Hunters' Guild
Disgraced criminal ring reforms with a renewed purpose
Introduction
La Guilde des Chasseurs was originally founded in 926 PCE as a mercenary enterprise. Its membership was comprised of landless nobles, young men raised in the culture and customs of the upper classes (including recreational hunting, a pastime forbidden to most commoners). These men, deprived of inheritance and titles for various reasons, nonetheless possessed the military training of their more fortunate kin and sought to put these martial skills to use in the name of profit. In those days the Hunters were enforcers contracted by lesser houses of the Capetian aristocracy to intimidate rivals and perform knife work (assassinations, burgling, etc.) when necessary.
History
Over time the emergence of the urban bourgeoisie gave rise to a new class of wealthy magnates whose power and influence revolved around the institutions and economies of chartered cities. As these new urban magnates came into conflict with the values and interests of the old aristocracy, they found their enterprises driven to the outlaw margins of polite society. Criminality ensued and the Hunters, based within the growing urban polity of Paris, slowly became embroiled in a new mob culture of extortion, theft, and the fencing of stolen goods. From a certain perspective, the early criminal houses of Capetia were engaged in the same activities as the traditional feudal aristocracy, only on a smaller, urban scale. The unifying characteristic between the crime lords and proper lords was their common use of violence as a means of profit. The Hunters' Guild excelled at violence above all else and plied their trade with great success for many decades.
The Paris Plot
During the treasonous regency of Mazarin Villeneuve, the Capetian Kingdom faced the very real possibility of dissolution or submission to the Phoenix Order's Golden Empire. Under the dubious leadership of guild master Gustave Guilloux, the Hunter's Guild conspired with Villeneuve and participated in the Paris Plot of 999 PCE. Refusing to follow Master Guilloux's orders to assassinate ministers in Queen Anna's government, two Hunters, a pair of sworn brothers named Francois Belmont and Sebastien Gauge, instead joined the Capetian Resistance. The old Hunters' Guild was destroyed during the ensuing conflict in which Belmont, Gauge, and their allies successfully opposed the Phoenix Order and preserved Capetia's ancien regime.
The Paris Plot
After the end of the Phoenix War, Belmont and Gauge returned to Paris and reformed the Hunters' Guild as a paramilitary mercenary organization. By returning the guild to its military roots, the brothers hoped to restore the reputation of the Hunters and support the democratic reconstruction of the Capetian state.
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