The Black Waves Smugglers
In every market and bazaar across Kelbonnar, you can guarantee that there will be at least one merchant who works for the Black Waves Smugglers, an enormous operation run by the Jinara family that runs illicit, illegal and tax-free goods between all of the geopolitical entities on the surface of Kelbonnar's Material Plane, including between all of the Empire of Turelion's provinces.
So endemic are their activities that the Imperial Inquisition view them as just as much of a threat as the much more flamboyant Kelrik Pirates, something which is regarded as a badge of honour by the Black Waves Smugglers themselves.
Structure
Despite their size and the scale of their operations, the Black Waves Smugglers are still run by the woman who founded them, an Elf by the name of Mirathem Jinara, who continues to direct their activities to this day. Where exactly Mirathem is based is a question that the Imperial Inquisition and the national authorities of almost every nation in Kelbonnar, have long wished to know the answer to. For centuries she has eluded capture, though on several occasions the Inquisition have come close to capturing her, or so they claim. Whilst no-one outside of the Black Waves Smugglers knows for sure, most people who give the matter thought believe that the evidence indicates that she, and therefore the headquarters of the entire organisation must be based somewhere in and around the heartland of the Empire of Turelion, with some even claiming that she has been based out of the administrative capital of Turelion Province, Scyath for several centuries now. None of the theories concering Jinara's whereabouts have been proven definitively, and past attempts to apprehend her have shown that she is not averse to changing the location of her headquarters at short notice.
In order to keep the enormous web of smugglers, safe-houses, informants and operatives in check, it is known that Mirathem Jinara utilises her large extended family, including over twenty children that she has given birth to and reared herself as lower ranking officers, who relay orders, keep an eye on local operations and lead smuggling activities.
It is believed to be possible for those outside of Mirathem’s family to climb the ladder of influence within the Black Waves Smugglers, but the only ways people are recorded as doing so is either by marrying a member of the Jinara family, or proving oneself to be incredibly talented in the art of smuggling and unquestionably loyal – no mean feat considering Mirathem Jinara’s notoriously high standards.
Culture
The leader of the Black Waves Smugglers has created a strange culture for the organisation that both richly rewards those who work successfully in it, and heavily punishes those that threaten its operations. One thing that attracts people to join the smuggler’s ranks is that only twenty percent of the profits of every job go back to Mirathem Jinara and her family, with all the rest being shared out equally amongst the crew who did the dirty work. This means that every member of the Black Waves Smugglers is able to earn far more money than almost all of them would be able to gain through honest work.
However, the flip side of this is that punishments, even for minor insurrections are incredibly harsh. It is unknown how many men and women Mirathem Jinara has condemned to death, or killed by her own hand, but the number is estimate to be in the thousands. Trying to relay information to the authorities, especially the Imperial Inquisition is seen as the most heinous thing any member of the Black Waves Smugglers could do, and the punishment for this is not a quick death, but a slow, agonising period of endless torture, sometimes years in length, often carried out by Mirathem or her family themselves.
Public Agenda
It is common knowledge that the activities that the Black Waves Smugglers undertake are ruled as being illegal by the Imperial authorities, but the smugglers themselves portray themselves in the words of Mirathem Jinara as providing a free market for goods for all inhabitants of Kelbonnar.
Assets
The Black Waves Smugglers are known to have an enormous amount of ships at their disposal, but the exact number is unknown as so many of them are refitted and renamed at regular intervals to help stop them from being detected or traced by the Imperial authorities. In order to do this, they maintain a number of private shipyards across Kelbonnar, many of which are in secret remote locations to keep them hidden. They also maintain safe-houses all across Kelbonnar’s towns and cities, which are used to hide goods, crews and other valuables.
Though most of their operations are maritime based, they do maintain some draft animals and a rolling stock of wagons to facilitate land based activities and they have several Firewings in their possession, which are periodically used for smuggling operations of a particularly high importance.
Military
Whilst it doesn’t maintain a formalised or structured military or paramilitary of any sort, all members of the Black Waves Smugglers, by the very nature of their profession have to be prepared and able to handle themselves in a fight. Whilst the standard, encouraged tactic of any smuggling vessel that finds itself in hot water is to try to flee first, in order to not put their cargo at risk, any sailor or marine in the Imperial Navy who has managed to hunt down a Black Waves Smuggling vessel will tell you that they fight like demons, spurred on, so it is thought by their fear of having to present their failure to Mirathem Jinara, which most of the time quells their fear of death or capture.
Fortunately, as most of the ships the Black Waves Smugglers use are small, light craft, classified by the Imperial Navy as Small Class Ships, they tend to be able to outrun most vessels that come after them, unless they are especially loaded down with cargo.
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