Overview
The Expeditioners Guild is a worldwide organization that, by its wealth and political power, has achieved an authority outside the purview of lords and governments. Most lords accept the guild’s independence and welcome their presence, in order to deal with situations that normal people cannot.
From slaying predatory monsters to dealing with the arcane remnants of the world’s chaotic past, the Expeditioners Guild is often the only thing standing between civilization’s march and the unknown horrors that dwell in the wild places.
The guild’s central organization is headquartered in an opulent building and grounds in the merchant capital city of Meridia. The Guildmasters' Hall contains an incredible library, filled with information culled from innumerable ruins. Likewise, the sprawling campus contains a hospital, an observatory, mundane and arcane workshops, alchemical laboratories, and other resources for its members’ use. Fallen guild members are memorialized here in the Hall of the Glorious Dead.
Chapters
The Guildmasters' Hall in Meridia is an unparalleled facility, but many other cities throughout the civilized world--even those controlled by the warlords of the Bloody Coast--are host to a guildhall, which is a chapter house for guild members in that region. Only the guildmasters may authorize a new guildhall, which offers visiting members temporary living quarters, research and training privileges, access to local connections, and other perks. Every guildhall is overseen by one or more senior members assigned to the post.
Further out, most large towns, especially those with a fortification, will host a guild outpost that can provide limited benefits but immediate support to adventurers in the frontier lands. Outposts in settlements without a fortification are strongholds. Many of these outposts are founded by guild members who gain prominence in an area. Small towns and villages rarely have a guild presence, other than retired members who might live in the area or guild adventurers who may be nearby on a mission.
Guild members and even non-member adventurers in good standing with local authorities can purchase equipment, exchange loot for currency, and even, in some cases, purchase potions, scrolls, and other specialized gear from a guildhall or outpost (availability depending on the chapter's size and location.)
Members gain discounts on prices, as well as whatever ancillary services the chapter offers, which can include message couriers, bank vaulting of money or other valuables, and sometimes even access to "special" healing methods not available to the common person.
The Guild Ledger
This artifact is a powerful means by which the Expeditioners Guild tracks the heroic efforts of its members, and gathers the collective lore upon which they rely for the guild's wealth and power.
Every guildhall and outpost has a magic tome called its “ledger,” in which the chapter's agent registers information about activity in the region. These details include new member applicants, rumors and reports of trouble, member activity in the area, and any incidences or other knowledge that would be valuable to the guild and its other members.
What is entered in one ledger is magically recorded in the Master Ledger enshrined within the library in Meridia. The information it contains can be transmitted to any other ledger. Each ledger, in turn, contains a page upon which the guild agent can write a member or prospect's name to see all that person's guild records, banked money, and accomplishments.
The ledger may also be used to send a “summons” to a member anywhere in the world, enabling the message to be delivered to the member via the closest outpost to their current location.
No comments:
Post a Comment