Adventurer's Guild

“Glory is a grave you have to dig yourself.”

— Common saying among veteran adventurers

The Adventurer’s Guild is an institution of grit, skill, and contradiction—where honour coexists with mercenary instinct and one's legacy is inscribed in scars rather than on parchment. The Guild has existed in various forms for over two centuries, with its main office located in Eldcastle, a fortress situated on the Larovan plateau. As a place where warriors, thieves, assassins, artificers, and the desperate are shaped into tools of legend or survival, it is more like a crucible than a monolith.

The Guild's foundation is practical and frequently transactional, despite its exterior bearing the dignity of stone halls and banners. Adventurers are most commonly employed by noble houses, merchant consortia, and other private interests seeking talent without ties. The fortunate ones find themselves contracted by the royal treasury. The rest drift to piracy, to outlawry, to obscurity, or the East.

History

The Guild's precise origins are obscured by time and myth, but it has existed in some organised form for at least two centuries, as Forster's used to lead the Adventurer's Guild, residing in Eldcastle before rising to power and moving out. Its organisation has changed to reflect the continent's changing political landscape, from nomadic sellsword brotherhoods to official mercenary firms. The Guild's function as a middleman between the talented and the seeking—those with talent and those prepared to pay for it—has always been the common thread.

Its modern incarnation is governed by a council of specialists drawn from diverse disciplines: physicians, scholars, tacticians, and archivists. This leadership has often clashed with the more doctrinaire healing factions of the Arcanum and the Sanctum, both of which view the Guild’s secular, improvisational methods with disdain. The feeling is mutual.

The "Grounding Elixir" formula is one of the Council's most valuable trade secrets. Anyone who wants to become more attuned to Grounding must drink this liquid. Despite numerous attempts, no outsider has been able to identify its components; those who have attempted to do so either fail or are silenced before they can reveal the truth. The Council has considerable diplomatic influence due to this monopoly. By distributing the elixir only through neighbourhood stores, they are the only ones capable of producing new Grounded people in Larova. The Council's authority could be jeopardised if this power is abused, though.

A few years ago, the Council limited the supply of Grounding Elixir and increased its price. The move triggered widespread protests; outsiders were incensed about the higher entry barrier, and Guild members were unable to hire new employees or secure new contracts due to the disruption. There was an intense backlash. The remaining Council members and newly appointed leaders eventually overturned the decision to restore balance and public trust after a number of them were exiled.

Culture

Competence is the most important value in the Guild. Advancement is earned by trial rather than title, and allegiance is not freely granted. Its members are from all over the country and are only bound together by ambition and necessity. Eldcastle's training is rigorous and comprehensive, with a particular emphasis on a discipline called Grounding, a Guild-exclusive method of mental and physical conditioning. Those who are properly grounded are said to be able to handle insanity, resist manipulation, and withstand blows that an inexperienced man would take.

While the Guild does not preach loyalty to crown or cause, it maintains a code of conduct: one rooted in mutual respect and contractual honour. Still, the Guild is no stranger to betrayal; many of its finest have become pirates, smugglers, or blades for hire beyond the reach of any law.

Tension with other institutions is an enduring feature of Guild politics. Healing-related mages view the Guild's field medics as crude imitators; priests of the Sanctum regard their pragmatism as blasphemy. The Guild, in turn, views both with a mixture of scepticism and contempt, preferring efficiency over ritual and results over rhetoric.

Military

The Adventurer's Guild has a strong fighting force even though it is not a recognised army. With their extensive training in a variety of weapons, strategies, and magical contingencies, their senior members are among the most dangerous individuals on the planet. The Guild can carry out large-scale battle support, long-range reconnaissance, and precision strikes when enlisted in force.

The Guild does not engage in direct political warfare, but it is a tool frequently wielded by those who do. Though not aligned to any throne, its influence has shifted the outcome of civil wars, succession crises, and quiet coups. Its neutrality is carefully maintained—but only as long as the coin flows.

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