Fool's Gold

"Note: This is player-created lore. Ping @😈TransTieflings👿 on the Discord if you have questions."Fool's Gold is a combination mercenary company and private investigating firm based in New Gork. It was founded shortly after the city itself by Isiah Zarakaas-Rivessi.

Port Authority Duties
Fool's Gold has a longstanding contract with the government of New Gork to handle the city's port authority duties. This primarily involves collecting a docking fee from any ships berthing there. The majority of the fee goes to the government to support dock maintenance and related expenses, while a portion remains with Fool's Gold. The organization's profits from this are offered as tribute to Davy Jones, a tradition begun by Isiah and continued to this day.

Rumor has it that those who try to circumvent the fee face terrible luck at sea, and some say it's Davy Jones himself taking his dues by force when they weren't offered willingly. Such tales have been reinforced by Isiah's insistence on offering tribute, and the harsh repercussions for any members attempting to stray from it.

Undercover Operations
Behind the scenes, Fool's Gold is a vigilante organization. Some call it a thieves' guild, but they handle much more than that. They primarily target other criminals, especially those whom the law can't reach, and put a good portion of their profits towards reimbursing their targets' victims and general improvement of the town. They operate on an "eye for an eye"-type philosophy: robbers are robbed; torturers, murderers, or severe abusers tend to vanish; etc.

Those members involved in handling docking fees have a secondary duty, unknown to the city government: any ships that fail to pay are secretly marked with a sign of Davy Jones as a signal to him that tribute was denied and he should claim it himself.

It's rumored the government turns a blind eye to the organization's criminality due to its founder's romantic involvement with the first Head of Defense. Others say it's because Fool's Gold only goes after folks worse than themselves rather than making their own trouble, some even going so far as calling them "state-sanctioned thieves." Although there have been a few investigations over the years, the organization keeps its records clean, and no proof of criminal activity has ever surfaced—and most ultimately agree that the city has far greater problems to focus on, simply by nature of its location on the continent.