Nuln Adventurer Guild
From Reydala
Contents |
History
The Nuln Adventurer Guild, often called simply the Guild around Nuln, was founded in the early 1300s as a loose organization of explorers that mapped much of the region of the Nuln Peninsula and surrounding environment. This original purpose was mostly lost after the vast majority of Nuln was surveyed and catalogued during the 1600s. The guild seemed destined to fade into obscurity until then leader Allen Omdan greatly diversified guild activities during the later part of the 1600s. The evolution began slow, mostly with the guild providing tours and escorts though the natural beauties of Nuln. Even in those days, the dangers of the Nuln wilderness often made the members more bodyguards than guides.
As a natural progression, the guild started opening it's ears to private requests in exchange for fees. Escorts remained plentiful, but more for traders crossing dangerous roads than explorers seeking to see rare plants and animals. They also started to make alot of money in monster clean-up businesses, and were often hired by the Nuln government when towns were threatened. They remained their good relationship with authorities and as a result many today consider them a division of the Nuln Republican Guard. The guild however remains a private organization.
The Guild was Nuln's primary savior during the age of dragons when winged beasts repeatedly laid waste to the landscape. Over the years the Guild had acquired extremely skilled troops, far more so than even the Guard. These combined with the Good Dragons were the only things keeping Nuln from complete enslavement. Though it was perhaps the guilds darkest hour as far as losses were concerned, they were Nuln's one light of hope.
Today the guild has offices in all major cities and many of the small towns across Nuln, operatives regularly undergo missions around the entire country. International work is rarer and mostly confined to Nuln, but there have been exceptions. The head offices are stationed in Todare, rebuilt in a more central location after the previous building in freehaven was destroyed in the dragon wars. The guild is Nuln's largest private organization, consisting of some 4,500 members. Today, service is the guild is considered military service by the government and members are expected to act as a militia in times of national crises. In return, members receive several perks associated with military service, including a decent post-retirement wage and better access to health care.
Hierarchy
Hierarchy within the guild is loose, but is generally known to have six ranks. Most officer level members are primarily employed for the organization of lesser members and client-guild repartee rather than actual case work. Promotions are given on a case-by-case basis, considering number of missions, number of successful missions, adherence to guild standards, and difficulty of missions assigned. Individual missions are assigned their own hierarchy based on an estimate of the skill required and the importance of the job at hand. Operatives can and often will do work below their rank. Gold and above mission classifications are somewhat rare.
Guild members can retract their mission candidacy at any time, though entering non-active status with missions currently assigned usually draws the ire of officers and leads to delayed promotions, if any come at all.
| Guild Ranks | |||
| Rank | Associated Medal | Typical Members under Command | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Commander | Emblem of Command | 4,500+ | |
| Commander | (Personalized to Commander) | 1,000-2,000 | |
| Master | Platinum Medal of Service | 100-500 | |
| Hunter | Gold Medal of Service | 13-25 | |
| Soldier | Silver Medal of Service | 7-12 | |
| Scout | Bronze Medal of Service | 3-6 | |
| Member | None | None | |
| Mission Ranks | |||
| Classification | Typical Rank required for Participation | Typical Mission Content | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond Class | Hunter+ | Extreme Supernatural Threats, Issues of National Defense against very strong opponents, any mission where failure could jeopardize national security or lead to international incident. | |
| Platinum Class | Hunter, Soldier | Missions requiring extended conflicts against numerous threats, supernatural or otherwise. Missions with conceivably high mortality rates in case of failure. Missions dealing with coordinated enemy offensives from intelligent sources. | |
| Gold Class | Hunter, Soldier, Scout | All Governmental Work is at least this rank. Monster Hunt Missions, Monster Lair cleansing, very important item retrieval and escort missions. | |
| Silver Class | Soldier, Scout | Criminal Countermeasures, Fugitive retrieval, limited scale conflicts. | |
| Bronze Class | Scout, Member | Surveillance, low-risk escort missions, most non-combat concerns. | |
Deployment
Guild members are scattered throughout the country of Nuln (and a few in walstad), only very rarely are members sent on missions in groups larger than twenty members, with the average being closer to three or four. Even in large scale missions, members will usually break down into smaller squads that operate more or less independently with some coordination from a superior officier. Usually members of Similar rank are grouped together with one squad member acting as leader, for example, four members working under one Scout, or six soldiers under the command of one hunter.
Selection Process
The guild does not scrutinize their applicants before accepting them, employment usually amounts to visiting a guild office and signing the appropriate forms and contracts. Problem members are usually weeded out before they reach Scout rank, and definitely before they become Soldiers.
The guild has the ability to suspend or discharge any member it deems fit at any time. During either circumstance, they will no longer have access to guild benefits or pay until reinstated.
Clients are carefully scrutinized before their requests are accepted. The guild does not tolerate pranks and has the power required to persecute those making fraudulent offers. Some guarantee of payment is usually required as well, usually in the form of a down payment or collateral. How much a client is charged is down to the judgment of the resident officer handling the request, but usually takes into account many factors including risk, time required, and any start up costs or fees. Bronze class missions rarely cost more than 100 GT, Diamond Class requests can run up to millions of GT.
Ethics
The Guild has a practical approach to mission ethics, they encourage the use of stealth and deception where appropriate in order to save lives or limit public disturbance. Unnecessary death is strongly discouraged when dealing with humanoid targets. Damage to people and property not involved in the mission is to be kept to an minimum level. Excessive Guild casualties or recklessly endangering missions is staunchly opposed.
In pursuit of maintaining these ethics members will receive bonus payments for actions in accordance with these guidelines. Likewise incidents contrary to these ethics will result in pay cuts. The group is held communally responsible, the actions of one will reflect upon the actions of the entire group except in extreme circumstances. To further ensure guild ideals, all missions of Gold rank and above will see the operatives equipped with Guild badges that will record everything seen and heard by its sensors during the mission.
Classes
The Guild does not discriminate based on occupation, all are welcome under the jurisdiction of the guild, even civilians. Non-combat personnel will rarely rise above Member rank, but still are welcome to mission payments and acknowledgment of work well done. The guild has a number of skilled artisans and craftsmen under it's employ, mostly tradesmen who take advantage of the guild's policy to screen clients well and pursue those who try to escape payments.
