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thieves_and_traitors

Thieves and Traitors

The Outlaw Guilds

As the merchants have their guilds in Acryn, so do the thieves and assassins. Much like among their more legitimate brethren, there are many different guilds within the city's underworld, each loosely specialising in a certain kind of illegitimate activity, most prominently theft and assassination (though the former has many sub-divisions, while that latter has guilds of wildly varying quality). Fierce competition between the various guilds often leads to violence, with a tacit acceptance that almost anything is fair game when it comes to trying to get ahead - apart from involving the authorities, which is the ultimate faux pas, and liable to get a guild wiped out to a man or woman for their breach of the rules.

The True Council

While the outlaw guilds are in constant competition, an understanding arose in the wake of the revolution (as law enforcement became more determined and less easily bribed) that there would always be certain shared priorities and interests that would benefit all of them. An agreement was reached among some of the more prominent gangs and guilds that regular meetings between underworld notables to ensure that any threats to their entire existence were dealt with would be beneficial. Therefore, a deal was made - every three months (or more often in times of particular crisis), a peaceful meeting would occur between the leaders of all gangs who could make a down-payment of 270 Riel. The money collected from those attending would be diverted towards addressing any major issues if needed, or towards a night of celebration for the underworld if not. These meetings have come to be known as the True Council, as a joke at the expense of the real government.

Members of True Council Guilds

After the Upheaval

The upheaval has shaken up the underworld something fierce. Many guilds had evolved to prey on quite specific aspects of Acryn society, and as the city was shaken so were their livelihoods. In particular, guilds of highwaymen and pirates have found their targets reduced dramatically, and withered somewhat, whereas assassinations have been in high demand due to the turmoil in the city. The True Council has bee consistently meeting closer to every one month than to three, which has been damaging the ability of already struggling guilds to be involved in it, further freezing them out. Crime certainly isn't going away, however, and a new landscape of guilds has begun to stabilise under the city.

Revolutionaries

The council is considerably more representative of the people of the city than the monarchy ever was, but is nonetheless heavily walled off from the less well-off in the city, and there are plenty within who resent this fact. Most will suffer in silence, but a few will rise up and fight against the injustice in their lives.

Whereas a network of understanding exists among Acryn's thieves and murderers, most revolutionary groups work largely on their own, unwilling to trust any outsiders with their secrets for fear of discovery by the city watch. These groups engage largely in sabotage, rabble rousing and occasional attempts at assassination. A very few have public, peaceful faces as reformers or compaigners for change, and while they often face harassment by the watch, the laws of Acryn protect peaceful protest against government (a hangover from the post-revolutionary fervour in which they were written that many guilds and noble houses would like shot of).

Part of the reason the various groups do not usually coordinate is that thier precise goals differ. Some seek only minor reform, such as the addition of popularly elected seats on the council. Others seek the entire current system torn down and replaced with government by the people (the exact details of which are a subject of yet more disagreement). Since the Upheaval, however, there has been an upswing and a small amount of conglomeration within the more extreme groups. The common people of Acryn suffered badly in the immediate wake of the Upheaval, and there are plenty who believe that the city did not do as much as it could to protect them, and that personal interests were allowed primacy over the collective good - after all, it's not like any nobles starved when the shortages started, while a good number of common folk died on the streets. Along with the council, the Wayfinder's guild is also a major target of the ire of these groups, as they can be (quite correctly) seen as monopolising a skill that is simply necessary for survival in the new world.

Members of Revolutionary Groups

Royalists

Separate to all other revolutionary elements, and dependant on the times either more or less feared by those in power, are the Royalist groups within the city. Most other revolutionaries will not touch these groups, as they generally intend to put the power in the hands of fewer people rather than more. Further distinct from the other revolutionaries, royalists come from every wedge of society, all the way from patriots raised on old stories among the poor through Warrior priests dreaming of a standing army restored to old-guard nobility plotting in smokey rooms.

Royalism has never been more buoyant than since the Upheaval. As hardship has fallen on the city, the voices calling for a strong hand of leadership and putting out seditious pamphlets extolling the virtues of a new monarch are being listened to like never before. The only problem is the same one that plagues the revolutionaries - a lack of unity on exactly what they want. Some groups point at those in house Darrish or Graves with close relations to the old royal bloodlines. Others demand a glorious return of house Cargan to the city. Still others claim that the extinguishing of the Salic line was not as complete as the Council claimed in the aftermath, and that an heir to the throne lives in secret within the city, waiting for its darkest hour to come before coming forth to claim her (and there's an unusual degree of agreement that it's a her) throne.

Members of Royalist Groups

thieves_and_traitors.txt · Last modified: 2015/05/14 21:08 (external edit)