The Huntsman's Guild

The Huntsman's Guild, also known simply as "The Guild" is a private, loosely organised group of professional freelance bounty hunters, assassins and privatised mercenaries from across the world, the Guild has various safehouses and establishments across the globe known as "lodges", many near or directly in warzones or particularly crime-ridden city areas, usually pubs and bars, others disguised as private animal-hunting clubs. In recent years the Guild has attracted superpowered neos, alts and cybrids.

### **History**

The group's actual foundation is somewhat mysterious, with some saying the original guild was the result of a New Mexico sheriff in the 1880's who used Bounty Hunters to make himself rich, but whose fate was eventually sealed when one hunter betrayed the sheriff to take his riches for himself. This led to a cascade of hunters trying to hunt one another for the money, only to have them all hunt themselves to death; some stories say the sheriff was a government plant who was sent in to eliminate sheriffs and hunters by turning them all against eachother in an effort to establish a legitimate government police force to smaller New Mexico townships at the time in an effort to curb freelance vigilantes. After these events the stories became simply legends of cowboys in the Old West.

The organisation as it is today was thought to have started as a private "security aid" in the early 1970's by a number of possibly millionaire investors and paramilitary leaders who wanted certain political or strategic assets in other nations eliminated off-the-books and the organisation became split into several factions across the world linked by a surge in modern communication technology.

At some point after 1972 the governments of various Western nations, including the US and UK used the Guild to form teams, finding it more cost-affective that training their own specialised assassins and soldiers and having the advantage of being little more than faceless, disposable pawns to them, and many of the backers gained a huge profit from the use of the Guild in this manner; however as any government in theory could use the guild, teams were pitted against teams in secret missions, which eventually led to a deep-rooted contempt and mistrust towards fellow members, and whoever gave them their orders; Many modern Lodge bosses are absolutely against government involvement in the Guild, and rules limiting or utterly disallowing a Hunter working for governments was introduced in the 90's; although this didn't stop some government agencies or individual agents recruiting Hunters by posing as private contractors and clients.

The early guild factions were involved heavily in the latter part of the Cold War, Yugoslav Wars, Eritrean War, Angola and Ogaden and the Invasion of Granada as well as numerous other smaller conflicts and militia activity across the globe, often using destabilisation techniques or downright terrorism, although this depended on faction and contract.

However the truth about the US's involvement with the Guild was leaked in 1979, likely by a guildmember (possibly Cassandra Nieves) where it was claimed use of the guild and dome of it's more darker tactics was in serious violation of the Geneva Convention, and over the years the US, UK and various European nations denounced the use of Guild, and a massive coverup began, denying these nations were involved in such activities.

After the loss of their investors in the late 80's due to bankruptcy, and the resulting political assassinations that followed the government's pull-out, many of which were thought to have actually been from within The Guild itself from members, particularly lodge Bosses who were fed up of limited say and power over their investors' and government's direct orders and financial greed. While the guild lost most of it's monetary backing as a result, and the involved governments assumed the Guild simply died out, it actually continued to operate within smaller confines and even loosely so than before, rarely having the resources or political reach to send hunters to other countries any more, at least not without international immunity or without being caught and branded as terrorists themselves, and began focusing on fighting smaller-scale internal terrorism or individual targets, making private deals with organisations or individual clients. This allowed lodge bosses to gain more power, and many believe it was this that the assassinations may have been for in the first place; to shift power to the bosses.

### **The Deal**

After the leaked evidence of various governments use of The Guild, said governments formed a deal with what was left of the Guild; the Guild had the last say, and asked these governments to stay out of their business, and they would likewise not involve themselves any further in major political incidents, particularly the hunting or assassination of politicians. The Guild warned the government that breaking this deal, or interfering with guildmembers, lest they have committed largescale crimes and destruction, will result in this information being leaked. The involved governments agreed to these terms.

### **Purpose**

The current primary purpose of The Guild is to allow freelance hunters, assassins and mercenaries to share information and take jobs; often a hunter would meet potential clients within the relative safety of a guild "lodge": a Guild-owned clubhouse, bar or pub, to discuss terms, tactics, and most importantly pay without worry from client enemies.

Clients can also anonymously post jobs and requests in a lodge which hunters can pick up at "The Board".

The Guild also aids in the formation of mercenary teams and planning paramilitary operations for bigger missions, although this depends on the lodge and it's resources, and hunters are expected to bring as much of their own equipment as possible; Team leaders like to pick and choose certain members based on their skill set and abilities, and if a mission is important enough, will even recruit from outside their own lodge, even in other countries if they are after the skills a certain well-renown Hunter.

The guild also hosts the trade, sale and maintenance of equipment, weapons and armour.

As the Guild is now privately split in ownership by each Boss, a cut of the pay goes to the continued operation of The Guild, but as The Guild is loosely organised, lodges in different regions and countries can ask for as much or as little as they choose, which can cause quarrels and feuds between individuals and Guild factions loyal to various lodges are common, while others act more individually, happy to pay whatever the Guild request so long as they get a fair amount. This also leads to some lodges looking more run-down than others that function with a better level of security and technology.

Guild Lodges also act as clubs and relaxation zones for hunters on downtime and most lodges function as bars open to the general public to maintain an active front in the public eye; this allows them to operate as perfectly reputable businesses that also add to the income of said Lodge.

### **Structure and Organisation**

The organisation of the modern Guild is both simultaneously rather complex and quite loose, it is known that the old investors and the various governments involved wanted to keep the Guild private at all costs to avoid political treason, but bankruptcy, information leaks and assassinations left the Guild swept under the rug by their governments and without monetary backing in the 90's, forcing lodge owners, known as lodge-lords and ladies, also known as "bosses", to no longer act as intermediaries between those old backers, but take the money directly. While some owners saw this as an opportunity, many struggled with the complexities of finance and the stress of running a technically, very illegal business, and overhauled the lodge management to a rather simplistic payment and transaction system, even accepting cash-in-hand which was previously not allowed.

The Huntsman's Guild as an international entity technically dosn't exist anymore, but is an umbrella term still used to loosely organise each Huntsman lodge as safely functioning and communicating units across the globe, and currently the highest power and money is in the hands of the lodge owners.

The Huntsman's Guild have no influence in a manner in which a hunter conducts their business, keeping each member technically freelance even as part of the Guild, which includes the use of black-market weapons or illicit deals, considering most of their work routinely breaks laws, and the Guild also exists to act as a denial system for their hunters, although as long as they are not involved in direct high-level terrorism many lodges allow a verity of work. It's even been a case of two opposing parties meeting in the same lodge or even aiding gangs for territory. Although gangland work is considered generally frowned upon by a lot of hunters and there is an unwritten rule to not involve themselves in gang warfare, many simply refusing outright as a lot of their targets for the guild can be gangsters. Others have no problem with it, sometimes getting payed by both the guild and the gang in some form, and happily betray crime lords that may have a chance of putting huge bounties on their heads themselves.

But as long as they can pay most lodges are very lax about what they get involved in; with each hunter free to take or leave jobs as they please or do private missions outside the Guild; although some Guild factions do not allow this until a hunter has proven their loyalty; this has led to conflicts between Guild factions as there is no written rite that says a Lodge has to invoke loyalty to one faction over the whole Guild.

#### **Bosses**

Sometimes known as "Lords" and "Ladies" but more often imply the less-formal "bosses", the de facto landlords and landladies of lodges hold the most power and are able to control their lodge in almost any way they choose, from matters of finance to the operation of hunters within; they have the ability to accept, deny and take away Guild membership and even order burn notices on clients or hunters. While most bosses were previous bounty hunters or mercenaries in some form, a lot were behind-the-scenes operations involved in espionage and online tracking and do not physically fight; this of course dosn't mean they can't fight or at least extremely heavily armed and protected. Many lords and ladies are required to have a broad sense of acceptance and tolerance to both the rowdy nature of The Guild and it's members, and the different tactics, opinions and methods they may use; but are encouraged to keep their Lodges relatively civil and not get involved with personal fights.

#### **Lodger**

Lodgers are usually either non-guild members who have been granted temporary asylum due to a hunter's mission, which may involve the protection of an individual for a period of time, or young non-combatants who are working for the Guild in some form, usually menial jobs such as cleaning, maintenance, cooking or serving drinks which they hope may lead them to higher positions as either lords/ladies or as hunters; many, however quit within the first year after what they witness and low-level lodge-workers have a high turnaround. It's often the case that many lodgers in protection are within a Lodge for so long they begin helping out, either though a need to keep their worth or simply because they have nowhere else to go; many bosses hope a hunter will bring back a lodger for them as a good hand or two is sometimes more than needed.

#### **Active Hunters**

Actives are hunters, assassins and mercenaries who employ physical tactics, either direct action or in terms physical espionage, Actives are field-based fighters who work best in the heat of the moment; many AH's have to have a degree of fast-thinking and tactical skills, have to be extremely talented physical fighters and more-than-proficient at the use of weapons. Many Active Hunters thrive in dangerous, life-threatening scenarios thinking with knife-edge decisions and many are known to actually enjoy combat and the thrill of the chase; AH's are more likely to take less pay for more adventure, even if it gets them severely injured.

#### **Passive Hunters**

Passives are mercs who use subtle-yet-effective and nonphysical means to hunt, usually PH's are doxers and 'keyboard warriors', who like to use their skills over technology and systems to find, locate and even intimidate opponents without physical combat; this makes many of them prideful in their skills and Passives are more likely to demand more payment over the use of their 'intelligence'. Passives and Actives work especially well together, despite arguments, as Passives can direct Actives to their prey with surgical precision; something Active Hunters are not often known for.

#### **Active-Passive Hunters**

Rarely a hunter comes to the guild who can do both active missions and passive network hunting, but the true definition of an APH is either those who use non-fighting influence in on-field situations such as field-hackers or mechanical fixers or saboteurs, who require some form of low-level self-defensive or fighting skills or weapon usage or brilliant negotiation abilities. APH's can also include extremely-long-range hunters such as expert marksmen and snipers who prefer no-mess, highly-informed manners of hunting in which they spend as little time in a dangerous scenario as possible from hidden areas.

### **Lodges**

There are several lodges across the planet which have divided some of the Guild into 'factions' loyal to each Lodge, these factions are sometimes known by nicknames.

While many hunters and lodge owners demand these factions should not exist, friend groups and acquaintances have steady built up somewhat of rivalry between these factions; while for the most part the rivalry is not against eachother, physical conflict is not uncommon and while bosses prefer to not get involved in personal matters, and even encourage a bit of healthy rivalry, do not tolerate violence against the lodges themselves or encourage such rivalry while on important missions; but again this is all down to the individual lodge Boss.

#### **Araña Acampar**

The Argentine Lodge, known locally as Araña Acampar (Camp Spider) exists on the outskirts of Buenos Aires as a private militia operation, and previously had numerous smaller Lodges in smaller towns nearby because of local infighting, has one of the highest number of hunters, particularly in that a lot of it's members are part of, or consist entirely of paramilitary rebel units that were employed by the US to fight against the far-right coup in the 70's and 80's previous to the Guild's departmentalisation. The faction have become somewhat disconnected from the bigger Guild, dealing with their own issues locally and have an often violent rivalry with Brasília Maxima. The Argentinian hunters are known as Tarantulas. The boss of Araña Acampar is Mateo Peralta, a master marksman and ex-sniper.

#### **Bar Tiroteo (Defunct)**

The Spanish faction of The Guild has strong links to the Mexico City faction but has recently been somewhat split between the Catalan Independence Movement, with many members pitted against eachother, the boss of the Barcelona lodge known as Bar Tiroteo, Hugo Muñoz and his wife Suzi, themselves residents of Catalonia, were said to be slightly biased against clients who didn't support Catalonian Independence, leading to quite serious violence between Hunters, enough to shut down the lodge in 2017 when it was blown up during the Independence riots. The Muñoz's, however opened a smaller unnamed safehouse in Madrid under their own house. The Hunters of Spain and Europe are known as the Bloodhounds.

#### **Brasília Maxima**

Like the Argentinian faction, the Brazilian faction of the Guild, that partly-fronted as Brasília Maxima Forces Recruitment, had little communication with the guild outside South America throughout the 70's and 80's, often fighting against and with governmental forces or whoever paid the most, and while possessing nowhere near the numbers of their Argentinean Lodge, was of of the first few to actively possess superpowered mercenaries in the form of Silgo and later Antônia Da Cruz whose codename derived from the guild, though she later quit to partly work with the government in the form of Força Corajosa, and later Brasilia Maxima came into conflict with Maxima herself who felt she betrayed the group. The Brazilian hunters are nicknamed the Vipers.

#### **Club Blue**

One of the biggest still-active lodges of the Guild, Club Blue was located in South Beach, Miami and functioned as an enormously popular bar and party venue. In 1996 the bar, previously known as Club Mynt, was overtaken by the Aoi family from Japan. As such Club Blue has a direct link to the Tengu Society, Japan's faction of the guild. The Club then became something of their own private playground, including their later link to the Yakuza and the club was attractive to particularly shady assassins who wanted their work to remain even more anonymous; it was thought that the previous Club Mynt was owned by one of the millionaire investors to the guild's creation in the 70's. Many guild's factions had something of a rivalry with Club Blue's connection to Yakuza and other gangster organisations, in particular aiding the Cosa Nostra's territory over the Triads by creating deals that would keep Miami free from violence; it was from these issues that an unwritten rule to not mix organised crime and bounty hunting to other factions. Club Blue was where the Nightstalkers were founded and operated from; a splinter cell of assassins that wanted nothing to do with the Guild proper. Volt's reintroduction to the Guild after first doing an unofficial mission for them in New Mexico's Ranch occurred at Club Blue when Volt was hired as a doorman for the club before meeting Darq, joining her on a secret mission out of the eyes of MI6 and Homeland Security, and eventually joined the Guild officially. All American hunters are referred to as Eagles, but the Miami faction are often called Party Eagles for their club scene and young hunters. Japanese hunters are known as Tengu.

#### **Kurabu Sora**

"Club Sky", also known as "The Sky Club" is a "*Kyabakura"* or "Host Club" in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, that caters to both male and female clientele, but acts as a secret Guild lodge. Club Sky is owned by the Aoi family and lorded by Riku Aoi's mother Tetsuko Aoi, who also acts as the Club's "Mamasan" as well as the lodge's boss. The Club was known to attract Yakuza during the 90's with the Aoi family known for their assassin trade, but has since become a legitimate business free from mob activity. The Japanese faction of the Guild are known as Tengu and have a unique operation, out of all the factions the Japanese hunters operate in a unique and much more organised system than any other faction, so much so that many consider what the Japanese refer to as the Tengu Society as a separate entity from the Guild proper, with it's own laws and systems that are almost business-like, efficient and clean; the majority of Tengu are actually quiet assassins and stealth subterfuge masters who often compare themselves and the Tengu Society to modern-day ninja; indeed it was suggested that the Society was a separate entity long before the creation of the Guild and fused with the Guild's introduction to Japan from America in the 70's to avoid international incidents; Japan was extremely hot on terrorism and in particular associations with the US Government in a negative way. There is talk of the Society breaking utterly with the Guild once more and becoming it's own group, or rather returning to it's original roots, but the group itself is still heavily divided between those who believe the Guild acts as an asset and those who believe it stifles the original society's goals.

#### **La Caverna**

"The Cave" is the Mexican lodge of the Guild that exists on the outskirts and underneath a small section of Southern Mexico City, near the area known as Semirural San Andrés Totoltepec, the caves were active as a mining operation in the 1900's and tourist destination in the 50's and 60's, but when a cave-in killed several people in 1964, the Mexican government shut down the cave operator, although the company did major repairs and strengthening, they went out of business during the Active Student Movement in 1968 and no one ventured to the cave again for years. In 1972 a small group of guerrillas fighting in the Mexican Dirty War found the cave and made it their base of operations, but when the group disbanded, the cave and some of it's ex-soldiers became freelance and through word of mouth "La Caverna" became a hotspot for mercs and assassins in the late 70's and 80's working both for and against the Mexican government, officially becoming a Guild lodge in 1981. Soon a bar was built and secret excavation work began there, further strengthening of the cave and improved plumbing and electric made La Caverna one of the biggest and most secure Guild Lodges, with access to a vast network of tunnels and monitored access points at all times. The Mexican hunters are known as Rattlesnakes, something Mexican guildmember Sidewinder prides himself on.

#### **Le Cygne**

Previously known as Le Cloche et Étrier (Bell and Styrup), The Swan (Le Cygne) is a pub located in Lyon, France; it had close ties with Bar Tiroteo and Le Cygne became more popular with the Bloodhounds after the bar was destroyed Catalan Independence.

#### **Nova Vida (Defunct)**

A sub-front to Brasilia Maxima in Rio de Genaro, the Vipers used the company in the 80's and early 90's, that reportedly turned manure into fuel and compost, to produce explosives for the Guild, and acted as a safehouse for the Vipers during many of their conflicts. However the building they used was destroyed by local drug barons in 1994 when Davi Sosa retook a massive favela in the city; however Sosa was caught in the explosion and died.

#### **Shearwater Tavern**

A small bar in the small fishing community of the tiny Shearwater Island in the Caribbean; The tavern is a relatively newly founded and used by the Caribbean faction of the guild who are mainly a water-based group. The Shearwaters are sometimes seen as pirates but in fact often battle *against* them to retrieve whatever need be, there are some, however who have ended up pirates. Diesel sometimes does jobs from the Tavern.

#### **Summer Motel**

A motel and bar in Reno, Nevada, previously run by Sandra Summer in the 80's, now run by her daughter, ex-hunter and battlemage Cali with her cousin Jane and partner Grace De la Garza and their own adopted daughter Millie after Sandra was killed. The Motel functions as both a regular motel and bar, but also has secret backrooms and apartments used by hunters. Cerice often frequented the bar and Volt noted that Cali had somewhat of a crush on her, which he found hilarious. Aurora later stayed at the motel on the case of a playboy thought to be a member of Redemption and funding the far-right Imperia Dominus in the UK, with the help of Pentra, Aurora found and apprehended him for MI6, but Cali didn't like her 'poking around' the motel.

#### **The Jīn Bar**

A bar in Beijing once said to be a Triad watering hole, in particular it used to be owned by The Tsang, but after several local gang fights the site attracted too much police attention and was taken over by the Chinese faction of the Guild in 1992 under the guise of a reputable family of police officers who supported mercenary work so long as it was above the law, the Yangs. Since, however the Bar has again been solicitated by Triad bosses for the use of their hunters for personal wars; the result being that very often two rival bosses will sit in the bar, watching one another, each with an assassin or two wanting the other dead. While the greater Guild really has no say in how the hunters operate in any case, the boss of the Jīn Bar, a neo known as Guǐ, believes the bar is becoming more and more 'owned' by the Triads the more hunters do missions for them, with various levels of owage and debt, some purposefully created by the Triads, between hunters and clients, the gangsters seem to be encroaching on their old territory once more. Chinese hunters are known as Serpents.

#### **The Gene Pool (Defunct)**

Located in Hell's Kitchen, New York, the Gene Pool was a popular tavern for regular patrons and freelance mercs and hunters alike during the 70s' and 80's, both in and out of the Guild; originally run by Roman Yevenski, an informant who betrayed the Soviet Union and became an information broker in the US but lost it's major pull by the end of the Cold War. The bar was later shut down as a lodge to protect Cerice and Drath when Cass was killed and the FBI came to investigate. The Gene Pool was gutted when the Mavericks fought the Legion of Disciples inside the bar and Thresher accidently brought a column down. Like all American Hunters they are known as Eagles.

#### **The Netherguild YPH**

The Amsterdam Lodge, also known as the Netherguild Hostel or simply *"The Hostel"* is a somewhat laid-back faction of the main guild that serves hunters from the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany and have good communication with the Östersund Lodge. One of the least-known factions but which has one of biggest physical lodges; in many cases there are many hunters who simply weren't ware that Amsterdam even had a Lodge, and with good reason; the building holds a front as the Amsterdam private Youth Protection Hostel by appointment only, and acts as something of a hideaway for lodgers and for hunters who are themselves hunted; and also is the only lodge with a working hospital within; Netherlands-based hunters are known somewhat jokingly within the Guild as "Amsters" or "Nether-Regioners" but officially they are Bloodhounds of the European factions. Despite their chill attitude of their Lodge those of the Netherguild should not be underestimated; Guild's most prolific and fearsome hunters in the 70's and 80's was the assassin Espin Visser, who had the most kills and arrests of any member to date and was portrayed as savage murderer in the local media for the way he personally disposed of bodies. The Amsterdam Lodge is run by Luuk De Vries, himself a master hacker and locksmith who was previously a thief as a child.

#### **The Ranch**

A small lodge used as a hunting and shooting range and bar near the town of Las Cruces in New Mexico, it was part of a brewery and hop farm complex known as The Ranch that was a partial front for the Guild but also functioned to make it's own beer. The Ranch is run by Buckley Wood, supposedly an ex-trucker who ran black market weapons and equipment for the guild in his early days across the US and to the Wilderness Lodge in Canada where Buck was supposedly born, and used his truck to transport people he occasionally hunted himself. The bar was supposedly a replica of the very first bar in Las Cruces in the 1880's where the early Guild supposedly first started. Volt first met Juan Bravo at The Ranch whilst hunting the neo Catalyst for MI6 and the CIA, though he didn't become a member as he knew he was still being monitored by MI6 and the US' Homeland Security, it was at The Ranch when he met Cerice again who was partnering Sidewinder ; angry at what he did to the Gene Pool. They are known as Desert Eagles.

#### **The Red Lion**

A pub in Camden Lock in London, England that is also open to the public, but has several secret backrooms and underground tunnels linking it to an abandoned tube station below the street where a weapons shop was run. Volt, Calibre and Kestrel first met here when they were called by Fume in the pub for multiple private missions payed by Bailey Industries to find a technology and potential information leak. While all British hunters are referred to as Lions officially, some prefer the term Dragons to distinguish themselves between African hunters who are known as Golden Lions. Chinese hunters, however insist their culture has earned the right to call themselves Dragons (though officially known as Serpents) and the British and Chinese factions of the guild have a strong dislike for eachother. They also have a rivalry with the Blue Lions of Scotland who refer to the English and Northern Ireland factions as Red Lions and the Wolfhounds of Southern Ireland. The Red Lion's lodge lady was Edith "Mini" Cooper who Volt described as an "*eldritch amalgamation of a nasty pitbull and Dot Cotton*".

#### **The Sjön**

Located in the town of Östersund in Sweden via the Sjön pub hunters from this faction of the guild, also known as the Norseguild, are known to have had a long and ancient history with their own Viking mercenaries and are very much a guild unto themselves. Like those of the Netherguild faction the Swedes are known for their calm nature, but have a penchant towards also being as intimidating as possible. The Bjørnson Twins were two hunters Volt faced during his early missions with MI6 when leader of terrorist organisation L2 ordered a hit on Volt and Prisme. It's boss was Molly Ahl who co-ran the lodge with her daughter Hallin. Volt encountered the neohuman hunter Kalafel whilst hunting the geomancer Lissie for Clay who supposedly had the mezzite Freyja, but Kalafel, who was also a long-standing friend of the girl protected her; When the two battled Volt saw that Freyr and Lissie were linked on a level that would drive the girl mad should the crystal be taken; in fact it was a fact that Freyr was saving the magic user from herself being consumed by mental issues, as such Volt opted to fail the mission. Furious Clay sent another hunter after the crystal but promised he would stand against whoever he threw at them; in the end Clay gave up and abandoned his quest for the mezzite and Volt became good friends with Kalafel, later joining him on a mission to rescue Octave from of one Theo's secret Argent research labs in his home country of Sweden. All Nordic hunters are known as Wolves.

#### **The Wilderness Lodge**

A Canadian branch of the Guild, the Wilderness Lodge was a bar, B&B and hunting lodge located on Lonely Peak, Alberta, favoured by extreme-condition hunters, many specialised in hunting in the cold. The Canadian hunters are known as Grizzlies to distinguish themselves from the Russian Black Bear rivals. The Grizzlies usually remain quiet and many often only respond to local threats and hunting opportunities. This faction is unusual in that they are also very nature-conscious, taking missions fighting against deforestation, some even doing free missions; the Grizzlies are highly resourceful and many live and hunt animals in the wild rather than worry about earning money. This of course dosn't mean they are pushovers, or do not see the value of money, in fact quite the opposite; as they are one of the more conserving and discreetly penny-wise factions, many Grizzlies can afford the best equipment, technology and security in the whole guild. The Grizzlies were used by the Canadian Government for a short time during the 70's, however they didn't see much international action, and instead took to patrolling the border between Canada and the US for poachers and black-market smugglers and secured official shipments of weapons between the USA and Canada and after the Guild lost it's backers and became more self-governing in the 80's, very little actually changed for them. Buckwood, currently the Ranch's current boss is a Grizzly and transported weapons between guild lodges across the American continent.

#### **The Wolfhound Pub**

A pub located in Dundalk, Ireland that is a lodge for the Sothern Irish faction of The Guild, the Wolfhounds and named after their faction. Many Wolfhounds are now ex-IRA soldiers although some do not want any association with the previous troubles in the area. The Wolfhound has a secret passage that leads to a small peer where many shipments of weapons move in and out. The assassins Vector and Black Clover often operate from the Wolfhound.

#### **Tolstyy Medved' (Defunct)**

The Fat Bear (Толстый Mедведь) was a pub in Podolsk near Moscow in Russia, it was highly mysterious and closed under uncertain circumstances in late 2015. some believe due to government interference; as such the Black Bears are both difficult to contact, and regarded by many other factions as somewhat untrustworthy. Nevertheless the Black Bear Unit (Chernyy Medved' Voinskaya Chast') was used by both the Soviet Union and the later Russian Federation to retake various Russian assets in secret. However if the current Bears remain loyal to the Kremlin, the old Soviet way or are truly independent is uncertain and what exactly goes on within the Russian faction. It was known that Bora did some missions for the Medved' when the pub was still active and his capture by VALER may have actually led to him revealing the location of The Fat Bear to Russian ambassadors at the Tartarus facility. Robin and Dylan believe that the Russians may be actively shutting down and hunting Hunters, but warned Volt and Cerice to not get involved directly.