The Brotherhood

"They made the Hutts and Black Sun look like fools, and they did it all from the shadows. The Brotherhood's greatest strength was that no one knew for sure it existed, and they easily took over the spice and slave trades with none of its competitors being the wiser, for they didn't realize they had lost their control. All of this was made possible because of one man."

- Taran Ragnan

, sometimes known as the Black Hand was a powerful criminal organization that placed a large priority on operating within the shadows. Its leader, Dylan Antiunknown, went to such measures to conceal his identity that even within the Brotherhood few knew his name. Most prominent members within the organization served while undercover within either the Republic, Separatists, or within other criminal organizations. The scope of the organization was massive; at one point the Brotherhood had a member of the Galactic Senate, a top scientist of the Separatists, and one of the leading members of their rival faction, the Nebula Corporation, serving it simultaneously.

The Brotherhood dealt in a wide variety of criminal matters ranging from spice, to slavery, to black market weapons, and more. However, Dylan's ambition was much higher than this, and he used his infiltrators in other organizations to acquire high-grade weapons and technology, including a space station that utilized a weaker version of what would become the Death Star laser and a large fleet.

The Brotherhood was crucial to the Shadow Conflict, largely by accident. Antimatter Squadron, formed from Brotherhood prisoners, were captured by Arek Saris and rescued by Ganner Slarwalker. While Rukt Edre, Dylan's body double, hid on a ship bound for Mandalore, Saris attacked it, and Rukt later met Ganner and the others. Ranulph Darkhitch was able to discover his identity as the Brotherhood's leader, and he recruited the Brotherhood to help them defeat Saris in the Eclipse of Umbara. Later, a second Antimatter Squadron was formed, only to be rescued and joined by the first. After that failure, Dylan withdrew the Brotherhood from the conflict and from the Galaxy at large, leaving behind only the most essential operations. During the Shadow Conflict, Republic Intelligence became aware of the Brotherhood's operations and sent a spy of its own, Cyana Bastra, to destroy it from the inside.

Five years later, the Brotherhood became involved in the Resurgence Conflict as Decien, on orders from the Emperor to eliminate Dylan, Antimatter Squadron, backed by the Nebula Corporation, and former member Taran Ragnan, allied with Ganner Slarwalker and Linora Taske, made their ways to the Brotherhood's base on Anarto II. The Brotherhood was fully prepared for Antimatter Squadron, killing half the members, devastating the Nebula Corporation forces and having their infiltrator Esvald Raile take over what was left, and escaping once again with minimal casualties. However, they were not expecting Taran to return, and he sent a message to Imperial forces which led lieutenant Arvos Sumad to find the base in the aftermath of the battle, alerting the Empire to the fact that the Brotherhood still existed.