The Obsidian Blade Syndicate got its start a few years after the devastation of the Lylat system. Scouts from a Titanian group that had once been known as Hydra found Riesel to be in a miserable condition and thus ripe for conquest. A series of well-planned assassinations and mass propaganda campaigns pushed the group, which thus became known as the Obsidian Blade Syndicate, to the very top of Riesel's food chain. It was originally led by Rebecca Trinn.