A Kabal is an extragovernmental, often illicit, secret society, cult or fraternity - often all three. In nature they may be fundamentally religious, criminal, political, ethnic, or all of the above, but they typically have one or more conspiracies at their core that are meant to bring power and wealth while manifesting their prophecies.
In day to day operations, a Kabal functions like a religion or an organized crime syndicate, sometimes both, and they are so pervasive that almost every village, town and city must have their support to survive. This lends a mafia, gang or cult-like element to every village, town, or city. Meddling with someone almost always brings repercussions.
What do the Kabal's have to do with you?
Ultimately your goal will be to build or lead a Kabal that can either save the world or plunge it into darkness. But let's not put the cart before the horse, it's going to be a long road.
You are no noble or high born. Even if you came from a family of some means, you are an outcast, orphan, or street trash with little to no money. If you don't want to stay a victim for the rest of your life, you need to climb out of the poverty that has gripped you. The only way to do that is to join a Kabal, pretty much everyone you know has.
Your Journey
You, and your fellow player characters, begin as junior initiates of a local faction of a great Kabal. You aren't members yet, so you will have to prove yourselves. Your superiors will choose your tasks and dole out rewards for successful service. They will take the lion's share of your spoils, but they will also outfit you with, the minimum, gear they believe you need in order to be successful.
In time, as you become more experienced and influential, you can try to seize power for yourselves or split off and form your own Kabal; you may not have a choice. The established leadership of any Kabal guards their power jealousy and has more than one contingency plan to deal with those who might challenge them.
If you strike out on your own, there will be reprisals. So, at first, it’s best not to attract undue attention. A new Kabal should start as a secret society. To grow, you will need recruits, followers, patrons, and allies. Unfortunately, in a world already dominated by competing and often ruthless Kabals, you have competition. Blood must flow if you are to rise.
How you navigate the complexities of membership in an existing Kabal while clandestinely growing your own is up to you. You can stay in the shadows, or emerge from obscurity, as a powerful cult, fraternity, order, or guild.
In time, we will find out if you can survive insidious threats from rival factions, powerful cults, ruthless nobles, evil and capricious spirits, bigotry, and escape the clutches of slavery.
May Ogun's dog guide you and may your Axe keep its edge