The Banishers

If you ask people what they think of the Banisher’s Guild you will get many different answers, some will tell you they are charlatans, swindlers who will try to scare you with fairy tales in order to cheat you out of your hard-earned cash. Others will tell you they are holy men who try their best to cleans the world of the taint of anathema, while some look down on them as greedy vultures that prey on people in need. But in most cases, the common folk will praise their sacrifice for they are often the only ones they can turn to when confronted with problems of a supernatural nature.
The truth, as so often is the case, is a mixture of all of the above. Especially in the early stages of the organization’s history, there were a lot of charlatans and greedy Banishers. However, ever since a real joining ritual and the High Concilium were established the number of charlatans has gone down considerably. It helps that the joining ritual makes real Banishers easy to recognize, their eyes turn a bright shining blue. Because of this rather striking characteristic, it is easy for most people to differentiate between the real deal and a fraud. Besides the recognizable feature, some Banishers have started to hunt known frauds in order to discourage people from impersonating them.
Banishers have been around almost since the Valley was rediscovered. The valley has always been ripe with supernatural problems, the veil between Creation, the Underworld and the Chaos of the Wyld has always been thin in the Valley. As a consequence, there are many places where the Fair Folk, ghosts, demons and other creatures of darkness can more roam freely than elsewhere. At the beginning of the rediscovery (Faelor The Unshaken, most of these problems were handled by Exalts, armies or – in the case of ghosts – exorcists. But when civilization started to bloom the exalted and armies had greater concerns than the occasional ghost, demon or Raksha. Because of this, people started to call on exorcists for more than just ghost problems. While most exorcists refused these kinds of jobs, some relished in the challenge; they became the first of the Banishers.
Banishers are people with a varied skillset: they have in-depth knowledge of the different supernatural threats, are skilful fighters, and on top of that many of them have at least some spells at their disposal. In spite of this, most Banishers don’t survive their first contract, let alone make it through their first year. Those that do overcome those challenges often retire after a couple of years, for hiring a banisher, can be costly. If a banisher is hired to dispose of a ghost it often comes with an affordable price tag. After all, most exorcists would be capable of this as well. But if you want to hire a Banisher to remove a demon from a certain area, you better be prepared to pay a hefty price.
As a result of the many casualties and retirees among the ranks of the Banishers, there aren’t many active in the Valley at any given point in time. The largest cities often have a Banishers living there, but the smaller settlements rarely do. If people in rural areas want to hire a Banisher they will have to go to the more populated areas to find a one. There are of course several Banishers that roam around the Valley searching for jobs, but in many cases, they are the new and untested Banishers. The Banishers that don't perish during their first years or retire early on are well known throughout the region where they reside. These individuals are some of the most dangerous mortals in the Valley and most princes of the earth are warry of disrespecting them.
While the Banishers are often referred to as a guild, they do not operate the way most other guilds do. Every Banisher has his or her own way of handling things. They develop their own skill set and knowledge in a way they see fit and are not keen on sharing their secrets. Each Banisher also decides on his or her own asking price in order to complete a job. Most of the time Banishers operate by themselves or in small teams. Only in the most dangerous situations will more than four Banishers band together.

History

In the early days, the Banishers did not have a joining ritual. Anyone who wanted to claim the title could do so at their own behest. This all changed after Quinz and nine other Banishers were contracted to rid Spurswood of a particularly aggressive ghost named C’hadenladin. After hunting the ghost for several days the ten Banishers tracked him to the ruins of a small ancient hidden stronghold to the northeast of Rubellite. Here they fought the ghost and while three of Quinz’s companions perished, in the end, the seven survivors claimed victory over the ghost. After resting and burying their fallen allies, Quinz and his remaining companions discovered a largely intact library. Here they located an old tome describing a particularly useful ritual for Banishers for it would allow the subject to see and communicate with ghosts indefinitely. The ritual involved imbuing the subject's face with raw essence, fuelled by a small amount of starmetal (of which ample supply was located in the ruins). Recognizing its potential Quinz volunteered himself as a test subject for the ritual, even though the ritual promised to be excruciatingly painful.
Quinz survived and when the others didn’t notice any dangerous downsides over the following days, besides the obvious bright silver facial markings - not unsimilar to a tattoo - they decided to also partake. One by one the remaining six Banishers also underwent the ritual. However, one of them died during the ritual, blood trickling out of his eyes and ears, and another went crazy saying he saw the dead walking everywhere – even though the other didn’t see any ghosts – and after two days he jumped off the highest tower of the stronghold.
The remaining five Banishers decided that the ritual placed a too big burden on some people’s minds and decided that not just anyone was fit to undergo the ritual. As a consequence, they kept the ritual a secret and only revealed it to other accomplished Banishers who then had the choice to either undergo the ritual or not. After several decades no recognized Banisher in the Valley didn’t have the shining silver tattoo and it became something of a badge of office for the fledgling guild.
After claiming their bounty Quinz and his remaining four allies decided to make a sort of headquarters in the cleansed ruins. They started to repair the Stronghold and named it Arx Fugatrix. Every time a Banisher accepted the proposal to undergo the ritual he or she was brought to the stronghold and if they survived the ritual they were allowed to return there and use the library. After some time many Banishers started to see the stronghold as some sort of second home, a place where they were safe and among peers. The other Banishers also started to look towards Quinz and the other four survivors for guidance. They became the de facto leaders of the new order and formed the first High Concilium. When the Banisher’s guild rose in prestige and power so too did the resources available to the High Concilium which gave them the means to completely rebuild Arx Fugatrix.
Outsiders have heard rumors about the stronghold, but they have no idea where in the valley it is actually located. This is probably for the best because the Emberborn would not be happy to know that there is a stronghold in their lands that they do not control. This makes supplying the fortress a bigger hassle than it otherwise would have been and a lot of the Banishers’ their funds go to supplying the fortress in a secretive way. It is said that those who try to locate the Banishers’ fortress with evil intentions often get lost on the way there or simply disappear into thin air, never to be heard from again.

Recruitement

Recruits for the guild are selected by active banishers throughout their travels in the Valley. If a Banisher meets a person they think has it in them to become a Banisher – and if this person wants to become one – then the Banisher will start teaching the individual. How long the Banishers wishes to teach an individual before bringing them to Arx Fugatrix differs from Banisher to Banisher. Some teach their pupils almost everything they know and immediately present them to the Concilium in order to let them go through the joining. Others only teach their pupils the basics and then deposit them in Arx Fugatrix where they can be tutored by other Banishers that are there or so the pupil can read everything about the subjects in the library. All of these recruits are referred to as the hand-picked recruits.
From time to time, a Banisher will bring back an orphan that has nowhere else to go. The children are then educated and undergo mental and physical training. Many of them decide to either try to become Banishers themselves or help out in the fortress in another manner. Those that decide to try and become Banishers are trained by retired Banishers that live in the fortress and are referred to as the in-house recruits. Recruits hand-selected by active Banishers often look down on these in-house recruits because they weren’t ‘chosen’ by a specific Banisher. At the same time, the in-house recruits look down on the hand-picked recruits because they don’t know the culture and history of Arx Fugatrix – and by extension the Banishers themselves – as intimately as them that spend their entire childhood growing up there.
Besides these two groups of recruits there are also the legacy-recruits. Legacy recruits are the children of – often – very successful Banishers who want their offspring to carry on their legend. These recruits think of themselves as the elite, the nobles if you will, of the recruits. Their parents often hire many different tutors to educate the children in a wide range of subjects, ranging from sword fighting to reading ancient languages such as Old Realm tongue. They are also drilled extensively in the hope of improving their willpower. And where the in-house recruits get standard equipment and the hand-picked recruits use whatever their sponsors are willing to provide, the legacy-recruits have access to the best equipment money can buy. As a result, these recruits have the highest survivability rate of all potential recruits. But when a legacy-recruit fails and dies in the joining or is refused the chance to try the ritual, it brings great shame to his family. While if hand-picked or in-house recruits fail the joining, or are rejected, it isn’t regarded as that big of a deal.