Forbidden Infrastructure

Black Market

• Refers to individual circles of criminal activity rather than a single centralized faction.
• Black Market circles are often linked through various contacts, so contacts with one can help gain connection with others.
• To avoid exposure, access to Black Market circles is generally only available to those known to have committed egregious crimes.
  • Blackmail and leverage is often a critical component to trust within these dark networks.
• Black Market circles, contacts, and services typically include:
  • Fixers: Handle or organize a variety of illegal tasks on behalf of their customers.
  • Fences: Buy, sell, or exchange stolen, illegal, or taboo goods.
  • Smugglers: Transfer stolen and illegal goods. Often overlap with Fences.
  • Informants: Sell insider information; e.g. bribed tarets, corrupt officials, etc.
  • Assassins: Commit murder for a price.
  • Poachers: Hunt and harvest Fey or protected races such as Dryads, Kobolds, Kitsu, etc.
  • Mage Hunters: Kill mages and harvest them for illegal alchemical supplies.
  • Acquisitions: Capture others in foreign territory and traffic them into slavery.
  • Traffickers: Enslave people with methods that even slavers may avoid due to associated criminality.
  • Thief: Commit theft, often as part of a small group that coordinates together.
  • Pirate: Commit piracy, plundering wealth from merchants on sea.
  • Propaganda: Disinformation campaigns, framing jobs, and spinning public narratives.
  • Kidnappers: Kidnap people, often children or nobility; typically for ransom.

The Syndicate

• Refers to cells of the Black Market that are secretly run by the Caballum and its Warlocks.
• Serves the interests of the Caballum and the Devils.
• Deeply secretive. Very effective due to Caballum's influence.
• Blackmails others into joining, leverages their services.
• Most members, clients, and associates have no idea they're working for the Syndicate.
• Involves all of the most illegal Black Market activities, plus additional sinister options for Warlocks.
• Potential assets are identified and ensnared through a network of leverage and coercion.
  • Prospects are burdened by dangerous secrets; victims of blackmail who find have few options.