White Eel

Aye, the eels feed on corpse and the guild feeds on all us in Halen. I'd say that's fitting name, indeed.

— A Halen fisherman

Summary

The guild was established by the Llysywen Wen in the Cymrian port city of Halen. In the beginning it dealt with smuggling forbidden goods, in particular the blind catfish from Galawa, the Cymrian fireflies and many rare goods, e.g., Tinkal, Mountain Ash bark, body snakes to name a few, with a cover up business being rare fabrics, dyes and spices.

Establishment

The initial placement of the guild was in the vicinity of the Justice Square in Halen. At that time, the city was considered rather small, so many have welcomed the new merchant with opened arms. Initially Llysywen Wen — the founder was cautious of potential threats, so he stayed low. The guilds building was kept neat but did not stand out too much. As the first guildmaster, Llysywen contracted ships and crew to get dyes, spices and elastic sap from the island of Ynys pell. White Eel soon became the first choice to turn to, should one pursue things rare and/or difficult to find.

Sources of income

While the first source of income came from spice and dyes, by no means did that mean, the original sources of income were abandoned. Quite the opposite. Within the crates with normal goods, where often hidden additional ones, which would make inhabitants of their regions shiver. Perhaps the most dreaded artifacts were the iron beeds of the lotus harvesters and Réalta talún from the places of burial with information on the deceased. Those, who knew Wenwen could gain access to some very rare plants, animal, fungi and minerals. Of course if they could make the guildmaster's time worth it.

Local reception

As time went by, the guild started to expand its greedy claws over the whole Halen and the local community became wary. It started to become clear that it will not get any better and that the guildmaster clearly made a deal with the officials to provide share gains with them for small blind eye on the town share.

Perhaps the mostly remembered event, which sprouted from that initial distaste was the Halen Gwaed massacre. It is said that in the aftermath of the confrontation with the guild's guards, some 50 people disappeared. Many locals still believe that the guildmaster knows the truth, but would not reveal it no matter what.

Ever since, the locals were much more careful and distanced, until the arrival of a mysterious watcher, who lifted their hearts and gave hope for the better. Year after year the townsfolk slowly began to treat the guild as if it was never there. If approached directly, they would remain polite, but otherwise, the organization and its leader may as well not be there at all.

Disbanding

A few years after the Halen Gwaed massacre, the guild began losing its clients and the sources of income started to shrink. It is said that the matter was discussed by the Artbearers on the Gathering and that the collective decided to shift the course away from the guilds reach. How big is the grain of truth in this story remains unknown, at least to the guildmaster.

Type

Guild, Merchant