The Adventurers' Guild
Basement full of wererats that need to be kicked out? Family Heirloom gone missing after a thief snuck in and took it? Or maybe you need a dungeon delved into for lost knowledge? Or maybe you just need a group to guard your goods or family while on a trip? Set up a contract with your local Adventurers' Guild. Because you never know when the little contract you give might be even more grand than what you were expecting.
Structure
At the top of the Adventurers' Guild, there are the Founders. While not the original founders of the guild, they've taken the label for the leaders of the Guild. These are usually adventuring parties that have risen to the top of the rank together. They deal with the greatest threats that most of the world doesn't know about. Direct servants of gods, powerful archmages, and skilled warriors who have become mythic beings in their own right fill this roster.
Next are the Expedition Captains, these are parties that found Guilds in different locals. Each country usually has one group of captains to oversee all the guilds in said country but there can be even more should there be more guilds than party members. They work alongside the bureacratic side of the guild to make sure the guilds are running smoothly.
Below them are the Adventurers, split into four ranks. At the bottom is Copper rank, people who just started out their adventuring career. They are the most numerous rank in the world. Next is Silver rank, when the nobility and servants of monarchs start taking notice of them. They usually aid several cities and even countries. Gold is the next higher up, aiding monarchs and leaders of countries and even starting to aid entire continents. Platinum are the upper echelons of the adventurers and the rarest, fighting against threats that cover entire continents or even the world itself.
While Adventurers can come in different ranks, they can aim above their weight class in terms of threats with proper planning and even the aid of benefactors. It is why the guild has started shifting these to be used to describe contractst that are taken. There are additional roles in the guild: trainers, receptionists for the inn section and registering groups and contracts, as well as cooks and custodians.
Culture
The Adventurers' Guild is a twofold group: those that wish to explore forgotten places and unknown lands and those that wish to protect people against the evil that enroaches. The former constantly wish to have new experiences and meet new people, traveling far from home with the chance that they may never see it again. Those with wanderlust like Humans and Harengon often fit this bill. It often allows them to start up settlements and even nations of their own when they have explored enough areas. The latter are often in settlements started up by the former or by non-aligned nations, defending them from monster threats. It is often them who go into already explored areas and defend the people moving into the area and beyond. Lunari and O'rei'i are often the biggest members of this group.
Regardless, adventurers do not turn their back on their charges because they wish to defend them even against what they fear. Fear is caution in their minds when it comes to dealing with the unknown and threats but terror is death. Life is sacred to them, especially those that refuse to become like the monsters adventurers fight against. More so than they view their own lives when they throw themselves into danger. Which is why they view everyday as their last and live as much as they can.
Public Agenda
The guild has the mandated goal of exploring the unknown and defending the innocent. Their major enemies are the cults and outsiders of evil, especially the X'ith'ila and the Fiends that are constantly trying to bring ruin to Avestra and universe. They also wish to explore the underoads and attempt to reconnect the contintents both south of the Edrinia and Alus and even beyond. There have even been talks of adventurers leaving Avestra beyond and exploring the stars.
Assets
The most notable assets of the Guild is its lodges, nestled in every major city as well as in the wilderness for those too far from civilization. The lodges are split into three sections: a tavern, an inn, and a quest board/training area. Due to the widespread nature of the guild, each lodge is expected to be funded by Expedition Captains and the contracts adventurers take on. As a result, each guild is self-reliant but more than willing to aid the others on hard times.
Beyond that, the biggest asset besides their manpower is their gold. Many pay to put up contracts for the Guild and the Guild always takes a cut before posting the quest. It's never too large of an amount but between a bunch of adventuring groups taking a bunch of contracts, the Guild gets its fair share. And when the Founds and Expedition Captains give plenty of coin and Adventurers pay for lodging and services, the Guild makes a tidy profit for an area that not many others would be willing to do.
History
Adventurers have been common in Avestra since the day mortalkind first grew curious about the horizon. However, the first recorded instances are after the Under Empires, when the rest of Avestra started to build itself up from the fall of the Ancient and Under Empires. Harengon were the first to offer their services to explore new areas while Lunari and O'rei'i offered to be guards for caravans and settlements out in the wilderness. Other species started to join in these efforts but it wasn't until the Eternal Age when the Guild become a concept.
The War for Avestra made the wilderness and the unknown dangerous once more. And in the 8th and 9th centuries, when Daemons invaded and the Fell Dragon caused untold devastation, it caused the different factions and parties to come together under the original Mythic Founders to found the Adventuers' Guilds. Since then, they have been a staple of all regions in that section of Avestra and slowly, they've been spreading elsewhere so they can continue their mission.
Innocentes defende. Ignotum reperi.
Founding Date
8th-9th century Eternal Age
Type
Guild, Adventuring
Alternative Names
The Society, The League
Demonym
Adventurers
Tenuous
The two guilds are sides of the same coin, formed to defend against threats to both civilization and nature. However, the two haven't always seen eye-to-eye. The Hunters always view Adventurers as a naive group that choose to see the best in people. Too many times have they tried to spare monsters, whether humanoid or not, in some vain attempt of mercy. And too many times has it bitten them in the ass. And yet they continue to do it all the same.
Meanwhile the Adventurers see the Hunters as cold and ruthless in their methods against creatures, only caring about killing what they can and using what's left of their kills to augment themselves. While several Hunters have joined the Adventurers' Guild, they still feel that these groups go too far in their methods and are becoming the very monsters they swore to fight against.
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