The Silent Guilds

“What’s there to say of the silent guilds? The thieves – oh, they’ll take your coin, your valuables, everything that you own, if you watch it not carefully enough; it’s all implied in the name, and while we hear about the thieves that get caught, there must surely be a fair few who are never captured, or even detected. Then, there’s the assassins. They’ll take something a bit more precious than your purse – especially if you spill your guts about what you know of them.”

• The Court of the Beggar King, Act II, Scene IV (1901)

In the Lakes Region, there are numerous gangs and mercenary companies who will happily relieve individuals or trading companies of the crushing weight of wealth, or indeed, the obligation of continued breath. More impressive in scope, population, and ambition however are the Society of Thieves, and the Guild of Assassins.

These groups, while not overlapping, share territory, and are said to have some pacts between them of mutual support, with thieves ‘cleaning’ scenes of evidence that positively identifies an assassin, and assassins silencing those that might give away the game for the thieves. Although both groups are more heavily invested in urban areas across the Lakes Region, sufficiently prosperous towns and ports will typically have guilded Thieves, and Assassins can surely be found for targeted killings anywhere that one person wants another dead – discreetly and professionally, of course.

Obviously, membership in either group is tremendously illegal. Theft and targeted murder are crimes in most civilized lands, and willingly being a member of a group that promotes such activities is beyond ‘frowned upon’. This said, it has been whispered – only ever whispered – that members of the aristocracy and other lawmakers sometimes have use for such individuals themselves…

The Society of Thieves

Thieves guilds, in general, have a history that goes beyond the written record. Astrid, demigod of theft, was said to have been a guildmaster for a heroic guild of thieves that stole from the well-to-do and corrupt (as well as everyone else, depending on whom you ask). Some version of the Society of Thieves has provably existed in the Lakes Region as far back as the Empire of Lannick (1365-1401 A.T.), with evidence suggesting that this is a contiguous existence through the small kingdoms and large empires that have dotted the Lakes Region since. Early references found in documents from the time of the Lannick’s Empire suggest that the Society had an extremely formalized structure at the time, and may have been in part a mystery cult, then called the Court of the Beggar King.

While it is no doubt the case that the faithful of Astrid are broadly in support of the Society, there has been enough leaked about the present-day Thieves to infer that it is a secular group first, with practical and grounded purpose. Modern day Thieves who bear the mark of the Society on their person range from burglars to muggers, pickpockets to pirates, bandits to blackmailers, and it has been generally understood that the Society provides services that include smuggling, racketeering, and illicit gambling.

In exchange for a cut of every illicit transaction, the Society provides its members such services as:

• Fencing of stolen goods
• Purchase access to restricted or illegal materials
• Safe storage of coin and supplies
• Schematics, blueprints, and builder’s diagrams of secure locations
• Training in skills useful to thieves
• Transport beyond the eyes of the law
• Safe meeting grounds
• Ecclesiastic services of priests of Astrid

The Society, in addition to maintaining facilities for its members, invests a great deal of its wealth into legitimate (and semi-legitimate) business entities within the nations in which it exists. It then uses this ‘laundered’ coin to purchase influence, as well as to pay for the cost of living for rogues of all stripes who must sometimes lay low, in order to protect the Society from too much scrutiny – affording a salary to those willing to compromise their own income to protect the group, if only for a short time.

The Guild of Assassins

Targeted killing is a niche industry with a high lethality rate for those who participate in it. The successful often become more successful, and some targeted killers grow a fearsome reputation as people who can handle dirty deeds with discretion, care, and efficacy. Such killers would surely come into conflict or opposition with one another if they did not have an organization or code, and for the very best, that role is filled by the Guild of Assassins.

The Guild’s rates depend substantially on how dangerous or well defended the target is, what the likely fallout from such a killing would be (assassinating the ruler of a nation is considerably more expensive than murdering a shop keep, even if they had comparable defences), and expenses likely to be incurred in so doing. The Guild has (according to rumour) taken certain targets ‘Off the register’, as attempts on their life have been too costly in guild resources and members.

The Guild of Assassins went dark around 2015, which some speculate to have been a response to their profile having been raised too high by the assassination of the former king of Harodom. This, combined with a power struggle among senior leadership in the Guild, caused the Grand Guild to go underground, but as the years have passed, it appears that they are once again operating, albeit under new leadership – and importantly, very careful not to draw the attention of certain powerful individuals.

In exchange for a cut of every assassination, the Guild provides its members such services as:

• Contact-free contract negotiation with clients
• Purchase access to restricted or illegal materials
• “Delivery” service for caches of arms and armour in controlled areas
• Dossiers on high-profile clients that detail observed habits
• Training in skills useful to assassins
• Money-laundering and banking services for high value contracts
• Safe meeting grounds
• Ecclesiastic services of priests of Stasa

The Guild, in addition to maintaining facilities for its members, also expends its wealth on a vast information network, assisting its members in finding their targets, the better to eliminate them. Such contacts also prove useful in contracting the Guild to begin with; in the field of assassination, it does not pay to advertise, and while ‘famous’ assassins may handle their negotiations in person, those that have left a trail of vengeful survivors tend to believe that it’s best their faces go unseen, and deeds unnoticed. Some speculate that even during the Guild’s ‘dark’ period, assassinations were still undertaken – but mistaken for accidents, or sudden attacks of tragic but unavoidable ailments.

Other Shady Guilds and Groups

• The Smugglers of the Lakes Region have, at various times, sought to organize under a singular banner, but usually to little avail. The margins for smuggling are generous specifically because they avoid excises and fees, and to some, the idea of a guild taking a cut of their profits is distasteful. Still, some merchant companies do undertake tasks arranged by third party ‘fixers’, which involve the movement of goods or people from one place to another with little official scrutiny.
• The Society of Murder grew to some prominence while the Assassins were officially disbanded; despite their name, the Society does very little actual violence, instead acting as a ‘cleaning’ organization, disposing of bodies and other physical evidence. It is rumoured that they even have powerful diviners on staff, capable of removing the killer’s own memories of their deeds, so that they cannot admit to it under the Truth spell – but such things are only rumours.
• The Bounty Hunters of the Lakes Region are a legitimate organization, with lawful writs and permission to act within the boundaries of the law – but some stray, and the Guild will very rarely formally censure their membership. It is a dangerous profession, and as long as the bounty is fulfilled to the letter, some leeway, they argue, should be extended.

Authored by: Andrew Dunlop
Fantasy Alive Lore Team 2026
Copyright © Endless Adventures Ontario