Cartel Society

The Cartel

The Kindly Cartels are divided into smaller organizations and groups called Cartels, being of 10-500 individuals. These are akin to noble houses or gangs (in the case of smaller Cartels). The bigger of these groups hold influence over several or even a score of settlements, maintaining mercantile opportunities and assisting local militias with defense. 

Smaller Cartels are without territory and instead assigned to specific tasks or ongoing tasks under the patronage of the Executive Court. Each Cartel has an intricate webs of relationships -- rivalries, alliances, and fealty -- to other Cartels, especially the five biggest Cartels. Many smaller Cartels began as an off-shoot of a bigger one, such as the Royal Haberdashers were with their predecessors.

Social Strata

In the perspective of the Cartel, there are three main divisions in society: 

  • Externals: outside the Cartel

  • Filials: peers and subordinates

  • Elders: superiors (usually manager level and higher). 

Externals run the gamut of “assets” (mercenaries, laborers, etc), foes, rivals, family/allies, and those who are a mix of one or more categories or who shift between categories at any moment. Suits understand that despite their penchant for order, the world around them is disjointed chaos so these categories are general guidelines more than anything else. 

Filials make up the majority of one’s interactions. These are generally positive or “working” interactions, except when Cartels have a rivalry or a feud between them. Cautious Suits will be especially careful and observant with their interactions. Otherwise, one is expected to acknowledge the due respect for their Filials, referring to them as “Cousin” if they are within the same Cartel or “Comrade” if they are from a different one.

Those of superior rank to a Suit are usually called “Elders” -- occasionally a superior within the same Cartel is referred to as “Boss” in an informal setting. They are treated with deference, primarily if they are directly within the chain of command for a particular Suit.


Ranks:

  • Associate (Junior or Senior): These are the lowest ranking members of the Cartel. They are expected to do footwork and wetwork. Courier work and various miscellaneous errands are considered the lowest of work and so, these are delegated to Associates. 

  • However, they are considered fully-fledged Suits and are accorded their due respect. This is especially important since some Elders “retire” by demoting themselves to Associate or Supervisor positions. These individuals are placed in non-hazardous positions (such as a storefront or a tea shop), since one cannot leave the Cartel once it is joined. Thus insulting a “lowly” Senior Associate may prove to be one’s undoing.  

  • Supervisor (Junior or Senior): Also called “Vizers”, these Suits are granted some responsibility and power due to their veterancy, leadership, and wisdom. Because of their perceived competence, they may also be assigned paperwork: filing reports, recording data, and similar tasks. Those who lack any of the three listed virtues do not exceed Senior Associate. 

  • Overseer (Junior or Senior): This rank is marked by being responsible not only for the personnel in their command but also of the immediate Cartel’s holdings. 

  • Executor: A position of power and responsibility, Executors personally serve the Director as their proxies, their messengers, and their observers. They are considered to be of a similar rank to Overseers but they are often empowered by Directors to supersede their Overseers counterparts in most circumstances. 

  • Director: The leader of a Cartel. Directorship is either granted from a Cartel’s previous Director or granted by the Big Five. This is the highest ranking available to a Player Character.

  • Chair: The leaders of the Kindly Cartels -- due to the burden of their roles, they sometimes delegate the leadership of their Cartel to their Executors. Although highly unlikely, this is the highest ranking available to a retired Player Character. 


Upbringing 

Cartel recruits are typically hand-picked from Externals by Cartel recruiters or Cartel leadership.The lives of these recruits before the Cartel are varied and diverse.

Life for a Cartel child is a different story, influenced by the mores of the Faction and the Cartel they were born in. While some of these children shy away from the regimented and rigorous demands of the Directors and Chairs, there are many that are drawn to the glamour and romance of being a Suit. For much of their lives, most Cartel-born are privy to the tales of their heroes, the order they represent, and their influence upon humanity’s current direction. 

Some of the larger Cartels will fund daycare and schooling for their Filials’ families, allowing only some Externals entrance at a high cost. A fair amount of Cartel-born will live much like their External counterparts, albeit with the protection and the shelter that the Cartel provides — provided their connection remains in good standing, of course.

Those that show promise are observed and studied by Cartel leadership and prepared for their Onboarding (see Cartel Religion and Rites).

Stigmata among the Cartel

Any Stigmata can be found within the ranks of the Kindly Cartels. The most frequently seen Stigmata are Psions and Risen. Because of their relative novelty, Metabionic and Eidolonic Stigmata are rarely seen.

Those with Stigmata are regarded well for their talents, though not necessarily considered better than their Unmarked fellows. For the Cartel, magic and other abilities can be incredibly useful but the universal qualities of cunning, resourcefulness, and loyalty are worth more.

Law and Order

For the order obsessed Cartel, the law and its adherence is very important. Some Cartels offer their services as enforcers for the local leadership. 

In communities where they are the dominant power, their position is fairly straightforward. They push local leadership to change the laws that they dislike and publicly follow the law. They also have businesses and outreach programs that lend assistance to the locals. Most importantly, they keep extra legal activities minimal or even off-shoring them out of that community’s borders. 

In communities where they are the minority, their activities become all the more clandestine. They still attempt to have a say in local leadership, but this may range from the benign to the intrusive to the intimidating, depending on that Cartel’s policies and culture. While they might still assist the locals with their trades, they may also interfere with law enforcement. These circumstances are where the tales of the Cartel’s strongarming tactics come from -- where the local government is eventually forced to capitulate to a Cartel’s demands. 

The Fortunes Cartel was especially fond of these brutal hegemonistic practices, edging out and usurping the will of the people. The Big Five of today oppose such methods, preferring a slower, more diplomatic approach to expanding Cartel influence. They are believed to deliver castigation upon those Cartels that violate their directives, but such rebukes may be notoriously slow or even inconsistent depending on the “offending” Cartel’s influence and wealth. 

In Port Atlantica and similar bastions where they themselves are local leadership and law enforcement, the Executive Court has the final say in all judicial matters and conflicts. Theft, murder, and battery are punished harshly in this places. Similarly punishable are misfiling, failure to follow protocol, unlawful employment, and impersonating a higher Rank -- the last is especially egregious in the Cartel’s perspective and is punished as harshly as murder.

Punishments include fines for lesser offenses, amputation for greater offenses, and exile or execution for the highest offenses.


Cartel Territories

Griswold

This town overlooks a major crossing point for the Longtide River in southern New England. This is the center of the Royal Haberdashers’ operations and the site of many battles against the Night League. It was on its way to becoming a major breadbasket in the region until the Ember War’s eruption. It has since diminished in stature until reconstruction and rebuilding efforts are completed.

Sky Solace

The Patient Scriveners count Sky Solace in the upper Hudson River as their headquarters. Sky Solace is the biggest of the villages that took in the refugees from New Amsterdam. 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. Wealthy families within the Cartels send their children to the Scriveners for instruction. 

The trust for the Patient Scriveners is heavy in this region. Though the Cartel does not dictate the decisions of Sky Solace and the surrounding villages, their word carries immense weight. 

Gardenholt

The southernmost stronghold of the Kindly Cartels and the headquarters for the Tranquil Garden Cartel. It is surrounded by lush vegetation, much of which has been domesticated into orchards and gardens. Unfortunately, it is under constant threat from devil ivy, which creeps in from the south. 

Port Atlantica

A place of vice and indulgence, Port Atlantica is the island headquarters of the Golden Fortunes. A popular vacation spot for Cartel and even Illustrados, it is said to be as lurid and as wasteful as a true pre-Fall city thanks to the mercantile contracts of the Goldens. 

Bridgeboro 

Nestled on the eastern shore of the Serpent River, this town holds the main offices and garrison of the Peace Makers. From here, the Peace Makers are able to police Snakewater and a half-dozen minor settlements along the Serpent River and up north toward the 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.