The Cloak

Neutral Evil Criminal Organization

The Cloak is the most powerful criminal organization in the Free Kingdoms, and is remarkably secretive for such a large and influential body. Most everyone knows about it, to be true, but very few can claim to have witnessed an agent of the Cloak or be privy to their schemes, and they are almost never caught by law-enforcement. If a careful eye is not kept on their dark dealings, the Cloak may prove to dominate the whole of the Free Kingdoms.

Structure

• Most of the Cloak is made of thieves, spies, cutthroats, and all manner of criminals.

• Whatever hierarchy the Cloak formerly had has mostly dissolved; leadership among low-ranking members is determined by their ability to bankroll various operations, and remove their rivals.

• At the same time, there might be some coalition that rules the Cloak from the shadows -- it is certainly a secretive enough organization to do so.

Public Agenda

• The Cloak craves influence over the politics of the Kingdoms. They infiltrate the governments of large cities, and manipulate them from within. But, if the conspiracy is uncovered, the Cloak is doomed. They value secrecy above all else.

• The Cloak’s preferred commodity is information, which they use to blackmail or manipulate their targets when more violent methods would fail.

Assets

• The Cloak recruits only the rogues who are the finest at their craft. They have an incredible degree of discretion.

• The Cloak is positively awash with coin, gained from selling services both legal and illegal. Scheming members of the upper-classes employ agents of the Cloak to ruin their rivals. This includes the Guildmasters of Ralindor.

• Through a combination of bribery, blackmail, and extortion, the Cloak has managed to infiltrate the aristocracy of many cities. Lord Nevermark of Narrowmouth is famously well-associated and loyal to the organization, although the Cloak does not wish to be famously anything...

• The Cloak maintains a reasonably strong presence in the Lands Below, making contact with the Night Elves of the Under-Empire.

History

The Cloak was founded a few decades ago by an extremely secretive sorcerer named Iradrus of the One-Dozen Shadows. Iradrus believed an arch-wizard's path to power could be won through politics and back-alley manipulations, rather than demon-summoning and tower-building, so he founded an organization of thieves and cutthroats in Ralindor that would come to be known as the Cloak. Iradrus was a master of shadow-magic, capable of creating simulacra, but not made of snow or clay -- his were composed of solidified energy taken from the Vale of Shadows, and were durable and immortal. He created dozens of them, so as to not cede any control of the Cloak to anyone else. Of course, the clones in lesser-positions felt entitled to higher-positions, being that they were very literally the first choice, and the clones of Iradrus fell into infighting, destabilizing the organization for awhile. The remaining thieves have since regrouped, concentrating their power in Narrowmouth, although the remain active all over the Free Kingdoms and even the Lands Below. The fate of Iradrus's clones is mostly unknown, although most seem to have been destroyed.

Founding Date

771

Type

Illicit, Syndicate

Alternative Names

The Guild, the Shadow Network

Location

Narrowmouth

Controlled Territories

• Narrowmouth