The Naraka Syndicate

Art by Martin McKenna

There is crime all over the galaxy. This is especially true in the lawless reaches around the Eye of Terror, where Imperial authority can barely penetrate. But in the Gorgonis Sector, there is one name that shines above all the others when it comes to the criminal underworld - a name spoken in grim whispers late nights in seedy bars, with hushed reverence by every small-time ganger, and with a sense of begrudging awe by the authorities. That is the name of the Naraka Syndicate.

The Naraka Syndicate is a criminal operation spanning multiple planets and warp-lanes throughout the sector, with enforcers based on several worlds acting in a network to relay deals and information back and forth between each other. Though Syndicate-affiliated gangs trade in all sorts of contraband - drugs, protection rackets, and smuggled goods, to name a few - their most lucrative market is slaves. They supply captives to buyers on either side of the Eye of Terror, and to both unscrupulous Imperial Commanders and the Orrathi Orks. All slaves that pass through the Syndicate are branded with a purple claw mark above their collarbone. The fact that the Syndicate's "made men," those officers whose loyalties are pledged to Naraka, also bear a tattoo of the same mark in the same place is surely coincidental.

Art by mossacannibalis

Often, a Syndicate-affiliated gang on one planet will have never met their counterpart on another planet, and may have no knowledge of their operations whatsoever. They may only interact with other cells through go-betweens. Every member of the Syndicate, however, is fully aware that they ultimately answer to the head of the entire organization, Boss Naraka.

Boss Naraka - not their real name, which is difficult to pronounce by humans - is a true rarity: a lone Tyranid. No one knows how they were separated from their hive fleet. Some rumors state that they were rejected by their Hive Tyrant after being spawned with a deformed leg (and indeed, the Boss does have a bionic right middle leg). Others speculate something even more grim - that the Boss was exiled for being too depraved even for the Tyranids. Whatever the case may have been, the Boss has managed to build an empire of their own, bringing gangers, smugglers, slavers, and all sorts of lowlifes into the fold through threats, bribes, or force of arms.

Grotesquely bloated and fond of thick cigars, Boss Naraka rarely leaves their mansion on Mahaniraya Station, preferring to work through liasons or to bring their subordinates to their desk if negotiation must be made face to face. They are always accompanied by their personal bodyguards, Boaz and Jachin - a pair of burly Zoats in custom-fitted power armor. Far from being a distant overseer, the Boss is constantly kept up to date by their network of spies and information brokers reporting back on the goings-on in Syndicate cells. Every cell of the Syndicate has a few agents loyal only to the Boss embedded in it, their identities kept secret from all other members. These spies are tasked with relaying the news if any local boss is getting too big for their britches. Those who threaten the balance of power tend to find themselves on the receiving end of the Naraka Syndicate's favorite way to send a message - ejecting the offender through an airlock and into the vacuum of space.

If there is one thing that most affords the Syndicate its power, it is real estate. The Cambion Spur is one of the most stable regions in the Eye of Terror, affording relatively safe passage year-round - and the Syndicate controls a chokepoint along that very warp-lane. At the center of the Spur lies Mahaniraya Station, the headquarters of the Naraka Syndicate. For this reason, all trade in and out of the Cambion Spur is done under the auspices of the Syndicate - and they demand a hefty toll, or else.

Mahaniraya Station can best be described as an intentional space hulk, consisting of a jumble of disparate ships haphazardly welded together. At one point it was a humble research station abandoned since the Dark Age of Technology, but that time has long since passed; as the Syndicate's operations grew, they have "acquired" ships, civilian and Imperial alike, to bulk out their headquarters' living space.

This expansion was necessary, for the Station has evolved into a self-sufficient community. As a refuge from the law, it provides a natural safe haven for pirates and smugglers. With the Syndicate offering protection that the Imperium denied, it also became a destination for mutants and fugitives who needed a place to disappear to. Now, Mahaniraya Station resembles a hive city in space. Cramped tenements have been set up in bunks and cargo holds, and mazes of corridors have been repurposed as streets and alleyways. The only law in Mahaniraya Station is that of the Syndicate, and that is both a blessing and a curse. There are things that can be found here that would get someone arrested - or worse - in Imperial space, but at the same time, there is no protection from the whims of Syndicate enforcers, whose decisions are final, and often enforced with plenty of firepower.

There is only one group on Mahaniraya Station that can claim to contest the influence of the Naraka Syndicate. That is the Brotherhood of the Four Talons, a cult that worships Genestealers from the moons of Ymgarl. When the cult's base of operations was discovered in Imperial space, they fled to Mahaniraya Station to avoid persecution - bringing with them esoteric teachings of a four-armed, many-fanged savior that will birth a race of super-beings to bring forth a glorious new era. The leader of the cult, Kraid Manx, is himself a fourth-generation Genestealer hybrid (a fact discenable by the blue tint to his skin) and many of his associates share a common ancestry.

Since coming to Mahaniraya Station, the Brotherhood has established itself as a power among the sizeable population of mutants and refugees, many of whom found common ground with the cult over being scorned by the Imperium. In turn, the Brotherhood provided the people of Mahaniraya Station with food and housing, and made sure that the Syndicate enforcers shaking them down would disappear. Not all of the Brotherhood's supporters are true believers of their creed, but many feel they have their interests closer to heart than the Syndicate does.

The Naraka Syndicate still reigns supreme on Mahaniraya Station, and they easily have the resources to wipe the Brotherhood out if they so chose. However, to do so would be to throw the Station's slums into chaos, launching an open revolt that could topple the entire operation. For now, Boss Naraka is content to let their enforcers keep their interests at hand - but who knows how long that can last?