Chamber of Shadows

People of Capitoleum know a lot more about the Shadow Chamber than they let on. Most people know a representative, or at least "know of" one. This Shadow Chamber was originally so called as a joke on the Chamber of Commerce, and originally was just the thieve's guild, but it's now an all-inclusive enclave of everything that the Stripes do not like. Not to say that individual stripes don't enjoy a lot of the services offered in the shade, but officially they don't.

The Shadow Chamber includes the original Thieves' Guilds, the Assassin's Guild, the Beggar's Guild and many others. It's almost impossible to have a career in Capitoleum as a pickpocket without paying your dues to the Thieves guild, and adhere to its strict rules. Trust the administrative culture to turn thieving into a honest 8-5 profession...

These people work in symbiosis with the Stripes in many parts of town. In some parts there are hardly a single stripe, and there the Shadow Chamber makes sure that the populace isn't too taxed by theft and make sure that nobody dies that had not a large (enough) sum on his head first.

Among the guilds that makes up the Shadow Chamber, the Thieves' Guild is by far the most important and the Shadow Council is often synonymous with the Thieve's Guild. Though they don't themselves do forgeries, the Thieves' Guild has influence in most other shady guilds. Nobody messes with the Assassins though (the only reason they are part of the Shadow Chamber is because they are so few that it's beneficial to outsource the administration).

Any Stripes commander who tried to significantly alter the arrangement with the Shadow Chamber have turned up dying from some freak accident, so not much has changed in the last several decades.