Gangs & Organized Crime of Salt in Wound
Several dozen gangs, mafias, and thieves collectives operate in the city of Salt in Wounds, all with a variable level of impunity though none are powerful enough to enjoy any sort of preeminence beyond a few city blocks. By custom each organization develops a different specialty (extortion, theft, smuggling) and a specific area of control. Most of the major players are known, and the Militia Captains have no compunctions against hauling them in on real or imagined charges—especially if any criminal element seems to be gaining too much power. As such an informal arrangement known as “the peace” holds where various criminal enterprises effectively if not literally pay taxes (via regularized bribes and official “civic reinvestment fees”),limit different types of activities to certain areas, and generally avoid open conflict with one another. Com-pliant groups are actually fairly competent (if brutal) at ensuring freebooting thieves, murderers, and other unaffiliated criminals do not operate in their areas of control (as part of their unspoken agreement holds them accountable for criminal behavior in their areas). The large exception to “the peace” are swift gang wars known as Black Fox Bites which by convention must take place between sundown and sunrise on no more than three consecutive nights, no more than once a season so to stay the hand of the various militias. During these conflicts dozens of thugs may turn up dead and many scores are settled, regimes toppled, and areas of influence shifted or changed until a new equilibrium settles. While murder and violence—both against criminals and civilians alike—does happen from time to time, on nights claimed for a Bite of the Black Fox (the dates of which are usually cleared by the assorted militias) the rates of violence and disreputable acts soars. Travelers and the unwary will often be caught off-guard by these as while not official, their times are usually known by the properly Salted who stay in behind bolted doors with as much extra security as they can afford (if not enjoying the relaxed policing to settle scores or acquire ill-gotten gold of their own).
NOTABLE ORGANIZATIONS
Kin of the Stave: This gang of narcotics dealers sell illegal drugs out of the Throat.
Friends of No-One: Extortion specialists who collect from much of the Tail Stones
Paving Stones: Smugglers operating out of the Tail Stones and often acting as go between for other organizations.
The Thirsty Dogs: These level gangers are looking to make money any way they can, willingly taking any applicant. They have a reputation for being low quality but numerous, often in conflict with the other gangs and organizations.
Correspondence: A group of assassins headquartered in Salt in Wounds but operating on a global level.
NOTABLE CRIMINALS
Antoni Corasio: A brash young human in his early twenties, Antoni is known for his bright blue coat and ever-present pair of cutlasses. This smuggler has a reputation around the city and an informal network of contacts able to get most anything into and out of the settlement’s walls. He serves as a lieutenant of the Paving Stones but regularly works with other organizations and even the rare independent criminal.
Sandrix Al’Ragon: This tall dark-haired woman in her early forties is known as a necromancer for hire, regularly working for criminals and specializing in providing extra muscle (literally) during nights of the Bite of the Black Fox.
Hannanon Drexine: Never seen by day, this beautiful leader of the Friends of No-One has elvish features but black skin and pale gray hair and eyes. Her reputation for utter ruthlessness has turned the organization—which specializes in extortion—into one of the more feared criminal enterprises in Salt in Wounds as many of their enemies wind up coincidentally dead, including the odd militia captain.