Steamwheedle Cartel

The Steamwheedle Cartel is one of the largest and most successful of the goblin cartels in the Undermine. It is a neutral organization that controls several cities and towns around the world, and has allied themselves with a number of other groups such as the Blackwater Raiders in Booty Bay.

The Steamwheedle Cartel has made a great deal of profit from maintaining neutrality in the conflict between the Horde and the Alliance. Their services are always available to the highest bidder, employing anyone regardless of their affiliation if they can produce results.

=Great Wars=

Prior to the First War, the goblins of the Steamwheedle Cartel managed to drive out the trolls from a small port town inhabited by humans which had been overrun. They claimed control of the immediate area and the shores of the cove for their new center for operations in the Eastern Kingdoms — Booty Bay.

During the war, the goblins witnessed the Old Horde's arrival and the conquest of Stormwind. With more conflicts on the horizon, they were determined to profit from it. Trade Prince Steamwheedle allied his cartel with Orgrim Doomhammer's Horde and offered aid in the form of new technologies, maps, and other useful information to the orcs for the right price. Orgrim treated his new allies as equals and paid them gold from Stormwind's coffers. The Warchief also hired them to oversee the construction of the Horde's fleet. The cartel also sold them the employs of their alchemists, sappers, and zeppelins, also providing the watertight pilot-shacks for use on the enslaved giant sea turtles. However, following the war, the Steamwheedle Cartel and other goblins realized that it was much better to remain neutral due to thriving trades.

Approximately four years after the Second War, the goblin city of Gadgetzan had already been built in Tanaris on Kalimdor, as it was visited by Greydon Thorne.

=World of Warcraft=

The Horde in various points of the world, notably Durotar, the Undercity and Stranglethorn Vale, built zeppelin towers. Operating them and their zeppelins are goblins from the Steamwheedle Cartel as evidenced by the presence of Steamwheedle Bruisers. They, along with the staff, are tagged with the Orgrimmar faction.

The Cartel tasked Security Chief Bilgewhizzle‎ with teaching the Southsea pirates in Tanaris a lesson.

The goblin Harrowmeiser was ferrying men and supplies for the Horde on his zeppelin the Lady Lug but was later captured by the Alliance. The goblin and the vessel were ultimately freed by the True Horde.

=Cataclysm=

Despite the Bilgewater Cartel the new playable Goblin race in Cataclysm - joining the Horde, the Steamwheedle Cartel maintained its neutrality.

According to a quick line in the Bilgewater Cartel reputation bar, the Bilgewater cartel now has the title of most powerful cartel on Kezan (though it is not known how exactly literally this should be taken).

They have a footbomb team called the Steamwheedle Sharks. They later leave their cartel to join Gallywix.

Playable Goblin Death Knights appear to originally be part of the Steamwheedle Cartel, as evidenced by Gally Lumpstain in A Special Surprise, although they later join the Bilgewater Cartel. It's also possible that they may have just helped Gally join the Steamwheedles, and stayed as Bilgewaters themselves.

The Cartel expanded as they have established new towns such as Fuselight in Badlands, Bogpaddle in the Swamp of Sorrows and an unnamed goblin resort in the Steam Pools.

=Warlords of Draenor=

Ever looking for new ways to make a profit, the Steamwheedle Cartel have traveled back to the alternate Draenor thirty-five years in the past. They make their base at the Ring of Trials and surrounding parts of Nagrand, with their main problems being the local Saberon.

A new group within the Cartel known as the Steamwheedle Preservation Society focuses on archaeology and wishes to bring valuable artifacts and antiquities back from Draenor to Azeroth to sell to the highest bidder. One member of the Society, Bing Zapcrackle, can be found at Warspear on the island of Ashran, where he is arguing with members of the Reliquary over the price of artifacts the Horde wishes to purchase.

In the Spires of Arak, the goblins have built two towns: Pinchwhistle Gearworks and Pinchwhistle Point. When Pinchwhistle Point is overwhelmed by invading fungus and its citizens zombified by fungal spores, the goblins of Pinchwhistle Gearworks ask for aid from the Alliance and Horde to save their brethren.

=Battle for Azeroth=

Despite declaring its neutrality, the Steamwheedle Cartel city of Ratchet secretly funneled supplies to the Horde. The Alliance became suspicious about it, but the Horde was determined to keep their operations a secret.

See WoWPedia