{{:organizations:ss-card.png?nolink&600|}}
====== Details ======
  * **Type:** Criminal Organization
  * **Alignment:** Varies; Skews Neutral Evil
  * **Scope:** Worldwide, with Regional Chapters
  * **Symbol/Insignia:** A Red Lantern
  * **Primary Base:** [[kingdomofskolivek:eiselcross|Eiselcross]]
  * **Founding Date:** Unknown
  * **Current Leader:** Unknown - Leadership Decentralized

===== Overview =====
^|"The Scarlet Square isn’t an empire of knives or back-alley blood. It’s quieter than that—more elegant, like smoke curling through the rafters of a forgotten theater. They deal in things that vanish: ledgers, heirlooms, borders. A stolen painting here, a smuggled gemstone there—always something valuable, never something loud. No faces, only whispers. Their worship of the Scarlet Rogue is less religion, more superstition; a half-prayer murmured as a lock clicks open, a coin placed precisely beneath a floorboard. Cells drift like shadows across cities, never truly meeting, never truly gone. There's no throne, no crown—only red chalk marks on cellar doors and the unmistakable absence of what once was. They believe in timing, in luck, in never being seen. In the right circles, the name Scarlet Square isn’t spoken with fear, but with a kind of admiration—like a magician’s final flourish. A trick so perfect, it’s almost divine."^
^^Statement taken from Kitt "Cap" DeMarque, known smuggler, before vanishing from his cell in Fort Gillottin^
===== History =====
Initially a thieves guild that rapidly expanded into a sprawling criminal empire sometime after the rise of the Scarlet Rogue to godhood.  Little is known of its founding members or quick rise to power, if such knowledge even exists in the modern era.
===== Structure and Ranks =====
  * **Rank 1:** Lamplighter
  * **Rank 2:** ...
  * **Elite Rank:** ...

===== Goals and Methods =====
The Scarlet Square is a sprawling, decentralized criminal network specializing in the art of quiet acquisition. Eschewing bloodshed for subtlety, its members focus on smuggling, fencing, burglary, forgery, and the careful manipulation of markets and secrets. Each cell operates independently, bound more by shared purpose than rigid hierarchy. At the heart of their culture is a reverent nod to the Scarlet Rogue, god of thieves. The Square prizes discretion, ingenuity, and a reputation for leaving no trace.  Although not unknown, the Square eschew violence in favor of tactics like blackmail, bribery and mutual self-interest. 

===== Allies and Enemies =====
^Allies^
|The Scarlet Square can count many allies among the less scrupulous nobles, traders and merchants around the world who value profit above all else.  This support is either provided directly or, more commonly, via the willful ignorance or a strategic blind eye from local leaders and law enforcers.  Much of this leans on the mostly non-violent reputation of the guild, as many view their activities as a necessary evil or simply inevitable.  Should the guild get a reputation for taking on murder-for-hire jobs or other direct threats to the local population, much of their support may quickly vanish.|

^Enemies^
|The enemies of the Square include the typical law enforcement groups, agents or leaders who cannot be bought, blackmailed or threatened.  Rival criminal organizations can also compete for the same business or jobs.  However, the greatest threat probably comes from darker groups.  Agents of the Triad, assassins of Vinnin or Feng, Blood cults and similar groups can threaten the Square's business by riling up local agents or compelling good-aligned adventurers to start digging around where they shouldn't.  Thus the Square can find itself working against these groups not out of some sense of justice, but to make sure the gold keeps flowing.|


===== The Red Lanterns =====
The symbol of the organization and sometimes physical tool used to verify membership or access.  Can vary from a mundane lantern to a more magical variety, such as those used to access the sewer-side entrance in [[kingdomofskolivek:eiselcross|Eiselcross]] or to safely pass through mists into [[corsairslanding:themarketplace|The Marketplace]].

{{:organizations:redlantern.png?nolink&300|}}

===== Known Members =====
  * **The Lamplighter (Human / Assassin)** - Known Ranking Member / Enforcer from [[kingdomofskolivek:eiselcross|Eiselcross]]
  * **Shirley Starstrike (Human / Bard, Barbarian)** - Suspended Member, Operating out of [[thebarony:middleton|Middleton]]
  * **[[majornpcs:ladyzhao|Lady Zhao]] (Half-elf / Fighter, Rogue)** - Coin Lord, De-facto Ruler of [[corsairseas:corsairslanding|Corsair's Landing]]


===== Known Operations: =====
^^Location^^Leader / Contact^^Notes^
^^Eiselcross Square^|...^|Large Marketplace hidden somewhere under Eiselcross, well hidden and protected by a set of complex puzzles and traps^
^^[[corsairslanding:themarketplace|The Marketplace]]^|...^|Large Marketplace located in a section of the Astral Plane, accessed via magical doorways scattered through the Corsair Seas^
^^Wintershield Square^|Unknown^|The Square is known to have operations in Wintershield but no other details are known^