Adventurers

A career path in the world of Gaea, Adventurers are mercenary jack-of-all-trades problem-solvers who take a wide range of often-dangerous work for the sake of the common citizenry, organizations, nobles, and governments alike. They are couriers, exterminators, escorts, bodyguards, bounty hunters, mercenaries, investigators, negotiators, harvesters, tradesmen, teachers, and much, much more. The hazards of the occupation are often outweighed by the advantages in the eyes of the socially and economically disadvantaged, as it's one of the few ways people born to poverty and low status can reliably climb the socio-economic ladder. Adventuring offers power, wealth, privilege, fame, glory, and hedonistic indulgence, access to education, resources, and training, and the opportunity to associate and form connections with people of higher status. One need only survive to earn them.

Adventurers can be found in some capacity throughout the Gaea; no continent is truly free of them, though their presence in any given location can vary tremendously, as can public opinion and cultural views of them.

## Historical Origins of Adventuring

While the true origins of Adventuring as a career are lost to the pages of history, it is thought that the current practice began as an extension of the Everwar. Heroes seeking to slay the Overlord and battle their Monstrous followers would seek out companions, resources, equipment, and information in regards to the leader of Monsters and its Generals, Knights, lesser forces, and activities in order to undermine and defeat such foes. This would normally bring them to taverns and inns, as these were places where knowledge and gossip readily circulate... and where people might complain of various local problems over a pint or have knowledge of events outside the immediate area due to travel. It became common practice for these Heroes to resolve such issues as a means of proving themselves and growing public support, and *patronage,* for their larger goals. After all, numerous are those who sought to slay Demon Lords and Overlords, and few are those who actually survived such attempts.

Over time, the number of would-be Saviors and the benefits they provided to communities, and the rewards they received in turn, came to be significant enough that people *not* interested in fighting Overlords and merely seeking to be local or regional problem-solvers for payment began to appear. Some more enterprising tavern and innkeepers realized that they could earn money by catering to the needs of these early Adventurers, becoming the predecessors of the modern Guild system.

## Origins of Adventurers

Most Adventurers begin life as second, third, or later children of Commoners or other lower-class occupations. Left with little hope of inheriting their parents' estates, such individuals face a life of being subject to the control of their elder siblings, and then by their nieces and nephews. Such individuals find it difficult to marry as they have no real property of their own, and while many such individuals simply accept this fate, others move out to pursue other careers. Many seek mundane apprenticeships, service jobs to nobility, or common labor on ships or in warehouses. That, or vagrancy and worse poverty or a career in crime. However, others seek out employment as Adventurers, often with a Guild.

Others begin their lives of higher status, pursuing Adventuring as a means of fulfilling personal ambition or their own values, morals, and ethics. Noblesse oblige among younger members of a household is common, for example. These individuals often have unusual misconceptions about what it means to *be* an Adventurer, or what life among the common folk is like. Others of high birth come to the occupation after politics, scandal, war, rebellion, coups, financial mismanagement, or another calamity costs them their status or forces them to hide their identity.

Still others are born to one or more Adventurer parents and simply follow in those footsteps. Such individuals sometimes find it difficult to step out from their parent's shadow, whether long or short. These individuals are often among the best prepared for the occupation.

Many orphans with some degree of skill seek out work as Adventurers rather than enter orphanages or resort to crime, prostitution, or slavery. Other children sometimes find that their natural talents can only be properly developed by an Adventurer, resulting in very active apprenticeships that can be considered a form of "learning on the job." This can lead to distressingly young Adventurers, including pre-teens, though they are not the norm and are usually kept from taking more dangerous Quests in most Guilds. As one might expect, they tend to have a similarly distressing mortality rate unless sheltered and mentored properly, which tends to motivate Guild leaders to take extra care with them.

For many, the career is the last option they have before resorting to crime... *or* the first step back into society from the same. It can be quasi-legal at times, and doesn't always have the best reputation, but it’s usually honest work. That said, some take up the career precisely *because* of its sometimes questionable legality, special social status, and sheltering organizations; it makes for a great cover for criminal activities, and there are plenty of people willing to offer an off-the-books, outright illegal Quest or two for unscrupulous souls.

Others pursue the career because they simply don't fit in with normal society somehow; the ranks of Adventurers are full of bastards, whoresons, foreigners, religious and ethnic minorities, failed apprentices, nonconformists, eccentrics, madmen, political malcontents, exiles, social outcasts, classical romantics, non-heteronormative people from areas where that is frowned on (especially transexuals, who find it a quicker method of gaining the funds needed to magically transition than many alternatives), perverts and sex addicts, mutants, freaks, misfits, Monster-lovers (and sometimes the Monsters themselves), Tainted people and would-be Heroes, all manner of fugitives, orphans, and runaways, criminals trying to reform, criminals *pretending* to reform, and people trying *not* to become criminals in the first place. Even Wayfarers commonly find their way to the career, as its Guilds are usually among the few organizations that will assist and cover for a Wayfarer without demanding obedience in return... which means that a large number of such gravitate to these organizations. It doesn't hurt that such Guilds tend to have a policy akin to the mix of "Don’t ask, don't tell," "low judgment," and "plausible deniability." The name that goes on your Guild registration need not be real, after all, and few Guilds pursue any kind of serious questioning about one's past. Assuming a false identity and having it accepted, no questions asked, is relatively easy. Even obvious red flags are often intentionally overlooked.

To put it simply, Adventurers are an exciting, unconventional, quirky lot. They're anomalies and outsiders that tend to put a lot of value on personal freedom and individuality. Normal, content people do not become Adventurers. They have acceptable life paths ahead of them. Safe, normal, respectable careers. Only people who have something to prove, either to themselves or others, some goal to achieve, or no other choice seek it out. Even those who only moonlight in the path yearn for something *more.*

Adventurers are people with big personalities, big dreams, big appetites, big goals, and big problems... in a variety of different combinations.

## Adventuring Parties

The most common form of Adventurer organizations, Adventuring Parties are generally comprised of between two and six Adventurers, normally on good terms with one another, who work together to complete difficult Quests, explore independently, or accomplish another goal. Most Parties are fairly stable, though it's not unusual for members to swap out with others within a community to better suit the demands of a given goal.

Adventuring Parties are often intimate groups; while they're technically brought together for business purposes and practical survival benefits, they are also usually friends, acquaintances, lovers, family members, or otherwise share some sort of personal connection outside of their occupation. As such, Parties tend to move and operate together, trying to do the same Quests whenever possible.

## Adventurer Companies

Essentially upsized Parties, Companies are usually formally chartered organizations with internal standards, codes of conduct, and particular membership criteria. Companies are private organizations normally driven by a combination of profit, prestige, and activism. Some have a truly massive scale; international organizations with hundreds of members like the Wild Roses or Order of Luminaries. Others are smaller in scope, like the Glen Afon Exterminators, who focus the entirety of their efforts on the reclamation of Glen Afon from Beasts, the recovery of the remains of the dead there, and warding away outsiders.

## Contractual Adventurers

Adventurers employed by a private or public individual, Contractual Adventurers, or simply Contractors, are a relatively uncommon type of Adventurer. Most of their number are drawn from the ranks of private security companies seeking to improve the quality of their forces by compelling them to experience combat against Beasts and to witness the capabilities and tactics of other Adventurers. Others are slaves, often violent penal slaves, who have been ordered to make good on their fines and upkeep by Adventuring. In either case, these Adventurers are notable in that they are not self-employed, but instead work on behalf of another and must give some, or even *all*, of their earnings to their employer or owner.

## Adventurers' Guilds

The cornerstone of the Adventurer subculture, the Adventurers' Guild is what allows the community to flourish. Called by a variety of different permutations of "Adventurer," "Guild," "Company," "Hero," and a host of other common naming elements according to the region and culture, the organizations all provide roughly the same services and function, and many communicate with each other in order to better coordinate the actions of the often-traveling Adventurers.

### Guild Structure

Most Adventurers' Guilds possess a fairly straightforward structure reminiscent of other trade guilds; there's a Master at the top of the hierarchy who makes any significant decisions for the organization and manages the Guild Officers and who may have an assistant or two, a Treasurer and his subordinate accountants that track income and costs and oversees expenses as well as the use of notable Guild items, a Chief Clerk who manages the clerks that interact directly with Adventurers and the clerks themselves, a Groundskeeper who's responsible for basic maintenance and cleaning and is normally supported by his own assistants, a Chef, his cooks, and wait staff, and frequently a Bookkeeper responsible for managing the facility's records, library, scrolls, and other documents. In addition to these personnel, each Guild normally retains Adventurers through In-House Quests to provide security... and many also retain additional staff for any other services they may provide.

Adventurers' Guilds are often fairly large organizations, even without taking into account the many active Adventurers it may count as members. In smaller organizations, it's common for individuals to fill multiple roles, while larger ones may have multiple branch locations subordinate to the same Guild Master. It is *also* common for Guilds to directly hire Adventurers to fill vacancies in their structure, either temporarily or permanently. Some have even been known to do so via In-House Quests.

The Adventurers themselves are usually organized in ranks within the Guild; Junior Members, Apprentices, Journeymen, Master, and Grand Master:

* Junior Member status is normally reserved for children or individuals who are seen as unreliable or unproven. Such individuals normally restricted to Quests with little or no violence expected; they generally aren't sent to kill Beasts of any sort, even small ones, and aren't pitted against criminals either. Instead, they are usually given Quests by the Guild itself to manage paperwork, run errands, make deliveries or pickups, place orders at local businesses, assist in organizational and logistical tasks within the Guild itself, clean, cook, perform basic maintenance on equipment and facilities, and assist with clerical work.
* Apprentices are allowed to Adventure with other, better-known or more experienced Adventurers within the local area. They may be given violent Quests, but are usually not pitted against the most dangerous sorts of threats. Apprentices are sometimes allowed to Adventure independently in certain local areas where other Adventurers are common; often abandoned parts of the settlement or nearby wilderness.
* Journeymen are the most common Adventurers. Given broad discretion in their work, they are allowed to take virtually any Quest they may wish... including those that take them far afield. It's from this that their title is derived. Journeymen may freely Adventure on their own or in groups. Most Heroes find themselves in this position automatically should they attempt to join a Guild.
* Masters are often Adventurers who are semi-retired and spend more of their time working for the Guild itself rather than doing Quests independently. Trainers attached to the Guild are often given this status as an honorary title, even if they do not Adventure themselves.
* Grand Masters are rare, and usually run Guilds. These are most commonly former Adventurers themselves who have either earned enough money to start or buy a Guild, or who have succeeded a previous Grand Master. The term is virtually synonymous with Guild Master in this regard; individuals who have risen to this status and *don't* operate a facility of some sort are anomalies that likely indicate either a tragedy that cost them their Guild or an extraordinary honor bestowed on someone by a Guild.

### Common Guild Practices

While each local Guild is different and has its own policies, practices, and services, there are certain common ones that are offered by most. Some are required functions of the Guild to stay in business, such as collecting dues, testing and vetting new members, and issuing Quests. Others have their roots in the beginnings of the tradition itself, such as having a pub or tavern and providing simple lodgings and stables. Still others are born out of practicality, such as matching potential party members. The following are some common practices associated with Adventurers' Guilds across Gaea.

#### Vetting Recruits

Any Guild worth the name gives at least a cursory examination of individuals seeking to join. How exacting this examination is depends heavily on the sorts of Quests the individual is expecting to perform, their age, and reputation within the community. Most Guilds hold the right to designate individuals to lesser membership status rather than simply rejecting them... or to induct prospective members who show exceptional promise or possess otherwise remarkable reputations to higher status. Ultimately, the Guild's Master holds the final say in this process, but applications may be referred for either or.

Recruits are usually put through some degree of physical, practical, and technical testing as part of the vetting process. This generally involves checking their performance in fields such as combat, magic use, stealth, lockpicking, climbing, running, swimming, and the like. These tests can be waived for individuals who are known to the proctors, but for unknowns it's common practice to put them through a minimum level of checking, just to make sure they won't die the moment they leave the safety of the settlement.

#### Due Collection

Adventurers who join a Guild do so in order to gain access to the Guild's Quests. Quests posted in a Guild are generally prohibited from being filled by anyone else. That is to say, if a layman were to complete a Quest filed with the Guild, the Guild would still collect the payment and the layman would get nothing. Adventurers, therefore, need access to those Quests in order to profit from them. That means membership, and membership means *fees*. This is usually handled as an annual fee determined by one's status and is paid either in cash or through eligible services and commodities. Many Adventurers pay through their services and products, but more choose to set aside some of their earnings, usually either early or late in the year, to pay. Such funds make their way into the Guild's coffers alongside its Quest fees, to be used by distributed by the Treasurer in order to keep the Guild in operation.

#### Quest Acceptance, Posting, and Fees

Quests are essentially a type of legal contract provided by Adventurers' Guilds on behalf of private citizens, organizations, governments, and other institutions. In exchange for fulfilling the conditions on the contract, the freelance workers that are Adventurers receive the compensation offered in the contract, whether that's money, resources, or other rewards. The Guild serves as an arbiter of these contracts' conditions. They determine if the desired conditions are acceptable, they negotiate the offered compensation with the client, and then post the Quest with any requirements (such as a minimum rank within the Guild) for their members to complete.

Most Guilds take fees twice during this process; first from the client offering the Quest in order to have it posted, and second from the Adventurers who complete the Quest at the time of completion (normally from the Quest's payout) to pay for negotiations conducted on behalf of the Adventurers with the client. The exact amount the Guild takes varies, but is usually a small fraction of the payout, rarely more than 5% even when both services are combined. The total cost is usually based on the value of the payout offered, though some Guilds with many members or outside backers offer a flat rate on all Quests based on their perceived monetary value. Of note, this does not take into account any "incidental income" Adventurers may gain from such Quests, such as possessions confiscated from criminals, the financial value of Beast parts, found treasures, and the like.

As a bit of an aside, most Guilds post their available Quests on large boards set against one wall of the building's common room, which usually serves as the main dining hall. However, some of the oldest, and most traditional Guild Halls use a literal post for this, usually one of the central support pillars for the roof, with fliers nailed to it all around its base. It's actually from this practice that the term "Posting a Quest," derives.

#### Beast Market

Most Guilds have adopted the practice of trading valuable Beast materials for money. Skins, pelts, and hides, teeth and claws, scales, shells, horns, quills, and tusks, bones and exoskeletons, organs, flesh, fat, tendon and sinew, and Manatite growths from the creatures all have value in a range of different crafts and trades, making the Guild unusually well-positioned to serve as a provisioner of these exotic components. As such, they will generally buy the corpses of Beasts in part or whole, even offering carving services to their members of selling hunting knives enchanted with *Dress Kill* and *Magic Bags* so that Adventurers can carve up such creatures in the field and keep the separated parts for later sale to the Guild.

Most Guilds will negotiate over such things when faced with members who want to keep some of their kills (as Beast components are particularly useful for creating magical arms and armor, potions, and other magical items), offering good prices for choice parts.

#### Letters of Credit and Marque

Guilds generally hold the power to issue Letters of Credit in order to compensate for not having sufficient cash on-hand to pay Adventurers for especially lucrative Quests. These can be exchanged at most banking institutions in part or whole for their listed worth (minus a fee), so long as it's one that knows the Guild and recognizes their reputation, or with the facility itself at a later date (after it's managed to get the funds). These are sometimes considered to be as "good as gold," with some finding them more desirable than actual coin due to their lightweight nature as a paper document and capacity to force most government treasuries to cough up large sums of money.

In rare circumstances, primarily during active wars or other forms of international hostility, Adventurers' Guilds are sometimes authorized by governments to grant Letters of Marque on their behalf, allowing unscrupulous Adventurers the right to raid into enemy territory. Such actions are frowned upon by most Guilds, especially since they usually grant leave to target civilian vessels, caravans, and villages. Most would-be invaders hate it as well, since Adventurers are the irregulars of irregulars; they are often *far* more capable than the sort of levies most armies are comprised of and are usually experts at guerilla tactics as opposed to the massed troop movements that most nations employ. This makes them a nightmare to encounter for common soldiers, let alone civilians who have little to no capacity to fight back. Most Adventurers don't take up these offers, or at least don't engage in active raiding, but may use these authorizations to justify plundering soldiers from enemy nations if they *do* clash for some reason.

#### Information Collection and Sharing

Most Guilds store large repositories of lore in the form of libraries. This doesn't happen by chance, however. They usually offer to pay for useful intel from their members, including the locations of notable ruins, Monster settlements, Beast lairs, the capabilities and numbers of various creatures, maps, information on traps and hazards, lore of all sorts, magical knowledge, and virtually anything else that might be useful to Adventurers or the Guild proper. They often sell the juicier tidbits to Guild members as a way to help support the business, but are usually quite free with information that could save a person's life.

#### Training

Most Guilds have their own in-house trainers. While individuals like Savants and Mediums are the most desired for their versatility, virtually every Guild has trainers capable of teaching the most common or basic careers to at least some degree. These usually include Alchemists, Barbarians, Bards, Brawlers, Cavaliers, Clerics, Druids, Fighters, Gunslingers, Hunters, Inquisitors, Investigators, Magi, Marshals, Monks, Paladins, Rangers, Rogues, Slayers, Sorcerers, Swashbucklers, Witches, Wizards, and Wolfsheads. Other paths are far more likely to be regional or harder to find mentors for, and even among the above it's common for certain Archetypes to be simply unavailable, or to predominate (for example, the Bolt Ace being the most common form of Gunslinger in most Guilds due to the relative scarcity of firearms). However, these are the Classes most commonly represented in Adventurers' Guilds, and the Guild itself frequently offers In-House Quests to train new members who lack basic skills.

#### Testing

Any Guild that follows the ordinary structure is going to subject its members to testing prior to allowing them to advance in Rank, with the exception of the Grand Master rank, whose conditions are normally unique and decided exclusively by an existing Grand Master. Precisely *how* this is achieved varies tremendously, but most Guilds use a combination of competition with existing members, challenges prepared by the same, or a request to perform certain notable achievements or specific Quests that are considered appropriate for the new rank sought.

#### Tavern

Most Adventurer Guilds of any size incorporate a sizable tavern into their design. This is intended to help pay for the local operation, but also to provide a venue for the Guild members to socialize, share information, organize, strategize, and otherwise prepare for Quests... as well as to offer food that can bolster their performance.

Such taverns sometimes even compete with local establishments, opening their doors to the public while offering discounted rates to Members. If the chef and staff are good, this can dramatically boost income for the Guild itself.

#### Lodging

Most Guilds of significant size arrange for some form of dormitory for their members. These are usually not very impressive; frequently little more than a flophouse, with hammocks or small beds separated by noise-dampening curtains in a single common room. Better ones offer cell-like rooms with space for a trunk and a bed, a small table, and a chair. These are not meant to be luxury accommodations by any means, but they serve to house a large number of people at comparatively low cost and little space... and generally have no fee to the members.

Most Adventurers seek to live elsewhere as soon as they can afford it. Especially if they value their privacy.

#### Stables

Most Guilds maintain an on-site stable or an arrangement with a trusted partner for the purpose of keeping the various animals Adventurers tend to gather. Horses, dogs, and far more exotic creatures tend to find their way into the lives of Adventurers as companions and aids, and need their own place to stay while their owners are busy or sleeping.

#### Shops and Services

Many Guilds hire their own members through In-House Quests, or as full employees, to maintain Guild-oriented shops. These are often arranged with other trade guilds, but frequent examples include blacksmiths and Artificers, tanners, fletchers, bowyers, Alchemists, physicians, and the like. These often serve the general public as well, but give priority and steep discounts to Guild members. Such services are a sign of a successful Guild.

#### Local Discounts

Many Guilds seek special arrangements with local businesses or other trade guilds in lieu of conventional payment for large or regular services. These usually come in the form of reduced costs for Guild members at those establishments, priority work, or regular supplies provided to the Guild. The specific benefits naturally vary tremendously by location, but the practice itself is quite common.

#### In-House Quests

Issuing In-House Quests is a common way for Guilds to meet unusual, or even regular, needs. These Quests are those where the Guild or another Guild member is the client. Essentially, they're an official way to ask another member of the Guild to do something. The fees for these are discounted, or outright waived in the case of the Guild itself, allowing the Adventurer to take a larger profit. Most Guilds use these as a way to restock supplies like Potions, Chew Sticks, weapons and armor, Scrolls, Rods, Wands, and the like. Others use them to gather ingredients for their taverns, raw materials for the members to use, repair jobs for the Guild, and more. Adventurers sometimes use them as recruiting tools... it's not even unheard of as a way to find a sex partner among one's fellow Adventurers.

#### Party Matchmaking

Guilds often offer a form of matchmaking service for members wherein clerks will help arrange individuals likely to be compatible with each other into Adventuring parties. This is usually not intended to be romantic or sexual, though there *is* a stereotype of the Matchmaking Clerk for a reason. It is rather intended to be a matter of safety; Adventuring is extremely dangerous and can present a wide variety of hazards that are best faced with a group that has diverse capabilities and good chemistry. Keeping their members alive is crucial to the Guild's own survival, so it usually pays for them to minimize risks for their members.

#### Cartography

Guilds tend to keep records of maps made by previous Adventurers on their expeditions. These can include regional maps, local ones, larger national or international affairs, nautical charts, Ley Line maps, star charts, maps of ruins and caves, and more. Guilds are usually loathe to loan these, but will frequently allow members to study or copy them.

#### Library

Many Guilds maintain a library for their members to use. These are usually oriented towards more practical texts; treatises on martial arts and strategy, magic, practical and survival skills, technical documents, tomes of history, heraldry, and lore, travelogs and a range of other topics that might be useful to an Adventurer. However, most will maintain selections geared more towards entertainment, such as art, novels, plays, erotica, and even games... the latter especially if there are younger Adventurers working for the Guild or Adventurer parents as members, or members who've brought their own games to use.

### Guild Layouts

Most Guilds are built around a common room that doubles as a tavern, with booths and tables. Guild offices and other facilities are kept upstairs or behind this main room, with food storage below in a cellar. There are usually at least two floors to a Guild, often more, and the majority of the buiilding is given over to internal facilities. Most Guilds have either a large yard with outbuildings or an enclosed courtyard for the same. They resemble oversized inn-and-tavern establishments, akin to large roadhouses, though they are usually *not* near the edge of town, instead residing near other shops and businesses that Adventurers frequent. There is no uniform structure for a Guild, nor a common size, and so setting a norm for their layout is difficult to do.

## Common Practices and Behaviors Among Adventurers

Like with most things in the world of Gaea, the normal practices of Adventurers vary by region and culture. However, there are certain commonalities, created by the practical demands of the occupation, the people it attracts, and the lifestyle it encourages. The widespread distribution of Guilds and similar organizations are also a contributing factor in these shared norms. It is important to note that while the practices described belong are *common,* they aren't *absolute* or universal. There are *always* exceptions.

Adventurers tend to operate on financial boom-and-bust cycles. The combination of high payouts relative to hours worked, what is effectively a gig or commission business model, high cost of quality equipment and tools, and high risk of injury or death (as well as a culture that makes stable families difficult to achieve), discourages frugal living. Adventurers tend to spend their wealth on upgrading their equipment, restocking supplies, and temporary luxuries such as fine inns, food, and drink, massages and prostitutes, drugs, and other "experiences." Many adopt a "live fast, die young," mentality that only slows down when faced with complications or otherwise clashes with the values of the local community or individual. This means that they often swing wildly between great wealth (by local standards) and near poverty.

Adventurers are normally quite discerning about their equipment unless they are very new to the career. Those that survive early mistakes in this regard quickly learn the importance of being properly armed and provisioned before embarking on dangerous Quests.

Adventurers are often terrible gossips. This is actually valuable in the business; while official Quests are posted, unofficial ones and independent exploration opportunities are often shared through word of mouth. Likewise, opinions and information on other Adventurers and their behavior and viability in a Party, local businesses, politics, valuable and practical information, and a host of other useful information flow freely between Adventurers. This can, and often does, include things that might best be kept secret.

Physical conditioning and training. The nature of the career forces serious Adventurers to focus on maintaining their physical condition and health. Most do this through training and exercise, but even magic often comes into play. Few who fail to maintain their physiques live long. This is generally easier than on Earth due to the influence of Mana on the raw abilities of living creatures. Even so, developing muscle memory and maintaining a minimum level of physical condition requires activity. Most Adventurers develop personal training regimens in the form of repetitive martial practice, basic strength training, and walking and running, swimming, climbing, and acrobatics. Few, even among more scholarly types, are completely sedentary outside of their job.

Using aliases and titles. Many Adventurers use a sort of pseudonym or title to help differentiate their business identity from their normal one. This is useful for those who want to make a name for themselves as exceptional, even Heroic, individuals. It's also useful for those with a need to hide who, or *what*, they really are.

Forming Adventuring Parties. The career is dangerous and there's safety in numbers, as well as in diverse skill sets. However, too many people splitting a reward can make a Quest not worth the trouble, and large groups present their own logistical, practical, and even safety concerns when it comes to stealth, travel, and traps. Most Adventurers operate independently on safe Quests, but in groups of four to six members otherwise. This can create a balanced team with specialists in an array of needed fields and who can effectively respond to most challenges and threats... or that are strongly focused on a particular approach to Adventuring.

Sexual Promiscuity. The dangerous lifestyle of Adventurers doesn't lend itself well to purely monogamous relationships. Any day can be an Adventurer’s last, even more so than most other dangerous professions, making it difficult to form or maintain lasting relationships. The stress on non-Adventurer partners is tremendous, as Adventurers are in some ways effectively soldiers who deploy to war for short stints. Deployments that can last anywhere from hours, to days, to weeks, to months, and even longer. Maintaining fidelity to an Adventurer is difficult. It is often even harder for the Adventurers themselves, who are likely spending that time living in close contact with small groups of often-attractive people who must rely on each other against life-threatening peril, frequently in remote, isolated locations where they have a great deal of privacy. This is not counting the fact that the hypersexual creatures that are Monsters frequently dwell in such places... and have an unfortunately deserved reputation for being rapists and sexually addictive. Add in the fact that many Adventurers are active thrill-seekers or fear being left out or missing opportunities, and you have a recipe for a culture that lends itself to frequent one-night stands, friends with benefits arrangements, workplace romance, extensive use of prostitutes, and "raids" on known Monster lairs. Adventurers tend to sleep around. They also tend to catch a variety of STDs because of this. However, they also usually have access to Alchemy, Magic, and medicine that makes such concerns virtually irrelevant.

Intra-party sexual dynamics. Adventurers tend to spend quite a bit of time working together in close proximity with attractive individuals and minimal supervision. They eat, sleep, and relax in the same spaces as these people. They face life-threatening situations with these coworkers, must learn to cooperate with and trust them. They save each other and are saved in turn in order to survive as a group. This kind of environment tends to engender feelings of love and lust... and is often made worse due to the fact that such individuals are often chosen specifically for their compatible personalities, and in some cases, sexual preferences. As such, it's common for Adventurers to start romances and sexual relationships with their party members, especially if they regularly Adventure with the same group. These relationships can strengthen a Party... or tear it apart, in cases of love triangles, death, favoritism, and the like. Parties often have a great deal of drama and tension going on beneath the surface, with the healthiest groups having everyone satisfied with their respective sexual arrangements, and the most volatile where no one is.

Being constantly armed, if not armored. Adventurers learn to watch their backs and never fully lower their guard while in the wild. This often carries over into civilized life as well, sometimes crossing the line into paranoia. Adventurers rarely go completely unarmed, and the most fearful normally wear their armor as well. There are some who do this to make it clear that they are in fact Adventurers, exploiting the expectations of the commonfolk as to what an Adventurer should look like in order to gain respect, fear, or influence from others. But just as many, of not more, do so because they're genuinely afraid of being attacked and can't become comfortable unless they're ready to face a threat. The truth is, many Adventurers have enemies of the human sort as well as the Bestial, making such practices wise.

Being superstitious. Adventurers often develop unusual rituals based on their own personal superstitions. The dangerous nature of the career drives them to seek comfort in whatever place they can find it, and if this happens to be in irrational beliefs and ritualistic practices, then so be it. These can be anything from getting out of bed only on a specific side or putting on their shoes in a particular order to keeping a lucky coin to stranger things.

Adventurers are often quite vain. Many come from humble backgrounds and rise to prominence through their own ability rather than through the fortunes of their birth. They dress themselves in the best clothes they can, wield the best weapons, don the best armor, learn the most powerful magic, modify their appearances to perfection, hone their bodies and minds, and generally do whatever they can to build themselves up. This tends to lead to inflated egos and buckets of pride. This isn't to say that this is undeserved, but it can still be off-putting when individuals become *too* full of themselves.

Rivalries between individuals, parties, and companies. Adventurers compete for desirable Quests, often keep secret locations that they think they can plunder for themselves, engage in complicated and often ill-advised romances, frequently hand out threats and violence, and use their reputations in an attempt to get themselves requested over other Adventurers for particular Quests. Different Parties often form lasting rivalries, just as individual Adventurers often develop the same. They may have their roots in love and lust, in greed, in anger and hatred, in envy, or in the simple desire to push one another to the heights of their own abilities, to compete to see who is the best. This extends even to broader companies and the Guilds themselves, who sometimes compete with each other when their areas of operation overlap.

Fear of missing out. Many Adventurers develop a taste for the adrenaline and endorphin rush that often accompanies their jobs; they get a high from fights and danger that can very much be addictive. Further, big, promising, dangerous Quests usually offer bigger payouts and bigger hits of this high. In addition, Adventurers are usually social creatures who can't stand being left out of big stories and events. All of these factors combine to create a sort of psychological pressure that drives many to take jobs they otherwise wouldn't because of the risks and can help aggravate existing rivalries and conflicts.

Quick to resort to threats and violence. Most Adventurers hone their reflexes and condition themselves to respond to perceived threats with violence as a matter of practicality. After all, when you face life-or-death scenarios regularly, poor response times favor the second result. This can result in outsized responses to relatively minor threats. However, many Adventurers grow too comfortable with the power they've achieved through the career and *also* come to use threats and coercion to manipulate others.

Storytelling, embellishments, and pride in their accomplishments. Adventurers tend to have "big" personalities and are at least partially dependent on their reputations for completing Quests regardless of the difficulty. And many are *very* difficult, make no mistake. To say nothing of the danger associated with them. Injuries and tragedies leave scars, both physical and mental, and scars tell stories. Most Adventurers with any degree of experience under their belts have stories to tell; close calls, near misses, epic challenges overcome, and stories of "the one that got away." Many share these with little prompting... and are prone to embellishments and outright fabrications. In telling such stories, they entertain, share valuable information, inspire caution, advertise themselves... *and* confront their own traumas.

Day jobs. Many Adventurers have other careers besides Adventuring, particularly trade skills or forms of performance, teaching, mentoring, or paid research for organizations. This helps alleviate the economic pain of bust periods common after they've covered their Adventuring expenses and are between Quests.

## Public Perception and Opinion

The public perception of Adventurers is generally positive among the common folk, but varies tremendously based on a number of factors, primarily region, culture, and social class. Even among proponents and supporters of Adventurers, however, there are negative stereotypes... and even positive ones common among detractors.

The groups most likely to look favorably on Adventurers are the Adventurers themselves, the young, the poor and working class, minorities, small businesses, and royalty.

The groups least likely to look favorably on Adventurers are nobles and aristocrats, large businesses, militaries, major religious institutions, and middle class individuals hoping to advance through traditional channels.

Law enforcement and, surprisingly, Monsters often have a relatively neutral position on Adventurers. The former often employs Adventurers to help capture especially problematic criminals as a means to cut resources, but also views them as potential sources of uncontainable trouble. The latter has a long history of being subjected to raids, plundering, and displacement by unscrupulous Adventurers outside of human society, as they often inhabit ruins and abandoned human settlements... and yet such exceptional individuals are also great breeding partners and are just as likely to treat Monsters with respect and compassion as not.

### Positive Stereotypes

Adventurers are often seen as the champions and defenders of the poor and downtrodden, especially when compared to apathetic, unsympathetic, or oppressive nobles.

Adventurers are seen as a major source of wealth, both as business custom and charity. They are also seen as robust investors.

Adventurers are often seen as one step removed from Heroes; valiant defenders of Mankind and society.

Adventurers are seen as reliable when on the job, especially when viewed as a whole.

Adventurers are seen as exciting and attractive.

### Negative Stereotypes

Adventurers are seen as dangerous, unruly, and violent.

Adventurers are seen as uppity; the elites tend to view them all as being low-class and trying to rise above their station.

Adventurers are seen as perverts and sexual deviants.

Adventurers are seen as untrustworthy outside of their jobs.

Adventurers are seen as heartbreakers.

Adventurers are seen as irresponsible, especially when it comes to money and relationships.

### The Church of the Twelve and One

Adventurers have a specific divine patron within the Church in the form of a complicated God named Zagreus. Despite being a relatively minor deity to the Church itself, within the complex social structure of Olympus and Tartarus's interactions, he's disproportionately influential due to his internal and external popularity and bizarre family situation, and is partially responsible for the widespread nature of the career is. Not to mention how readily Adventurers seem to be able to return to life after dying horribly.

## The Fates of Adventurers

Adventurers generally don't have a lot to look forward to in life unless they can become very successful. While the career has a tremendous romantic appeal and is one of the few legitimate ways that people from lower classes can rise in status, the truth is that most either die or give it up. Each Quest, each day, is a sort of gamble against fate. Those who make a decent living, rise in status, and then get out are the lucky ones. For most everyone else, the career is a shortcut to an early grave. Most die to Beasts, traps, cave-ins, exposure, starvation or dehydration, are murdered by bandits or even their fellow Party members or Monsters, or simply vanish into the wilderness, never to be seen or heard from again. Some become living legends. Some become Heroes. Most, however, join the ranks of the silent majority.

Those who leave the career are often able to parley their skills, reputation, and experience into new careers. Guards, soldiers, craftsmen, clergy, even farmers. If they've earned enough coin, they may well be able to buy or start a nice business that pays for itself. Others go on to start new homesteads and new communities with their capabilities. Others seek employment with the Adventurers Guilds, and may sometimes pick up the sword once more.

A rare few Adventurers become something more, such as Grand Masters in the Guild, titled nobility, even the husband or wife of a royal. However, these individuals are the stuff of legends due as much to their rarity as the scope of their achievements.

## Examples of Adventurers, Parties, Companies, and Guilds

### Adventurers

#### Colwyn ap Caradoc

*Main Article: Colwyn ap Caradoc*

A young man native to the Cymry who was effectively adopted into the Adventuring lifestyle after developing a troublesome Aptitude, he became the apprentice of a journeyman Adventurer, a Wizard, and eventually developed his own natural talents into those of a Phrenic Magus and Savant. He primarily served as the assistant to his master throughout his normal adventuring career, traveling throughout the Five Jewels and mainland Meropis.

### Parties

#### Starfell Keepers

A small band of Adventurers consisting of a young, dark-skinned Mudblood Ranger and Artificer of unusual descent, a female Flesh Golem Alchemist and Siege Gunner, a female Owl Harpy Druid, a foreign Lizardman Ninja, and a female Chimera Icon. Known for hunting Beasts in the area near their base of operations and clashing with the Lich Claire du Roquefort and her experiments, as well as a band of Church Inquisitors lead by Radamanthus Corvo IX.

### Companies

#### Wild Roses

A venerable Guild and one of the world's largest, the Wild Roses are an organization that rose up as a sort of "Guild" for female Adventurers. They accept only biologically female members, though they need not have been born that way. The Wild Roses make protecting women their chief priority, both when it comes to their own members and in the Quests they prioritize. Descendants of the various Amazonian ethnicities are particularly common in this Company, as they're actively scouted for their notable prowess. Members commonly have a stylized red rose surrounded by black thorns tattooed on their bodies somewhere, and frequently acquire or commission magical jewelry or Augment Crystals with a similar shape. They are currently headquartered in southeastern Gallia, in the bustling port city of Lutetia.

#### Order of Luminaries

A massive Adventuring Company in terms of its scope, the Order of Luminaries is also one of the oldest still in operation; an organization comprised *exclusively* of Heroes who have received a Divine Blessing. The vast majority of its members are associated with the Church of the Twelve and One, which established the Company unofficially to serve as a semiautonomous, plausibly deniable problem solver. They operate wherever the Church sends them via Quests and have branches in every nation recognized by the same. They are headquartered in Rema, the capital of the Holy Reman Empire, just outside of the Vatica Cathedral complex.