Barktree Lions

The Barktree Lions is a guild based in South-East Arlec, founded in Hashin in **420PR** by Oda Yoshinaka. They quickly became one of the 3 big adventuring guilds in the region, expanding outwards for a more global reach later on. They can be easily recognised by a piece of bark from their Lion tree that is in the possession of every named member.

**Motto:** With bark on our body, we shall never turn away the chance to help the people, no matter how dangerous.

## Leadership

The region and global leadership of the guild is based in Iwakita, where the guild was initially founded (both are combined into a single council due to the global reach being minimal).

Below the global leadership, comes the council of branches, made up by the leaders of every nation's branch that make the trip every second year to meet together in different cities, usually Iwakita. Independent cities are still classed as a nation’s branch, making them represented in the council.

The branches themselves also have their own council, made up of chapter leaders from every major city and town that meet to discuss the general administration of the guild in the nation or city-state (independent cities don’t have this level of leadership). The leader of the council is called a branch leader.

Otherwise, each guild chapter is led by a Chapter head, usually the strongest or smartest adventurer in the chapter at the time, or had been in the past. Their position is passed on after their death or the branch leader requests otherwise.

## Members

Being one of the 3 big adventuring guilds in the region, the Barktree Lions contain a lot of strong members, rising up through the Awakened ranks. Members are recruited from the annual Awakened Games, where newly Awakened individuals pass a series of tests to determine where they stand with the other guilds.

In their home nation of Hashin, the number of Barktree Lions there alone is expected to be in the thousands, Iwakita home to 200 members alone.

The Barktree Lions has one SS-Rank member named Oda Tsuchi, and apparently 10 S-Rank members. Though most of their members are between high C-Rank and B-Rank.

## Organisation

As with any major guild, the Barktree Lions has a series of departments to help run and maintain the guild and organise things easier.

### Administration

The administration department deals with a lot of the paperwork and general logistics of the guild. They have their own sub-departments that help them run things. This group usually has a very minimal amount of Awakened, simply helping out where they can.

#### Library

The library sub-department maintains the libraries of every branch and chapter, ensuring a record is kept of everything that is in there, with copies sent to Iwakita every 5 years. If a person is looking for a specific book, it is the library sub-department that can find it for them. They are known for getting results within the week, despite the massive number of books they have.

#### Lion Tree

The Lion Tree is a symbolic and important part of the Barktree Lions. Their first tree was planted in Iwakita and have managed to plant some trees at different Branch HQ’s around the region. This sub-department deals with maintaining the tree, cutting off bark to give to new members of the guild, implanting their adventuring number, branch and chapter on the back.

#### Rankers

The Rankers sub-department is a simple department. They are the ones that monitor members and what ranks they fit into, administering the tests required to pass into the next rank.

### Legal

The legal department was once a sub-department of administration but has since grown into its own. The lawyers from here deal with the various nations that create certain restrictions and the Aliquam Guild that enforces and sets their own regulations.

### Lions

The Lions are the adventurers that go out and complete the quests issued to them. This is the biggest department of the guild and also the simplest.

### Public Relations/Marketing

The Public Relations/Marketing department deals with anything external to the guild. It is this department that helps market the guild to potential investors, and the lower members who market it to potential quest givers. They ensure that they have a strong reputation even at the worst of times to continue their revenue coming in.

#### Recruitment

A sub-department of Public Relations/Marketing is Recruitment. They are the ones who head to Awakened Games to recruit new members into their guild, or simply if they have scouted a member they like, they recruit them as well. Not all recruited are Awakened.

### Research

The Research department deals primarily with research. It includes a long list of mages and scholars that have joined the guild at one time, using its vast resources to study on their own or help benefit the guild with their own research. It was the research department that helped discover how to get the Lion Tree to give seeds, allowing them to plant it at other branch headquarters.

### Scouts

The scouts department holds an extensive network of people that help scout and determine what level or rank that a certain job requires. Another of their tasks is to find different dungeons that parties can complete, or in an expedition, help discover ambushes and monsters lurking in waiting.

#### Cartographers

The cartographers are a sub-department of the Scouts, using their network to create maps that they either sell or use within the guild to help adventurers.

## Locations

The Barktree Lions is one of the 3 major guilds in South-East Arlec, expanding some of their influence globally as well. Some of their guild chapters and branches includes (Bold represents capitals):

* **Aren**, Aren (Branch HQ)
* Bethune, Tamwull
* E'Themar, Independent (Branch HQ)
* Erstal, Tamwull
* **Gartaca**, Uhek (Branch HQ)
* **Helicules**, Carto Empire (Branch HQ)
* **Iwakita**, Hashin (Branch HQ/International HQ)
* **Nirva**, Nirvan Republic (Branch HQ)
* **Ralom**, Gonarundu (Branch HQ)
* **Roufort**, Tamwull (Branch HQ)
* Serdica, Nirvan Republic
* **Trosstin**, Trosstin (Branch HQ)

## History

In **410PR** there was an event in Hashin called the Iwakita Guild Uprising, where a bunch of adventuring guilds tried to overthrow the current Emperor and government. Oda Yoshinaka helped fight in the guild uprising against the rebellious adventurers, later winning in **411PR**.

Discovering the huge gap left by the Reapers Guild, Oda had extensive talks with Emperor Kitajo Takanaka about a Hashin-based guild loyal to the monarch. Even though the reputation of guilds other than the Aliquam Guild was dwindling, Oda decided to found the Barktree Lions, planting the Lion Tree seed which had been in his family for generations in Iwakita **420PR**. As the Aliquam Guild was already the regulator of all guilds at this point, Oda made sure to adhere to their regulations and procedures.

Due to the uprising, the guild only slowly grew, but eventually, with support of different Emperors, was able to become a proper guild.