Boromar Clan
The Boromar Clan is a criminal organization that controls the lion’s share of Sharn’s illicit underbelly. The halfling mob runs gambling dens, smuggling operations, and extortion rackets throughout the city; their operations are not limited only to Sharn. Their position of power has been long-established to the point that multiple members of the Sharn Council are effectively in the pocket of the gang’s patriarch.
Structure
The Boromar Clan is a group of 260 core members of the clan, many of whom are halflings who act as bookkeepers, administrators, or expert thieves. 32 members of the clan are related to Saidan by blood or marriage. In addition to the core members, the clan hires hundreds of unaffiliated con artists, debt collectors, money lenders, thieves, and sellswords. The clan is led by Saidan Bormar.
The inner circle of the clan is insulated from criminal liability through layers of command, fake businesses, and coded messages.
The enforcers of the clan are the Clawfeet, a band of 15 halfling barbarian rogues who serve under Halak Boromar.
The Boromar Clan employs people of all races, but most of the organization and nearly all of its inner circle are made up of halflings.
Culture
The Boromar Clan specializes in drug trade, burglary, smuggling, and extortion.
The Boromar Clan engages in protection rackets and smuggling contraband such as dreamlily, dangerous magical weapons that are restricted, poisons, blank notarized documents from House Sivis, and stolen goods. The Boromars promise that any who pay their extortion fee are untouchable, and threaten other criminals who hassle these protected businesses.
The Boromar Clan eschews violence as a rule because it would disrupt their flow of cash. However, when pushed, the Boromars respond ruthlessly.
The Boromars will make those who cross them disappear, and those they love, including close relatives such as children, spouses, and parents. Those who are vanished are never found.
Public Agenda
Besides their illicit dealings, the Clan also has a number of legitimate business ventures and good social standing. Saidan Boromar's wife is a member of House Jorasco, his daughter Ilyra Boromar is a member of the City Council, and the Boromar family belongs to the Sixty, a prestigious group of powerful Sharn families. Saidan is secretly a Gold Concordian member of the Aurum.
Assets
The Boromar Clan has a hand in all types of crime in Sharn. Most Boromar leaders despise unnecessary violence, but the clan has a host of enforcers and a handful of capable assassins. The clan's web of extortion is so thoroughly woven into society that many residents simply consider it another form of tax. Boromar specializes in three fields of activity: gambling, smuggling, and thievery.
Gambling isn't illegal in Sham, but all legal games are taxed by the Brelish crown and are required to follow regulations that spoil the experience for many. Boromar's operations are cheaper to participate in and offer the lure of greater profits.
Smuggling has become an increasingly important business since the Last War disrupted many traditional lines of trade. The clan's primary import is the narcotic called dreamlily. But the Boromars traffic in a wide range of goods, from arcane and alchemical weapons to foreign luxury items that have been made scarce by embargoes and sanctions. Under Boranel's law, it's forbidden to sell Aundairian wine in Breland, so if you want the good stuff, you'll need to work with the Boromars.
Boromar-sanctioned acts of thievery include the activities of the ubiquitous pickpockets that can be found across the city as well as the well-planned jobs of professional burglars. As mentioned earlier, Boromar thieves focus their attention on visitors to Sham, thus avoiding friction with local law enforcement. When appropriate, stolen goods are transported out of the city by the fences and porters that drive the clan's smuggling operations.
The Boromars control gambling dens and nightclubs throughout Sham. The finer establishments are places for the Boromar Clan to wine, dine, bribe, and extort the city's powerful elite. At the other end of the spectrum, the run-down gambling halls and dreamlily dens in the poorer districts are places where those in the employ of the Boromars plan heists, store smuggled goods, hide bodies and wanted criminals, interrogate Daask spies, make good on threats, and unwind.
These places are public and expertly run by the city's most powerful criminals, so an openly violent approach to problem-solving in such a spot is likely to end in tragedy for the characters. When combat does occur in one of these nightclubs, it's usually because the instigators have brought enough strength of arms to take on the Boromars.
History
The Boromar Clan has survived hundreds of years on top of the criminal hierarchy of Sharn by assimilating or subordinating the competition.
Originally a family of immigrants from the Talenta Plains, the Boromar Clan has built up a network of extortion, blackmail, corruption, smuggling, and gambling halls that run from Lower Dura to the Skyway. The current Boromar patriarch is Saidan Boromar, a member of the Gold Concord of the Aurum.
During the Last War, the Boromar Clan joined the underground smuggling alliance of war profiteers known as the Black Highway.
Boromar's longstanding status at the head of Sham's criminal enterprises has recently come under challenge. After nearly a decade of slow growth, the Droaamish mob known as Daask has recently started targeting Boromar holdings. The halfling clan hasn't faced such a serious threat before, and it's scrambling to figure out how to deal with Daask's guerrilla tactics.
One need not be tall to stand atop the highest tower.
Type
Illicit, Syndicate
Leader
Location
Controlled Territories
Notable Members
Related Species
