In -425, it is said, the heads of the seven most powerful criminal gangs in the city of
Westcrown came together in the aftermath of a particular brutal underworld war. They formed a council,
popularly known as the Council of Thieves, to arbitrate on future disputes between the gangs and encourage cooperation where it would be mutually advantageous. The next 50 years saw an unprecedented crime wave in the city until Rousos Calendil, Grand Master of the
Order of the Golden Chalice was seconded to be head of the
Dottari.
Within a year Rousos went before the Westcrown City Council and stated he had proof that a number of the noble families had ties to the criminal gangs, indeed noble families who had representatives of the
Westcrown Council itself. With the threat of exposure hanging over them the Council agreed to give Rousos extra resources and powers to roll up the gangs and bring peace to the city streets. A large number of executions were made in the next five years after which Rousos retired from his role and the streets were indeed safer at least for a time.
The official line is that the Council of Thieves was utterly destroyed in that period and that anyone saying otherwise is an ignorant
fantasist. Sceptics, however, quietly point out that not one scion of any noble family ever went to the scaffold and that as bad as those
historical times were surely Westcrown's problems today are worse. Meanwhile the same families still dominate the City Council.