Post by Sire Halfblack on Feb 23, 2012 1:57:23 GMT
Introduction
Deci has a long tradition of Craft Guilds, the quantity, quality and culture the like of which are seen nowhere else in the Empire. These are The Hundred so named for their seemingly limitless number. These organisations, with their great chamber, The Grand Hundred, wield a vast amount of influence and power in the convoluted city and brook no rivals to the various monopolies that each hold over a specific art or craft practiced in the city.
Origins
The origins of The Hundred is uncertain but what is widely rumoured is that the Traditions from which they draw their power of creation were all based in forms of thievery and brigandage and that the skills were gathered from the crafts of the travelling folk, who settled in the city when it was little more than a brigand town.
Membership
Membership of The Hundred comes, somewhat surprisingly, by progression from one of the Gangs of Cheapside. When one comes of age in Deci one leaves behind the childish gangs to become an apprentice within one of The Hundred and the loyalty that the lowest street urchin learnt by their gang membership stands them in good stead for membership and integration into the complex social strata of The Hundred.
Few Mercenaries are members of the Imperial Craft Guilds and even fewer members of The Hundred, their skills, with the exception of the Assassins, are of little use on the Mercenary trail, even fewer are allowed membership of The Hundred. That said it is a fact that the great factions of Deci are aligned to or are a Master, within one of The Hundred, such as Jander within the Warsmiths, Argoth within the Assassins and Sire Berry within the Throttlers as an extension of their personal influence within the city.
History
For almost the entirety of the history of the Hundred their guild halls were to be found in Old Deci, now known as Cheapside (and an indicator of the age of the guild system), however in Martius IM 1008, shortly before the war with King Blackjack reached its pinnacle, the Guilds supernaturally transported their great halls and workshops from Cheapside and into the now somewhat prosperous and more upmarket Mercantile Quarter. It seemed that following Blackjack’s eradication of the gangs from which they drew their apprentices, they felt that they would be safer from his baneful influence within the velvet glove of The Invisible Quarter.
As is befitting their power in such a cruel city The Hundred are proud, arrogant and often, as the Traditions of their Guild dictate, cruel and dangerous, ever so very Deci. Having spent his exile in Deci Cerus Amora was intimately familiar with the power and nature of The Hundred and thus, when he sought to make the Empire, he saw them as a terrible threat to the peace and prosperity of Primus and so he brought them low, broke them and scattered their power that they could not resist his desire to draw the old city into his young Empire.
Only in recent years has that power returned once more, under the prompting of Master Halfblack and it was at the Final Dawn marking the end of IM 1011 that a subtle change came over The Hundred, the effects of which will no doubt be felt in time…
Deci has a long tradition of Craft Guilds, the quantity, quality and culture the like of which are seen nowhere else in the Empire. These are The Hundred so named for their seemingly limitless number. These organisations, with their great chamber, The Grand Hundred, wield a vast amount of influence and power in the convoluted city and brook no rivals to the various monopolies that each hold over a specific art or craft practiced in the city.
Origins
The origins of The Hundred is uncertain but what is widely rumoured is that the Traditions from which they draw their power of creation were all based in forms of thievery and brigandage and that the skills were gathered from the crafts of the travelling folk, who settled in the city when it was little more than a brigand town.
Membership
Membership of The Hundred comes, somewhat surprisingly, by progression from one of the Gangs of Cheapside. When one comes of age in Deci one leaves behind the childish gangs to become an apprentice within one of The Hundred and the loyalty that the lowest street urchin learnt by their gang membership stands them in good stead for membership and integration into the complex social strata of The Hundred.
Few Mercenaries are members of the Imperial Craft Guilds and even fewer members of The Hundred, their skills, with the exception of the Assassins, are of little use on the Mercenary trail, even fewer are allowed membership of The Hundred. That said it is a fact that the great factions of Deci are aligned to or are a Master, within one of The Hundred, such as Jander within the Warsmiths, Argoth within the Assassins and Sire Berry within the Throttlers as an extension of their personal influence within the city.
History
For almost the entirety of the history of the Hundred their guild halls were to be found in Old Deci, now known as Cheapside (and an indicator of the age of the guild system), however in Martius IM 1008, shortly before the war with King Blackjack reached its pinnacle, the Guilds supernaturally transported their great halls and workshops from Cheapside and into the now somewhat prosperous and more upmarket Mercantile Quarter. It seemed that following Blackjack’s eradication of the gangs from which they drew their apprentices, they felt that they would be safer from his baneful influence within the velvet glove of The Invisible Quarter.
As is befitting their power in such a cruel city The Hundred are proud, arrogant and often, as the Traditions of their Guild dictate, cruel and dangerous, ever so very Deci. Having spent his exile in Deci Cerus Amora was intimately familiar with the power and nature of The Hundred and thus, when he sought to make the Empire, he saw them as a terrible threat to the peace and prosperity of Primus and so he brought them low, broke them and scattered their power that they could not resist his desire to draw the old city into his young Empire.
Only in recent years has that power returned once more, under the prompting of Master Halfblack and it was at the Final Dawn marking the end of IM 1011 that a subtle change came over The Hundred, the effects of which will no doubt be felt in time…