The Order of the Red Skulls

The Order of the Red Skulls (ORS) is a crime syndicate based in Haasperosia and operates in the Azerath Nations. The ORS is involved in many criminal acts, however, they are most known for operating gambling houses and brothels and also dealing with protection of clients named "skulls".

Although the ORS is deemed as an illegal organization in all member nations of the Azerath Nations, their power has strong handed important figures such as judges and police into turning a blind eye on their activities. Although they have this power, their organization is still run underground for they are actively hunted by law enforcement.

History
The Order of the Red Skulls was founded by Joesh Casiolana around the Second Dynasty Era in Haasperosia. At this time, this organization was nameless and was a completely secret organization that was taking advantage of the gambling craze in the nation at the time. Far from being powerful, this original organization was nearly shut down by rival organizations but Joesh purged his members and renamed the organization to The Red Skulls.

In the early years of The Red Skull's existence, membership was only granted to family members. This would stunt The Red Skull's growth, however, it was crucial in keeping the organization secret. When Joesh died and his son Alsin took over, Alsin decided to open membership to more than just family, however, he would be extremely secretive about it. Membership was only offered and it was offered to individuals who either already had ties to The Red Skulls or individuals who were confirmed to be loyal.

At the time, Haasperosia's criminal organizations, which numbered 4, controlled certain territory within Haasperosia. These criminal organizations controlled nearly every gambling house, brothel, bank and business within Haasperosia. One of these criminal organizations, named the Hilmagi, discovered The Red Skulls and decided to put a hit on Alsin before his organization became a competitor. Alsin discovered through his intelligence network that the leader of the Hilmagi put a hit on him, so he decided to assassinate the Hilmagi leader instead. Due to The Red Skull's secrecy in their membership, The Red Skull's members easily blended in to normal society, unlike the other criminal organization members who made it known who they were a member of. This secrecy paid off, as assassins easily infiltrated the Hilmagi leader's house by becoming gardeners, housekeepers, chefs, etc.. Each assassin within the household killed a member of the Hilmagi leader's family with the housekeeper assassinating the Hilmagi leader himself.

The assassination completely intimidated the leaders of the other criminal organizations and in a show of truce, they made The Red Skulls the replacement of the Hilmagi and gave the former Hilmagi territory and members to them. The other organizations hoped that a flood of Hilmagi members would be able to expose their secretive organization but Alsin purged the former Hilmagi members instead of accepting them.

The Red Skulls remained a major criminal organization in Haasperosia until the organizations started a war with each other. The war started when one of the organizations, named the Gelitials, assassinated The Red Skull Leader's son. The Red Skull leader, named Plemian Casiolana, killed the Gelitials' leaders son and bloodshed began between all of the organizations. Plemian called for peace at a meeting between the leaders and peace was settled, ending the war. At the conclusion of the war, Plemian decided to purge the other criminal organizations, becoming the sole criminal organization within Haasperosia. Plemian had been planning for the purge for years, as members of his organization had already infiltrated the other organizations years ago. After months of planning, Plemian ordered the assassination of every leader of the criminal organizations within Haasperosia, as well as the assassination of high ranking members or each organization. Within a day The Red Skulls became the sole and most powerful criminal organization in Haasperosia. Unlike his great great grandfather Alsin, Plemian decided to absorb the members of the organization into his organization, making The Red Skulls membership open for the first time in their history.

A couple of years after Plemian died, his son, Plabian, threw The Red Skulls' power into Haasperosian politics and successfully took over the Haasperosian government. Around this time, Plabian began to infiltrate the Azerath Nations, with Vulharenjiard being their first target.

Within the Azerath Nations, criminal organizations already existed, although their existence was very secretive due to the Confederacy's strict laws. Plabian sent a family into Vulharenjiard to establish a foothold. The family, named the Franiens, decided to study the underground criminal market and took precautions not to become known to the authorities. Some members were able to infiltrate some of the bigger criminal organizations where they learned that the authorities keep illegal activities underground. This was a different experience than The Red Skulls faced back in Haasperosia, where the more well known you were the more powerful you were.

Throughout the years, the Franien family slowly took over the underground criminal market. This was easily achieved with support from the extremely powerful The Red Skulls back in Haasperosia. The Franien family established more families all over the Azerath Nations, where they took over the local criminal organizations respectfully. After this, the Azerath Nations families were absorbed into The Red Skulls and the name was changed to The Order of the Red Skulls.

Since infiltrating the Azerath Nations, The Order of the Red Skulls have slowly gained significance while remaining a largely underground organization. While previous criminal organizations struggled to survive with the authorities hunting them, The Order of the Red Skulls are known to bribe authorities and run their business with little intervention.

Organization
The Order of the Red Shield's organization is achieved through a ranking structure. This ranking structure is very small and members only refer to the established ranking structure for higher ranking members.

The ORS ranking structure is as follows:

Boy- Young and new members of the ORS. Boys often assume the role as thieves.

Lack- Considered the same rank as Boy but these members are older than 16.

Trimmie- A medium level member, Trimmies are often shop keepers in the underground market.

Muscle- Muscles are members who specialize in the protection aspect of the ORS. Higher ranking muscles often serve as body guards for the higher ranks.

Lieutenant- The highest ranking members under the Father. Lieutenants often run businesses.

Father- The leader of the ORS.

Controversies
Although The Order of the Red Skulls are an illegal underground criminal organization within the Azerath Nations, there are more controversies surrounding them than just their illegal acts.

Controversy arose after it was confirmed that the authorities had dragged their feet on taking down The Order of the Red Skulls due to bribery. Although bribery was a factor in this controversy, another part of the controversy was how taxpayer money was being wasted on authorities refusing to do their jobs. Due to this controversy, The Order of the Red Skulls was under much scrutiny and they were forced to go back underground. Once this controversy blew over, things resumed back to normal.

A major controversy is The Order of the Red Skull's "protections". To many, although illegal organizations should be taken down, they were often restricted to black markets and "illegal business" such as brothels and casinos. The Order of the Red Skulls have a hand in these illegal acts but their influence has bled into legitimate businesses. To increase profits or scare away competitors, businesses will hire The Order of the Red Skulls to give them protection and take out competition.