The Rose Foundation/ THORN

 

The founder and chairperson of the Rose Foundation is Phillepe Aruston. After finishing university he obtained a job with the Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure (French Intelligence), and served in this capacity during the Vietnam war. While there his concern for children was strengthened by the amount of orphans he encountered. When he returned to France in 1954, Phillepe started to raise money to help other families and orphans in Asia. The response was so great that he could not administer it alone, so the Rose Foundation was established with Phillepe as its president. The Foundation is situated in Paris near the Eiffel tower.

That is the official story. In reality the Rose Foundation is just a front...for THORN. 

While working for the Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure (French Intelligence), Phillipe had access to all the information which passed through. With the outset of the Vietnam war, he invented a network of agents, and approached Russia and later America to sell the information he had access to. After the war, it was his criminal genius that devised Rose and THORN. He needed a legitimate means of raising capital to finance his criminal ambitions. Thus came about the Rose Foundation. Helping children is always popular and Rose generated a lot of money.
THORN started small, running only the black market in Naples. It later branched out to smuggling in Tangier, masterminding a wave of jewel robberies on the French Riviera, and an attempt to steal nuclear warheads from Russia. The Russian mission however ended disastrously. Three quarters of THORN's agents were killed in a shoot out with the Russian military, and Phillepe severely wounded. It was time for a rethink. Never again would Phillepe allow himself or his best operatives to be placed in harms way.

From now on they would either pay or manipulate others into doing their dirty work. Gradually THORN began to secretly aid various criminal and terrorist organisations around the world, with both equipment and money. This served primarily to give the various law agencies around the world an overwhelming amount of very visible threats, while in reality distracting them from the THORN's own secret activities. If THORN needs someone eliminated they need only relay false information about the victim to a terrorist group or cartel (for example telling them the target is a witness, a fed, a traitor, etc). Likewise they can trick one of the groups into stealing something they need and then take it from them later.

Hierarchy

All members must have a distinct police record in order to be qualified to join THORN. It can be anything from assassination to computer hacking to major embezzlement. So long as some form of cunning and intelligence has been displayed in their actions. They are then approached by a Blight and given a trial mission. If they succeed they're in.
The organisation is split into the various departments; Intelligence, Operations, Administration, Finance and Prosecution (deals with traitors).
Barb 1st level+; Includes only recent inductees. Most of Thorn's allies in politics and corporations fall into this category.
Needle 2nd-14th level; Those who have proven their loyalty and worth. The higher their level the more duties they are allowed.
Blight 15th-17th level; In charge of the local branch and has the same powers as a Scourge within his own jurisdiction.
Scourge 18th level; In charge of all the branches within his country and has the same powers as Number Two within his own jurisdiction. 
Number Two 19th level; Acts as both deputy and advisor to Number One.
Number One 20th level; Phillepe Aruston is the head of THORN. He is kept constantly up to date by Number Two on ongoing operations. All major decisions are made by him. He also arranges additional resources and assistance as required.

Operations

The Rose Foundation:
The Rose Foundation is an internationally respected charity. Its members heavily lobby every government in the world. Phillepe handles all of the organisation's finances and consequently the only one who knows where the money really goes. About 40% of it does go into genuine aid activities as detailed below. 

In the 1970s the Foundation expanded its operations to meet the needs of refugees in Indochina and of people recovering from disasters in Bangladesh and in several African countries. In the 1980s the focus broadened from assisting the individual child to include community development. Since then the welfare approach has gradually changed to a more collaborative relationship. Poor, marginalised people and communities work with the Foundation to improve their lives and take control of their futures. This is a process of poor people taking control of their situations, identifying their most critical needs, and working together to find solutions. The Rose Foundation is also known for its rapid response to the victims of war or conflict, flood, drought, earthquake, famine and other crises. Experienced staff work with those affected to provide food, shelter, medicine and other immediate needs. They follow the International Code of Conduct for disaster relief organisations, alongside International Red Cross, Red Crescent and other non-government organisations. Emergency relief is only the first step. The second is to establish rehabilitation programs that help people rebuild their lives, and development programs that will enable people to protect themselves against future disasters. 

The Foundation also acts as an advocate for victims of injustice and poverty. They consult with those who are most affected and aim to empower people to find appropriate solutions to their own problems. They also work to change the unjust structures affecting lives in other ways, including lobbying at the United Nations and supporting advocacy campaigns. As well as providing emergency food aid in crises like war and famine, the Foundation has long term agricultural programs training farmers to grow new or better crops. Installation of water pumps or tanks giving clean water close to people’s homes contributes to improved community health. Finally the Rose Foundation promotes affordable technologies using local materials and designs that people can make, use and repair themselves. Examples include suction water pumps, cement storage tanks and fuel efficient stoves.

THORN:
THORN has no allegiance to any country or government. It operates solely for profit. Activities have included the blackmail of a double agent, the assassination of a nuclear weapons inspection team, consultations for major robberies of federal departments in various countries, and the distribution of Triad narcotics in the U.S. If there's money to be made from it they'll do it. 

Discipline is severely enforced. One example was when the daughter of an European royal family was kidnapped, by a cell of Red October on behalf of THORN for an immense ransom. However after the girl was returned she claimed to have been sexually abused. Phillepe then arranged for all the members of that cell to be tortured to death, and the corpses left in a public area. Word spread and noone has ever disobeyed THORN's instructions since.

 

Enemies