Privateer's Guild
Founded, operated, and run entirely on the money and hard work of the civilians of the Spirals, The Privateer's Guild specializes in acquisition. This can be something as small as finding a building material or a missing person or as extensive as obtaining or restoring a flying vessel or collecting a bounty on a criminal or another individual of interest.
Ranks
There is a ranking system among the guild depending on the length of time in the organization and amount of jobs completed. There is also an introductory period in which a person must prove their worth before being allowed into the guild, this is referred to as the Initiate Period. Initiates must shadow a Fellow in the Guild for a number of months before the Fellow believes that they are ready to lead their own mission. The mission is done with minimal crew and must be completed within the time allotted (typically 5 days time) in order to receive the honors and privileges bestowed upon a full member. From there, some choose to continue to apprentice and crew under a Fellow or a Master for a longer period of time until the Guildmember makes enough coin on their own to afford their own vessel and pay their own crew. Not every vessel crew for runs and jobs are made up of all guild members, but that is generally the trend. Guild jobs offer excellent money despite the extreme danger that comes with them. Once a guild member has done enough jobs to 1. Purchase their own Vessel and begun captaining a crew, they are eligible to be promoted to the rank of Fellow and take on initiates themselves. From there, it is through merit and completed jobs that an individual to continue to rank up, Fellows become Master, and Masters become Grand Masters. Grand Masters no longer do jobs unless specially requested to do them, but they take on the responsibility of assigning jobs to others. The Highest Rank is the Master of Order, and this is appointed by vote of the other Grand Masters.
Types of Jobs
Surface Runs and Surface Duty
The most common job among the Privateer's Guild is known as the Surface Run. Surface runs involve, as the name indicates, flying below the green smog layer to the Surface, collecting and scavenging necessary materials as the job demands for payment, and then returning to the guild home base for turn-in and reimbursment.
The Surface has a number of perils in addition to the toxic atmosphere that requires filtered breathing apparatus to safely trek outside. The creatures that survived the floods evolved into monsterous apex predators that hunt anything that gives off the scent of life. Add in the perils of crumbling building structures after millenia of decay and ruin that could fall apart at any foot step, and the unpredictable weather that still plagues the ground area, the hazards are endless. Yet, the pay is very lucrative, and those with enough coin to commission a Surface Pay well for the dangers. These runs are the bread and butter of the Privateer's Guild and make up the large majority of the jobs.
All Privateer members must also at some point in their career do a number of months of Surface Duty, which is equally if not more dangerous. Scattered throughout the surface are sealed compounds that offer safe harboring of Privateer ships, a place for crews to rest and regather in the middle of a Surface Run, as well as medical assitance and repair if a Privateer Crew runs into trouble (and this happens pretty often). A Surface Duty assignment generally lasts about 6 months, and has to happen between obtaining membership and earning Fellow status. The Duty shifts can be long, lonely, and occasionally terrifying depending on who or what shows up that day, but these compounds offer the best chance of survival for those who risk to fly down to the surface in the first place.
Mark Jobs
Mark jobs involve people. Find someone, spy on someone, bring someone in dead or alive, or simply make them disappear are all possibilities if one is willing to pay high enough. These jobs will always go to the Grandmasters and Masters first before being handed down to lower ranking members as they take more finesse or more force depending on who and what is at stake. The first rule of Mark jobs is that only the Grandmaster handing down the assignment knows who is paying for the job, and no further questions are ever asked. Even authorities aren't given this information, stating Privateer's Privilege to get them to turn boot and walk away from the investigation. Being the one 'marked' is generally considered a death sentence of sorts. Only the best professionals take the job, and they will never stop until the job is done. To the Privateer's Guild, everyone has a price on their head, even their own sometimes.
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