the forefront. 

Symbol: A flower with five petals. Their tokens are spiraling/whorled tattoos, an ornamented hatchet, and a tome. They are associated with the colors of Light Grey and Dark Blue. 

Territory: The Patient Scriveners count Sky Solace in the upper Hudson River as their headquarters. This village has grown into a town with industries for export, such as paper, medicine, and other sundries. Under the watchful eyes of the Scriveners and the work of its people, it has become a major center for learning among the Cartels. Naturally, the Scriveners also have an immense amount of influence over the nearby villages of the area. 

Overview: When the Kindly People began to grow and expand, they were peopled by two factions. The more subtle and cerebral of the two were the Skyrunners. These individuals were skilled in the lores and mysticism of the wild. These were swift raiders, shadowy hunters, and prescient Animancers. In the time of the Kindly Cartels, these would become the Patient Scriveners. 

As the decades passed and pockets of stability were eked into the wilderness, the Patient Scriveners allowed their war-like aspect to fade into the background and became guides to the communities in the area. Their focus became less on the martial and more in ensuring that other villages and towns benefited from the Cartel’s protection and trade (in exchange for some fees, of course). 

In their role within the Executive Court, the Scriveners were central to the formation of the Free Tribes. Their contacts and their influence allowed them to rally the communities in the Mid-Atlantic. This would help immensely in gaining the Archfactions’ help against the Harbingers. During the Ember War, the Skyrunners of old returned for a short while with clandestine raids against Harbinger flanks and leadership forces. Erstwhile, the Scriveners’ Animancers rivaled even the Temple’s Diabolists in utility and insight. 

After the Ember War, the Patient Scriveners have only deepened their new trade relations with the Archfactions, much to their benefit. On other hand, some in the Free Tribes have wised to the Cartels’ grip upon the other factions and communities. Regardless, the Scriveners continue to work to keep the Archfaction together. And if the Skyrunners are needed once more, they will be called for. 

Leadership: Chimney Deer is a talker, as most folks will speak of him and his optimistic attitude which belies his age and his depth of knowledge over many things. A Diviner and a Veiler of the Animancy tradition, he is also revered for his connection to the mythical world of the spirits. Most of his Cartel do not share this Psion’s amiable attitude, preferring the professional mein that the Cartel is known for -- until the Suits are doffed and merriment is abound. 

The Peace Maker Cartel

Peacekillers, PZs

“Blessed are the Peace Makers for they are the killers of gods” -- a corrupted old world saying

Special Note: This Power Group is NPC-only, although Players may associate with them amicably and sometimes pursue missions  under their employ.

Basic: Slayers of monsters, keepers of the pact, and guardians of the lower Libertina region. 

Symbol: A Shield with an eye and two swords through it. The Peace Makers like to have monstrous clothing, iconography, or trophies on their person. Bright or Dark Red and Midnight Black or Dark Grey are their associated colors.

Territory: Bridgeboro (headquarters), Snakewater and a half-dozen minor settlements along the Serpent River and up to Libertina Ruins. To the west of Snakewater is a patch of Shroudlands similar to the corrupted region around Grailhome. Exploration has been very limited in the area but nothing has been discovered yet. Furthermore, monster attacks have grown in number and ferocity. 

Overview: The Peace Makers joined the Cartel 50 years ago, though they were several closely related groups of Vundarkin at that time - bloodthirsty, berserking worshipers of a spirit that called itself the Godslayer. These Packhunters revelled in tracking and slaying monsters, though at great cost in casualties. Unable to fully commit to defending the communities but unwilling to leave them without protection, the Gardeners  hired these Vundarkin to assist in the towns’ protection. They paid the Packhunters in weaponry and equipment, which the Vundarkin easily learned how to use and maintain. 

Unlike similar experiments in the past, this plan allowed not only these settlements to thrive but for the Vundarkin to organize under a singular body. They made additional currency through guardianship of towns and caravans (including passing Scavvers). As the years progressed, the Peace Makers grew in influence and in territory to the point that they were brushing up against the Fortunes and the Scrivener Cartels. 

The War over Embers forestalled any true conflict between the Cartels but it cost the Peace Makers deeply. Much of their territory was ravaged by the fighting with the Harbingers, though they were successful in evacuation efforts. Snakewater was one such settlement, almost completely leveled during a battle between the Peace Makers and a God-Flesh Abomination named the “Tyrant of Eyes”. 

The rebuilding process has been painful but has met with great success, because of investments from the Archfactions. On the other hand, the Cartels have yet to truly assist in recovery efforts -- cooling their relations with the fiercely independent Peace Makers. 

For their part, the Peace Makers are no longer the Packhunters that they were but they are protective of their settlements and their allies. They also retain much of their Vundarkin traditions, passing them along to new recruits and adoptions.While they are spread thinly across the territories they have recovered, they have taken to hiring mercenaries and Delvers to make up for their lack. 

Leadership: Sen Sharp is the Director of the Peace Makers and is also part of the Executive Court. Despite their position, they listen closely to the concerns of their Cartel, even the finials are heard. While they hate the status of the Cartel, they understand that this way is the only path available to survive the hard times ahead. Owing debts of the Archfactions is a knife in their gut, but Sen has taken worse. 

The Royal Haberdashers Cartel

Hatters, Royals

“Hats for heads and roofs above that”

Basic: The Royal Haberdashers are a Cartel known for their fine textiles and fabrics, especially when it comes to their hats and other headwear. In addition to this specialty, they are also known and feared in the northeastern portion of the Mid-Atlantic for their viciousness and their brutality against the hungering corpses of the Night League. 

Symbol: A crown and a single horizontal line beneath it. The tokens of this Cartel are a hat, jeweled rings/tattoos, and a stylized pistol. The Hatters are associated with dark green and light orange. 

Territory: This Cartel is based in Griswold, located east and north of the New Amsterdam ruins and watching a bridge upon the Longtide River. 

Overview: The Hatters were a smaller Cartel of traders and weavers under the employ of the Traveling Webbers. The latter were extinguished in a bitter skirmish against the Night League. The Royal Haberdashers took up the torch from the Webbers, halting the Cartel’s rout from the area and establishing fortified coastal towns to prevent further Night League ingress. The Patient Scriveners and the Peace Makers send reinforcements and supplies to assist the nascent Cartel. After a bloody battle at Griswold, the fighting turned into skirmishes and raids. This would go on for decades until the Night Kings’ headquarters was sacked by the Templars and the Hellhounds.

The Royal Haberdashers are in the process of taking back their lost territory with some aid from the Kindly Cartel and the Carmine Templars. Their partnership with the Temple has granted them immense strides against their common foe and toward a peaceful relationship with each other. Some of the Cartel has even taken up the Templar faith. 

Leadership: Dour and moody, Akari MacFarlane is the Director of the Royal Haberdashers. She allows her half brother, Angus MacFarlane, to manage the business side of the Cartel as the Executor. On the other hand, she is more hands on and action oriented. Metabionic implantation has made her colder and more vicious than she was, a product of a near-fatal ambush of the Harbinger Hosts. 

The Tranquil Garden Cartel

Tranquils, Gardeners

“Growth without Discipline is Chaos”

Basic: Called Gardeners or Tranquils, the Tranquil Garden Cartel are the Mid-Atlantic’s primary makers and exporters of tea and other inebriates from their orchards. 

Symbol: A flowering tree, usually a magnolia bonsai. The Cartel tokens are: tree tattoos, swords, numbers. Like the orchids they love, the Gardeners are often associated with green and dark violet. 

Territory: Gardenholt, far to the south of the Capitol Ruins. It is surrounded by orchards and gardens, tended to by the Cartel and those they employ. 

History: When the Kindly People began to grow and expand, they were peopled by two factions. The more martial and forward of the two were the remnants of the Honest Knives gang. Though once one of the bigger crime syndicates in New Amsterdam, they had turned away from their sordid past in the face of the World beyond the Fall. What they lacked in subtlety, they made up for in fervor and weaponry. But in time, the Honest Knives would absorb the calmer aspects of their counterparts, becoming the Tranquil Garden Cartel. 

For the decades that followed the Kindly Cartels’ founding, the Tranquil Garden seeded and nurtured new alliances as they spearheaded the southern expansion. Through them, new franchises joined the Cartel, including the Peace Makers and the Golden Fortunes. In time, they would find a home in Gardenholt. In addition to assisting the local communities in flourishing and in defense, the Tranquil Garden also established the orchards that eventually became their mainstay of trade and income.

Like most Cartels, the Tranquil Garden suffered greatly from the Ember War and the Harbinger Hosts. Furthermore, their homes were ravaged by monstrosities and raiders while the war ranged in the north. Thus, it is not surprising that their efforts are focused on rehabilitation and on recovery, not only for themselves but also for the villages within their influence. 

The current threat to the Gardeners’ domains is the ever present devil ivy, believed to be an eldritch form of kudzu. It is relentless against the unwary, blanketing even fauna and humans. Fire and vigilance wards it well enough, though there is worry that it may be more cunning than previously believed. 

Leadership: Ronaldo Chow-Tse is the eighth Director of the Tranquil Garden and the finest botanist in a Cartel of gardeners, known not only for his private collection but his own field work. Reportedly he is a man of aesthetics, grace, and courtesy and rivaled only by his spouse, Sebastian Chow-Tse, who manages the brewery portion of the Gardeners as his Executor. Ancient yet proficient swordsmen, Ronaldo and Sebastian ensure that the Tranquil Garden’s recovery and their defense against the devil ivy are of the utmost priority.