Antiquarian Guild

*"The safe life of books lies on a distant shore my friend! Please, please hearken close one and all! And I shall tell you the story of my Guild. Great treasure hunters and seekers of ancient and lost things! We have been to the farthest corners of the map and the deepest parts of the sea! Seen and held things that would question your greatest ideals and sensibilities! And for what? Knowledge and riches of course, why else? Haha!" -Unknown Relic Hunter from Rugosa*

## The Guild

### Purpose

Many come to the Antiquarian Guild seeking their fortunes, but the Guild is not a place for pencil pushers and family men. The Guild has been likened to something of an Adventurer's Guild. Bringing peoples of different races and creeds together for the singular purpose of exploration and discovery.

Founded hundreds of years ago by the orcish explorer, Redbrow, the Antiquarian Guild has delved into ruins and discovered many secrets of this world. Recovering ancient relics and treasures to take back to their headquarters in The Juniper Isles. For the collection and study of knowledge leads to the betterment of all.

### The Modern Guild

The Antiquarian Guild has gained much prestige and wealth in the time that it has existed. In the modern age, it is a place where young adventurers can come seeking their fortune. Or scholars can escape the library and do some real digging and discovery of ancient lands and civilizations.

Most members of the Guild are orcs, who believe themselves to be the greatest seekers and adventurers based on their origin myth, which almost all orcs believe. But there are members of almost every race within the Antiquarian Guild, and more join every day. Local inns and taverns have started setting up job and quest boards which Antiquarians can access for some easy cash.

By going on and engaging in quests that help and benefit the local populace of Antiok, The Antiquarians have fallen into great standing. And though local brigands sometime claim the name 'Antiquarian', there is usually a quickly posted bounty on their head and real Antiquarians snuff out imposters.

## Ruins

The land of Antiok has many ruins dotting across its surface. Not a stranger to the rise and fall of races and nations, this world has had many powers rise to heights before their inevitable fall. But the largest of these lost nations is now commonly referred to as The Dregs by the Antiquarian Guild. There is little known about The Dregs, as they left behind no pictures or portraits. The walls of their ruined cities and homes lay bare without tapestries, carvings, or reliefs.

It is unknown how The Dregs civilization collapsed, but what is known is that they spanned across the globe. Leaving behind massive ruined cities and collapse into dilapidated ruins. These buildings and homes were made up of natural stone bricks, perfectly molded and masoned into place. Leaving a pristine and aesthetic look to their cities, even as they crumble to dust.

Whatever they did and however they achieved their wealth is unknown, but that matters little when the ruins of The Dregs are filled to the brim with enchanted equipment that never breaks and piles upon piles of horded and minted gold. The Dregs were an incredibly rich civilization, and their ruins have become the greatest destination of the Antiquarian Guild.

### The Dregs

Though one has never been seen alive, the Ruins of the Dregs are not wholly uninhabited. For the great treasures of their fallen cities, towns, and temple are guarded by cursed and unliving things. Whether these wraiths, wights, and other undead were at one point Dregs, or just unlucky Antiquarians or civilians, they guard their ruins and barrows with their own sinister magics. And there are many Antiquarians who believe that the ancient Dregs are raising even more undead to repopulate their ruins, so one day they can reclaim their lost treasures.

## Redbrow's Will and Testament

Here is what remains of the journal of Redbrow, thought to be dead in a Dreg Ruin north in the Forest of Eternal Autumn.

*"I watched as Yarn rushed towards the door from the interior of the room, and I did nothing to help him. The stone doors were closing, and behind the panic stricken face of Yarn, I could see what it was that was following him. The twisted flesh of something long since forgotten, or at least pushed down into the depths of the subconscious of all living things. A being made whole by the pieces and bits of what seem to be hundreds and hundreds of people. I could see their eyes. Their mouths. Their ears, legs, hands, and bones all pulsing and running along its horrible form. It grabbed up Yarn in its massive hand just as we swung the stone doors shut, leaving him to a grizzly fate. Oh gods forgive us, even through the stone I think I could hear him screaming...*

*Never open another Dreg Ruin. I beseech you, my guildlings. I now believe that they are not great sources of wealth, but horrible tombs or vaults of things best left below the surface of the world." -Redbrow, the First Antiquarian*