House Mystraleth, often known simply as The House, was an important high elven criminal organization in Oshmondu.

Mode of Operations

House Mystraleth was the largest and most long-lived criminal organization in Oshmondu. This success did not come by chance. Since its establishment after the collapse of the Elvish House Mystraleth, it followed a precise and well-planned doctrine, and its members adhered to strict rules.

The primary goal of the organization was to make money, and gain power and influence to leverage even more profits. Many Sun Children equated wealth with leverage, and believed that gaining a strong position or influence on a certain state could be worth more than short-term monetary gain. Mystraleth built its networks to last, and the primary reason it survived as long as it did was because the House paid close attention to its survival. On one hand, members were routinely indoctrinated with the principle "don't get caught", and Mystraleth usually operated in utmost secrecy. Proxies and misdirection were used to make sure that the House's most valuable assets, the Sun Children and their core network of people and resources, were never unveiled. In parallel, the House made sure never to cause enough trouble to attract the government's attention; as one Sun Child put it:

This was a a central part of higher-ranking Mystraleth doctrine. The House's criminal operations were never problematic enough to warrant government intervention. In part, this was achieved by cooperating with key officials and bribing them, but most of the time the House preferred to simply keep a low profile. It was ready to engage in large-scale slave trade while the law was not rigidly enforced, but was careful never to directly engage guard patrols. It even ran a whole country of its own, until state presence returned and the House ended its operations preemptively.

In the case that some government decided to take action against the House anyway, the task would not be easy. In the lower echelons, Mystraleth consisted largely of proxies and uninformed operatives; handlers, and their handlers' handlers, kept their identities secret. To make unveiling the network even more difficult, the majority of Mystraleth members were undercover part-time operatives, who led normal lives most of the time and didn't have any identifying marks or objects on them. Nevertheless, the organization's backbone had vast resources at its disposal, and Mystraleth was theoretically capable of defeating medium-power nations in open conflict. It had safehouses and fortified bases, either in remote or camouflaged settings, or in friendly territory. It had sizeable numbers of full-time agents, the Blades, who were veteran soldiers, professional assassins, or spellcasters, among others. Though it varied, the command rungs, including the Sun Children, usually resided full-time in Mystraleth hideouts and commanded their networks out of these bases.

Individually, Mystraleth operatives were carefully psychologically integrated into the operation, and experienced cadres carefully evaluated new recruits before allowing them to join the House proper. Among other things, even the lowest-level operatives were drilled to obey orders absolutely, without exception. This was especially important for the "never get caught"maxim; operatives needed to have the self-discipline never to fight someone if they weren't ordered to and, if worst came to worst, to abandon everything and flee when required. In some cases, the House also made use of pseudo-religious fanaticism, especially in its earlier years, when it relied on disillusioned, angry high elven ex-soldiers for the brunt of its force. Mystraleth ideology was strongly inspired by its Elvish roots: the sun was seen as a powerful force that would destroy whatever dared stand against it, and Mystraleth harnessed this power.

Structure

Mystraleth's real strength laid in its ability to forge near-untraceable network and work through proxies and minimally informed operatives to achieve its goals. Cadres more often that not relied on psychology and political acumen to manipulate their operatives, rather than training them well. As a result, the number of individuals included in the House proper was much smaller than Mystraleth's true sphere of control, and even the lower ranks of Mystraleth itself often consisted of little-informed, fanatical agents.

There were two greater distinctions of rank: the cadre, and the agents. There were also two types of agents: regular operatives, who usually had very little information and minimal training and simply executed the tasks set by their betters; and professional operatives, the Blades, who usually did not live undercover and served the House with their exceptional skills for assassination, combat, spycraft, scouting, scrying, trap-laying, and the like.

Ultimate command laid in the hands of the three Sun Children. These three high criminals kept their identities a close secret, rarely knew the identity of their two peers, and met even more rarely. They controlled the entirety of the House, setting its overall course, sanctioning major operations, and appointing their general staff, the Beams of Gold. Throughout most of Mystraleth's history, the three Sun Children each had a certain sphere of responsibilities, allowing the networks and resources under their command to overlap freely with the domains of the other two. Infighting between the three was virtually unheard of, granting the House unparalleled stability and leadership expertise.

Ranks

Historical Appearances

After the Elvish Wars, the high elven House Mystraleth found itself greatly reduced in power. Its leaders, who still controlled the largest coherent fighting force in the nascent Silur Kingdom, attempted to take control over the state - or at least to weaken their rival houses - by killing as many Silurite nobles and soldiers as possible in 3'922 b. OW. But they were defeated by the other houses, and the shattered remnants of the once-glorious house picked themselves up under three surviving leaders, who soon called themselves Sun Children, and formed an underground criminal organization. Very swiftly, the House became an expansive criminal network. Though its cadre, especially in the initial millennia, was primarily high elven, its lower rungs and proxies consisted of a plethora of races and cultures, and the House had feelers in most Oshmondian and Caverealm societies; most of all in the Silur Kingdom.

The White Flame, 1'315 - 1'298 b. OW^[4]

Under Sun Child Gaeya, Mystraleth took an interest in northeastern Oshmondu, where an amazing amalgamation of states and factions served as a perfect ground for Mystraleth's information network. In exchange for payment or future favors, Mystraleth could offer critical information, exotic materials and items, and Blade services. It was an open market. When the powerful wizard calling himself White Flame began amassing power in the region, Mystraleth decided to support him as much as it supported everyone else, profiting from the conflict.

Sons of Auril and the Nordic Kingdom, 331 - 265 b. OW^[2]

Mystraleth's proxies had already had some involvement in Litchy, including during the Glesher revolution and close relations with the sand elven Meliphates. In the post-Dragon War social climate of Cuprien, House operatives quickly noticed the widening cultural gap and discontent of the Nord population. Deciding to capitalize on this as much as possible and gain some influence in Cuprien, Mystraleth selected a tiny Nord cult, the Sons of Auril, and quickly grew its resources, ideology and membership. The Sons of Auril appealed to the Nords' desires for autonomy and spiritual guidance, and their powerful heritage. In less than a decade, revolutionary sentiment had grown so strong that the Nords rebelled and founded the Nordic Kingdom.

Of course, thanks to the Sons of Auril, Mystraleth had easy access to the Nords' religion. The House attempted to build a whole new church with an intricate, easily manipulated hierarchy that would allow it to control Nordic religion and government for decades to come. However, these efforts were not successful as Nords preferred to speak to the gods locally or even in their own houses, and priests did not find a ready audience. Mystraleth finally gave up the Sons in 265, when the Nordic King was getting suspicious of their continued presence, but it still had built a robust network of informants and even a kind of honour-bound levy system; if required, Mystraleth could raise a fifth of the Nordic population to fight for its side in a civil war.

The Twelve Lights and Thummanm Grove, 221 b. OW - 49 OW

Thummanm Grove was a Caverealm settlement located under the western Northern Ocean, in a limbo zone between the enemy Krukl and Seath. It was a loose amalgamation of homes of various races, including predominantly duergar and myconids. Several guilds and shady organizations operated in the area, taking advantage of the unorganized trade between caves in the zone, and the conflict all around it. In 221 b. OW, the strongest of these guilds were the Twelve Lights, a mostly drow-run trade and militia guild. Mystraleth wanted a stronger position in the area, especially because it wanted a part of the Seathyr-Krukl conflict opportunities, and the suddenly blossoming market in dwarven slaves in the area, due to the recent successful savage campaign against dwarven Bao-Mou. It took over the Twelve Lights, considerably engrossed its strength, and de facto took control of Thummanm Grove.

Running its own feudal food-for-protection state in Thummanm's surroundings, Mystraleth had a perfect base for business in the area. Its spies and handlers could use it as a safe haven, information on the Seathyr-Krukl conflict and both factions individually could easily be gathered, ambassadors, spies and Blades could use Thummanm as a final refuge before heading to Bao-Mou, and Thummanm became a trade hub between the surface, Krukl, Zann'Elth, Gezneth, and other places.

Initially, the business consisted mostly of buying dwarven slaves in Bao-Mou and reselling them in the Caverealm. Over time, trade within the Caverealm came to dominate. Then, when the Orc Wars started and Zann'Elth went to war on the Bonebreakers' side, Thummanm became an essential Mystraleth waypoint for agents heading into Zann'Elth or to the eastern surface. Trade in cheap human slaves also offered some profits.

Zann'Elth annexed the Thummanm area in 49 OW, and began soliciting regular taxes from all settlements, as well as dispatching law enforcement wherever necessary. Mystraleth swiftly disbanded the Twelve Lights and covered its traces, not wanting to risk a confrontation with Zannyr forces. Instead, smaller and better hidden outposts were used for the limited scouting and travel operations in the region.

Archaen Prostitution Slavery, 180 - 60 b. OW^[3]

The urban nobility in Archea had considerable freedom to do as they pleased in the rural areas, and compete amongst each other. There were a lot of political plots and shady mercantile deals, an environment in which Mystraleth agents and various criminal proxies or allied guilds thrived. Especially important was the slave market, which started to become very profitable after the Cuprien Duchy of Pan decided to inject sizeable sums into the market, in exchange for criminal organizations not setting foot in their territory. Mystraleth built up a strong network of bandit gangs, small urban criminal groups, ruthless captains and shipping guilds, and bribed nobility to run an extensive slave and prostitution trade. Gangs kidnapped slaves in the Archean hinterland, which were then shipped to wealthy buyers in Cuprien, Silur, smaller Archaen nations, Baovuldian ogre warlords, Caverealm states including drow Zelina and other citadels and duergar Krukl, and - by far the largest market - Archea itself.

The business grew less profitable at around 100 b. OW, when government authority strengthened and knightly orders, especially the Knights Vigil and Knights Welfare, started policing the countryside and arresting bandit gangs. Pan's money also stopped coming, because of conflict with the savages on Litchy. Mystraleth scaled down its involvement to make sure that if the Archean government decided to move against the slave traders, it would be safe. However, demand in Cuprien, Silur and Zelina continued to rise, and Mystraleth remained in the business for another four decades, until the Knights Vigil finally arrested the last of the treacherous nobles and put an end to the business.

Though the Archean slave business ended, Mystraleth of course still had several operations running in other corners of the world. While Archean elves especially had been the more expensive and profitable variety, ogre campaigns on Litchy and other savage fronts flooded the markets with humanoid slaves of all kinds. Mystraleth was the prime buyer of human slaves from the ogres in northern Litchy.^[3]