[ Shelton Inc. | Authorities | The Underworld ]
Shelton Inc. is the world's leading company in research and development of genetics and neurology. They have head quarters in the capitol of Genericana and large facilities all over the world.
Corporate View: Most of the business and corporate world see Shelton Inc. as a huge master above and beyond. They are very affluent and are quite able to pull strings in politics given their amount of money and prestige. It's not just money and power though, they also corner the market in genetic and neural research, as well as being the only reliable place to find psychic soldiers! This is a huge market and one that the medical world is becoming more and more dependant on, or in the case of the last part: Afraid of.
Citizen View: The people hardly know of Shelton Inc. In fact save for their huge blow out success reported in news papers and journal magazines for their leaps in genetics and neurology: they are little publicized. They prefer low publicity as it keeps people from going after them for money or conspiracy theories.
The Truth: They are masters of their research fields. They are also so powerful in both politics and economics that they have government sanctioned permits to use humans as experiments, providing that the population never finds out! They focus on making weapons out of people by way of psyonic abilities, able to give them, and control them.
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Working with the underworld comes with some danger. Gratned people can get away with a lot more then Hollywood or our own imaginations would like to believe. However if a wheel squeaks to much... well you know.
Police: The local authorities are for the most part paid under the table to turn the other way when the Giovanni are operating. That doesn't mean it's a precinct wide deal. Rather to the point, individuals are paid, if it were any other way it would some how get public and the whole department would go down for it. The issue is that this leaves the Hero Cops who won't accept payments. When given a bribe they will refuse it and begin to dig for who on the 'force' are accepting the bribes. They are also the ones who'll be to heroic for intimidation to work. Usually the best method of dealing with them is to just knock em off, discreetly.
Private Investigators: Sometimes people will either take it upon themselves or hire private help with figuring out the 'low down' of an area. P.Is aren't common but now and then you get a spouse or some other relation to a member of the family who gets a whiff of what's going on. If they're idealists or worried for / about their said relation they may hire someone to spy. The P. I. is a danger in the sense that they may uncover something and make it public. Then even the cops can't save the situation. Usually P.Is are easy to dispatch with some wafting Franklins (money) or enough threat they clam up.
FBI: Sometimes the bigwigs are brought into a scene. They're harder to bribe then the basic cops. For one thing they may have it 'higher bid' from someone else. Another issue is they tend to have more security in their life or at least feel like they do. Intimidating them is harder because of it. Lastly they may act like they're taking the bride and looking the other way but then they'll stab you in the back and turn your ass in. Why do that do it and cops don't? Well cops usually live in the area they're being bribed. They have families in the vicinity and that means collateral for them breaking the deal. FBI come from far and wide and researching their families can be frustrating depending on the level of security the agent has.
CIA: Like the FBI but even harder. Their whole live can be a damn fabrication. Just don't bother playing patsy with them. Take them out. Bribes usually backfire and intimidation is nearly nonexistent. Now and then you find a greedy bastard who wants in on the darker side of life but not often.
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Would you know it? Not everyone in the underworld and black markets like one another. It's a dog eat dog world and frankly it's good for the soul if you ask me. Any ways, other mafia and organized crime rings via for power which means the more of the Giovanni they can knock off the better they'll climb. Some times there are alliances made, and larger families have smaller ones working under them but cases of ascension through murder aren't uncommon.
Rival Families: Rival families are often involved in shadow wars. This leaves the streets dangerous and prone to shoot outs, 'random' murders (a hit on someone basically) and small time terrorist activities (like bowing up cars). Rival families are often to proud to be pulled under the wing of a bigger family. Others might be big families with a lot of little families under them and feel they have the power and right to absorb another large family for a rewarding pay-off.
Basic Gangs: Gangs only present issues when they're not paid off or intimidated into place. Gangs that form are usually obscure like a pimple under the armpit. Until it starts becoming a bother it's not worth noticing and rather hard to at that. However when a gang begins to make a ruckus it's time to get them to either work for the family or get out. Don't off em to fast though, they can be pretty good fall-guys for the right situations.