The Adventurer's Society

***"This world holds many secrets to discover... Too many in fact!"***

## Synopsis

The Adventurer’s Society, often called the Adventurer’s Guild, is a group of well trained and equipped individuals who combine martial prowess and magical talent to complete missions far outside the walls of Edyn. These missions are often variable, but usually include scouting and surveying far off lands and potential threats to the city, delving into unknown ruins and dungeons to find treasures and lost histories, and to protect settlements towards the fringes of Edyn’s influence. They are led by Rektor Schmitt, a well esteemed former noble who is well known and highly regarded for his many exploits and powerful draconic bloodline.

## Functions

The Adventurer’s Society serves a multitude of purposes, as the term ‘adventurer’ is in itself a nebulous concept. To most, adventurer is a catch-all for all of the most powerful, heroic and legendary figures who venture out of Edyn to face up against the most deadly threats to the continent of Aera with nothing more than swords and sorcery. However, only a handful of those powerful and well regarded so-called adventurers are even members of the Adventurer’s Society to begin with!

In truth, the Adventurer’s Society is rather loose and unstructured in its organization. Members are expected and encouraged to form teams on their own, including even people outside their Society. These teams then are expected to either accept commissioned expeditions to carry out on behalf of the Society or create a pitch for an expedition. Teams with pitches are weighed against each other by the Society Hawks, a committee of archmages and grandmasters responsible for managing and supporting the many teams and hearing pitches. The best and most lucrative pitches are rewarded with funding, higher priority and even assistance from the Society’s best talent.

While there is technically no hard rules on what sort of expeditions may be commissioned or pitched, they tend to fall into three camps; scouting missions, archeological expeditions, and emergency first-response assistance. Scouting missions and first-response assistance are typically commissioned by the city itself, typically involving the need of highly skilled individuals to quickly and effectively deal with a situation ahead of the city garrison. Archaeological expeditions, however, tend to be pitched to the guild by individuals within it and often involve delving into dangerous ruins and dark dungeons in hopes of finding relics and artifacts of bygone eras.

## Institutional Culture

Being one of the more free form and loosely structured guilds open to both mages and warriors, the Society draws in all sorts of interesting characters. From wandering archeologists to stone cold, battle-hardened mercenaries, the Adventurer’s Society creates the strangest bedfellows. It’s free form and open nature, however, does leave the door wide open for some bad apples to join the bunch.

Due to the unfocused nature of the Society and the many different professions and specialties of its members, combat training is less of a concern for new members. Instead, new members are taught the basics of scouting, wilderness survival and ranging, and travel via horseback, sailing, teleportation and even by flying mounts.

Members of the Adventurer’s Society tend to be strong willed and independent. Many aspire to be heroes like their guild master, while others simply wish to use the Society’s resources and talent to help further their own goals and personal projects. Not all members are combat trained at all; there are a great many scientists and archeologists within their ranks who need the help of adventurers to complete their projects, as well as some who simply travel far out to ensure the health of certain ecosystems and catch poachers who threaten the natural equilibrium.

As teams are formed by the members themselves and not by the Society (except in extreme cases), there is somewhat of a problem with cliques forming. Members who tend to work on commissioned work tend to stick to commissioned work; likewise for those who sign onto pitches. Pitches to the Society Hawks tend to be highly competitive; it is not unheard of for teams with similar pitches to make attempts to sabotage each other.

## History

The Adventurer’s Society was first founded by Rektor Schmitt after he came to hate the Sanctum’s do-nothing leadership and policy of discrimination against sorcerous magic. Many from Highfell immediately recognized Rektor’s name and flocked to join. This groundswell in addition to accepting both warriors, mages and everything in between makes the Adventurer’s Society one of most populated guilds in the city.

From this initial influx, a great number of truly remarkable heroes have since sprung up to answer Edyn’s most dire calls to action. These heroes have stolen the hearts of many in the city, as well as caused some confusion. Many assume all members of the Adventurer’s Society would be exceptionally powerful and heroic individuals; however, many of heroes in the city are not members of the society whatsoever, and many of the society’s members take entirely non-combat roles.

## The Society Campus

The Adventurer’s Society is laid out like a massive university campus. It sports a number of housing halls for members of the guild to stay and form teams with other guild members. It also possesses a number of lecture and academic halls where new members are taught and more academically minded members can study and perform research. Lastly, it possesses administrative halls where information gathered by the guild is kept and guild missions are recorded and documented.

The most important of the administrative halls is the Hall of Hawks; a massive and resplendent cathedral-like building where guild events and celebrations are held, and where the grandmasters and archmages of the guild gather when hearing and judging pitches provided by members of the guild. The Hall of Hawks sports a sprawling and luxurious banquet hall that can house over a hundred guests, and an amphitheater where the guild makes announcements to the public about new discoveries and important developments.

In addition to these halls, the Adventurer’s Society campus grounds is home to many museums and art galleries, displaying many archeological finds to the public. These museums generate additional revenue to fund expeditions for the guild and serve as a window into the ancient histories prevalent across Aera.

## The Society Hawks

The Society Hawks are a league of grandmasters, archmages and seasoned explorers who make up the elite of the Adventurer’s Society. They are responsible for curating and posting commissioned work for teams within the Society to pursue, hear and determine whether or not to move resources towards a pitched expedition from members, and other managerial tasks needed to keep the Society running smoothly.

The Society Hawks are also powerful adventurers themselves and often head out on expeditions of their own; typically, they are more proactive than the grandmasters and archmages of other guilds. Additionally, Hawks are less likely to take on the training of members. This work is often instead commissioned and left to be handled by experienced teams of adventurers from within the guild.

## Notable Characters

* Rektor Schmitt
* Sareya Ennan
* Vendii Seven-Claws