The Gatherers
Of the two groups that comprise The Great Tree Workers the Gatherers are far more visible and seen by the general populace. They are the ones that go out into the city to collect the various fallen items that drop from the tree from time to time. While they are encouraged to do so with care minding the populations homes and property they are not always so careful or considerate.
"At least the greenies ask you if they can come in, Marge had her door broken in last week when they found a float fruit on her roof..."
Public Agenda:
The Gathers job is to collect any items that drop from The Great Tree and return them to the Warehouse Quarter. They let nothing get in their way of acquiring what is deemed to be a product of the tree. They have the power to enter any home or business they wish to and in the case where Great Tree Fruit have damaged property are under no obligation to repair anything. Their sole mission is to acquire and retrieve any property that rightfully belongs to them, they serve the great tree and are quite a capable force of people. Publicly though they are supposed to take care to avoid fighting and damaging property in the pursuit of their goals.History:
Created by The Silver Council early on in the establishment of the city as it was quickly found that controlling the consumption of the goods produced by the tree in particular the Great Tree Fruit was necessary in order for the fledgling city to survive. Technically it was The Seekers who were created first as they were more of a military orginization in service to the protection of the The Great Tree and an arm of The Order of the Fallen Leaves. The Gatherers were at the time a small subset of the Seekers (the ones who failed in their trials) and it was only when the tree grew out to the Second Ring that a formal orginization of the Gatherers was created as the need for a large force to survey the entire city for goods was needed. It should be noted that there is still a small amount of resentment from the Gatherers to the Seekers as quite a few of their rank are failed Seekers so there is an amount of animosity towards them, this has not boiled over into open hositlities but at the border in the Inner Ring there is some amount of contention as to who is in charge.Attire / Common Garb / Quirks:
- Dark Green Wasitcoat over top a white button up shirt
- Silver tie with green tie clip (optional people a thing for someone to grab in a fight)
- Plain Black Slacks
- Goggles (Great Tree Amber glass to see the magical energies of the tree)
- Black gloves, symbol of station and rank embroidered on the back
Written Description:
A woman in a dark green waistcoat over top a white shirt, a rare sight in one of these silver tie with a green tie clip to keep it in place. On top of their head is a pair of beautiful brass goggles with golden amber lenses that seem to shimmer strangely. Finally on their hands is a pair of black gloves a small seedling embroidered in green.
Structure and Hierarchy:
The gatherers hierarchy is sorted into a very simple structure with only the most trustworthy individuals being inducted into their ranks at all. When you are talking about securing the resources that the entire city depends on you need to be sure that those who are going to retrieve them actually do so. However even the most trusted of individuals can be corrupted and while they do not employ more barbaric methods like The Iron Hands they do still hold their members to account should anything be found missing. A constant source of fear is other members of the Gatherers reporting each other as such they do not trust each other and even out right fear each other, in fact one of the ways to advance is to find a person to report.Sprout:
Responsibilities:
Lowest rank and most plentiful member in the Gatherers, these are also the new recruits and as such are only really trusted with Twigs and Third Ring for any gathering that might occur. Under no circumstances is a Sprout ever alone at least 5 are deployed and often with a Seedling.Loadout:
On their gloves is a small bud just pushing up from the ground, standard equipment for a sprout is the Amber goggles along with a fine blade and a set of Great Tree Bark armour plates hidden in the waistcoat.Seedling:
Responsibilities:
Next rank up is in charge of acquisition in the First Ring and Second Ring. While a lone Seedling is not unheard of it is still rare and pairs is the more usual norm. There is more trust in this rank and they can order around Sprouts but often time there is an amount of oversight from the Saplings that occurs.Loadout:
On their gloves is the first breaching of the sprout into a seedling, standard equipment is the Amber goggles, a fine magical blade, a Steam Pistol and some Great Tree Bark armour.Sapling:
Responsibilities:
Highest rank and easily recognizable by far better quality of clothing. There are only a few of these and most are responsible for tracking down large smuggling rings or other nefarious peoples that are trying to abscond with resources from The Great Tree. They often work in pairs though even one is quite a formidable force.Loadout:
On their gloves is a full sapling of The Great Tree in all it's glory. Their loadouts are a bit more personal and can requisition what they need depending on their mission though they still have the Amber goggles, in addition their clothing is no longer hand me downs or second hand and is often tailored to them.Notable People:
- Neran - First Sapling and unofficial leader. A Satyr of some strength rose to power in the Gatherers by exposing a fellow sapling as the leader of a massive smuggling ring.
Territory:
The Gatherers roam across all of the city but their true area of influence only extends to places where The Great Tree items are found. It is not uncommon especially in more dangerous areas of the city for Sprouts or Seedlings to go missing and often decisions are made in certain Branch's to abandon anything that might drop in those places.Notable Structures
They have a base of operations that they share with The Seekers at the bottom of The Great Tree called The Knothole In addition to this building, located in the Warehouse Quarter in the Second Ring are a number of large buildings that are used to store items from the tree when not in use. As this location holds an extreme amount of value for the city it's location is kept secret with multiple dummy locations spread out across the large Branch.
Type
Civil Services
Parent Organization
Controlled Territories
Distrust
The Gatherers believe that some of their ranks are providing goods to certain factories below the market rate in exchange for being cut in on profits or other methods of ensuring their cooperation.
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