Headcanon Wednesday : Salarian Gangs, Pomps, and Code Verses
A prahyit (plural : to'prahyit), a Nazaht word meaning "brotherhood", is an association of unrelated males without a female who have come together to pursue a common goal ; nowadays, it is used to mean an exclusively salarian criminal organization, but there have been to'prahyit of many kinds throughout salarian history. Eclipse, which in organization resembles asari criminal syndicates and has many asari and salarian members, is not a prahyit ; nor is any criminal organization with salarians in it. Nowadays, to'prahyit are usually found exclusively in the Salarian Union and in places where there is a significant salarian majority (e.g. the Citadel, or Omega).
Organized crime in salarian societies typically began as an association of salarian males from different clans cooperating for their own best interests without compromising the overall safety of their respective clans. As they were quick to use family language to instill loyalty - to this day, one is recruited by an "Elder Brother" - any trans-clan association of males - including the first capitalist businesses - initially faced accusations of criminality.
The structure of salarian crime syndicates imitates the feudal hierarchy of salarian society : numerous to'prahyit, with varying degrees of influence and power and each with several branches, united in a very loose confederation that broadly leaves them autonomous. There is no direct competition, but territory is strictly delineated, but nor is there any cooperation except in the direst circumstances or if an agreement is struck. It's entirely possible for a clan to make exceptional use of another clan's territory to store or deliver drugs, in exchange of a "rent" proportional to the merchandise's worth.
As with human criminals, the bulk of recruits are young salarian men who, for whatever reason, are adrift in society, with no one to look after them. The Elder Brother is responsible for their behavior, and in return the "little brothers" give him all their love and loyalty.
Each Elder Brother is in charge of a "pond" (a patch of territory where they operate). Under their command are :
a head pepmonger, getting the supply of drugs to each point of sale ;
two factotums, dealing with the money (getting the money from the pepmongers ; accounting ; transporting the money to the clan's financial staff) ;
pepmongers dealing drugs at points of sale open all the time, in two teams of ten to fifteen little brothers working in half-a-day shifts. Less popular drugs are only sold from the evening to noon.
two to three "eggsitters" store drugs in bulk in apartments or shops ;
and the killers, ready to fight should a conflict with another clan arise. Only the Elder Brothers knows who they are and how to join them.
Wages strictly reflect what a prahyit values : economic growth. A pepmonger makes nearly twice as much money as a killer, because a pepmonger makes money every day for the prahyit while a killer sits around.
Each prahyit is led by a "pomp" with deputies in charge of acquisition, logistics and money laundering. The "ponds" are broadly equivalent to subsidiary firms. An Elder Brother is expected to show the same love and loyalty to the pomp as he receives from little brothers.
In to'prahyit, the pomp, sometimes called the "matron", assumes a feminine persona, thereby impersonating a dalatrass, sometimes excessively ; his is a parody (or perhaps even a pastiche) of salarian femininity. In the oldest criminal to'prahyit on Sur'Kesh and Mannovai, the roles of their respective pomps have solidified to the point that they have names and unique mannerisms, apparels and make-ups, which are taken up by every pomp.
Characteristics of pomps include :
various accessories to make the pomp appear taller : those include high-platform shoes and prosthetics over the horns, like crowns or diadems ;
ostentatious displays of wealth : a lot of jewels, very fine fabrics, etc ;
feminine apparel : hooded robes, sometimes solid masks or mask-like make-up ;
pantomimed signs of age : hunched-over posture, a cane, fake wrinkles around the eyes and mouth, etc.
Pomps do not change the pitch of their voice, though they do change the cadence and tend to speak even more curtly.
A unique characteristic of any salarian organization involved in something criminal, disreputable, or otherwise stealthy, is the use of code verses. Those are, in short, passwords or code phrases for a broad variety of situations ; but because salarians have an eidetic memory, they use myriads of code verses which they heard once and know by heart.
To give an example, if a salarian guarding a warehouse is approached by another salarian from the same prahyit, he is expected to select from hundreds of prompts at random and ask a question ; the approaching salarian can give an answer equivalent to "All clear", but he can also answer with something that translates as "I've been compromised, there are cops in the van behind me and they're aiming guns at you." The point is that no one who did not undergo "rote learning", i.e. someone who isn't a member, can tell which answers are innocuous, and which aren't.
The organization which makes the greatest use of code verses is, naturally enough, the Special Tasks Group. It is rumored that they have tomes of code verses, and that as you rise up in the hierarchy they bring out even more tomes. The sheer quantity of them means it would take weeks for a single compromised agent to divulge them, at which point the new editions will be out anyway.