Zhentarim

Also "The Black Network"

Beliefs: There must always be a top power, we have the focus and means

• The Zhentarim is your family. You watch out for it, and it watches out for you.
• You are the master of your own destiny. Never be less than what you deserve to be.
• Everything - and everyone - has a price.

The Zhentarim seek to become omnipresent and inescapable, more wealthy and powerful, and most importantly, untouchable. The public face of the organization appears much more benign, offering the best mercenaries money can buy. When a merchant needs an escort for his caravan, when a noble needs bodyguards to protect her holdings, or when a city needs trained soldiers to defend its honor, the Zhentarim provides the best-trained fighting men and women money can buy. However, the cost of doing business with the Black Network can be high.

The Black Network wants to make it necessary—and preferable, even—to deal with its members. It wants to secure, over time, an iron-fisted monopoly. Members must be the best—the cheapest, the fastest, and the most secure—at providing services and goods both legal and illicit, willing to lose coin if it means destroying a competitor, and securing profits from everyone they deal with, except when to do so would work against the Black Network's ultimate goal: to make everyone dependent on it.

A member of the Zhentarim thinks of himself or herself as a member of a very large family and relies on the Black Network for resources and security. However, members are granted enough autonomy to pursue their own interests and gain some measure of personal power or influence.

See also: https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Zhentarim

Goals

• Amass wealth.
• Look for opportunities to seize power
• Gain influence over important people and organizations
• Dominate Faerûn

Views on Others (see also here)

• Emerald Enclave: When things need to get done, their ideas about the world sometimes get in the way.
• Harpers: Rivals if not enemies, weakened by their obscurity and secrecy.
• Lords Alliance: Keep them afraid and short-handed to need our services.
• Order of the Gauntlet:  Delusional holy fanatics with goals imagining a world of sunshine and rainbows.

Ranks

Failure to maintain renown, reliably deliver responsibilities or irresponsibly exploit rewards will result in demotion, exile or even becoming marked for justice.