The Vriterbei

The Vriterbei are a criminal syndicate active across the Spinward Marches Sector. They are similar to the Mafia/Cosa Nostra organised crime gangs of Terra.

History & Background

While the Vriterbei claim^* an ancient pedigree dating back to the First Imperium. This may be completely apocryphal as the Spinward Marches Sector was virtually uninhabited during this period. The first verifiable record of their activity, however, is during the last days of the Ramshackle Second Imperium. As the Rule of Man collapsed and worlds became isolated from one another, new organisations and structures rose up to replace the crumbling edifices of government and commerce. The Vriterbei crime families thrived on failing worlds: they had the resources to maintain order and commerce in places abandoned by the legitimate authorities. At their height, from roughly –300 to 300, the Vriterbei had considerable influence on dozens of worlds across the Spinward Marches Sector.

In the late 300s, a concerted campaign against organised crime smashed the Vriterbei network, driving them back underground. Where once they ruled whole planets and controlled every aspect of interstellar commerce across whole subsectors, they were reduced in a matter of decades to a handful of bitter old men, lurking in dark rooms and muttering about the good old days when they were gangster kings. The Vriterbei survived as local crime syndicates on dozens of worlds; they might own a slum neighbourhood or a few front businesses but their power was only a tiny fraction of past glories.

In the last century (1000s, a series of charismatic and ambitious Vriterbei bosses have revitalised the old organisation. Once again, strange off-worlders have visited old Vriterbei haunts and given recognition symbols not seen in generations. The disparate cells of the old Vriterbei network are slowly being shaken back into life and criminals who never looked beyond the boundaries of their neighbourhood are now considering crime on an interstellar scale.

The strength of the Vriterbei is their cultural continuity. Analysts theorise that the Vriterbei combine the criminal ethos and familial loyalty of the Cosa Nostra with Vilani rigidity and tradition.

Activities

Anything and everything; prostitution, loan sharking, gambling, protection money, bribery, weapons smuggling and so on. The Vriterbei provide whatever a planet needs. They sell arms to warlords or slaves to bored nobles but they will also smuggle in food for starving peasants or invest in legitimate companies. The Vriterbei want stability above all else.

Reach

The Vriterbei once had reach across the whole of the Spinward Marches Sector; today, they are mostly concentrated in District 268 and the surrounding subsectors.

Membership

Restrictions

• Do not speak of the Vriterbei to outsiders.
• Give one–quarter of your earnings to the Vriterbei elders.
• Never recruit a new member without the permission of your elders.
• Anarchy is not our goal; do not rock the status quo.
• Always be available to serve when called on.

Requirements

• Respect the Vriterbei.
• Teach your children and those you recruit the Vriterbei ways.
• Be respectful to the poor, to women and children.

Benefits

• Vritberei members have a level of fear-based respect in Vriterbei neighbourhoods.
• Anyone killing a Vriterbei member without permission will be destroyed by the Vriterbei.

References and Contributors

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Gareth Hanrahan. Scoundrel (Mongoose Publishing, 2009), 35-36.