Josephite Mafia
| The Josephite Mafia |
 |
| Active: 1768 - 1832 |
| Founder(s): Padraig O'Rourke Ostromir Carrion-Tuvyic |
| Type: Criminal Organization |
| Country: Holy Orenian Empire |
| Final Headquarters: Providence, Holy Orenian Empire |
| Final Boss: Dimitri Orlov |
The Josephite Mafia was a criminal organization that operated in Helena and Providence throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. It operated within the interests of the Josephite Party and was one of the primary reasons for the success and dominance of the party. The Mafia was founded by Padraig O'Rourke and Ostromir Carrion-Tuvyic two influence Kaedrini statesmen who wanted to expand their political influence throughout the rest of the Holy Orenian Empire. After the passing of Padraig O'Rourke and the absence of Ostromir Carrion, Dimitri Orlov, nephew to Padraig inherited the mafia and continued to operate it up until 1830 when he too disappeared.
Throughout its existence, the Josephite Mafia has been involved in a number of scandals including the kidnapping and assault Tanith Vursur and the Sons of Horen scandal which inevitably led to the start of the Tenth Nordling War
Contents
History
The Founding; (1768)
In 1764, Peter III, Holy Orenian Emperor announced the formation of two political parties that could compete for office in the House of Commons. The first was the Josephite Party which championed left-leaning policies with the second being the Everardine Party which championed right-leaning policies. Neither party immediately stood out as superior to the other but it still piqued interest in the Orenian populous. At the time, the Commonwealth of Kaedrin which sat on the eastern borders of the Orenian Empire consisted of several immigrants from Aeldin and they saw Orenian politics as a way to legitimize themselves as true Orenians. Particularly, two immigrants, Padraig O'Rourke and Ostromir Carrion began lobbying local political leaders. They each had acquired a manor and a parcel of land from the state and wanted to lower taxes on their estates. Originally, they lobbied to the Everardine Party of which many Kaedrini lords filled the ranks. However, the Everardines refused to parley with the fledgling Orenians, and instead, Padraig and Ostromir turned their attention to the Josephite Party.
Padraig's cousin, Jonah Stahl-Elendil was an up-and-coming stateman through the Josephites and he invited them to the 1st Josephite Convention at the Northern Geographical Society museum in Reza [1]. In preparation for the event, both Padraig and Ostromir rallied their supporters to attend the convention with them. When they arrived at the convention, the Josephite leaders were instantly impressed with their already established supporter base and quickly invited them into the party. It was here, the seeds of the Josephite Mafia were sown.
The Empire under Peter III, forbade individuals from holding private militias or house guards which left the noble populous of Oren relatively weak and open to physical influence. Padraig and Ostromir exploited this by sending their supporters, many of whom were militants and former Imperial State Army officers to intimidate their opposition. They found success with this strategy as soon as many more Imperials flocked to the Josephite Party. Though, these actions remained unannounced to the larger Imperial population and the upper brass of the Josephite Party save for Jonah who had a loose idea of what Padraig and Ostromir were up to.
Gang Warfare; (1780-1782)
The Josephite Mafia wasn't the only criminal element to rise up in the imperial capital of Helena. Several small criminal organizations tried their hand at controlling the Helena streets but the majority were swiftly shut down by the I.S.A. or the Mafia. There was an exception that rose to prominence in 1880, that being the Santiago Cartel. They were a drug-running gang of rouge Illatian immigrants that set up a Club on Basrid Street and quickly took over the local tailor scene to use as a front for their criminal activities. Their leader, Santiago of Nowhere, became instantly noticed by garrison patrols but they remained fruitless in shutting down his operations.
Padraig and Ostromir took note of this and saw this as an opportunity to expand their operations. They ordered Dimitri Orlov, one of the Mafia's lieutenants to raze his club. Dimitri took his opportunity during a session of court hosted by the Emperor and set fire to the establishment. It burned slowly as the building was made of terracotta but the passing by civilians refused to do anything about it for they knew the true nature of the club. Seeing the success of the razing, Padraig ordered Dimitri to continue to take offensive action against the cartel throughout the remaining year. During this time, Dimitri raided several cartel-owned businesses and executed several members.
Santiago began to panic and sought to make an accord with the Mafia. Ostromir invited him to the Orlov Manor on Sabari Street, the home of Dimitri and the epicenter of Mafia operations. When Santiago arrived with his lieutenants, Ostromir and Dimitri invited them in and sat them down at a long dark oak dining table in the basement. As soon as Santiago sat down, Ostromir ordered one of his darkspawn fixers to execute the to-be criminal leader. Santiago's skull was bashed against the table and his remains were eaten. His lieutenants were offered a choice by Dimitri to either join or die. They chose the former. This event cemented the Mafia's dominance over the Helena criminal scene and they remained unchallenged for nearly half a century.
The Battle of Sabari Street; (1785)
During the 80's, the Mafia began working on inserting themselves into the local politics of Helena. They quickly grabbed seats on the City Council through their alliance with the Falcone and d'Amato illatian clans. Unfortunately for the Mafia, their activities began picking up the attention of the Everardines. By this point, the Everardines had decreased in power after losing multiple elections in a row to the Josephite faction and they sought to regain power through the local government. 1884 marked another election term for the City Council and Mayoral Office and both the Josephites and the Everardines had an interest in participating. The Josephites handily won several seats on the City Council as well as the Mayoral Office through the immense amount of local supporters they collected through Mafia operations. This didn't sit right with the Everardines. Still reeling from their loss a year later, Adrian Helevets, the leader of the Everadines and nephew to the Emperor decided to attempt to push several radical bills by stripping nonhumans' rights to vote and hindering further immigration; an attempt to limit the Josephite support base. With this in mind, he planned to march with his followers up the predominantly immigrant neighborhood of Sabari Street as a show of force to subdue the inhabitants at the polls the next day.
Upon hearing of this march, now Home Secretary, Padraig O'Rourke jumped into action. Despite the outright refusal to halt the action and in some cases abetting by Everardine sympathizers within the Ministry of Justice and Imperial State Army Padraig knew something had to be done. After convening a quick counsel with his nephews, the then Mayor of Helena Dimitri Orlov and Deputy Mayor Gino Falcone as well as Head Clerk and House of Commons Representative Annabelle Kelemnour plans were set in motion to barricade the street. Hundreds of Adunian Miners were brought in from Kaedrin with soot still staining their faces, and hundreds of Illatians and Raev flocked from their shops to man the barricades along with many Imperial Elves.
They worked throughout the night erecting barricades and blocking the road. By dawn, as many as three thousand men, women, and children stood waiting behind overturned tables and chairs many clutching improvised clubs. At the fore was Padraig himself with a gnarled cigar between his thin lips as he paced along the makeshift battlements, waiting for the Everardines to show. And soon they did come escorted by the I.S.A. and the M.o.J. who bid them to clear the path. What followed was a brutal struggle as Everardine Nationalists fought Josephite Immigrants tooth and nail until finally, the sun waned behind the tall red brick buildings of Helena. The day had been won by the Josephite immigrants.
The Tanith Vursur Scandal; (1789)
One of the largest scandals that plagued the Josephite Mafia was the Tanith Vursur Scandal of 1789. In the autumn of 1789, Tanith Vurusr, a prominent dark elf in Orenian society sought out the help of Ostromir Carrion to regrow her elvish ears which were cut off by the Order of the White Rose centuries prior. In exchange, Ostromir asked that Tanith help find him a new imperial Mistress which she took as an insult. She stormed off to Helena's Dragon Roost Tavern and met with Edward Napier, another Josephite and Adunian immigrant to confer with him about the scandalous request. Padraig who was quickly alerted by Ostromir about the conversation quickly went to the tavern to intercept Tanith before she could fully expose Ostromir's immoral behavior. The Adunian Count bidded her to join him at the Orlov Manor for a "Matter of State interests" as later described by a public statement from the Ministry of Justice [2].
At the Manor, Tanith was met by Franz Nikolai de Sarkozy, the Josephite Vice-Chancellor of the Empire, Dimitri Orlov, the now Mayor of Helena, and Ostromir himself. Each of the men present took turns assaulting and kicking her until she fell unconscious. While she was unconscious Ostromir fed her a Memory Wiping Potion before having Dimitri deposit her in the middle of a wheat field outside the walls of Helena. An imperial patrol led by Sir Erik Othaman found her there hours later and took her to St. Amayas Clinic in Helena. The doctor present examined her bruises from the statesman and declared she had been beaten to an inch of her life. However, due to the potion, she remained clueless as to how the wounds were inflicted. That was until she conferred with Edward Napier who concluded it must have been Padraig and Ostromir who beat her and erased her memory.
In response, Tanith published an open letter to all of Orenia, alerting them of the illegal actions of Padraig and Ostromir [3]. Padraig and Ostromir denied it but the imperial populous remained undecided on who the believe. The Church along with the Northern Geographical Society became one of Tanith's primary supporters while the Josephite Mafia was quick to turn Kaedrini and Helenic opinion against Tanith. After a brief investigation by the Ministry of Justice, all of the accused were eventually acquitted but the damage to the reputation of the Josephites had been done. Their political opponents took quick advantage of the situation and began publishing propaganda to further defame the party [4].
The Sons of Horen Scandal; 1818
After the passing of Padraig and the disappearance of Ostromir, control over the Mafia was handed down to Dimitri. Unlike his predecessors, Dimitri was much more radical in the way he conducted his affairs. He began taking an aggressive expansionist policy that directly clashed with both the Imperial State Army and the Ministry of Justice. On multiple occasions, he and his henchman had maimed and tortured Ministry agents which earned him the ire of the imperial government. He was chased out of the capital and became one of Orenia's most wanted. While in exile in Halstaig, the home of his cousin and daughter of Padraig, Anastasia O'Rourke, he formed the Sons of Horen, a radical church militant group that became a splinter group of the main Josephite Mafia. Dimitri, now the leader of the Sons donned a new name and operated fully outside of Imperial's laws, sometimes even raiding the homesteads of imperial nobles he held a grudge with.
During this radical period, he expanded his operations to other nations and began raiding them without warning, operating more akin to a bandit organization. On the 6th of Sigismund's End, 1818, Dimitri announced in the middle of Providences square that he was going to raid the Kingdom of Norland, and any imperial was invited to partake. The locals dismissed him as an insane man so he took his men north, alone. Once he arrived in Norland he found it deserted, both in its capital, Varhelm and its vassal, the Duchy of Elysium. Disappointed, he took his force south to sack the Free State of Sutica. The Sons found success in Sutica but their victory was short-lived as Ferrymen reinforcements arrived and slaughtered the bulk of the invaders.
While Dimitri never truly attacked the Kingdom of Norland, the damage had been done. Norland had been searching for a caucus belli to use against Oren and Dimitri provided such. On the 13th of the First Seed, the Kingdom declared war, citing the Sons of Horen "raid" as a primary reason for it [5]. Dimitri nor the other members of the Sons of Horen ever tried to correct them.
