Thief

*"If he really wanted to keep it, he’d take better care of it. He left it in a strongbox where anyone could find it."*

## Basic

(Core) The Empire is home to many honest, hard working citizens and Thieves are dedicated to taking as much of their money as possible. They tend to be jacks-of-all-trades, willing and able to take advantage of any moneymaking opportunity that comes along. Specialist Thieves include blackmailers, embezzlers, kidnappers, pickpockets, and cattle thieves. Towns and cities of any size have Thieves’ Guilds, which control and organize criminal activity. A few towns have more than one guild, which leads to vicious fighting until one guild eliminates its rival. The most successful Thieves’ Guilds own so many legitimate businesses that over time they turn into Merchant Guilds. It is a rare guild that leaves its larcenous ways behind, however.

### Secondary Profile

**Skills:** Charm or Scale Sheer Surface, Concealment, Evaluate or Disguise, Gamble or Pick Lock, Perception, Read/Write or Sleight of Hand, Search, Secret Language (Thieves’ Tongue) or Secret Signs (Thief), Silent Move

**Talents:** Alley Cat or Streetwise, Super Numerate or Trapfinder

**Trappings:** Light Armour (Leather Jerkin), Sack, Lock picks, 10 Yards of Rope

### **Career Entries**

Entertainer, Ex-Convict, Grave Robber, Interrogator, Militiaman, Outlaw, Protagonist, Rat Catcher, Rogue, Servant, Smuggler, Toll Keeper, Tomb Robber, Vagabond

### **Career Exits**

Cat Burglar, Charlatan, Entertainer, Fence, Rogue, Tomb Robber

## Affiliations

Thieves belong to thieves’ guilds. They have little choice – the guilds are much better at finding thieves than the watch, and insist that all active criminals take advantage of the benefits of membership.

If a city has more than one guild, both normally insist that every thief join them, and not the other. This leads to gang warfare, so in a few cities two guilds ignore each others’ existence. Thieves in the city must belong to both, but pretend not to know about the other guild. The masters of one guild are low-ranking members of the other, and are generally left alone. Thieves have to pay two sets of dues, and may be given tasks by both guilds at once, making it difficult for them to avoid offending someone.

In a few cases the guild has become rich through respectable businesses, and has a great deal of influence with the legitimate government of the town. Indeed, a handful of towns are actually run by the thieves’ guild, in which case the watch is only concerned with unlicensed criminality. Normally, such towns collapse into anarchy, as the guild allows too much crime, but in a few cases the leadership impose stability and a reasonable level of lawbreaking. This often leads to a splinter guild forming, to protect the rights of dishonest thieving folk.

Travelling thieves have to come to an arrangement with every guild they meet. Sometimes this is easy, if the guild requires nothing but a percentage. Others, the majority, impose significant ordeals on potential members, and taking one of those trials every couple of weeks is bad for the health. Travelling thieves thus often try to avoid the notice of guilds as well as the watch.

## Murdbelly Furrows

Murdbelly is a halfling thief active in Stirland. He is a member of the thieves’ guilds of more than half a dozen towns, and constantly on the run ahead of the enforcers. He does enough towards paying his dues in each place to make finding him a low priority, so he has stayed alive for now. He knows a lot about many thieves’ guilds, and although law enforcement does not know about him yet, this is going to occur to one of the guilds at some point. Murdbelly himself is too busy trying to juggle his obligations to worry about such long-term issues.