The Jokers
After the safe has been emptied, after the mark has realized that the investment opportunity was fiction, after the settlement's treasury has been redirected to an account that never existed, a card appears. Sometimes pinned to a wall. Sometimes tucked into the empty vault. A Joker, drawn or painted or torn from a pre-Fall deck, left as both signature and insult. The calling card means the con is complete, and whoever finds it is already too late.
The Jokers are a decentralized network of con artists, forgers, scam operators, and thieves spread across the wasteland. There is no central leadership, no headquarters, no boss to find and threaten into cooperation. Reputation within the network is measured by the scale and audacity of successful jobs rather than by name or rank. True names are hidden. What matters is what you pulled off and how cleanly you did it.
Members identify each other through a system of graffiti symbols and hand signs that changes yearly. A yearly fee paid to contacts buys access to the updated codes. Those who do not pay find themselves cut off from the network and susceptible to accidents arranged by those who did. Money flows to an unknown central source, a fact that should concern anyone who thinks about it carefully.
The Jokers specialize in scams and confidence games: intricate stories designed to trick targets out of resources, often involving multiple operatives playing coordinated roles. Blackmail follows naturally from the information gathered during cons. Thievery and heists target items considered impossible to acquire. The network itself serves as backing, providing the connections, forged documents, and corroborating witnesses needed to make an elaborate lie hold together long enough to be profitable.
A legendary founder supposedly stole millions and used the proceeds to found a settlement somewhere in the wastes. Whether that story is true or simply the greatest con the Jokers ever pulled is a question no one can answer with certainty, which is exactly how they prefer it.
The Jokers are a decentralized network of con artists, forgers, scam operators, and thieves spread across the wasteland. There is no central leadership, no headquarters, no boss to find and threaten into cooperation. Reputation within the network is measured by the scale and audacity of successful jobs rather than by name or rank. True names are hidden. What matters is what you pulled off and how cleanly you did it.
Members identify each other through a system of graffiti symbols and hand signs that changes yearly. A yearly fee paid to contacts buys access to the updated codes. Those who do not pay find themselves cut off from the network and susceptible to accidents arranged by those who did. Money flows to an unknown central source, a fact that should concern anyone who thinks about it carefully.
The Jokers specialize in scams and confidence games: intricate stories designed to trick targets out of resources, often involving multiple operatives playing coordinated roles. Blackmail follows naturally from the information gathered during cons. Thievery and heists target items considered impossible to acquire. The network itself serves as backing, providing the connections, forged documents, and corroborating witnesses needed to make an elaborate lie hold together long enough to be profitable.
A legendary founder supposedly stole millions and used the proceeds to found a settlement somewhere in the wastes. Whether that story is true or simply the greatest con the Jokers ever pulled is a question no one can answer with certainty, which is exactly how they prefer it.
Structure
The Jokers operate as a decentralized network of con artists, forgers, businesspeople, and thieves. Leadership is measured by the success of legendary heists rather than by names or titles. Members pay a yearly fee to contacts who provide updated symbols, hand signs, and network access. Those who fail to pay face accidents and shunning. Money flows upward to an unknown central source, but no formal hierarchy beyond this payment structure has been identified.
Public Agenda
Profit through confidence games, scams, blackmail, thievery, and heists. The Jokers turn the wasteland's desperation into opportunity, extracting resources from those who cannot see the trick until the calling card appears.
History
The Jokers grew out of the Social and Mental Control pillar as a network of con artists who realized that the wasteland's desperation created an endless supply of marks. Their legendary founder supposedly stole millions and used the proceeds to found a settlement in the wastes, though whether this story is truth or the first and greatest con in the organization's history is a matter of debate.
Over time, the Jokers developed a signature: a tattered calling card left at the scene of every successful con, bearing the image of a Joker. The card serves as both humiliation of the victim and proof of the job. True names are hidden within the network. Reputations are built on stolen fortunes and impossible heists, measured not by who you are but by what you have taken.
Over time, the Jokers developed a signature: a tattered calling card left at the scene of every successful con, bearing the image of a Joker. The card serves as both humiliation of the victim and proof of the job. True names are hidden within the network. Reputations are built on stolen fortunes and impossible heists, measured not by who you are but by what you have taken.
Decentralized con artist network. The calling card means the con is already over and you are already too late.
