Adventurer
To be an adventurer is a dream many in Avarha have but few truly achieve. It is demanding and dangerous, yet it often has significant downtime between jobs. The pay is often unreliable and the lifestyle nomadic. Those who do succeed in this line of work often do not continue with it into old age, often due to injuries sustained in the course of their work or the physically demanding nature of the career.
Career
Qualifications
There are no rules as to who can become an adventurer. Adventurers often work in groups for jobs due to the dangerous nature of the career, and these groups tend to be diverse in nature to best accomplish the work. The only true expectation is that the potential adventurer understands the dangers of the career and the jobs undertaken. Still, there is no governing body to the profession to prevent anyone from becoming an adventurer. Not even the Adventuring Guild truly controls adventurers, they merely provide jobs and guidance. Adventurers can operate on their own, outside the supervision of the Guild, if they so choose.
Career Progression
Adventurers get their start in one of a few different ways. They might be recruited by an established adventuring group that they meet in the course of that group's work, and remain with them either long-term or for a short while. This usually happens when the new group member helps them in some way, is helped by the group and has nowhere else to go, or has some skill or knowledge that the group needs to complete their job.
New adventurers may also form their own groups with friends or others they have met already. The group can then register with the Adventuring Guild to procure jobs, or seek jobs on their own.
Another common way for someone to become an adventurer is to respond to a public job posting that isn't exclusively offered by the Guild. Doing these jobs may require the new adventurer to work with a group, either one they find themself or one made for them.
There is no true linear career progression after this point. Adventurers may continue to work as long as they want to or can, taking jobs with the same group or with others. Having more experience may result in higher pay or more jobs, but there is no hierarchy. Eventually, adventurers who aren't killed or disabled during dangerous jobs choose to retire from the career. Some work with younger adventurers to offer them training or advice, while others leave the career entirely to find something more peaceful.
Payment & Reimbursement
Some jobs pay better than others, especially those offered by wealthy individuals. Private citizens can open requests for adventurers to help with any number of things, from helping to locate and collect rare materials to delivering messages through dangerous areas. The wealthier the requester is, and the more dangerous the job, the more the job typically pays. Adventurers often take smaller jobs when there are no other jobs to take on, or they want a break from the more dangerous work to help others.
Additionally, the Skywatcher Institute often offers jobs investigating reported odd events after Realm Conjunctions. These jobs typically involve reports of monsters, shifted landscapes, or other out-of-the-ordinary phenomenon that Skywatchers don't have the resources to investigate themselves or without assistance. These jobs typically pay moderately well.
Governments may also use adventurers to gather information, find individuals or items, spread false information, or pass messages. This allows them to avoid giving these tasks to anyone with close ties to the government, thus working at a distance. These jobs often pay very well, though they carry significant risk.
Other Benefits
The greatest benefit to being an adventurer is being able to travel across Avarha. Most adventurers enjoy learning about different parts of the world and different peoples who inhabit it with them. Some also enjoy simply helping people through their work, as well. While the pay isn't always great, choosing to be a member of the Adventuring Guild often allows adventurers to get better equipment either for free or at a discount, depending on the size and wealth of the Guild branch. Adventurers may also collect their own loot along the way, which they can keep or sell off later. Many enjoy seeing what they can find.
Perception
Purpose
While adventurers may have always been a part of Avarha's history, their true origin as a profession can be linked to the story of the Skywatcher Institute, as can the founding of the first Adventuring Guild. Skywatchers needed assistance investigating reports of strange activities surrounding Realm Conjunctions, so working with those who spent their lives doing such things made sense. Since then, the role of adventurers has expanded to a more generally helpful career, provided those who need help can pay.
Social Status
In general, most people in Avarha have a neutral attitude toward adventurers. While they may sometimes be troublemakers, especially in towns with ample taverns, their travel also means good coin for those who operate taverns, supply shops, and smithies. They are helpful in the jobs they take on, but can also be vocal in wanting more pay for those jobs. Some may find adventurers' questions bothersome, while others find them fascinating individuals to talk to. Retired adventurers who settle in towns and cities may be sources of endless stories to entertain their neighbors.
Demographics
Active adventurers tend to be on the younger end of the adult age range. They come from all walks of life and are of all races and genders.
Operations
Dangers & Hazards
Many of the dangers faced by adventurers come from the jobs they take. Investigations for the Skywatcher Institute may result in fights with strange creatures, for example. Jobs for governments could result in imprisonment as a spy, and potentially execution. Any job could involve being attacked by bandits or beasts on the road, becoming ill where there is no healing assistance, or running out of food. The dangers are endless, but so is the adventurer's desire to face and overcome them.
Every mother's fear is to hear her child declare, "I want to be an adventurer!" Many try and most will fail. A mother can only hope her child will return whole and well after the failure. Do your best to discourage them, for it will save you much worrying, suffering, and heartache.
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