Guilds- Cicerones & Porters
“You show a person an infinite stairway, and somehow he’ll find a way to make a buck from it. Take the Porters and the Cicerones. They took the skills and knowledge and contacts they developed in the Dwimmerlaik wars and applied them to peacetime business travellersmoving cargoes, and all that. They’re pretty good at it too and pretty profitable. Still, being a Sherpa on the Grand Stair can’t be an easy way to make a living.”
– Cal’s Journal
Two allied guilds handle a great deal of business on the Grand Stair and in the Gossamer worlds. They are the Honourable and Ancient Guild of Cicerones: Guards and Guides, and its brother guild, the Ancient and Honorable Guild of Porters.
During the Dwimmerlaik Wars, the Cicerones served as scouts while the Porters were quartermasters and supply officers. After the wars, they banded together and formed allied guilds. The two guilds have been in operation for almost 1,000 years now and each have made names for themselves.
The Cicerones may be hired out as guides, and sometimes guards, across the Grand Stair. They maintain an impressive collection of carta and many of them are Walkers. An individual cicerone usually has a set number of worlds he escorts clients to, usually all within the same expanse. There are said to be a rare few cicerones who are Wardens and who may be hired to escort clients in journeys of exploration and discovery. Because of the nature of their business, they are usually capable fighters. Because of the time they spend alone scouting the Stair, they sometimes develop a reputation for being loners, and a bit unpolished.
The Porters handle the logistics of moving people and material from here to there on the Grand Stair and from Gossamer world to Gossamer world. They may be hired to provide animals, vehicles, drivers, and bearers. Most porters, whether bearer or driver, have an expanse, or perhaps even two, that they do business in. It is rare, but sometimes possible to hire porters to assist in travels into unexplored areas of the Grand Stair.
