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The Whole Beer Syndicate

"More Beer"

An Association created by Ray Turney
Web Adaptation by Nick Eden

Note! This is a fan contribution. The information may be contradicted by official material.

A couple of years back, in Elz Ast, the town council raised the tax on beer and wine in order to cover a special levy to pay for rebuilding the army after the disaster in Sartar. This tax was already very high, since it was being used to pay stipends to a wide assortment of Imperial and First Blessed favorites. In addition, the Seeburn Association, charged with collecting the taxes, added a cut of their own.

A group of Sedenyic Philosophy students at the University had enough money for the first keg, but not enough for the second; they were planning a party. The party went on as scheduled, and the students got drunk enough to think of doing something reckless, but not so drunk they couldn’t do something reckless. They discussed the rise in the beer tax, and concluded that raising the beer tax put an intolerable burden on the poor, beer being the only intoxicant the poor could afford. They got up a petition, asking the Satrap of First Blessed to repeal the tax increase and take the tax farm away from the Seeburn Association. They broke into the Seeburn Association Building in Elz Ast, which had beer waiting for tax stamps, and stole several kegs (which they gave to their friends); and left a copy of the petition inside. They also nailed a copy to the door of the Judex’s tribunal.

When they woke up the next day, it was too late to reverse what they had done. The Satrap issued a proclamation denouncing them as the “Free Beer Movement”, and sent the Spear Lords of Elz Ast into the University quarter to arrest them. The students, plus some laborers and gang toughs not too happy about the increased beer tax, fought back. A substantial riot ensued.

The Spear Lords fought through to the University, but the students who signed the original petition mostly disappeared. How many disappeared into hiding, and how many into reeducation camps, is currently unknown.

One of their number, Gavius the Brewer, decided to oppose the tax in the most direct manner possible, by making untaxed beer. He needed a distributor for his beer, which distributor had to be familiar with conducting commercial activity outside the law. This in turn led him to the Blue Dragons; who are responsible for taking an idealistic anti-tax movement and turning it in a more criminal direction.

Common Names

Free Beer guys, Whole Beer Syndicate

Form:

Bootlegging syndicate

Typical Homeland:

Lunar Heartlands

Ideology:

Originally, “Down with the Beer Tax”
Now “Paying the beer tax is for suckers”

Look and Feel:

Originally an alliance of idealistic and beer drinking students, who didn’t like the beer tax. Now, underground brewers and smugglers, whose product is distributed by the Blue Dragons

Purpose:

First:	To survive in the face of official repression
Second:	To agitate for, and lead direct action in favor of, reduction of the beer tax – this was a major goal originally, but now, most of the members are probably actually in favor of forcing the competition to pay the tax.
Third:	To arrange a steady supply of high quality, untaxed, beer and profit thereby.

Headquarters:

This group is decentralized, and is organized into separate cells. It is thought to have a number of clandestine breweries around the White Sea. These breweries, outside the located outside the Empire produce beer without a permit, and thus without paying the tax. The production from the breweries {some of which is quite good}, is then smuggling into the Empire on Blue Dragon ships

Reactions:

Most people pay no attention to the group, its origins, or its political platform. They do, however, happily drink its beer.

Legitimate brewers, who pay the tax, and follow the regulations, which leads to their beer costing more and tasting worse, strongly disapprove of the group. They think it is a scandal that the illicit beer is still produced and imported into the Empire.

Tax collectors are looking for a way to get in on the action.

Official circles publicly deplore the group, on grounds that drinking illicit beer is often followed by smoking illegal hazia. On the other hand, the Whole Beer Syndicate recently won a contract to supply beer for the troops. Jar-Eel argued that no one had proven they had done anything illegal; and she didn’t want to explain to the troops on the Pentan front why they were stuck with inferior beer.

Resources

Leader:	Gavius the Brewer: Gavius might be called a founder of the group, since he was in the original group of rioters. For several years, he sold a brand of illegal beer, called “Catch Me if You Can”, that became famous up and down the Oslir river. The brand is still sold, but the taste is not what it once was, and it is no longer a leader in the illegal beer market. The reason for this has been much debated throughout the Empire, theories ranged from his having lost his master brewer to his having been knocked off by rivals in an underworld dispute. Gavius has not been heard from lately, but there are still warrants out for his arrest. When last seen, Gavius was of medium height, had dark hair, and a mischievous grin; and he had a serious interest in alchemy. In spite of his interest in alchemy, a lot of women fell for him, and there are still women who remember him fondly in Elz Ast.
Renowned Members:	Bevorius: is a rich merchant, and a prominent city councilor. His interests are privately held, and accounting is poor; at least in the view of the authorities who cannot determine what is going on. The exact extent of his business empire is unclear, but it is thought to run to several hundred thousand lunars. He recently used his influence to get a monopoly on the import of timber into Elz Ast, which he then sold to Crassus the Crass. In any event, he is the owner of Record for the Whole Beer Syndicate. Bevorius is a somewhat portly, perhaps even fat, man whose hair has a streak of gray, an expert administrator, who knows a lot about working the system. He has been known to imbibe some, now and then. Rabirius "the Rhetorician": is the lead advocate for the Whole Beer Syndicate., as well as for the Blue Dragons. He has represented the Whole Beer syndicate in a couple of cases. For more information on Rabirius, see the Blue Dragon description. Krobat the Brew master: A master brewer of outstanding talent, who aspired to marry the daughter of the merchant who owned the brewery where he worked. Having gone on a Hero Quest to improve his brewing skills, he thought he was indispensable. When the merchant grew indignant that a mere employee should aspire to marry his daughter, they had a fight, the merchant attacked him, and Krobat killed him. Krobat then fled. His whereabouts are currently unknown. He is responsible for the currently popular “Drink Me If You Dare” brand, which was once found to be magical by the use of magic detecting spells in Elz Ast. “Firuza the Forger”: A Carmanian woman who killed her husband and ended up on the wrong side of the law, she is a member of Irripi On-Tor under another name, and is an expert producer of false tax paperwork, which the Whole Beer Syndicate affixes to its beer. She is currently thought to be living in Elz Ast using an alias. She used to be very pretty, but it is thought that she has actually made herself less pretty to conceal her identity. “Clarius the Clerk”: is a middle ranking imperial bureaucrat who accepts Firuza’s paperwork at face value, and issues permits for resale of the Whole Beer Syndicate’s beer in the Empire. He lives in Elz Ast; owns a pair of horses and a carriage, which no one should be able to afford on his salary, and has a gambling habit which in theory he should be unable to afford. The thief takers have investigated him a couple of times, but have not been able to get enough on him to force him to sell out the Blue Dragons
Membership:	The exact number of members is unknown, but are thought to include a half dozen master brewers, a dozen apprentices, and some members of the Blue Dragon Association; plus Bevorius of course.
Other Contacts:	This group is known to have supporters in the Blue Dragons, in particular Avidius and Ursinicus, who used to run and are currently running, respectively, the Blue Dragon operation in Elz Ast. Many officials who deplore the group also drink its beer, sometimes at the same time. This is a strong inducement to official inaction, which is all that the group needs to thrive. Bevorius is a known associate of Crassus the Crass, the richest man in the Empire. Many soldiers drink its beer. To the extent that officers might be reluctant to risk angering the soldiers by depriving them of it, this gives the group some influence in the army.
Military Power:	The military power of this group is negligible, though some of the breweries outside the empire are thought to have guard forces. Inside the Empire, this group rarely needs muscle, and when it does it relies on the Blue Dragons.
Other Resources:	The group is thought to own several breweries, some of which are rumored to operate inside the Empire. It has a couple of warehouses in Elz Ast. It has a lawyer in Elz Ast, Koronius, and an account, Kalkila, in Elz Ast on retainer. Several officials are rumored o take bribes from this group, and it is thought to have somewhere between fifty thousand and one hundred thousand lunars in working capital.

Organization

Each brewery is an independent operation, or cell, though most know the master brewer Gavius and are visited by him. They separately ship their beer output to Elz Ast, where the necessary documents are procured and the beet enters legitimate channels. Bevorius coordinates and runs the operation as a whole, calling on his Blue Dragon allied for assistance as needed.

Each brewer is basically a dictatorship under the Master Brewer for the brewery, though some have Blue Dragon fingers in charge of security.

Membership Keyword

Membership Requirements:

There are three classes of member: Employee, Brewer, and Leadership. Employees are the people who work for the syndicate, brewers make the beer, and the people named above are the Leadership.

To become an employee, a character must:

a)	Know someone already in the organization
b)	Have a skill that makes him or her useful to the organization
c)	Be willing to live by the code of silence common to most organizations on the dodgy side of the law.

To become a brewer a character must:

a)	Meet the conditions required to become an employee
b)	Have a brewing skill of 20 or higher
c)	Have personally produced some beer which has been tasted by others and pronounced to be good enough for them to accept you as a master.
d)	Be willing to put up two thousand lunars to pay for a stake in the “Syndicate”.

To become a leader:

a)	Be personally known to the leadership as “stand-up guy”
b)	They have a skill the leadership needs.
c)	Be willing to run the risks of being known as leader of the “Syndicate”.

Once a member, you stay a member, pretty much whether you like it or not. On the other hand, members have been known to leave, and as long as they either don’t know incriminating information about the other members or clearly are not talking to the authorities, no action will probably be taken against them.

Skills taught:

Administration, Brewing, Street Wisdom

Typical Personality Traits:

Beer loving, Obedient, Secretive

Magic:

Members may worship any deity they choose, provided that they place the demands of the organization above those of their cult. A common choice is Rufelza, though Trickster, Lanbril and Oslira are also well represented.

Godin the Grandmaster (Guardian)

This group does not have a guardian spirit, in the usual sense of the word. One of its leaders, Krobat, did hero quest to make an alliance with a spirit from the Godtime that brews beer fit for gods. In fact, this beer has been drunk by gods. The spirit can be summoned, and will possess a brewer, whenever that brewer wants to make a magical beer that tastes so good; any amount you drink will still leave you wanting more.
The problem is that this spirit is part Trickster, and while possessing a brewer, it will do something with his body that will prove very embarrassing afterward. In fact, Krobat murdered his merchant employer while possessed by this spirit.

Method: Possession

Form: Visible as a possessing spirit when viewed with Spirit or Soul Sight. The character possessed looks normal to all other forms of sight.

Communication: The person calling on the spirit rapidly down three mugs of beer, laughs, laughs again, and dances widdershins around the brewery. After doing this, he invokes the spirit, summoning its aid in brewing. It possesses him. Possession is dominant, so Godin gets to do what he wants, but the summoning character is aware of what is being done with his body. When the beer is brewed, Godin will, within a couple of hours, drink some of it and will then leave the body of the possessed character. The beer the spirit brews will be magical in nature; drinkers will think it a beer fit for gods. The problem with this, of course, is that the spirit has poor impulse control, and no real concern for law, propriety, or how awkward the situation will be for the possessed person after Godin drinks some of the beer and yields possession.

Guardian Requirements: He can be summoned under the conditions described above

Functions: This spirit can be used to make magical beer as above, or he can be used to bless beer made by the brewing skill. When blessing ordinary, non magical beer, the character need not allow the spirit to possess him, and for rules purposes the blessing is treated as it were a blessing from a deity.

Latest revision: 17 April 2006, nme