The Rat Catchers

Not long after the reconstruction of Ruathawaul, as the Alvar was transporting people to safety ahead of the looming crisis, rats swarmed from the labyrinth. Alvar scholars decried the phenomenon as only recently Ruathawaul was only just so much space debris and it was unthinkable that anything has survived. The rats were swiftly exterminated and they continued with their plans. However, more rats appeared and continued to trouble the refugees. Consumed with transporting entire planets of populations, the Alvar selected some leaders from the refugees and told them to organize a group to control the rat problem and to find the source of it. Within days all the surface rats had been driven back into the labyrinth and small groups of designated people were exploring the labyrinth in search of the origin of all the rats.
As time passed, the organization spread and established itself as a guild. They made it their primary business to study the labyrinth and control the spread of rats, keeping them below the surface. However, this also made them the first organized group with authority that was not the Alvar themselves. They were seen as a more comfortable go-between for all sorts of problems, most of which were outside the scope of their mission. The Rat Catchers' Guild established a separate arm of troubleshooters to deal with the problems the greater public had. Within the Guild this branch was perceived as a punitive assignment. Many times these members treated these jobs as burdens and their interactions with the public were abrasive.
Meanwhile, for those members working on the primary mission, to delve into the labyrinth and find the source of the infestations, they did indeed find what they were looking for. Woefully unprepared the discovery tore at their sanity. The entire guild moved into the labyrinth, leaving their surface offices to the public troubleshooters. They had found colonies of bipedal sapient creatures, they had tails, were covered in hair, and had long faces. In many places, a sickly green miasma permeated the air. Many chanted and appeared to worship triangular icons, and others built strange devices that concentrated the miasma. 
Word of the discovery was sent back to the Alvar. No response came. Leaders in the guild assumed it was because they were defending against the Skyfall. They also assumed these Nezuthrope, or Nezu as they came to be called, were in league with the enemy and were either spies or subversives. Rashly, they staged an attack and exterminated several colonies. Thereafter they only discovered abandoned colony sites, a few scattered rats, and saw no traces of living Nezu.
When the Alvar scholar finally arrived to verify the findings of the Guild, they upbraided the leaders for attacking the Nezu. Their mission was discovery, not engagement let alone to attempt eradication. While the inscriptions in the ruins were difficult to decipher, it was possible to achieve partial translations. In the Nezuthrope colonies the inscriptions contained words for "agreement," "home," "defend," "return," and implied they had some sort of contract with a being to provide a service for a reward. The scholar harshly informed them that they just antagonized an entire species that was bound to Ruathawaul for its defense far before the time the Alvar came to Bloheron. It might no longer be possible to entreat them as an ally. The Rat Catchers would now have to continually guard civilization against the Nezu, be their target until a way could be found to unravel that ancient contract and free the Nezu.
With the seeming disappearance of the Rat Catchers, and the public being less than satisfied with their troubleshooters, rivals for their work began to organize under a central leadership. Animosity between the two Guilds was great, but in the end the new Guild won out and the Rat Catchers faded into the shadows and completely focused on a grim, unending war.

Type

Secret, Brotherhood