Fairhaven Cartel

Fairhaven Cartel is a criminal organization operating in Fairhaven.

Organization

The Cartel is an independent outfit, which pays regular tithes to the criminal guilds such as the Thieves Guild in exchange for autonomy over their territory. As long as the tithes are paid, and the guild edicts are respected, or at the very least acknowledged the guilds do not interfere in the internal matters of the cartel.

The organization has a complex structure a non-standard hierarchy, which is reminiscent of a secret society rather than a gang or criminal guild. The chief tenet of the cartel is denying that it actually exists, and pretending that the city is instead controlled by a number of rivaling crime outfits. This secretive structure was imposed by Smiling Sullivan who took over the organization by force, and decided to re-structure it to make it difficult for anyone to stage a similar coup.

The cartel is secretly ruled by a Sovereign who has a final say on all the maters relating to the cartel operations and who negotiates with the guilds. The identity of the Sovereign is kept a close secret, and known only to Smiling Sullivan's inner circle of associates. When dealing with outsiders, the Sovereign acts through intermediaries and liaisons.

To preserve the air of secrecy and obscure the true identity of the Sovereign the cartel is divided into three separate groups:

The Right Hand

"The Hand That Feeds". formerly controlled by Rando DeButt is gang which controls the dockside and parts of the market district. It's leader was chosen to be business friendly and popular with the people. Officially the gang is known as Rando's Crew or The Dockside Crew'.

The Left Hand

Controlled by Smiling Sullivan himself, is an outfit that controls parts of the merchant district. The group is positioned to be Rando's rivals, and second most powerful gang in the city. The group exists to allow Sullivan to hide in plain sight, and still have considerable amount of clout int the city without having to invoke his powers as Sovereign when not necessary. Being the middle ground, boring gang that exists between the "friendly" and "scary" alternatives ensures he gets least amount of oversight and interest both from the authorities, as well as from the criminal guilds.

The Knifie

Formerly controlled by the Cutthroat Jim this outfit was set up as the scary, brutal and unhinged Gateside Gang. It was utilized to do cartel's dirty work, as well as to make merchants and city officials more willing to work with Rando and Sullivan who, while criminals, were nowhere near as frightening or demanding as Jim and his thugs.

The Collapse

After Sullivan and Jim were assassinated by Two Knives Tim and Rando was imprisoned, no one in the city has enough clout to take on the mantle of the Sovereign. This is very much by design: a systemic flaw baked into the organization's structure by Sullivan that was supposed to discourage future coups. This gambit did not stop the attempting a power grab by one of his underlings, but it did stop him from taking over the city.

Without an acting Sovereign, the Cartel has no central leadership. It has been effectively broken into three individual rivaling gangs. As far as the general public, and low ranking gang members are concerned, not much as changed. The Guilds, however are renewing their interest in Fairhaven, and will seek to re-establish control over the territory if a new strong leader does not emerge there soon.