The Karkan Clan 1 of 2

Karkan Clan or "Flaming Heads", as they are known in the criminal world, are the biggest and most dangerous of all criminal organizations.
 They are said to be one of the most corrupt clans, and, even though they are a criminal organization, they are still in the favor of the king, probably because of their rich purses. They are related to the king, and always look to eliminate the heirs, so that one of their own can seise the throne. Murder and thievery is their usual conduct, but piracy, blackmailing, and even slavery aren't rare.
The history of the emblem is not very controversial, as most scientists understand the meaning of this symbol: " Meddle with us and that's what's going to happen to you!". As you understand, that would be a very good reason for them lasting for all those years. It doesn't happen very often, but when someone REALLY annoys the Karkans, they are fed a poison which goes around their brain, and well, pretty much the whole head/body has poison, which journeys around with the blood(the difference of how fast the poison will spread depends on the race). When with contact with the sun, a chemical reaction triggers a fire...at that time I would not like to be that person(neither would you, reader). If you know that you've got the poison in you, hide under your bed and when night comes, run like crazy(which you have to be to meddle with the Karkans) to the nearest hospital or you're dead meat. If that's not an option, use my grandmother's elixir for the "flaming sickness", as she would call it:

Ye old recipe for the cure of ye flaming sickness:

Ingredients: Toad legs, dried blueberries, horse waste( ye yellow liquid), olive oil, pig fat, baby teeth, garlic, ash from a couple-day cigar, 50 cockroach eggs and dog spit

1. Pour olive oil and pig fat into a frying pan on which you fry the toad legs
2.  Pour the horse waste and dog spit into the cup, then pour in the garlic and ashes. Mix it up.
3. Grind everything else in a bowl
4. Chop up toad legs into tiny pieces and add to the gridded things
5. Add the gridded things to the liquid, and mix heavily
6. Leave for it to solidify
7. When it smells so bad it can knock you out, it's ready!

Okay, maybe grandmother didn't use the "nice-taste-and-smell" things, but it sure works!
Now, if you don't have all of those ingredients near you, you're on your own!
Returning to the history of the emblem, a few historians believe that the emblem comes from how their agents are deadly when in action(choose which one to believe).
The only authority to ever try to destroy the Karkans was Inspector Birlan(from the city of Skarsha in Le-par), who is still leading his eight men on the investigation.
I'll tell you a story of an un-succesful attempt on his life:
T'was a peaceful night, and the Lady Birlana welcomed the guests of her husband's birthday-feast with great grace. Here be a list of them(excluding the inspector and his wife):

• Hermin The Chopper-the inspector's dwarf second-in-command, Hermin is known by the nickname "chopper" because of his ability when hand-to-hand fighting with criminals, using his twin axes, cutting off their limbs at points where they won't die of nothing but blood loss.
• Thurk Redtooth-one of the last orks who have not joined the evil spirit that cursed their land, Thurk specializes in penetrating criminal organizations, due to his ability to rip out throats using his teeth.
• Arnann Welson- an excellent follower, he follows suspects back to their bases. When uncovered, he uses his knives to cut his way out.
• Suptinir Kallagul- a master of explosives, Suptinir is always ready to blow something up. He is also the brother of Hermin.
• Kusmik Irrkhikh- one of the last members of the K'ikhs race, he has the ability to manipulate the elements. He has four hands and an octopus-like head.
• Oinen Sapan- an elf, excellent at using unorthodox techniques to interrogate criminals. Not a good thing to be caught by him.
• Celsin Sux- half-brother to Oinen, Celsin is excellent at using his bow to catch criminals. He invented the hook arrowhead and the rope-catcher arrowhead. Right now he is working on many more.
• Das Arwen- one of the vampires, he usually stays at home to research. Although, when provoked, his whip and fangs taste blood.
• Rhick Daslelick- the city governor. Without him, Birlan's squad wouldn't exist. Not a fighting man, but can still use a sword.
• Mainus- representative of the Wizard Order, Mainus is set to protect Birlan at all costs. His speciality are water and air magic.

The guests all sat round a long, gold and red table. Suddenly, a servant clad in a red and golden dress ran into the room:

"M'lady! The lord is here!"

"Quick, Marx! Blow all the candles!"

The room went dark. The door opened. A tall, muscular elf(you could tell by the way he walked), slowly went into the room. Suddenly, the room grew bright and all the guests shouted:

"Happy Birthday Birlan!"

Birlan sat down next to his wife. Food was brought in. Boar, deer, birds of numerous sizes, and cow which were served in numerous different ways, different soups and bread were all on the table. It was a great feast. 
After the guests had eaten, a giant honey and fruit cake was brought in. The servants cut the cake into many pieces. The desert was served. Suddenly there was a tap on the door. One of the servants came over to answer the knock. The Lady Birlana leaned over and asked her husband:
" Did you invite anyone else, Birlan? Everyone I invited is here."
" No, I didn't. You always make the invitations."
Birlan then turned toward the servant opening the door:
" Who is it, Krin?"
The servant didn't say anything. He turned around slowly. There was a crossbow bolt sticking out of his neck. The door flew open and a volley of arrows came flying into the room.

                                         To be Continued in Karkan Clan 2 of 2!