Okay, let's try a distillation. First pass...
==== The Mob ====
Thanks to the pervasive nature of fandom, the nature of criminal organizations in Fenspace is... //different// from their mundane counterparts.
=== White-hat Mobs ===
//"THE MAFIA: You've got a friend in The Family! (Paid for by the Our Thing Foundation)"//\
--//Snow Crash//
White-hat mobs (which most people tend to refer to as "The Mob") are composed of people not unlike the Space Pirates; fans who've internalized a romantic view of the noble gangster, the thug-with-a-heart-of-gold, etc. and try to make their ideas real. The Mob works similar to the Pirates, but with a greater sense of community attached to their operations. While Mobsters do deal in illegal activities (or at least things considered illegal "in the old country") they bring a high level of professionalism and ethics into their work, acting almost more like a savings and loan or multinational corporation than a criminal organization.
Most Mobsters are American, with a few outliers coming from China, Japan and Western Europe.
=== Black-hat Mobs ===
Black-hat mobs are, well, pretty much the //real// Mafia, Yakuza, Triads, Vory, Provos Bloods, Crips, etc. These are the groups who helped fund Boskone, run large-scale criminal organizations on Earth, and generally are considered Bad News by everybody. Vicious, backstabbing and not above killing lots of people to make a point if it won't be bad fo business.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
==== The Mob ====
Thanks to the pervasive nature of fandom, the nature of criminal organizations in Fenspace is... //different// from their mundane counterparts.
=== White-hat Mobs ===
//"THE MAFIA: You've got a friend in The Family! (Paid for by the Our Thing Foundation)"//\
--//Snow Crash//
White-hat mobs (which most people tend to refer to as "The Mob") are composed of people not unlike the Space Pirates; fans who've internalized a romantic view of the noble gangster, the thug-with-a-heart-of-gold, etc. and try to make their ideas real. The Mob works similar to the Pirates, but with a greater sense of community attached to their operations. While Mobsters do deal in illegal activities (or at least things considered illegal "in the old country") they bring a high level of professionalism and ethics into their work, acting almost more like a savings and loan or multinational corporation than a criminal organization.
Most Mobsters are American, with a few outliers coming from China, Japan and Western Europe.
=== Black-hat Mobs ===
Black-hat mobs are, well, pretty much the //real// Mafia, Yakuza, Triads, Vory, Provos Bloods, Crips, etc. These are the groups who helped fund Boskone, run large-scale criminal organizations on Earth, and generally are considered Bad News by everybody. Vicious, backstabbing and not above killing lots of people to make a point if it won't be bad fo business.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"