Riverside Shadows
The Shadows are a criminal gang that controls much of the residential slums of Rauviz City.
Organization
Symbol: A black scarf, tied around the neck or around an upper arm.
The gang is organized into turfs (geographically-distinct chunks of the city, usually bounded by a larger road). Each turf's enforcers pay homage to a turf-boss, who usually gets that status by being the meanest/toughest goon. The boss generally has a small number (2-3) of lieutenants. Turf wars between bosses are not unknown--the way you rise in the organization is by taking from another boss. More underlings equals more status.
At the top of the gang are the two operational leaders (the Daymaster and Nightmaster, each responsible for half the day) and above them is the Shadowmaster. Books (the quartermaster/treasurer) rounds out the top 4.
Daymaster and Nightmaster
The current Daymaster is Arnold Blackhand, a 6'5", 350-lb human (although some would question that) man in his late 20s. Extremely ugly, mostly due to repeated bare-knuckle fights. Known for superior toughness and physical strength and for not taking no guff from nobody.
The current Nightmaster is Jennifer Anna Stone, a 5'2, 100-lb half-elf (sharp-ear) woman in her mid 30s. She would be beautiful...except for the livid scar that runs across the left side of her face. And her nearly-constant giggle, which is said to drive shivers of fear up the spine of the most fearless goon. She loves her knives. Much more intellectual than Arnold, but mostly in the service of causing pain.
Books
The treasurer of the Shadows is always called Books, whatever their old name was. The current Books is a pleasant, unassuming dwarven woman in her mid 60s. Not much is known about her past, other than that she abandoned her family and husband some time ago. Only money moves her--she is death on debtors who don't pay up.
Shadowmaster
The current Shadowmaster is somewhat of an enigma. A foppish human, native to Rauviz City, Jerold Day-lily never showed much competence in his privileged life. Then suddenly at age 25 he threw away his station in life (or did he?) and started rising through the ranks of the Shadows. He lived a charmed life, avoiding assassination attempts as if warned in advance...but with no display of cunning. He'd just...not be there. Or the knives would miss. Or the killers would turn on each other. And then their paymasters would be found dead in accidents. He ascended to the rank of Shadowmaster about 10 years ago (an eternity in a gang like this) and has generally stayed out of the day-to-day. But his favorites do well and those who oppose him...vanish.
Operations
The Shadows are primarily a protection racket. They "police" the slums, providing toughs to squash any demonstrations and demand that business pay them "so things don't burn down accidentally." They do light money-lending and facilitate a lot of smuggling, but don't necessarily handle the details themselves. They are known to have heavy ties with landholders and industrial magnates in their territory, and many of the thugs have daylight jobs with Spode or similar.
