The Guild

The

Guild

“ Why do we travel to remote locations?

To prove our adventurous spirit or to tell stories about incredible things?

We do it to be alone amongst friends and to find ourselves in a land without man.”

– Quoted in The Wildest Dream: The Biography of George Mallory, George Mallory

A

fter the First Crusade, the City was presented with a new problem: How to deal with the influx of money. The tops of the forested Spires were literally gilded. Horrible monsters brooded over ancient hordes of coins from a forgotten dynasty. The immense wealth brought by returning crusaders was a great boon and a terrible problem.

The Beggar Prince, who was far from a beggar, inadvertently devastated the price of copper and silver when he returned from the Crusade. Prices in the Omphalic Market greatly inflated. To rectify the market, he borrowed all the gold he could house from money-lenders at high interest, founding the Centrum Bank.

It was the Tyrant Emperor who imposed the 50% taxes on all coins returning from the Underworld. For every two coins plundered, one would join the royal treasury. Non-liquid assets, like gems, fine clothes, or works of art could pass onto the surface without being taxed: a surfeit of beauty to enrich the City.

To better regulate the flow of coin from the Underworld, the Tyrant Emperor further sought to establish control over who descended and ascended. It was decreed that all adventurers must register their names with the Cult, as well as some sign or symbol that they might be identified by. This led to the formation of guilds, with adventurers incorporating as collective units and borrowing from the human custom of heraldry.

When the Griffin King rose to power, many (very wealthy) adventurers asked him to unmake the Tyrant’s edicts—or, at the least, lower the tax rate.

He did not.