I'm mostly sticking with the SFC cartels rather than trying to port over the SFB cartels. Why? Because SFB has a lot more than eight cartels, and gives very little cultural diffrences between them. If I'm going to have to combine the SFB pirate map so that only eight cartels exist (which I've pretty much done) then why not just go ahead and use the cultures given in SFC for their background?
So that's what I've done. Read on though. You'll see I've tweaked them a bit to make them fit in more with SFB history.
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Orion Cartel
This group claims to be the original Orion pirate cartel. This claim may actually hold some merit since there are many Orion ex-Naval officers serving onboard Orion Cartel ships. The Orion government denies any connection to this cartel, claiming that the "Orion Pirates" are just a collection of thugs. This does not ring entirely true to some, as investigations that have found evidence of Orion properties being left alone while "enemies of the state" seem to have their cargo raided on a regular basis.
In truth the government and the cartel are very much in bed together. The Orions are a very prideful and elitist race who feels that most others are beneath them. When Orion agreed to join the nascent Federation of Planets, about half of its navy promptly mutinied and "disappeared". This was a move encouraged by the government who saw great use in a fleet of privateers that could pursue their interests in a clandestine manner. Orion greatly desires to one day dominate the Federation to the same extent that earth currently does, and makes use of the Orin cartel to pursue this goal in less than legal ways. Trade routes of rival planets can be targeted and rival leaders can be eliminated all while the government keeps its hands clean. The cartel, on the other hand, has largely grown to become the band of pirates it claims to be. However they are grateful for the economic and material assistance of the government. Pirate Lords grow rich with the opportunities fed to them and keep their crews in fine trim by making use of Orion naval officers that covertly rotate through their ships.
This cartel is very powerful and is in direct competition with the majority of the other cartels. The elitist Orion attitude makes it sometimes hard to recruit from races that they find beneath them, however the undercover Orion naval officers that are rotated through their ships on a regular basis keep their crews in fine fighting trim. The Orion ships have photons and phasers as their main weapons, but also employ disruptors, missiles, plasma, and cloaking devices.
The Orion Cartel is led by an enigmatic figure known only as "Pharaoh", and operates primarily in Federation space. They have secondary activities in Klingon and Romulan space.
Crimson Shadow (The House of Korgath)
This organization is as much a Klingon House as they are a pirate cartel. House Korgath was removed from the Klingon high council after starting brief war with the LDR, without permission of the emperor. This war drove the LDR further away from the Lyran Empire just before the Four Powers War, and just when it looked as if the LDR might have been ready to rejoin the Lryans. The Emperor and the council believed this attack was an immense blunder which harmed the strategic strength of the Empire.
Korgath still controls some strategic worlds in the empire and they have used these worlds as bases of operation for their raiding activities. Kol Korgath, the current ruler of the house, plans to take the high council by force as soon as he has the power to do so. Recently he tried to gather banners around him and make his move, as he had hoped that the failure of the Emperor and High Council to win the General War would have shown them to be weak. However many of his would-be banner men still blame his house for the loss of the LDR and question whether a whole Lyran Empire might have given the Coalition the slight extra advantage it needed to win. For now, Kol Korgoth continues his plotting.
The Cartel is unique in that they are a fusion between a cartel and a military force. The Crimson Shadow even employs Klingon warships from time to time. Their arsenal includes disruptors and missiles as primary weapons but also utilize photon torpedoes, phasers, hellbore cannon, and fusion beams.
The Crimson Shadow operates primarily in Klingon space with secondary activities in Hydran and Federation space.
The Camboro Cartel
This organization is like an anti-matter reactor ready to explode. The Camboro cartel is a collection of Kzinti and Lyran criminals that hate their former empires more than they hate each other. Their ranks are continually swelled by the members of losing faction during Kzinti and Lyran Byzantine power struggles. Human, Andorian, and Orion members of the cartel act as a buffer between the Kzinti and Lyran members. This Cartel hates everyone they meet, and they have no sympathy for anyone that they steal from. "Slash and burn" is the policy of the Camboro Pirates.
Whereas wealthy civilian captains might consider surrendering to most pirates, hoping for ransom to set them free, no such hopes exist when facing the Camboro. For this cartel prisoners exist only to be eaten. Most wise captains would rather self-destruct than surrender. As a result this cartel must always be on the move. Whenever the Camboro presence becomes established in an area, all trade in that area simply stops.
This Cartel likes to get up close and personal with their prey. They normally lead with waves of missiles before closing in with disruptors, ESGs, and photon torpedoes set on overload. They have many transporters on their ships as they love fighting hand to hand.
The Camboro cartel operates primarily in Kzinti space, with secondary activities in Lyran and Federation space.
Prime Industries
Prime Industries is run more like a business than a family or band of smugglers. The cartel is very organized and accepts only the most professional pirates into their organization. The core of Prime Industries is formed by disaffected officers who fought for the cause of Rolandus during the Romulan Civil War. The betrayal of Rolandus while under turce did little to restore their faith in the senate, and they preferred to “honorably” go rogue and take over the pirate forces within the Romulan Empire rather than make peace with the betrayers they blamed for the murder of Rolandus and the loss of the General war. Prime does not tolerate sloppy operations and will, if necessary, remove members that are not up to the high standards of Prime.
Prime ships tend to employ long ranged weapons, and they have traded with other cartels to receive weapons that generally would not be available to them. Prime is also considered to be the most technologically advanced cartel. Their ships generally use PPDs, photon torpedoes, plasma torpedoes, phases, and occasionally hellbore cannons.
Prime Industries operates primarily within the Romulan Empire with secondary activities in the Interstellar Concordium and Federation.
The Tiger Heart Cartel
The Tiger Heart Cartel is comprised mostly of Lyran outcasts. This is a very proud cartel and is pretty honorable as pirates go, since they know what it is like to be shunned by their own people. This cartel likes to operate in smaller packs, joining only when big trouble arises. This makes every section of the cartel independent and hard to eliminate as a whole, but at the expense of some overall power to the cartel itself.
The Tiger Heart Cartel is the only non-military organization to use fast patrol ships. These are stolen and replicated Lyran PFs modified to Tiger Heart needs. The Tiger Heart clan prefers small ships and does not utilize any ship larger than a CA. They prefer to use swarm tactics of several waves of drones in conjunction with ESGs and disruptors.
Tiger Heart operates primarily within Lyran space with secondary activities in Kzinti and Klingon space.
The Beast Raiders
The Beast Raider cartel is one of the stranger cartels. The rest of the cartels are uneasy with the Beast Raiders because they do not understand them; they cannot ascertain if the Beast Raiders are pirates or some sort of religious cult. They use money gathered from raids to buy equipment in order to enhance their psychic abilities. The strongest members of this cartel can then summon the help from mammoth space creatures. These creatures are used to advance some unknown agenda.
The Beast Raiders use many types of weapons in order to compliment the abilities of the space creatures they control.
The Beast Raiders operate primarily with the Hydran space with secondary activities in Lyran and Klingon space.
The Syndicate
It is know by many that the first contact between the Gorn and the Federation was not peaceful. Many Federation settlers of Cestus III were killed by the Gorn during a "misunderstanding". The Predominately Asian survivors of the massacre happened to be part of an ancient criminal organization called the Yukuza. They had joined the colonists as a way to travel to a new part of the galaxy which was remarkably free of piracy. When the attack occurred they saw their opportunity to grab vital supplies and ships from the destroyed colony. This allowed them to expand themselves into a full-fledged cartel sooner than they otherwise could have. They are viewed as upstarts by the Orion and Prime cartels, whose territories they have recently begun to expand into.
Life in the Syndicate is about honor (in pirate terms, a mixture of "face" and tradition) and obedience to the Overlord. These traits are rewarded and successful members live a very good life. Breaking tradition is a quick way to your grave.
The syndicate uses mostly Federation and Gorn technology, but has recently spread their operations to ISC space.
The syndicate operates primarily with Gorn space with secondary activities in the Interstellar Concordium and Federation.
The Wyldefire Compact
Alex Wyldefire is the greatest Buccaneer ever to sail the blackness of space. Originally a member of the Orion cartel, he struck out on his own and has single handedly carved out an empire from a single ship, the Happy Jack. Wyldefire and his crew raided for years in ISC space, always getting away in the nick of time with the goods and the glory. Wyldefire aided the Federation during the war of pacification, passing on vital information in exchange for whatever he needed. Since that time, he has joined with other flamboyant buccaneers to form the Wyldefire Compact, a loose group of pirates set on making a little money, acquiring a lot of glory, and helping the weak and poor whenever possible.
Anyone that has any sort of ship can enter the compact as long as they abide by the rules of Wyldefire. Many freighter hulls, including captured luxury liners, have been converted into makeshift pirate ships. While this rag tag group may not be the prettiest of the cartels, they are by fart the most flamboyant and brave.
The Wyldefire Compact operates primarily within the ISC, with secondary activities in Gorn and Romulan space.
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-Herr Burt
Topic: Economic War: Pirate Cartel Backgrounds (Read 3239 times)