Magpies

The Magpies is an organization of professional thieves based in Tana's empire that provides mutual support for the illegal endeavors of its members and their clients.

Goals

While the immediate assumption is that the Magpies is merely interested in profit at any cost (and that is a merit of the Magpies), they also wish to preserve the function and prosperity of civilization. It is well known that a thriving city is a profitable one, and an enemy of civilization is a foe of the Magpies. They largely consider themselves a necessary dark underbelly, willing to do the under-the-table deeds that the wealthy and powerful cannot commit with their own hands. The Magpies also understands that conflict breeds a healthy economy, and has occasionally kindled the flames of unrest to keep things tense and profitable. There is also virtue in a distracted administration being easy to manipulate.

Admittance

One do not join the Magpies, one is introduced to the Magpies. In order to join the guild, one must proove its worth to an existing member. The member will then introduce him to the Magpies and be held responsible for the new recruit.

Relationships

Perks

With the Magpies as your group’s patron, you gain the following perks.

Assignments. The Magpies doesn’t pay you directly, but it assigns you to particular tasks on behalf of its clients or the guild. Someone hires the Magpies to perform a task (such as a thievery), and the Magpies passes 85 percent of the fee on to your group.
Contraband. You have access to the Magpies' business in contraband, such as poisons or narcotics. You don’t receive a discount on these goods, but you can always find someplace to purchase them.
Fences. Members or associates of the Magpies are skilled at disposing of stolen goods, and you have access to this service as well. Fences are useful for selling not just illicit goods but also expensive items such as works of art and Magic items. When using the Magpies’ fences, the Magpies takes 20 percent of the sale price as a finder’s fee.
Safe Houses. The Magpies maintains safe houses or other secret hiding spots across a wide region. Your group knows how to locate these nondescript redoubts and can maintain a poor lifestyle in one for no cost. Revealing a safe house, whether purposefully or by accident, causes you to lose favor with the Magpies and may see you banned from using them.
Syndicate-Owned Businesses. The Magpies owns several businesses, primarily as fronts for laundering money. When you buy from one of these businesses, you get a 5 percent discount.

Quests

Your work as a syndicate member involves more than simple street swindles or pickpocketing. Someone with your skills cooperates with others for greater purposes that offer both dangerous risks and splendid rewards. The law of the land is your most persistent enemy, but other criminal syndicates challenge you as well—or become your targets.

History

The Magpies began with a bandit named Hiram Greyman. One night, after a battle with the city watch left his men dead and Hiram badly wounded, the bandit fled into a hedge maze. There, delirious from blood loss, he followed a magpie that led him through to safety. Since then, Greyman thought himself favored by the gods and used the magpie as his personal symbol. He rebuilt his gang and went on to establish the Syndicate, which over the centuries grew into the powerful shadow organization it is today.
After Greyman died, his name became a title that was passed on from one syndicate leader to the next. The current Greyman is Gallus Desideniis, who is infamous for his ability to escape the most meticulous assassination attempts.
The magpies’ presence is most felt in the largest and most prosperous cities of Tana's empire. All the smaller crime organisations bow to the syndicate. Freelancers receive one warning before their lives are shortened, and any group that tries to muscle into the magpies territory is treated without mercy.
The magpies headquarter in holypertuis is a palace, as they use the undercity for their trade, and have a hold of it since Akhator Baltazar death. The Magpies are very powerful and dominant and are feared and respected by most of the empire.