THIEVES' GUILD

HISTORY:

 The thieves' guild is a cohesive if less-than-savory underworld
organization created, out of the ruins left of the more chaotic
underworld agencies that proliferated beore 65, by a legendary thief,
Avarl'on Krys, who is known today only as the Shadowlord.  Krys was a
powerful force in his time, who established the Guild as a method of
consolidating his own power.  When he decided to retire(roughly 120),
he transferred the name of Shadowlord and the secrets of the
organization to his son Simon, who continued the legacy.  None of
Krys' Cabinet knew that he was no longer Shadowlord, and thus they
continued to follow Simon's instructions.

  Around this time, Storm Bluemist the Assassin began his legendary rise to
power, becoming the Center of the Circle of Bloodletters.  Avarl'on Simon
attempted to consolidate forces with Judah, considering him just another
criminal leader.  Storm disagreed, and a years-long battle between them
ensued that ended in Simon's death(circa 128).  However, Simon's body was
discovered by a member of his Cabinet, an adventurer known only as the Cat,
who (with the help of his witch-partner Raven) restored him somewhat.
Simon lasted long enough to explain the nature of the Shadowlord and to pass
on the mantle to the Cat.  The Cat took it, and the return of the Shadowlord
was enough to earn a token of respect from Storm -- the Assassin's only
defeat.

  The Guild grew in size and power, although its purpose began to alter
somewhat under the Cat's rule.  The Cat was not a born leader, nor did he
enjoy the beurocracy of it, and he especially disliked being pitted against
the Rose Warriors, some of whom were his old friends from the Horsemen.  One
day a job came that he felt he might not return from, so he brought one of
his Cabinet into the secret and told him much, but not all, of the
Shadowlord's secrets.  In fact, he never did return, having "died" in an
adventure with Victor and the Raven. (circa 135)

  One of the secrets he didn't share was the nature of the Shadowlord's
"insurance file."  This was known to be a record of all of the Guild's
dealings that the Shadowlord kept, such that any thief who betrayed him
could be certain to remain fugitive from both the underworld and the law.
The Shadowlord's files were automatically maintained by a deva bound into
the Amulet of Shadow, the symbol of the post.  It contains records of every
transaction that went on before it, which includes some pretty nasty dirt
on every Shadow Cabinet member(as well as on the Cat himself, which is why
he didn't share that particular bit of info.)

  The Cat never returned, and his lieutenant became the new Shadowlord
without this information.  He bluffed his way through it, which worked
fairly well for a long career.  Now, though, things aren't working quite so
well. 

  For one thing, there has recently been a major attack on the Thieves'
Guild's businesses, by a well-funded and powerful organization.  Attempts
to localize them have failed, and they have seriously been cutting into
business.  They've failed because the group is the Clan's Right Hand, ie;
they've been looking in the wrong place.  Victor, as a Clasper, has been
coming over to the Realm along with bodyguards, etc. and taking care of
business, trying to take over the Thieves' Guild.

  At the same time, there is some bizarre competition going on.  The
Guildsmen, who usually pay some tithe for protection money and are thus
left alone, are being hit all over the place by a fairly well-organized
group.  The Cabinet doesn't know who's responsible, but knows if they don't
do something the Thieve's Guild is going to lose that source of income.
What's unusual is the lack of M.O.--some of the hits are bloodless and very
well-organized, others are extremely messy and appear somewhat more clumsy.
A group in the latter category recently tried to run a "protection" racket
with the Alchemist's Guild, but somehow or other ended up slaughtered by,
according to various rumours, either an old man or a young girl with a
sword.  Right, sure.  But the slaughtered thieves weren't Guild-affiliated.

Similarly, there seems to be some group unafilliated with the Guild that is
selling drugs illegally, and doing pretty major business.  [these are in
order: the Sword of Justice, the Right Hand, and the Black Hand.  Note that
the Guildmaster "knows" that the first "group" isn't the thieves' guild,
but rather a single individual...)

  For another thing, the Guard of the Realm has lately been doing major
damage to the Thieves' Guild, somehow seming to know what was being planned
and where it was being executed.  Many of the Guild have been arrested
since then.  This is due mostly to the efforts of the Shadow Guard, who
have been acting quietly but effectively.  The latest was Hazarnaveth
Gomer, who is operating in the unlicensed alchemy business; he was arrested
recently but luckilly managed to finagle his way out of it somehow... (the
truth of course being that he is a Shadow Guardian).

  The upshot of all of this was that the Guild needed money for operating
expenses.  Barak, a member of the Cabinet, suggested the opening of an
illegal gambling ring as a method of increasing income; he got put in
charge of it and that was going along.  Hiram suggested a sneakier move,
namely submitting a bill to the Table of Peers which would make the
manufacture, distribution, possession and use of mind-altering substances
illegal.  This is a lucrative field that, if illegal, would be entirely
within the Guild's province.  This too went along, and even more
interestingly a bill to make magic illegal was tacked onto it.  This would
likely swell the ranks of the Guild...
  
But Barak was contacted by the Right Hand, who made him an offer he
couldn't refuse in exchange for crippling the Guild.  Barak hits on the
idea of robbing the Guild's treasury, which would not only cripple it
financially but also destroy morale along the Guild.

  As it happens, though, Hiram, while a loyal thief, was also a House of
the Sceptre member and loyal to that cause.  The House of the Sceptre
needed a large source of mythril to cast the spells it needed to cast, make
them last, and keep them secret from the mages, and needed it *soon*, so
Hiram decided to use the Guild treasury's mythril to power the spells, and
make it up somehow.  The Sceptre did its rituals tapping into that mythril
source, leaving it spent.

  Soon afterwards, Barak tried to take the money (his plan was to key it to
a teleport gem he had bought from one of the Jewelers, using the treasury's
own power to teleport it away to the Castle, where Eve [whom he knew to be
Shadow Guard, having caught her when this nonsense began] had promised he
would have a cover, in exchange for turning state's evidence.), only to
discover that it was spent.  He left, but was spotted by the Shadowlord,
who inspected the treasury and saw the problem, blaming it on Barak.  Barak
managed to escape to Eve, where the plan went off essentially as planned,
but much sooner than expected, putting Barak on the Castle as Lamech,
Nimrod's secretary, without anyone having a chance to talk to Nimrod.

  Barak, of course, has no intention of turning state's anything.  He is
using the Guard to keep him under wraps until he can contact the Right Hand
and get over to the Clanlands.  

  And then several thieves turned up dead, apparantly slaughtered by the
Circle of Bloodletters.  Huh???

  Meanwhile, rumours of this great heist have percolated through the Guild
heirarchy, with the result that people are losing confidence in the Guild.
The younger mugwumps have stopped giving the Guild their cut of the
proceeds, and in general the structure is in danger of collapsing.  The
Shadowlord is suddenly very aware that he doesn't have the "insurance
file," *boy* does he need it!!!

  Anyway, though, a new Cabinet member needed to be installed to replace
barak, and the perfect choice seemed to be Isaachar, whom the ShadowLord
knew.  But Isaachar couldn't be found, and so they picked "Joel."  Joel
was put in charge of the gambling ring.

  As it happens, Joel had previously developed a system for
counterfeiting mythril, which unfortunately could only be performed with
large amounts of mythril to start with.  This makes the gambling casino a
perfect thing to run...

  By the way; the current Shadowlord is getting really tired of the job
and would very much like to pass it on to someone else and retire.  

		STRUCTURE AND HEIRARCHY

			Shadowlord 

Gilead Joel (gambling ring)   	Leannot Hiram (black market)
Abimael Eve			Hazarnaveth Gomer [unlicensed drugs]
Hadoram Madai 			Chali'deans Tuvan 
Sissera Daniel			Maskilla Ishmael  
				Sissera Daniel
NOTE:  Lilith and Jacob have both been refusing to pay "protection money." 
	Barak:  "retired"
	Isachar: "MIA"
All files in the directory /mit/abstract/Archives/Old_castles, and all files
in any subdirectories thereof, and any materials in the "abstract" locker 
pertaining to the game "Castles in the Sky" as run for the MIT Assassin's
Guild in the Spring of 1989 are copyright to Andrea Brandford and David 
Policar and are not available for public use or viewing.