Fantasy Core RPG
© Jerry Harris 2013
(This link will take you to the
Fantasy Core Index.)
The Brotherhood of the Immortals
Outside of the city, law and justice are scarce and
arbitrary commodities. Into this void
steps the Lulin, or rural bandit gang.
In Shang-tu, there is one gang who essentially rules the countryside in
the absence of a strong Imperial presence, the Brotherhood. They were once a collection of minor gangs
who terrorized the locals, before they were molded into a single organization
by “the Old Man,” Wong-Fei. He
turned the gangs into a “protection society,’ keeping the villages safe from
any outsider gangs, corrupt officials, allowing easy access to the black market
for goods, and even a form of civic insurance in times of natural disaster and
economic hardship, all for a fee.
The villagers under the Brotherhood’s protection pay dearly
for it, but it’s better than the alternative.
Villages not under their aegis are not molested by the Brotherhood, but
are wide-open to depredations and catastrophe, as Imperial resources (who would
love to discredit the Brotherhood) simply can’t cover them all
effectively.
The Brotherhood and the Imperial government are natural
enemies, but neither side can truly dominate the other outside the city. The Brotherhood maintains many secret
hideouts and hidden fortresses in villages and in the wilderness, which they
can disappear into after a successful tax heist or the murder of a corrupt
official. While the government can’t
flush them out or destroy their villages, the Brotherhood is no where near
strong enough to stand up to Imperial forces in a non-ambush situation and are
forced to flee from them always.
Strangely, the Brotherhood is not an ally of the Triads
either. The Brotherhood (under the Old
Man, at least) had no desire to start a rebellion. The Brotherhood actually has something of a symbiotic
relationship with the government and would hate to see it disturbed or the
current regime replaced by something more efficient. Further, they have NO love of urban Tong
gang and will be damned if they’ll ever serve them. It is rumored that this acrimony is personal
to Wong-Fei, but it may just be that they don’t want to share their territory
with them, being as they essentially work in the same manner. The White Lotus and the Brotherhood
trade information, but are hardly friendly with one another, as White Lotus is
seeking a revolt as well.
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