The Drop Kings are a major criminal syndicate that is active in multiple systems across the United Empire of Earth (UEE). Founded in the SEY 2640s by a group of anti-Messer activists who fled their homes under threat of retaliation from the Messer government, their earliest recorded crimes were in the Fora system, where they ran blackmarket goods manufactured on Hyperion (Fora III) to Terra (Terra III) via a route through the Taranis system. When they began smuggling goods and people to and from Banu space in the 2690s, they quickly rose to prominence and expanded their network to more systems.
In the 2740s, they entered the Pyro system and clashed with the fellow smuggling group the Headhunters. Beginning in 2781, the Drop Kings abruptly stopped this conflict and began to focus on smuggling goods across the borders of the UEE, leading historians to speculate that they were involved in transporting anti-Messer refugees to Banu and Xi'an territories. They returned to business as usual in 2799 and launched an attack on Ruin Station, ousting the Headhunters from power and becoming the de-facto rulers of the Pyro system. Control of Pyro passed back and forth between the Drop Kings and the Headhunters until 2912, when the Drop Kings became involved in a feud with the Terra-based Rangda syndicate. Since then, they have dialed back their activities in Pyro but are known to maintain operations in the Fora, Castra, and Elysium systems.