Institutions
Introduction
Many different organisations exist across Apocrypha, each with unique histories, methods, and motives.Progressing from Guilds and Unions to Criminal Entities, not all groups are equally recognised, or legal.
These are not the only organisations - rather those widely recognised, and with an international presence.
Descriptions are separated into two paragraphs for ease of reading, with each covering their own topic.
These cover activities, appearances, and locations - and origins, methodology, and leadership structure.
Compendium
- Agents of Avant: Informants and providers of shelter, seeking to oppose tyranny.
- Arcana-Mysterium: Arcane universities of students, teachers, and magical services.
- Artisans' Assembly: Crafters, who share and assess their creations for quality.
- Battlehire Corps: Hired mercenaries, sellswords, bodyguards, and enforcers.
- Blackguard Order: Bandits, draisine-hijackers, hostage-takers and ransomers.
- Cindershore Corsairs: Magnanimous thieves and buccaneers, who aid the needy.
- Circle of Creation: Druids, rangers, and all who revere - and protect - nature.
- Coil: Assassins, poison-brewers, and drug-dealers, serving the Cloaked Serpent.
- Criminal Entities: Groups that are illegal at best, and outright malicious at worst.
- Dancers of the Crescent: A monastic order, which wishes to help the guilty atone.
- Dead-Rose Syndicate: An archetypical thieves' guild, using blackmail to thrive.
- Dro-Madan Athlon: Athletes and acrobats, who compete every three years.
- Grey Riders: Giant-ram cavalry, who democratically vote on conflict resolution.
- Gravewhisperers: Guardians of the dead, granting closure to all lost souls.
- Guilds and Unions: Respected, non-violent groups, often with a global presence.
- Licit Combatants: Those outside militaries, possessing the legal authority to fight.
- Lochskalds College: Bards, who tell histories of wrongdoing by those in power.
- Losh'ghar Warband: Zealots of Gruumsh, who revel in wanton acts of bloodshed.
- Lustrous Aegis: Devout guardians of Bahamut, travelling and protecting the weak.
- Lyceum of the Scribes: Erudites, who aim to make knowledge freely available.
- Melody and Malady: Masked revellers, who aim to bring merriment and dismay.
- Merchants' Guild: Moneyed interests that arrange transportation and insurance.
- Merchant-Privateers: Trained marksmen who deliver high-value commodities.
- Miscellaneous: Assorted wide-spanning groups, which lack political influence.
- Physicians' Society: Healers and medics, sharing medical knowledge and supplies.
- Requisitors: Item-retrievers and appraisers, who authorise writs of ownership.
- Snowsmile Company: Illegal arms manufacturers, dealers, and contractors.
- SongZhen Ascetic: Spiritualists and pacifists, striving for simplicity in life.
- Stormravens: Folkloric bounty-hunters and assassins of corrupt aristocrats.
- Sunscour Gladiatorial Elite: Monster hunters and matadors, performing for glory.
- Vengeful Oath: Blood-hunters who exterminate slavers and monstrous threats.
- Wayfinders' Association: Providers of transportation, navigation, and lodgings.
- Zephyrous Watch: Airborne scouts and couriers, monitoring the skies for danger.
