Sol Scythes
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Template:Non governmental OrganizationThe Sol Scythes are a group of well-funded pirates in the Sol System, arguably the most elite group of pirates in that system. They routinely subjugate smaller pirate groups into submission, to keep them out of the news headlines, and thus starve them into extinction. They are usually found in the asteroid belt seperating Mars from Jupiter, and any ship venturing into that area must be vigilant at all times. Heavy shielding or an escort is heavily reccomended when going into these regions.
History
The Scythes are an old faction, having formed in the Sol System at around 30767CE. They can be traced to even earlier than this, since when Humanity first turned their eyes to space, the Mexican Sinaloa Drug Cartel followed suit. Back then, their area of operation was the space between Earth and Luna, hassling the small freighters that were common sights going to Luna. But then, when Humanity started to spread out, the Drug Cartel had to as well, eventually setting up shop in a small station in the asteroid belt. Since they were no longer on Earth, their leaders thought they needed to rename themselves, and thus the Sol Scythes were born.
Circa 200000CE, they manage to stay in the headlines, as the most heavily traversed route in the asteroid belt is close to their asteroid base, which they since have augmented into a collection of hollowed out asteroids. Various ships they have captured can be seen docked to various mooring points around the structure.
Major Heists
Their biggest heist occurred in 178050CE, when the Scythes managed to commandeer a large freighter bound for the Rings and The Red Spot restaurant franchises. The route the freighter would take just happenned to be within the vicinity of the Scythes main base, and the captain of that freighter ignored warnings about the route they were to traverse, simply because he wanted to save time on his route. When the freighter dropped out of high subwarp on the edge of the asteroid belt to navigate it safely, immediately the Scythes sprang into action, and attacked when the freighter was in the middle of the asteroid belt. The freighter managed to destroy one of their ships with her defense turrets, but the Scythes managed to capture it with minimal losses. They also held the captain for a ransom of 1 million C-Units.
The freighter had all of its cargo seized by the pirates, and the ship itself was retrofitted into a large gunboat, which had since gained a reputation of one of the most feared pirate vessels in the asteroid belt, until it was destroyed in 178490CE. However, it survived long enough for the Scythes to copy it many times over, and they now have a fleet of 20 such ships.
Method of Attack
The Scythes tend to attack with a massive swarm of single-seat craft, and tend to use a maneuver they call a "Dyson", as if the ship they are attacking was the sun, and they were a dyson swarm. Directly ahead of their target would be one of their massive gunboats, ensuring that the target would not escape. The leader of this attack force would then hack into the targets communication system, and make a similar demand to the following:
"Surrender your ship. Now. This is the leader of the Sol Scythes, and your ship is now our property. You shall be held for ransom, and your ship will be modified to serve our interests. Should you attempt to escape, we shall destroy you. If you are a female, you will be indoctrinated into our ranks and used to grow our population."
They then either tow the stricken target to one of their makeshift shipyards, or if the target resists, it will be destroyed, and they will then plunder whatever cargo survived the destruction. Usually, if the ransom is paid for the captain of the ship, they will honor it. All women are indoctrinated into the Sol Scythes via brainwashing, and are basically treated well from a personal standpoint - they are well taken care of, and never beaten. However, this is still a nightmare for them, as they are solely used to grow the ranks of the Scythes. Newborns are immediately taken away, and they grow up to be vicious, cunning additions to the pirates, with no wholesome human traits at all. Only the instinct to steal and pillage. Females that are born from these highly illegal "encounters" are raised the same way; they are told that they are the key to the survival of the Scythes.
Splinters
There are 3 main splinter groups aside from the main group already covered. They all share the name "Sol Scythes", but are distinguished based on where they operate. The Ceres Splinter operates in the vicinity of Ceres, preying on freighters arriving at the dwarf planet. Fortunately, this is negligible to the economy on Ceres, but nevertheless is lucrative to the pirates. Many attempts were made to eradicate this splinter, but all have failed, because they are based on large ships they stole and not in one fixed location.
The Selene Splinter is the oldest splinter, but also the smallest, with only 960 members. This group stayed here when the other splinters moved off into the Solar System. They first preyed on cargo ships bound for Luna, but then they found out that cargo bound for Selene was much more valuable. Attempts were made to wipe out this splinter too, but they also failed, most likely because they have a well-concealed hideout on Luna they can lay low at until things calm down.
The Deimos Splinter treads a fine line between being engaged in piracy and helping out with security, since Deimos is the site of a major military base. This splinter is actually forced to patrol local space, since they have to put on the facade of being lawful citizens. On the inside, however, they mostly steal raw material bound for the Martis Shipyard Construction Network on Phobos, far enough from Deimos to keep their activities clandestine.
At any one time, there are several hundred smaller splinters, but the main Scythe groups view these as an embarassment since they routinely get snuffed out by the authorities. These smaller splinters are underfunded, lack experience, and most don't even have their own ships, instead relying on neutral bounty hunters.