Two centuries past, beneath a sky of iron cloud, a black-hulled carrack entered the harbor of Velkaryn without banner or heraldry. Upon its stern was carved a single device—two crossed blades encircled by twelve stars—and from its deck stepped a man who named himself Grandmaster Halvyr of the Adventurers Guild.
He did not come as envoy nor supplicant, but as something altogether different. Before the rulers of Velstrade, Alveron, and Dravareth, he presented sealed charters bearing the assent of distant crowns, each recognizing the Guild as an autonomous authority, unbound by nation yet tolerated by all. He did not bargain for land, nor did he seek alliance. He declared only that the Guild would operate within Eldris under its own law, regulating those who wielded power beyond the reach of ordinary rule.
Within a year, a hall was raised in Velkaryn. Within a decade, its necessity was no longer questioned.
The Adventurers Guild is not born of Eldris, and therefore does not belong to it. Its authority is sustained by mutual agreement, not loyalty, and enforced through necessity rather than affection. Each kingdom grants it autonomy in exchange for stability, paying annual retainers to ensure the regulation of adventurers, the suppression of threats, and the containment of those who would otherwise act without restraint.
Guild halls stand as extraterritorial ground, beyond taxation and beyond local jurisdiction in matters concerning their members. The Guild does not sit in councils nor take sides in succession or war. It remains neutral, and by that neutrality, indispensable.
The Guild serves all who come before it, whether clothed in silk or soil. A peasant burdened by ghouls is received no differently than a noble seeking discreet intervention. Wealth does not determine access, nor does allegiance or creed.
Yet while clients are treated equally, threats are not. Each contract is weighed not by the worth of the one who submits it, but by the danger it presents and the consequence of its neglect.
All work undertaken by the Guild follows a deliberate and ordered process. Clients must submit formal documentation describing the nature of their request, accompanied by a signed exclusivity clause and a standardized fee. This clause binds the matter to the Guild alone, forbidding outside interference and ensuring that no competing interests may distort the response.
Once received, contracts are examined by trained assessors who weigh evidence, risk, political implications, and logistical demands. From this scrutiny arises a rank classification, determining which adventurers may lawfully undertake the task. Contracts are then posted within Guildhalls or assigned directly in matters of urgency, each recorded in the continental ledger that binds all halls into one system.
The Guild does not place the burden of full payment upon the client. Instead, it draws from vast reserves sustained by kingdom retainers and international coffers, ensuring that even the lowliest may seek aid without ruin.
Adventurers are paid directly by the Guild upon completion of verified work, removing the need for negotiation and preventing exploitation. This system stabilizes the profession, binding its members not to coin offered in desperation, but to a structure that ensures consistency, discipline, and control.
Admission into the Guild is open to all, regardless of origin or allegiance. Any who possess the will to take up its path may submit their name, age, and declared specialty for record. After a brief period of review, they are entered into the Guild’s rolls and granted their badge, marking them as recognized members.
With this recognition comes protection. Guild members are shielded by international law, their rights enforced across borders. Nobles and commoners alike are subject to consequence should they exploit or mistreat a registered adventurer. Members are freed from the obligations of their birth nations, owing no taxes to crown or state, but instead paying dues according to their rank.
They are granted access to Guild resources—training, equipment, knowledge—and above all, a rare freedom. They may walk between kingdoms without hindrance, bound not by land, but by the Guild itself.
Upon registration, each member is issued an enchanted badge, linked to the central records housed within the Grand Guildhall. This device serves not merely as identification, but as a living record. It bears the adventurer’s name, age, profession, and rank, and may be verified at any Guildhall or outpost across the continent.
The badge records all actions taken under Guild authority. Crimes committed after induction are inscribed within its record, preventing any from escaping justice by crossing borders. It also monitors the vital state of its bearer, allowing the Guild to confirm death without the need for retrieval.
Thus, the badge is both protection and chain—granting legitimacy, while ensuring accountability.
Power within the Guild is not assumed, nor granted by favor. It is proven. Advancement requires formal examination overseen by veteran adventurers, most often those of Gold rank or higher. These trials assess not only strength, but judgment, discipline, and the capacity to endure the burdens of greater responsibility.
Those who meet the required level of mastery may attempt advancement at any time. Success allows immediate progression, while failure demands patience before another attempt may be made. In rare cases, individuals of exceptional ability may rise swiftly through the ranks, their skill outpacing the measured pace of others.
The highest trials, those of Platinum rank, demand the direct oversight of a Grandmaster, for at such heights, failure carries consequences beyond the individual.
Rank within the Guild is universal, recognized across all lands in which it operates. It cannot be bought, inherited, gifted through noble influence, or claimed by reputation alone, because each rank reflects both proven capability and the Guild’s trust in the member’s judgment.
Steel — Administrative Status, No Minimum Level. Steel is not an adventuring rank and does not measure combat ability, magical power, or field experience. Steel members serve within the Guild itself as clerks, assessors, quartermasters, scribes, instructors, contract handlers, badge registrars, messengers, and hall officials, and a person of any level may hold Steel status if their duties are administrative rather than field-based.
Copper — Minimum Level 1. Copper adventurers are newly recognized field members whose abilities are still being tested against simple, local, and limited dangers. They are expected to handle minor threats, basic escort work, simple retrieval assignments, small infestations, isolated criminals, and controlled hazards that do not endanger entire settlements or regional stability.
Silver — Minimum Level 5. Silver adventurers are proven field members capable of handling standard adventuring work without constant oversight. They are expected to face dangerous monsters, organized local threats, hazardous ruins, difficult travel, meaningful investigations, and assignments where failure could seriously harm a settlement, trade route, expedition, or local authority.
Gold — Minimum Level 9. Gold adventurers are seasoned professionals trusted with major regional dangers and politically sensitive work. They are expected to confront powerful monsters, entrenched criminal groups, dangerous cult activity, cursed sites, fortified enemies, and threats that ordinary soldiers or lesser adventurers cannot reliably resolve.
Platinum — Minimum Level 13. Platinum adventurers stand at the threshold of legend and are entrusted with assignments whose outcomes may shape cities, great factions, sacred sites, or entire regions. They are expected to survive extreme danger, exercise disciplined judgment under pressure, manage powerful enemies, and complete missions where failure could cause war, mass death, political collapse, or supernatural disaster.
Mithril — Minimum Level 17. Mithril adventurers are among the greatest forces recognized by the Guild, with capabilities that rival the powers shaping the age. They are expected to undertake legendary Contracts involving ancient beings, catastrophic magic, planar threats, nation-breaking enemies, divine remnants, and dangers whose consequences may be remembered by history.
These tiers mirror the natural escalation of danger within the world. They ensure that Contracts are assigned only to those whose proven strength, discipline, and judgment are sufficient to bear the burden of the task.
The Guild endures because it governs its own. Every hall maintains records of conduct, and every member is subject to its law. To act outside its structure is to invite correction, swift and often unseen.
Those who take contracts beyond the Guild, who involve themselves in political conflict, or who abuse those they are meant to protect, face consequences that escalate without hesitation. Rank may be stripped, privileges revoked, and in the gravest cases, a bounty may be placed upon them by the very institution that once sheltered them.
In Eldris, the Guild is overseen by a Grandmaster seated in Velkaryn, who governs all matters of rank, discipline, and contract within the continent. Above them stands the Twelve Stars, a body drawn from beyond the seas, ensuring that no single land may claim dominion over the Guild’s purpose.
Through this layered authority, the Guild remains what it was always intended to be: not a servant of kings, but a structure that endures beyond them.