Brotherhood of Mel-Kareth

The Brotherhood of Mel-Kareth
The brotherhood is a galactic warband, lead by the Warmaster. They're a violent and warmongering bunch, but they are open to diplomacy if the gains are considered good.

Hierarchy
The brotherhood is spread throughout the galaxy, with planets and systems under their control. They accept any and all who can earn their place through trials. Xenophobia, is absent from the brotherhood, jealousy, corruption and backstabbing is however a daily common.

The brotherhood is led by the Warmaster, the Warmaster retains ultimate control of the warband and will direct it as the Warmaster sees fit.

Beneath the Warmaster, there are warband chapters lead by Warlords. Each Warlord runs their chapter mostly as they see fit, as long as they overhold the core principles and commands from the Warmaster. With such a loose command chain, chapters often find themselves in quarrels with one another. Under the Warlords and aiding them in running their chapters, there are Warchiefs. The Warchiefs acts as lieutenants and are hand picked by the Warlords.

If brave enough, any Warchief can challenge the Warlord for lordship over the chapter. It's a one on one fight, where the winnder takes it all, and the loser dies. In addition any Warlord can challenge the Warmaster for leadership over the brotherhood.

History
The brotherhood first started out as a small band, between the first warmaster and his compatriots. They formed the brotherhood after experiencing a backstab by one of their crew, losing several mercs in the process, the band was created as a means to prevent such a thing from ever occuring again.

After a decare of soldering for fortune, times got rough and without enough jobs to pay for the crew and ship upkeep as well as scoring a bad reputation. They embraced their brotherhood rather than disbanding, and resulted into piracy instead. After a few years the brotherhood grew and expanded beyond piracy and also sought profit in other criminal activities.

However as the SOL rebellion occured, the brotherhood saw opportunity for expansion and riches. The first Warmaster decided against this however, fearing the rebellion would be short lived. One of the Warchiefs, a terran known as Karm-Al challenged the first Warmaster for his position in the brotherhood. After a decisive victory, the first Warmaster was slain and Karm-Al was the new Warmaster.

The brotherhood recieved a abundance of recruits, both experienced and inexperienced. With large numbers and large ports under little to no protection, the brotherhood quickly gained a navy, spanning a varity of ships. Before the SOL rebellion was over, the brotherhood had ceased control over several planets, and some even requested to join the brotherhood.