Salamander Cartel (FT)

The Salamander Cartel, often referred to as the Cartel, is a large international crime syndicate in the Human Sphere. Boasting considerable power and wealth in the underworld, the cartel's main source of income is drug production and smuggling, creating a high market share of designer drugs and having a near-monopoly on the galactic market for the drugs Boost and Green Salt. Besides drugs, the cartel is also involved with smuggling, black marketing, mercenary work, protection rackets, piracy, and people trafficking. It is estimated that a full 65% of non-humans trafficked into the Human Sphere were brought in by the Salamander Cartel.

The Salamander Cartel originated as the Horiuchi Force, one of many Imperial Holdouts that emerged following the fall of the Old Empire. The namesake and original leader of the Horiuchi Force was self-proclaimed Governor Horiuchi Ken, who was originally an officer in the Imperial Security Department, the secret police of the Old Empire. Over time, Horiuchi was able to gather a small army of military personnel and warships in his holdout faction, and was able to take control of some minor territories across the former Imperial Space.

Horiuchi initially refused to take sides in the growing rivalry between the New Greater Empire and Imperial Frontier factions of the Imperial Holdouts, and decided to carry out an irregular campaign against the Federation by himself. In order to fund his war against the Federation, Horiuchi began carrying out deals with the criminal underworld. Horiuchi eventually partnered with a high-profile drug producer and established a major drug production operation for the highly addictive, extremely potent and almost undetectable synthetic narcotic, Green Salt. Extending a strict military-style hierarchy and logistics system to the criminals that began to work for his faction, the Horiuchi Force became one of the largest and most successful drug cartels in the Human Sphere.

Eventually, Horiuchi aligned himself with the New Greater Empire when it became the dominant Imperial Holdout faction. In exchange for his military assistance and the use of his substantial contacts for information and sabotage operations, the New Greater Empire closed an eye to Horiuchi's extra-legal operations, and the Horiuchi Force was a small but at times important part of the War of Imperial Restoration. However, numerous Imperial leaders considered the Horiuchi Force an unnecessary liability and little more than a criminal organisation, which it truly was.

After the war, the fully-restored Empire offered a full pardon to Horiuchi and a proper governorship if he would dismantle his operation. However, the drug empire had become too profitable and too large to be stopped, and the corruption in all levels of Horiuchi's military forces meant that the bulk of them were loyal to Horiuchi rather than the Empire. After narrowly surviving a high-profile raid by a rival crime gang, Horiuchi accepted the Empire's demands and became governor of Chojima Province on Matsutani. Horiuchi then allegedly began assisting the Empire with dismantling his organisation, causing him to be targeted for assassination by various criminal groups.

However, it soon emerged that the true scope of Horiuchi's schemes had been far wider than anticipated. In reality, Horiuchi had been redirecting Imperial efforts against his rivals while secretly maintaining control of his own syndicate, using his position as a Provincial Governor to enable drug production facilities and agriculture within Chojima Province. By this time, Horiuchi's syndicate became known as the Salamander Cartel. However, the Tokkeitai soon caught wind of Horiuchi's scheme and attempted to arrest him with an assault against his Governor's Headquarters, which accidentally resulted in his death. Shortly after, the Tokkeitai and Imperial Military cracked down on the Salamander Cartel, forcing many of his lieutenants to go underground and causing the organisation to briefly fragment. This was only temporary, however, and eventually the organisation regrouped under kingpin and former officer under Horiuchi Gus Koyama.

Due to its origins as an Imperial military organisation, the Salamander Cartel is often rumoured to have some form of informal relationship with the Imperial government and many high-level Imperial megacorporations, who allegedly contract the cartel for extra-judicial assassinations and sabotage work. Within the underworld, the cartel faces intense competition from other organised crime factions like the Imperial Yakuza clans or the Federation's triads and mafias.