In the year 2331, on the hill that rises between Crosstown and the Arova, the infamous criminal and celebrated thief-taker Jonathan Smike met his ignominious, and much deserved end. Yet its occurrence still came as something of a shock to the city. Both the administration of justice and the machinery of the underworld were badly shaken by the hanging of the man, and in its aftermath came chaos. Gangs turned upon each other, more than one magistrate was tried and convicted of corruption, and public confidence in the system of justice badly damaged. To understand why, one must first understand the iniquitous genius of the man who was styled as the greatest thief-taker that had ever lived.
Although his precise origins are unclear, and even his race is subject of some debate, what cannot be denied is that for some fifteen years Jonathan Smike was the most successful criminal in the long and storied history of Viendan crime. He would remain so for centuries. His reign as the master of the underworld was a stabilizing force within the city, keeping gang warfare at a minimum and providing a conduit by which the most disruptive and dangerous of criminals could be removed. Crime, under Smike, was organized. How he accomplished this remarkable feat also made him the most effective and most sought after thief-taker of the age.
To the magistrates of the city, he appeared in the guise of a particularly ruthless and effective thief-taker and hunter of forgers. He had an almost supernatural ability to recover lost property, to locate and root out dens of thieves and counterfeiters, and was said to have ended more than one great criminal conspiracy. For these actions he was rightly celebrated and his offices in a tavern off Crosstown were forever full of petitioners and victims of criminal activity begging for justice. The fact that Smike had arranged so many of these thefts, and used his inside knowledge to root out and destroy his underworld rivals, was not discovered for many years.
There were a small number of magistrates, Seventen, and lawyers who knew what Smike really was, but they found him to be useful, a lesser evil, extremely lucrative, or some combination of the above. Others, he held in his considerable sway.
His organization was small, more a criminal consulting firm than anything else. For a fifteen-percent commission he would plan nearly any form of devious operation, from contract killings to housebreaking, to the corruption of city officials. It was all the same to him. His main line, however, was in the fencing and recovery of stolen goods. He would arrange a robbery of a theft, sell the goods by means of one of his agents to fences and gangs, pocket his commission, and then with other agents of his he would claim to have ‘discovered’ there whereabouts of the stolen goods, and offer to return them to the desperate owners for a considerable fee. Thus, Smike and his handful of agents made money on both ends of the transaction.
Further, any criminal who crossed him, or whose operation was a danger to him would be revealed to the Seventen, destroyed by the same, and Smike would pocket the reward. Hundreds of thieves and criminals went to the gallows on his evidence, hundreds more lived in fear of the thief-taker. Smike was a bastard. Smike kept the peace.
His death ended it.
Six days after his impromptu hanging, three things happened: the first was open war among the now unshackled criminals of the city; the second was that the most effective thief-taker in memory was no more; and the third was that Smike’s agents sold his confidential documents to the newspapers. Magistrates and politicians had their named published and their scandals made public. Careers were destroyed, justice badly cripled, and crime increased.
The infamous thief-taker Jonathan Smike had indeed been the lesser evil.
Although his precise origins are unclear, and even his race is subject of some debate, what cannot be denied is that for some fifteen years Jonathan Smike was the most successful criminal in the long and storied history of Viendan crime. He would remain so for centuries. His reign as the master of the underworld was a stabilizing force within the city, keeping gang warfare at a minimum and providing a conduit by which the most disruptive and dangerous of criminals could be removed. Crime, under Smike, was organized. How he accomplished this remarkable feat also made him the most effective and most sought after thief-taker of the age.
To the magistrates of the city, he appeared in the guise of a particularly ruthless and effective thief-taker and hunter of forgers. He had an almost supernatural ability to recover lost property, to locate and root out dens of thieves and counterfeiters, and was said to have ended more than one great criminal conspiracy. For these actions he was rightly celebrated and his offices in a tavern off Crosstown were forever full of petitioners and victims of criminal activity begging for justice. The fact that Smike had arranged so many of these thefts, and used his inside knowledge to root out and destroy his underworld rivals, was not discovered for many years.
There were a small number of magistrates, Seventen, and lawyers who knew what Smike really was, but they found him to be useful, a lesser evil, extremely lucrative, or some combination of the above. Others, he held in his considerable sway.
His organization was small, more a criminal consulting firm than anything else. For a fifteen-percent commission he would plan nearly any form of devious operation, from contract killings to housebreaking, to the corruption of city officials. It was all the same to him. His main line, however, was in the fencing and recovery of stolen goods. He would arrange a robbery of a theft, sell the goods by means of one of his agents to fences and gangs, pocket his commission, and then with other agents of his he would claim to have ‘discovered’ there whereabouts of the stolen goods, and offer to return them to the desperate owners for a considerable fee. Thus, Smike and his handful of agents made money on both ends of the transaction.
Further, any criminal who crossed him, or whose operation was a danger to him would be revealed to the Seventen, destroyed by the same, and Smike would pocket the reward. Hundreds of thieves and criminals went to the gallows on his evidence, hundreds more lived in fear of the thief-taker. Smike was a bastard. Smike kept the peace.
His death ended it.
Six days after his impromptu hanging, three things happened: the first was open war among the now unshackled criminals of the city; the second was that the most effective thief-taker in memory was no more; and the third was that Smike’s agents sold his confidential documents to the newspapers. Magistrates and politicians had their named published and their scandals made public. Careers were destroyed, justice badly cripled, and crime increased.
The infamous thief-taker Jonathan Smike had indeed been the lesser evil.
