History of the Guild

Brem Marst and the Founding of the Guild (RY99)

The origins of the Guild are shrouded in some mystery, and even amongst senior Guild members is not fully known. What is known definitively is that the Guild came into being in the wake of the Great Contagion, when Creation’s existing trade infrastructure had been left hobbled and broken. Into this vacuum, a number of competing local and regional mercantile cartels and craft guilds were emerging, along with more unified groups such as the Court of the Orderly Flame and the economic juggernaut of the Scarlet Empire. One group was known as the Counters, a monastic order of merchant-economists whose advice on matters of trade and finance had been sought by the courts of Shogun and daimyo throughout the late Shogunate Era. While the Contagion had destroyed their presence across much of Creation, a few monasteries had survived in the Southern Threshold.

The Guild names its official founder as a man named Brem Marst, born in the River Province. The location of his birth is subject to great dispute: the earliest surviving records name him a native of Great Forks, a city which had not yet been founded at that time. Nevertheless, this is the account officially accepted by the Guild. Marst is known to have travelled widely as a young man, working in markets, on ships, and along with trade caravans until he came to the Counters and, with war at home preventing his return, studied their philosophy. Combining their knowledge with his own contacts and experiences, in RY99 Marst launched an effort to establish a Creation-wide trade network and founded the Guild. Some historians do not see a single mortal as deserving so much credit, instead viewing Marst as the most politically astute merchant in an assembly of local Southern traders, River Province merchant houses, and activist Counters disaffected by their tradition’s monastic separation from profitable commerce.

The Guild’s official histories speak that it was formed by mortal mind and mortal hand, and that it has been led by mortals ever since, for the leadership of spirits and Dragonblooded had failed in the horrors of the Contagion and Fair Folk invasion, and institutions bound to supernatural beings would ever be reshaped to bind their mortal members to the whims of god or Exalt. While the Guild holds this to be an ideological principle, gods and Terrestrial Exalts have at times risen to positions of leadership in the organization, and some historians surmise that such declarations were targeted as its primary economic rivals at the time, the Court of the Orderly Flame and the Scarlet Dynasty. The involvement of the Crossroads Society is unbeknownst to nearly any outside the ranks of the Lunar Exalted.

Growth and Retreat Across Creation (RY100 to RY200)

The Guild grew quickly both in profitability and reach, its coffers allowing it to dominate the weak realms of the South, particularly the key port at Chiaroscuro and the Nine Duchies. From here, movement to secure influence in the River Province could be launched through an expanding share of the markets in Nexus, and in the North through arrangements with the powerful empire of Bagrash Köl which took shape there in RY146. However, this expansion was not unopposed: the Guild was constantly involved in warfare both economic and military against the nobles and merchant cartels into whose territory it expanded, and as the Scarlet Empress consolidated her own rule Her interests and those of the Guild were increasingly at odds. Initial hopes that the Empire of Köl would counterbalance the power of the Blessed Isle became ever more suspect as years wore on, and in RY174 (following a trade mission to that Empire led by Marst himself) the Guild withdrew itself from all involvement with Köl... the Eye of Autochthon would destroy that realm shortly thereafter in RY176.

The Guild also suffered setbacks in its Southern heartland, when the Nine Duchies Rebellion broke out in RY174. The Guild had been attempting to strengthen the Duchies so they might resist the Realm, but noble impatience saw the dukes move to action before they were ready, and the Fall of Köl caused the bulk of the Scarlet Empress’ military power to be freed for redeployment in an instant: the discovery of Guild involvement was used by Prince Ragara and House Jerah to hold Guild efforts to penetrate the Blessed Isle… they would not establish a Trade Factory on the Isle until RY335.

From Chiaoroscuro to Nexus (RY211)

The death of Brem Marst in RY179 occurred without a crisis of succession, leaving a Guild administered not by a central leader but through several hub cities, the most important being Chiaroscuro and Nexus… a state of affairs lasting until the Delzahn Horde under war leader Tammuz swept northward from the desert, their inexorable advance crushing a number of petty realms on the way to their final conquest of Chiaroscuro in RY211. The Guild, basing a large chunk of administration in the city and housing its Beasts of Resplendant Liquid in the surrounding pastures, was forced into hurried evacuation. This caused a major shift in Guild politics and structure: the merchants and leadership evacuating the South concentrated in Nexus, whose appeal was obvious: the protection of the Province by Lookshy and the League of Many Rivers, which had proven able to resist both barbarian assaults and the might of the Realm, and more importantly the power of the Emissary to keep any invading troops out of the city. To ensure its own protection, the Guild abandoned any attempt to monopolize the Council of Entities and instead focused on its own administration, bringing together the most powerful regional leaders to form the Directorate as it is known today. It also dispersed key operations (such as its Beasts and associated Heroin production), so that they would be more easily hidden and could not fall to a single assault.

The Guild’s ouster from the South did not last long, their return to Chiaroscuro (in the wake of hefty bribes) occurring at the same time as the Tri-Khan accepted Realm presence in his city. However, the disruption meant that the mercantile landscape of the South has a culture of greater independence from Guild influence than the North or the East (the most notable being the jewel markets of Gem), and the economic power of the Scarlet Dynasty and Orderly Flame remain able to challenge it more easily in Southern markets. Of course, the Guild is very much still a presence, and every year it continues to work openly at expansion and increasing market share. The only region of Creation where the Guild does not grow (openly) is the Blessed Isle.

Breaching the Isle and the Trade War (RY335 – RY418)

The Guild was centuries old by the time it came to the Center of Creation, its first trade factory established at Chanos in RY335 with the acquisition of a local trading firm. The Scarlet Empress had been wary of the Guild, operating beyond her direct control, and had sought to construct a more managed economy first through the efforts of House Jerah and Eyem, and after their fall through her son Prince Ragara, both of which had personal interests in keeping the Guild excluded. How the Guild managed to gain entry to the Isle is still a matter of some dispute amongst the Realm’s historians, for while official accounts tell of corrupt officials and heretical cults granting the Guild its foothold, some muse quietly that a Guild presence created competition to weaken the commanding position of Ragara over the economy of the Scarlet Empire.

The Guild invested heavily in operations on the Isle, and trade factories emerged in the Isle’s port cities and inland markets, operations commanded at first directly by the Directorate and then through a major hub at Lord’s Crossing, from where large wagon caravans travelled the major highways crisscrossing the Blessed Isle, not only bearing Realm exports to port but hauling goods for the Realm’s internal trade. According the Guild’s own accounts, the Scarlet Empress had failed to even come close to predicting the speed and extent of Guild growth in Her realm, and became frightened that her stranglehold over her government might be broken by their commercial expertise and universal popularity. Realm accounts speak instead of Guild merchants using cruel and illegal tactics to bankrupt the peasants and artisans of the Isle, spreading great suffering to all but the most corrupt of officials, even plotting to bind citizens of the Realm in slavery, until the Scarlet Empress raised her hand and brought an end to their crimes.

Regardless, the Great Houses and the Thousand Scales began to limit Guild operations on the Blessed Isle, in the form of regulations and new taxes. The Tepet Wheel Tax of RY393 is seen to have been the final straw for the Guild, which expanded from more minor commercial and local retaliations to embargoes and mercenary actions, while both sides ramped up propaganda on the Isle and across the Threshold to secure support. Matters quickly degenerated into the Trade War of RY416-418. The end of that conflict resulted in a compromise that saw the Guild largely pushed out of the Blessed Isle, but given greater freedom (and even some monopolies) in the Realm-influenced Threshold, both powers accepting uneasy coexistence rather than paying the high price of continuing war.

Unity and Invasion in the River Province (RY435 – RY557)

In RY435, the Arczeckhi Hordes invaded the Scavenger Lands from the East, and while Lookshy leads the League of Many Rivers in holding it back, the Guild Directorate opens its purses to defend its Nexus headquarters and lucrative River Province markets with a massive host of mercenaries. This participation served to warm Guild relations with Lookshy and pushed the expansion of mercenary companies over standing armies across the River Province.

Though the River Province’s major states and the Guild had developed some coordination, the Arczeckhi had caused massive death and destruction in lands over which they had passed, slaughtering people and livestock, dragging long columns of captives back to their Eastern domains. Recovery was slow, and to both Lookshy and the Guild the major worry was strengthening the western shores of the Province, in case the Scarlet Empire moved to take advantage. While population and economy clawed their way back over the subsequent centuries, and armies were rebuilt and drilled, the peace did not last forever and the region was hit once more by war, when a massive Fair Folk invasion from the East pushed through the lands of the Arczeckhi (themselves still plagued by rampant infighting) and into the Hundred Kingdoms. This was a severe blow, with the mercenary forces normally called to service by the kingdoms instead serving near the coast. Growing differences in interests between the various members of the League of Many Rivers also came to a head, with cities and kingdoms blaming each other for the Province’s lack of readiness, triggering the collapse of the alliance before the end of the year. The Guild, known to trade with the Fae and less open with its purse than against the barbarians, was discredited in the eyes of many leaders and common people alike. It was not until RY554 that the last Fair Folk were driven from the Hundred Kingdoms.

Seeking to ensure a stable legal environment for trade, the Guild had worked hard to preserve the League, and with its demise wasted no time in attempting to reform it. These efforts were a major contributor to the establishment of the League’s successor in RY 557, the Confederation of Rivers.

Struggle for the White Sea (RY500 - RY593)

In the North, the Realm’s treaty concessions to the Guild ensured profitable drug monopolies amongst the coastal satrapies, and a high demand for slaves to work the mines and plantations. While the routes were difficult, trade was also possible between the cities further inland, and the Guild had been positioned to sweep into the void which followed the Fall of Kol. As its presence was consolidated, the Guild began a slow push further northward, serving as contact between Creation and isolated Gethamane, buying the support of city-states along the River of Tears, signing agreements with both sides of the warring Haltan and Linowan peoples, and finally establishing a trade factory at Icehome in RY500, expanded into a fortified depot to defend against the warring Haslan tribes which surrounded it (and serving as de facto government of the settlement). This station sourced valuable commodities such as furs and ivory, and the tribes were eager for steel tools and weapons in exchange, but the ideal was for far more valuable prizes: the North was said to house sources of fine gemstones and rare metals such as Feathersteel, and the Haslan were renowned for their mastery of Iceboats and the Northern winds, the tools for getting prospectors to such things and carrying the valuables back to market.

The Guild encouraged the tribes to settle, to farm and herd rather than hunt, to take up the paths of prospector and explorer, to construct heavier cargo boats in place of fast hunting sleds. Though slow, the project made steady progress, but worsened conflicts within the Haslan: the Guild played the already-much-divided tribes off against each other to ensure it maintained control of valuable territories, while traditional tribal hierarchies found that youths bolstered by purses of jade were more powerful in the cities than old warriors with a lifetime of experience on the taiga. As cities expanded, the Guild found manpower in the North to simply not be sufficient, importing slaves (and encouraging Haslan tribes to take slaves themselves for sale to Guild factors) and then mercenaries who could defend Guild interests and force tribes into supplying labour and cooperation.

While some settled Haslan had prospered in cooperation with the Guild, the traditional leadership and the nomadic populations were increasingly aggravated by the merchant cabal’s oppressive tactics. Resistance, which had always existed, expanded as decades wore on, and so too did resistance, with the Guild secure in its valley settlements and mining camps and Haslan rebels scattered across the interior. In RY580 the Silver Pact Lunar Exalt Gerd Marrow-Eater came to the tribal chieftains, calling on them to unify as a single force and oust the Guild. The tribes flocked to the rebel banner, and logistics meant the Guild could not reinforce their position with enough mercenaries, while their most loyal locals were also the most settled and soft of the Haslan. One by one their trading forts fell, their caravans were harried by iceboat raiders, until the final siege of Icehome in RY583 saw the fortress razed and the Guild driven from the land as it witnessed the birth of the Haslanti League.

The Guild attempted to force the newborn power back into some form of compliance, with itself serving as middlemen in trade between the Haslanti and the lands further South. A coalition of Guild-influenced states along the River of Tears, and the city of Gethamane, were cajoled into joining the Guild in a trade war with the Haslanti, blockading trade with the White Sea state. This was highly effective, and the Haslanti could not respond in kind, being an endpoint rather than midpoint in the trade network. Instead, in RY586, the Haslanti League launched a long siege of Gethamane, destroying the Guild’s warehouses and returning victorious.

At least, that is how the Haslanti tell it. Gethamane and the Guild have a different perspective, pointing out that the City Beneath the Mountain is hundreds of miles from a major concentration of Haslan, its defenses impregnable and its people fed from their endless fungal food supply within. The true siege was over quickly, when a tired and hungry army came to a gate they had no means to pass. There was great fear amongst the new leadership of the League, who had ordered the attack without thought or analysis, and who feared they might be discredited by those seeking power amongst a more divided Haslan people, and so the army was kept in the field, using their iceboats to hunt ant Guild traders or hunters who dared leave the slopes of the mountains. While they could not be everywhere at once, and the effort caused casualties, it increased costs for the Guild and frustrations in Gethamane. Likewise, Haslanti iceboats and raiders threatened ships moving from the River of Tears out to the White Sea in the summer months. In RY593 settlement was reached: the Guild embargo ended, they kept control of their trade routes through League lands, and they were allowed to return as traders rather than rulers, though to this day there remains a great deal of mistrust for the Guild in the League, and Gethamane as well.