Silver Strand
SJC Narrator
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To flesh out an quasi rebel-criminal group that will be a central part of the upcoming Silver Jedi Concord story arc
- Image Credit: "Akatsukis Sticker Uzamaki" by Dan's Decals
- Canon: Allegedly descended from the Cloud-Riders
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: N/A
- Organization Name: Nimbus Alliance
- Classification: Government / Crime Organization
- Affiliation: None
- Organization Symbol: Officially, none. In actual common use, various cloud iconography (such as image shown above).
- Description: The Nimbus Alliance is a fractious group of clans who all claim to be descended from the original members of the Cloud-Riders. While the clans effectively control Orleon, they are more well known for their extensive business dealings in the so-called "gray", semi-legal market. Its common to hear of clan members smuggling weapons to rebel groups or moving items through areas where they are illegal, to finally deliver it in areas where its legality is simply not defined in the Outer Rim. While known for their honesty, they are also known for simply omitting details of a truth that are not to their benefits. Consequently, while their quasi-business dealings are almost legendary along the Perlemian and Triellus Trade Routes, it is also known that one has to be very careful about finding out exact details and implicit caveats if one chooses to do business with them. Such as misunderstanding of these terms is thought to be behind the start of the current conflict between the Nimbus Alliance and the Crymorah Syndicate.
- Headquarters: Orleon
- Domain: The Nimbus Alliance formally lays claim to Orleon and several nearby, sparsely habited systems. Various clans within the Alliance have business and living locations that extend to the Galactic North and branch out along the Perlemian Trade Route, while more locations branch out to the Galactic South and then onto the Triellus Trade Route. There are especially diffuse and seemingly random branches within the areas of old Hutt Space, which change frequently based on local market conditions.
- Notable Assets: The Nimbus Alliance itself is decentralized even within its clans, with a host of commercial and light industrial assets scattered throughout its areas of commercial influence. Its largest assets are a number of floating cities on Orleon itself, notably Nest's Paradise. There are several clan associated outlaw tech bases and repair yards scattered throughout the Talcene Sector.
- Hierarchy: The Nimbus Alliance is coordinated through the "family council", which is made up of the head of each clan. Each clan, in turn, claims to be descended from one the original of the Cloud-Riders. This means that there are typically around twenty clans at a given time, with some more legendary clans being reborn when "long-lost" descendants reappear to restart the clan (some of these claims might be more legitimate than others). Each clan in turn governs itself in its own manner derived from long traditions that frequently began with the ancestor's original culture, which in turn means governance and norms are very diverse within clans - whether it is the traditional, dictatorial style of the Jants or the more informal, democratic style of the Nests.
- Membership: Membership into each clan varies widely, with most clans being very liberal in accepting new members by marriage or after long periods of mutual business arrangements. The Ryss are notable for having a coming of age ritual that involves a treacherous swoop race across the oceans of Orleon which adopted members are expected to attempt if they want to join the clan. Altogether, there are approximately 170,000 "true" members of the clans, though there are thousands of more associates and others seeking to join the clan.
- Climate: Climate varies widely based on the clans. Among the clans themselves, most are friendly with each other due to their long ties and historic condition. However, there is some friendly competition among the clans, especially when it comes to business. In general, the Nimbus Alliance members keep their distance from those that they don't know, only opening up after people have shown to be unusually trustworthy.
- Reputation: The Nimbus Alliance is not a galaxy wide known organization, but they are reasonably well known of within the Talcene Sector, those who ply the Perlemian Trade Route, and the criminal underground. Those who do know of them casually tend to think of them as wannabe rebels or smugglers, while those who do actually know them or have visited Orleon tend them think of them as hard folk trying to eke out a semi-honest living on the Rim. Nimbus Alliance members are known for being upfront and honest, but they frequently twist the truth in a way that benefits themselves or their clan - this often means not telling all of the details of a story.
- Curios: The Nimbus Alliance is largely clan based, and most clans have their own clan iconography that was used by their original ancestor or somehow references them. Cloud motiffs are common on jewelry and other personal item such as battle armor and racing vehicles.
- Rules: The Nimbus Alliance has established a basic code of law that largely follows that of the Old Republic, though there is a large and informal cultural bent on solving things informally through either private arbitration or by personal contests whenever possible - actual formal, legal proceedings are rare within the group. Sometimes the Family Council will convene to personally judge cases that might have a effect on the group as a whole.
- Goals: Recently struck at and nearly destroyed by the Crymorah Syndicate's attack on Orleon, the Nimbus Alliance seeks to protect itself and rebuild its resources before its clans once more seek their fortune outside of the Orleon System.
See this blog post
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
At the end of the Galactic Civil War, the Cloud-Riders original cause for unity came to an end - the Empire was defeated and peace was finally at hand. Seeing that space just beyond their traditional battleground area of Hutt space was more stable peaceful, the Cloud-Riders settled on Orleon - still very much unpopulated from the evacuations of the Clone Wars - and founded several small settlements, notably including Nest's Paradise. While some fo them tried their hand at peaceful living, starting aquaculture farms and even fishing on this torrential world, old habits died hard, and the credits were easier and quicker found by more illegal means. This led to a divergence within the group itself, with the peaceful and civilized of the Cloud Riders forming the Orleon Alliance to govern and better develop their new home. Their more enterprising and dangerous brethren formed the Nimbus Spacers Guild, providing all of the traditional support of a guild system along the Triellus Trade Route from their headquarters on Orleon. For a time, these two groups largely co-existed peacefully side by side, with the Alliance providing a stable home and protection for the spacers of the Guild, and the Guild providing outside goods and exporting much of the world's aquaculture. But this peaceful coexistence came to the end when several of the more daring members of the Nimbus Spacers Guild raided the wrong warlord's shipment, bringing about an assault by the warlord's forces that devastated the world and killed over half of Orleon's population. When the warlord departed, the two groups fought each other for supremacy over the world, eventually ending in a negotiated truce and a series of political marriages that brought upon the merger of the two groups into the Nimbus Alliance's basic form today. Since then, the Nimbus Alliance has been much more careful in its dealings offworld - trying very hard not too bring too much heat down on their new home itself through a variety of strategies, including the lack of standardized iconography on their ships or clothing and performing their most dangerous and less legal operations from small and remote locations not located on Orleon itself. In this way, the Nimbus Alliance has managed to spread its influence offworld in a relatively low-key and decentralized manner. These offworld operations unsurprisingly have seen the group interact with and sometimes ally with less than legal groups. While this has caused the occasional conflict, it has rarely turned into outright pitched battles until the latest attack by the Crymorah Syndicate on Orleon itself.
