@part(thieves, root = "/mit/abstract/Characters/sheet.format")

@subsection(The Thieves' Guild)

@subsubsection(The Past)
None of you, save perhaps Shadowlord the Undying who leads you (and
who knows what he thinks?) can remember the days before the Holy Wars,
when the Church of the Trinity ruled the land with the power of the
Elder Gods.  History teaches, however, that the Holy Wars set in
motion the events that led to the very existence of the Thieves'
Guild.  Where the Church had strictly prosecuted and prevented
illegalities, the monarchy of Rashid had other things to worry about,
and the Wizard's Conclave was not a political organization and never
worried about law enforcement -- the climate was perfect for
an underground to spring up, and so criminal "families" proliferated.

Over time, factions within each family united and gained supporters,
and a complicated structure of crime networks was created.  It was
into this environment that the Knights of the Crown were born, however
-- and the ground rules were changed.  The monarchy declared war on
the crimelords, and over the course of the next few decades, the
underground families had mostly destroyed each other and the Knights
had picked off whatever was left.

It was then that Shadowlord appeared on the scene.  He was known
then as Avralon Krys, but has gone by many names in the intervening
centuries, for the Shadowlord is of the immortals.  Into the ruins of
the underworld he came, weaving all the broken threads into a single
unified tapestry and winning the loyalties of the families that
preceded him.  By the year 490 UR, Shadowlord the Undying had created
the Thieves' Guild, a single operation that maintained and governed
all illegal activity in the Realm under his organization, with a
Shadow Cabinet of trusted lieutenants. 

Over the last four centuries the Undying has defended the Guild from
many threats, both internal and external.  He was the only being ever
to defeat Storm Bluemist, the Assassin; Storm, too, was a legendary
figure, who created the Circle of Bloodletters from those who learned
his Art as his students.  The Assassin declared an oath that
Shadowlord would die by his hands, and several years of battle between
the two organizations ensued.  But ten years ago, Storm acknowledged
his defeat and withdrew from the Realm, leaving Shadowlord undisputed.

@subsubsection(The Present)
Shadowlord has maintained tight control over the organization.  It is
said that he uses powerful magics to spy on and record the activities
of his agents, and that those who betray him find themselves
regretting it.  There have been cases of thieves who have attempted to
betray Shadowlord, only to find themselves delivered to the
Realm's law enforcers, along with a full record of their crimes, and
their tongues slit open to prevent further betrayal.

But few such cases occur; none in the recent past.  The Guild is a
business, and it provides for its employees--as such, its employees
have nothing to gain through betraying it and a great deal to lose by
being caught.  The Guild obtains its funds through the purchase and 
sale of unlicensed goods and services, commonly referred to as the 
black market, through the operation of untaxed gambling casinos, and
through protection deals with the House of Guilds.

Lately, events have been moving rather quickly and oddly around the
Guild, and the Realm's underworld in general.  Sporadic violence has
broken out, shops have been burglarized and vandalized, and in general
a degree of chaos has begun to appear that hasn't been seen since the
old days of warring factions and turf battles.  The businesses that
normally paid protection money to the organization have stopped doing
so, accusing you of reneging on your contracts, and the underworld
personalities you commonly deal with seem to have disappeared until
the violence dies down.  Worst of all, if this state of affairs
continues much longer, the Guard of the Realm will have to crack down
on your operations -- for years, the Guild has arranged things so that
such a crackdown has never been worth their while.  @i(Something) has
to be done.  Clearly, the Thieves' Guild has some enemies; whether
these are internal or external remains to be seen.  Whoever the enemy
is, they must be found and dealt with before they interfere with your
livelihoods, or your lives.

One possibility is the Circle of Bloodletters, which has had a grudge
against the Guild ever since the Shadowlord defeated Storm.  Rumour
has it that the Circle is on the Castle, perhaps that ancient feud
will be resolved this weekend.  Another possibility is a rival Guild,
perhaps based in the rural regions of the Realms or even in the Clans, .
Yet a third possibility is a splinter group within the Guild itself;
rumours regarding some kind of @i(coup) within the Guild's upper
echelons have begun to circulate, and indeed, there have been some
changes among the higher-placed members of the organization.  

@subsubsection(The Future)

It seems very likely that the final resolution of this chaos will depend
on the events of this weekend on Castle Kalerege.  The word has come
down from the Shadow Cabinet that the Guild has to increase its
financial supply, by whatever means possible.  Many merchants and
businessmen from the House of Guilds are here on the Castle, and will
be providing competition for your services -- but at the same time,
they provide a source of weapons, armor, alchemical supplies and
jewelery that you can exploit by thievery.  For the bolder among you,
there is the fact that Castle Kalerege undoubtedly possesses the
greatest assortment of magical items and trinkets in the known world
-- a good thief could make an unheard of fortune here, if he were
careful and competant enough.

Of course, the Guild is also arranging for more certain profit.  A
casino night has been scheduled on the Castle as part of the
entertainent being provided for its guests; unbeknownst to them, the
Guild is running it.  It is a legitimate service, and one the House of
Guilds doesn't really provide, but it has its elements of risk -- it's
up to the members of the organization on the Castle to insure that the
event comes off the ground and makes a profit, and also that the Guard
of the Realm doesn't become suspicious.

On a completely different note, the resolutions of this weekend's
political aspects may have a tremendous effect on the Guild's future.
The Table of Peers and the leaders of the Clans are meeting to discuss
an end to the war that has been plaguing both countries for years; for
the most part, that is a problem for the Guild.  After all, so long as
the war goes on, most of the Guards of the Realm will continue
dedicating their efforts towards military action rather than law
enforcement, and most of the guilded merchants will remain on wartime
production -- leaving your organization with more customers and more
freedom to move.  Of course, you can't depend on this war lasting
forever, but something needs to be done to make sure peace doesn't
completely destroy your operations. 

Some possible solutions are already in motion.  Besides the proposed
peace treaty, there are five other bills that the Table of Peers will
be voting on at their meeting this weekend, some of which the Shadow
Cabinet is actually responsible for proposing.  

@begin(itemize) 

@b(Prohibition) - If passed, this bill would make the production and
distribution of mind and mood altering substances such as alcohol,
opium, kathkusa and so forth illegal in the Realm, effectively
preventing the Alchemist's Guild from dealing in them and destroying
your competition for a very valuable commodity.  It's already illegal
for you to buy and sell the stuff, since you aren't guilded merchants,
so the situation for you would be no worse.

@b(Free Trade Ammendment) - If passed, this would allow Easterners to
freely sell and buy goods within the Realm, without requirement of a
House of Guilds license.  This, in turn, would provide you your only
real competition for the services you provide, and legal competition
to boot.  While on the one hand, it would be a boost for the Realm
economy (which in turn makes your jobs more profitable), for the most
part it would severely damage your organization.

@b(Magic Licensing Act) - This bill, on the other hand, could easily
prove the best thing that ever happened to the Thieves' Guild.  If
passed, it would require that the Wizard's Conclave be made into a
WIzard's Guild under the jurisdiction of the Guildmaster, and that all
practicing mages obtain a license from the House of Guilds.  Already,
there is substantial traffic between the Conclave and the Thieves'
Guild; such a move would bring many of them into your camp, increasing
by an order of magnitude the power and wealth available to your
organization.  Besides that, it would open up one more avenue of
licensed service that customers will be perfectly willing -- in fact,
eager -- to do business with you for, in exchange for anonymity.

@end(itemize)

Normally, the Guild doesn't get involved in politics, but desperate
times do call for desperate measures.  If you can successfully lobby
for or against these bills, you will be able to assure the success of
your organization for years to come.

Of course, it may all be a moot point if you cannot discover who your
enemies really are and destroy them by whatever means necessary.
There are a considerable number of you on the Castle, more than enough
to meet any threat, and each of you knows who to report to.  Further,
the rumours are that Shadowlord the Undying himself is here to
supervise the operation, further indication of how important it really
is.