Murder Inc
No one admits to knowing much about Murder Inc. The name surfaces in whispers after a tyrant dies in his sleep, after an exploitative trade baron's caravan vanishes without a trace, after a settlement's worst problem simply stops being a problem and no one can explain why. Archivists who have tried to compile a coherent account find themselves working with fragments: a phrase overheard in a bar, a symbol scratched into a doorframe, a corpse with no wounds and no explanation. What follows is assembled from those fragments, and the gaps in the record are themselves informative.
Murder Inc is, by the accounts that can be verified, an assassin network operating in localized cells across the wasteland. Its stated purpose, according to the few recovered documents that appear authentic, is the betterment of civilization through any means necessary. Those means include murder, covert manipulation, espionage, and methods that most survivors would prefer not to think about too carefully. The organization targets individuals whose actions threaten the greater good: tyrants, creators of undead monstrosities, monopolists who strangle trade, slavers, and anyone whose power has become a danger to the settlements around them. The ends, in Murder Inc's calculus, always justify the means.
What makes the organization difficult to pin down is not simply its secrecy but the contradictions within it. Two philosophical camps appear to coexist under the same banner. The first holds that life is sacred, that protection of the living demands the willingness to stain one's own hands in blood so that others need not suffer. These are killers driven by conviction, targeting only those whose removal serves a larger purpose. The second camp views life with a colder eye. For them, the taking of life carries no more moral weight than lacing boots. It is simply a thing that happens, and they are simply the ones who make it happen. How these two perspectives coexist within a single organization is a question that the available evidence does not answer cleanly.
The organization operates through a cell structure designed to limit exposure. Each cell holds jurisdiction only over its own settlement, and members hide their affiliation behind ordinary lives. A farmer, a trader, a traveling healer: any of them could be carrying a second identity beneath the first. When cells from different regions interact, visitors defer to local authority. The result is an organization that functions less like a single body and more like a network of independent operations connected by shared purpose and a common code.
Three factions divide the work. The Adherents of Betrayal target those who corrupt trade and exploit workers. The Silenced Knell handles political figures and high-profile targets requiring subtlety. The Watch of the Bone Chapel monitors threats tied to the Mortis Amaranthine, hunting wayward Graverobbers and monstrosities that crawl from the space between life and death. Beneath these factions, individual families specialize further, each with their own methods, traditions, and initiation rites. The details of those rites are not the sort of thing that gets written down in places archivists tend to find.
What is clear is that Murder Inc has endured. Wars have fractured it. Hurricanes have scattered it. Internal betrayals have nearly destroyed it. And yet the whispers persist, the symbols keep appearing, and the problems keep solving themselves in ways that leave no fingerprints. Whether that persistence represents a force for good or simply a different kind of tyranny depends on which side of the blade an observer stands on. The organization does not appear to care which answer any given individual arrives at, so long as the conclusion is reached quietly.
The organization's methods outlive its formal structures, and nowhere is that clearer than in the Holy City of Vestige. There the old family traditions persist inside the Nuclear Family as a hidden network called Our Benevolent Neighbors, where the Mors, Killmaker, Darkmind, and DeForce lines carry the inherited craft of infiltration, memory work, and destabilization in service of keeping a sacred city stable. Whether the people of Vestige would call that Murder Inc is doubtful. The work, however, is unmistakable.
Murder Inc is, by the accounts that can be verified, an assassin network operating in localized cells across the wasteland. Its stated purpose, according to the few recovered documents that appear authentic, is the betterment of civilization through any means necessary. Those means include murder, covert manipulation, espionage, and methods that most survivors would prefer not to think about too carefully. The organization targets individuals whose actions threaten the greater good: tyrants, creators of undead monstrosities, monopolists who strangle trade, slavers, and anyone whose power has become a danger to the settlements around them. The ends, in Murder Inc's calculus, always justify the means.
What makes the organization difficult to pin down is not simply its secrecy but the contradictions within it. Two philosophical camps appear to coexist under the same banner. The first holds that life is sacred, that protection of the living demands the willingness to stain one's own hands in blood so that others need not suffer. These are killers driven by conviction, targeting only those whose removal serves a larger purpose. The second camp views life with a colder eye. For them, the taking of life carries no more moral weight than lacing boots. It is simply a thing that happens, and they are simply the ones who make it happen. How these two perspectives coexist within a single organization is a question that the available evidence does not answer cleanly.
The organization operates through a cell structure designed to limit exposure. Each cell holds jurisdiction only over its own settlement, and members hide their affiliation behind ordinary lives. A farmer, a trader, a traveling healer: any of them could be carrying a second identity beneath the first. When cells from different regions interact, visitors defer to local authority. The result is an organization that functions less like a single body and more like a network of independent operations connected by shared purpose and a common code.
Three factions divide the work. The Adherents of Betrayal target those who corrupt trade and exploit workers. The Silenced Knell handles political figures and high-profile targets requiring subtlety. The Watch of the Bone Chapel monitors threats tied to the Mortis Amaranthine, hunting wayward Graverobbers and monstrosities that crawl from the space between life and death. Beneath these factions, individual families specialize further, each with their own methods, traditions, and initiation rites. The details of those rites are not the sort of thing that gets written down in places archivists tend to find.
What is clear is that Murder Inc has endured. Wars have fractured it. Hurricanes have scattered it. Internal betrayals have nearly destroyed it. And yet the whispers persist, the symbols keep appearing, and the problems keep solving themselves in ways that leave no fingerprints. Whether that persistence represents a force for good or simply a different kind of tyranny depends on which side of the blade an observer stands on. The organization does not appear to care which answer any given individual arrives at, so long as the conclusion is reached quietly.
The organization's methods outlive its formal structures, and nowhere is that clearer than in the Holy City of Vestige. There the old family traditions persist inside the Nuclear Family as a hidden network called Our Benevolent Neighbors, where the Mors, Killmaker, Darkmind, and DeForce lines carry the inherited craft of infiltration, memory work, and destabilization in service of keeping a sacred city stable. Whether the people of Vestige would call that Murder Inc is doubtful. The work, however, is unmistakable.
Structure
Murder Inc organizes itself around a principle called the Rule of Three: no individual has more than three direct reports. When a unit grows, additional members slot into lower tiers rather than widening any single leader's span of control. The result is a narrow, deep hierarchy designed to limit information leakage. If a member is captured or compromised, they can only expose the three people above them and the three below. The damage stays contained.
Three factions divide the organization's work by specialty. The Adherents of Betrayal handle trade, shipping, and economic targets. The Silenced Knell operates against political figures and individuals who have accumulated dangerous power. The Watch of the Bone Chapel monitors threats tied to the Mortis Amaranthine. Beneath each faction, individual families operate as localized cells within or near a settlement. Multiple families from the same faction can coexist in a single town without necessarily knowing of each other's presence.
Local cells follow a six-tier hierarchy. At the top, a Cell Nexus oversees all operations within a settlement, making strategic decisions and choosing targets. Three Exarchs advise the Nexus, each responsible for one arm of the local cell. Below them, Sentinels bridge strategy and operations. Executors coordinate missions. Handlers lead field teams. Operatives form the foundation: skilled assassins who carry out the work. Some choose to remain Operatives for their entire careers, content with the blade and uninterested in the weight of command.
Above the local cells, Regional Overseers monitor up to three settlements. Above them, the Sin Dictate operates in councils of three, making decisions that affect entire regions of the wasteland. At the apex sits the Crowned Assembly, almost exclusively Full Dead, whose plans span generations. Few members ever interact with anyone above the Sentinel tier. Most never learn how far the hierarchy extends above them.
Three factions divide the organization's work by specialty. The Adherents of Betrayal handle trade, shipping, and economic targets. The Silenced Knell operates against political figures and individuals who have accumulated dangerous power. The Watch of the Bone Chapel monitors threats tied to the Mortis Amaranthine. Beneath each faction, individual families operate as localized cells within or near a settlement. Multiple families from the same faction can coexist in a single town without necessarily knowing of each other's presence.
Local cells follow a six-tier hierarchy. At the top, a Cell Nexus oversees all operations within a settlement, making strategic decisions and choosing targets. Three Exarchs advise the Nexus, each responsible for one arm of the local cell. Below them, Sentinels bridge strategy and operations. Executors coordinate missions. Handlers lead field teams. Operatives form the foundation: skilled assassins who carry out the work. Some choose to remain Operatives for their entire careers, content with the blade and uninterested in the weight of command.
Above the local cells, Regional Overseers monitor up to three settlements. Above them, the Sin Dictate operates in councils of three, making decisions that affect entire regions of the wasteland. At the apex sits the Crowned Assembly, almost exclusively Full Dead, whose plans span generations. Few members ever interact with anyone above the Sentinel tier. Most never learn how far the hierarchy extends above them.
Public Agenda
Murder Inc has no public agenda because Murder Inc, officially, does not exist. No representative has ever addressed a settlement council. No banner has been raised over a claimed territory. The organization operates entirely in shadow, and its goals are known only to its members.
Among those members, the mission is straightforward: the betterment of civilization through any means necessary. Tyrants are removed. Exploiters are eliminated. Threats to the greater good are handled quietly, permanently, and without attribution. The organization views murder and manipulation not as evils but as corrective tools in a world where death is temporary and suffering is not.
Among those members, the mission is straightforward: the betterment of civilization through any means necessary. Tyrants are removed. Exploiters are eliminated. Threats to the greater good are handled quietly, permanently, and without attribution. The organization views murder and manipulation not as evils but as corrective tools in a world where death is temporary and suffering is not.
History
The origins of Murder Inc lie beneath the waves. During the last decades of the Fall, Full Dead salvaged the sunken remains of New Orleans, repurposing two massive pre-Fall warships into a tethered city above the drowned streets. The Full Dead could work the submerged ruins without needing to breathe, though they moved poorly in the water. When third-generation Saltwise from the Nimitz settlement discovered them, a partnership formed. The Saltwise provided underwater labor and agility. The Full Dead offered raw resources, repair knowledge, pre-Fall maps, and navigation equipment. In exchange, the Saltwise pledged to answer when threats endangered the betterment of the wasteland. That pledge, offered freely by one generation, became a debt carried by many. "We owe the dead, lest we join them," the saying went, passed from the Nimitz to the Ford, the Carniva, and the MaPolo.
The Full Dead lived far longer than any Saltwise generation. What was once a promise became an obligation no living Saltwise had agreed to, repeated and renewed because the alternative was unthinkable.
About three generations ago, the Full Dead came to land for the first time. Merican families celebrating Hallowed Ween on the Rum Coast found hundreds of seaweed-covered bodies on the shore. The dead walked among the living and saw how the world had decayed. They decided they could not remain idle. Murder Inc became a formal organization. The Full Dead, cursed and blessed with what appeared to be immortality, chose to guide civilization through the blade. Then they went underground, left the daily operations of the Sunken Saints to others, and became a rumor.
An Inner Circle formed. Representatives reported upward to it. The Saltwise served as eyes and ears across the coastline. The Inner Circle recruited the Rat King, a figure of considerable influence in the peninsula that had once been Florida. Other powerful Full Dead joined. For a time, the structure held.
Then the Full Dead grew disillusioned and began to undermine each other. When the War of the Ironworks erupted over the enslavement of Irons and Unstable, Murder Inc fractured along the same fault lines. The Sunken Saints officially supported the rebellion. The Rat King declared for the Ironworks. A shadow war broke out among the organization's own assassins. The conflict also split the Saltwise alliance. Many generations had passed, and many Saltwise no longer wished to carry the old debt. The Full Dead released the unwilling from their obligation.
The shadow war ended in Gatorland, where local citizens lured the Rat King to their settlement and killed him. Within the Mortis Amaranthine, the first assassination inside the grave itself occurred. The Rat King was finished. But the victory was hollow. The Sunken Saints' resources were nearly completely depleted, and when a hurricane swept across the gulf shortly after, it destroyed much of what remained. Murder Inc appeared to be finished.
Years later, a call went out to former members. Those who returned to the Sunken Saints found a different organization. Operations had moved to locations accessible by all, not just those who could breathe beneath the waves. Saltwise had joined the inner ranks. Many Full Dead had retired from active involvement. The rebuilt organization was decentralized, empowering local cells to make their own decisions rather than waiting for distant authority. Three factions were created, each focused on a different domain of expertise. Families formed beneath each faction. The structure was leaner, harder to break, and harder to find.
The Full Dead lived far longer than any Saltwise generation. What was once a promise became an obligation no living Saltwise had agreed to, repeated and renewed because the alternative was unthinkable.
About three generations ago, the Full Dead came to land for the first time. Merican families celebrating Hallowed Ween on the Rum Coast found hundreds of seaweed-covered bodies on the shore. The dead walked among the living and saw how the world had decayed. They decided they could not remain idle. Murder Inc became a formal organization. The Full Dead, cursed and blessed with what appeared to be immortality, chose to guide civilization through the blade. Then they went underground, left the daily operations of the Sunken Saints to others, and became a rumor.
An Inner Circle formed. Representatives reported upward to it. The Saltwise served as eyes and ears across the coastline. The Inner Circle recruited the Rat King, a figure of considerable influence in the peninsula that had once been Florida. Other powerful Full Dead joined. For a time, the structure held.
Then the Full Dead grew disillusioned and began to undermine each other. When the War of the Ironworks erupted over the enslavement of Irons and Unstable, Murder Inc fractured along the same fault lines. The Sunken Saints officially supported the rebellion. The Rat King declared for the Ironworks. A shadow war broke out among the organization's own assassins. The conflict also split the Saltwise alliance. Many generations had passed, and many Saltwise no longer wished to carry the old debt. The Full Dead released the unwilling from their obligation.
The shadow war ended in Gatorland, where local citizens lured the Rat King to their settlement and killed him. Within the Mortis Amaranthine, the first assassination inside the grave itself occurred. The Rat King was finished. But the victory was hollow. The Sunken Saints' resources were nearly completely depleted, and when a hurricane swept across the gulf shortly after, it destroyed much of what remained. Murder Inc appeared to be finished.
Years later, a call went out to former members. Those who returned to the Sunken Saints found a different organization. Operations had moved to locations accessible by all, not just those who could breathe beneath the waves. Saltwise had joined the inner ranks. Many Full Dead had retired from active involvement. The rebuilt organization was decentralized, empowering local cells to make their own decisions rather than waiting for distant authority. Three factions were created, each focused on a different domain of expertise. Families formed beneath each faction. The structure was leaner, harder to break, and harder to find.
Tenets of Faith
The Credo of Murderers began as a set of hard rules among the founders and has since been simplified into five tenets. Violation follows a three-strike system, and the third strike is the last thing most members experience.
We Keep the Secret. Silent to member names, to actions taken for the cause, to the organization itself. Outsiders remain in the dark. Prospects must be brought fully into the fold within one year or not at all.
We Are Loyal. Betrayal of the cause or of fellow members is unforgivable. Those outside the organization enjoy no such protection.
We Are Final. When a decision is made, it is carried through. Hesitation erodes the fear that keeps the organization effective. There is a reason the name is feared.
We Are Efficient. Skills and tools are honed constantly. Sloppy work endangers everyone in the cell. A clean kill is a professional courtesy to every member whose safety depends on never being noticed.
We All Kill. Every member is expected to assist with the taking of life. Those unwilling to bloody their hands have no place in the organization.
Local cells interpret the credo according to their own circumstances. Some limit loyalty to their own family rather than extending it to all families. Others redefine efficiency or relax secrecy in their territory. But when visiting another cell's territory, members hold to that cell's rules without exception.
We Keep the Secret. Silent to member names, to actions taken for the cause, to the organization itself. Outsiders remain in the dark. Prospects must be brought fully into the fold within one year or not at all.
We Are Loyal. Betrayal of the cause or of fellow members is unforgivable. Those outside the organization enjoy no such protection.
We Are Final. When a decision is made, it is carried through. Hesitation erodes the fear that keeps the organization effective. There is a reason the name is feared.
We Are Efficient. Skills and tools are honed constantly. Sloppy work endangers everyone in the cell. A clean kill is a professional courtesy to every member whose safety depends on never being noticed.
We All Kill. Every member is expected to assist with the taking of life. Those unwilling to bloody their hands have no place in the organization.
Local cells interpret the credo according to their own circumstances. Some limit loyalty to their own family rather than extending it to all families. Others redefine efficiency or relax secrecy in their territory. But when visiting another cell's territory, members hold to that cell's rules without exception.
Sects
Murder Inc divides its operations among three factions, each specializing in a different domain of killing.
The Adherents of Betrayal focus on trade routes, shipping, and the movement of goods across the wasteland. Their targets are those who profit at society's expense: monopolists who strangle essential resources, employers who exploit workers, barons who grow fat while settlements starve. Members are recruited after demonstrating skills in shipping and trade, then trained in sabotage and assassination. They dress in either practical workman's clothes or high-society attire, depending on the cover required. Every member carries the faction symbol as a hidden tattoo, ring, or pendant, revealed only to fellow members for identification and access.
The Silenced Knell is the subtlest branch. Its targets are political figures, individuals who have accumulated dangerous power, and anyone whose death must leave no trace connecting it to the organization. The Knell works through infiltration, long-term cover identities, and staged accidents. Their operations take longer but produce cleaner results. When family heads convene, each wears a smooth, featureless metal mask and loose brown clothing that disguises their shape. Even among themselves, anonymity is the rule.
The Watch of the Bone Chapel monitors threats tied to the Mortis Amaranthine. Wayward Graverobbers, rogue Grave Attuned, Techno Savants who manipulate death for personal gain, and monstrosities capable of swallowing entire settlements all fall within the Watch's jurisdiction. Members dress in browns and blacks with accents of purple or red, and many incorporate bones or Graverobber-related items into their attire. Plague doctor masks are common. Their creed demands that leaders act in the interests of greater society, and that wayward leaders be reminded of the humility of mortality. The reminder is rarely gentle.
The Adherents of Betrayal focus on trade routes, shipping, and the movement of goods across the wasteland. Their targets are those who profit at society's expense: monopolists who strangle essential resources, employers who exploit workers, barons who grow fat while settlements starve. Members are recruited after demonstrating skills in shipping and trade, then trained in sabotage and assassination. They dress in either practical workman's clothes or high-society attire, depending on the cover required. Every member carries the faction symbol as a hidden tattoo, ring, or pendant, revealed only to fellow members for identification and access.
The Silenced Knell is the subtlest branch. Its targets are political figures, individuals who have accumulated dangerous power, and anyone whose death must leave no trace connecting it to the organization. The Knell works through infiltration, long-term cover identities, and staged accidents. Their operations take longer but produce cleaner results. When family heads convene, each wears a smooth, featureless metal mask and loose brown clothing that disguises their shape. Even among themselves, anonymity is the rule.
The Watch of the Bone Chapel monitors threats tied to the Mortis Amaranthine. Wayward Graverobbers, rogue Grave Attuned, Techno Savants who manipulate death for personal gain, and monstrosities capable of swallowing entire settlements all fall within the Watch's jurisdiction. Members dress in browns and blacks with accents of purple or red, and many incorporate bones or Graverobber-related items into their attire. Plague doctor masks are common. Their creed demands that leaders act in the interests of greater society, and that wayward leaders be reminded of the humility of mortality. The reminder is rarely gentle.
A secretive, cell-based assassin network that claims to better civilization through murder, operating in the shadows since the days of the Fall.
Region
Sunken Saints
