Tinsel & Treachery

History

The Gingerbread Trust began as a loose network of independent bakers and confectioners in the late 19th century, united by the common goal of resisting corporate monopolies in the growing holiday treat industry. Styled as a trade organization advocating for small businesses, the Trust initially provided legal and financial support to struggling bakers. However, behind the scenes, it began using intimidation, extortion, and sabotage to eliminate competition and consolidate power.

By the mid-20th century, the Gingerbread Trust had evolved into something far darker: a clandestine criminal empire operating under the guise of a benevolent trade group. Publicly, it continues to champion traditional holiday craftsmanship and “family values,” but beneath this wholesome image lies a vast network of operatives who ensure the Trust’s dominance in the holiday market by any means necessary.

Structure

The Gingerbread Trust operates as a syndicate of semi-autonomous “families” or “cliques,” each controlling a specific region or segment of the holiday trade. While the families appear to be loosely affiliated, they answer to the Gingerbread Council, an elusive group of shadowy figures believed to consist of the heads of the most powerful factions within the Trust.

Key layers of the organization include:

• The Bakers’ Union: The public face of the Trust, this organization lobbies governments, negotiates with suppliers, and runs charity drives to maintain the illusion of legitimacy.
• The Biscuitmen: Elite enforcers and saboteurs, these operatives carry out the Trust’s more “direct” actions, from intimidation to outright assassination.
• Spice Barons: The Trust controls the black-market trade in rare holiday ingredients, such as saffron, cinnamon, and other spices critical to festive treats. These barons operate in the shadows, ensuring competitors can’t access the resources they need.
• Gingerbread Guilds: Smaller regional factions that produce the Trust’s holiday goods. While outwardly independent, these guilds pay tribute to the Council and adhere to their strict codes.

Tactics

The Gingerbread Trust thrives on secrecy, preferring to eliminate threats quietly and decisively while maintaining its wholesome reputation. Their methods are highly organized and deeply manipulative:

• Controlled Scarcity: The Trust manipulates ingredient supplies to cripple rivals, often hoarding critical resources like sugar or flour in underground warehouses.
• Whisper Campaigns: Through planted rumors and covert smear campaigns, the Trust discredits competitors without revealing their own involvement.
• Holiday Sabotage: Operatives have been known to infiltrate rival operations, ruining production lines, tampering with products, or creating “accidents” during peak holiday seasons.
• Charity Shield: Any investigation into the Trust is deflected by their highly publicized charitable works, which range from food drives to sponsoring Christmas parades.

Philosophy

The Gingerbread Trust claims to be the protector of holiday traditions, insisting their work ensures the survival of festive craftsmanship in an increasingly soulless corporate world. However, this rhetoric masks a deeply cynical and self-serving ethos. The Trust believes the holiday market belongs to them by right, and they see rivals, governments, and even the public as pawns to be manipulated.

While the Trust’s upper echelons are pragmatic and calculating, the rank-and-file operatives often view themselves as part of a grand crusade, ensuring the “true spirit of Christmas” survives—even if that means enforcing it at gunpoint.

• Operation Sugar Cane Siege
  In a desperate bid to control a major sugar plantation in a South American country, the Gingerbread Trust deployed mercenary forces to lay siege to the plantation after its owners refused to sell. Local workers were armed by the plantation owners, leading to an intense standoff. The Trust’s Biscuitmen, supported by hired gunmen, used guerrilla tactics to sabotage supply lines, poison water reserves, and terrorize the surrounding region until the defenders surrendered. The battlefield was littered with burned cane fields, booby-trapped warehouses, and desperate, last-stand firefights in the shadow of refining facilities.
• Operation Silent Night
  A holiday market in Eastern Europe promoting “sugar-free Christmas treats” became the target of a violent covert operation by the Trust. Disguised as a spontaneous gang uprising, a group of armed thugs—secretly backed by the Trust—stormed the market. Their objective was to destroy sugar-free competitors, sow chaos, and send a message to any other businesses considering similar ventures. What started as a riot escalated into a deadly street battle when local security forces intervened. Trust operatives, embedded among the rioters, directed the chaos and eliminated key figures to ensure the operation’s success.
• Operation Sweet Reprisal
  After a rival studio began producing a holiday-themed blockbuster with a subplot mocking traditional confections, the Trust orchestrated a brutal act of retaliation. A highly-trained Biscuitman squad was sent to sabotage the film’s set, located in a small Midwestern town. Portraying themselves as militarized Sovereign Citizens, armed with automatic weapons and explosives, the operatives engaged in a calculated assault to destroy equipment, eliminate studio guards, and threaten the production team into abandoning the project. The operation devolved into a firefight with local law enforcement, leaving the town scarred by the Trust’s ruthless insistence on controlling the holiday narrative.
• Operation Gingerbread Firewall
  When an insurgent faction of sugar smugglers in Southeast Asia attempted to break free of the Trust’s control, the Council authorized a full-scale reprisal. Using proxy street gangs armed with Trust-provided weapons, they launched a brutal campaign to reclaim the region. Battles raged through industrial zones and coastal warehouses as the Trust’s operatives sabotaged supply lines, fought off heavily armed smugglers, and secured vital shipments. The operation culminated in an all-out assault on a fortified sugar refinery, where the Trust’s hired forces stormed the complex under heavy fire, claiming victory at a steep cost.