Faction Friday: The Invisible Hand

RPG faction

I'm creating a set of factions inspired by one sub-class for each class in Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Today's sub-class is the Rogue Mastermind, which suggests a smart secret organization.

There are rumors of a strange cabal that meets outside the city. They all wear metal masks, and they work to gain control of everything. One might be blackmailing half the cloth merchants, another might be the most successful goldsmith in the city, while another might be the judge.

Those who whisper about this cabal call them the Invisible Hand.

If you meet a member of the Hand on a back road as they travel to or from their meetings, they're each always accompanied by two bodyguards, one who specializes in melee combat and another in ranged. The masked master will stay back while its minions slaughter any who witnesses them. What if the minions fail? None can say; it's never happened.

But then how do people know about the Invisible Hand?

Art

In a particularly troubled city, the Invisible Hand can be a friendly faction, a group of powerful individuals who work together to ensure that evil doesn't take over the city. They maintain an intimidating, secretive aura to dissuade others from investigating them, but they don't actually kill those who stumble on them; instead they charm those who meet them accidentally into forgetting the encounter.

As a foe faction, the Invisible Hand is a straightforward enemy. You can use the legend of their two minions literally (perhaps they established it as a weird "calling card" to intimidate the regular populace), or change it up from one member to another.

Practically anyone influential might belong to the Invisible Hand.

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