Skrell Crime
As a millennia-old empire spanning across thousands of star systems, it would be foolish to think the Skrellian territories manage to stay free of criminals and illicit organisations. But no group embodies the spirit of Skrellian criminality as the Qerr-Glia do. It is difficult to pinpoint a precise date or location for their origins, but most historians agree that this criminal movement started during the War of the Qrri-Qerria on Qerr’Balak, the constant power struggles leading many Qerr-Katish families to exile, stripped of their status and power. Some of these families settled in other city states to rebuild a legitimate life, while the rest turned to whatever activity, legal or illegal, could finance their fight to reclaim their former position.
Forming intricate criminal networks across Qerr'Balak, the Qerr-Glia a serious advantage when skrellkind started exploring the stars, always settling further from the authorities reach, always broadening their criminal horizons. Today, their activities range from money laundering to slave trade, including equally repulsive activities such as the drug trade and blackmail. While some families still try to reclaim their lost heritage, most have forgotten about it and have fully embraced the comfort and lifestyle their illicit activities entail.
While the Qerr-Glia have at their disposal a very large network of relations, contacts and several fragile alliances between various families, their only loyalty resides in their own family. They will temporarily hire anyone competent enough to fulfil their goals, wilfully or forcefully, but only the members of the Qerr-Skria family are permanent members of a Qerr-Glia cell. Reciprocally, leaving a Qerr-Glia family is considered high treason by its members, and any Skrell abandoning their siblings for any reason would find themselves fiercely hunted down.
The Qerr-Glia, however, never forgot their Qerr-Katish heritage and as such, embody the same values and ideals, though twisted; skilled liars and manipulators, they rarely engage in the physical side of their ventures, preferring to plan subtle schemes executed with cold efficiency. For this, they tend to hire a combination of Raskinta and Kanin mercenaries and enforcers. Some families are even said to manipulate the politics of entire sectors to their benefit, placing them in positions of power far higher than those their ancestors lost.
While the Skrellian authorities still struggle to contain them, the Qerr-Glia struggle to find new ways of making profit in the Skrellian territories. As such, the encounter of new species, humans in particular, exposed new opportunities for profit. It is not unheard of Qerr-Glia members temporarily joining other criminal organisations as a gesture of goodwill from the family, while already planning on the repayment of the debt tenfold. The Qerr-Glia often deploy cells to human territories, ostensibly under the cover of a corporation or other covert manner, in order to further their endeavours or in support of a human crime syndicate that has paid for their aid. In these instances, the Qerr-Glia rely on intimidation, bribery and manipulation to achieve their goals, as well as the use of brutal Raskinta mercenaries acting as enforcers.