My apologies for the break I took from posting upon this blog! I was off on a mission alongside the Chargehammer offices sponsor, a rather powerful star of the City level threat. Now though, I feel a somewhat inexplicable urge to discuss the Five Fingers of the City today. Everyone knows of them, the biggest, strongest, most prominent syndicates. I've had a few encounters with them myself- Played cards with a Big Brother of the Middle, clashed with a Capo of the Thumb, went birdwatching with some members of the Index- That was last one was rather odd, actually. It was a group of about seven Proxies, and they all came to my office at once. I was very worried, as though I am quite prideful, seven Proxies would most certainly defeat me. But, as it turns out, they had simply received a prescript to find a Fixer, and to go birdwatching with them- The Chargehammer office just so happened to be the office they were closest to upon obtaining said prescript. It was actually a somewhat pleasant time! Though, finding the birds to watch was a bit of a difficult task. Though, that's a bit of a side story. What I meant for this post to be was me laying out my general thoughts on each of the fingers.
The Thumb is an organization that I hold a particular distaste towards. In my experience, their way of Hierarchy and enforcement of rules is there to give the impression of competence, more then anything. An organization built upon mutilating it's members for even the most minor of failures cannot be one that encourages growth, or for that matter strength, after all. I've seen powerful Syndicates completely purged by the Thumb because of a single off hand comments, Capo's brutalized because they could not take down a target that was clearly out of their league. Even the choice of weaponry they use shows this masked incompetence, as the higher ranking members typically opt to use expensive yet ineffective guns, and the Soldatos are trained in guns that cannot even fire, rather then something more effective, such as a sword. I cannot fathom a reason anyone would directly join, though I can understand working in a Syndicate under them.
The Index is perhaps the most terrifying of the Fingers, at least to me. They follow the often nonsensical Prescripts as if they were commandments from a God. The Proxies of the Index are rather scary foes, typically all having varying and unique weapons and fighting styles. I could understand someone with nothing to live for joining the Index, or someone who believes the Prescripts will be easy to follow.
The Middle is probably the best Finger to join, assuming your rather weak. While they do require permanent loyalty, they are the most welcoming of the Fingers, and depending on how kind the Big Brother you get to work under is, you'll even get nearly unlimited spending. It's practically a dream for the weaker denizens of the backstreets. But, I'd say it's potentially the worst- No, second worst, of the Syndicates to join as a stronger individual. Permanent loyalty is a rather large ask, and though they do put up a facade of loyalty and trust, that's only fully true for the lower ranked members. The Sponsors sister is a Greater Sister of the Middle, and he's told stories about how some of her fellow Greater siblings have been rather hostile, even if not openly.
The Ring is the Finger I have the least experience with, barring the Pinky. I've only encountered a few of them, and never had encounters with them long enough to get a real impression. But from the general knowledge of them, I would say that I can understand why some would join the Ring. The City does a great job at breaking people, after all, and some people are broken in ways that makes them enjoy causing harm to others.
The Pinky is, by nature, a very secretive group. As a matter of fact, I haven't met a single member of the Pinky in my life, though the offices Sponsor supposedly has. I have very little to say about them, other then the fact that joining them seems practically impossible.
