Other Organisations
The Bastion
The Bastion is a collection of cross-faction organisations which serve to educate and better the war-host through the dissemination of skills, abilities and knowledge. It is led by a combination of players and staff members (playing non-player characters). It is the main route to learning new skills (or to improving existing skills) via training and provides support for research.
The Bastion consists of three organisations: the Armoury, the Forge and the Library.
- The Bastion Armoury (formerly the Academy of War) is led by non-player characters from the Court of the Principality of War. They travel with the warhost to develop all aspects of war, including martial and physical skills, strategy and tactics. The Armoury runs several training sessions a day, through which participants can spend study units to learn new warrior and scouting skills.
- The Bastion Forge is led by non-player characters who are highly-skilled crafters, surgeons and alchemists, and who administrate the creation of new items within the game, including potions and poisons, crafted goods and surgical procedures. Creators can also consult with Forge NPCs to research new recipes and skills. The Forge also supports various player-led “guilds” where players share and advance knowledge and conduct experiments.
- The Bastion Library (formerly the College of Celestial and Earthly Studies) is led by players, with the support of NPC staff, to study the workings of the world and its peoples. The Library meets each day and maintains a large collection of texts and scrolls available to its members (which is an invaluable resource in its own right as well as serving as a library for the Scholar skill). Members can gain qualifications through submission of research projects, and resources and knowledge are pooled by college members. Like the Armoury, attending Library sessions allows participants to spend study units to learn magical and creation skills.
The Trade Council
The Trade Council has had many guises over the years but it has always been focused on one thing - buying, selling and making. Whether that's 5 units of Silver or 100 units of high quality wood, ten high quality swords or a single rare gem, they are those who travel among the lands seeking to connect those with wants and those with resources.
The Trade Council is a very loose affiliation of traders who know many crafters, alchemists and even Oathbound and Undead. It has been known for them to acquire items from across the planes for those who can pay and, from time to time, they've also been known to buy and sell information.
The Trade Council remains scrupulously neutral although they have been known to quietly support those who seek the best for ordinary folk - after all, without makers and creators, farmers and tailors, they would have no one to trade with and no one to serve.
The Trade Council can often be found wandering among the warhost looking for deals, buying, selling and commissioning pieces from those skilled enough to make them.
The Worshipful Company of Ethermongers
The Worshipful Company of Ethermongers appear to have arrived from nowhere. This couldn't be further from the truth. When wild magic appeared at the Great Circle during the Renewal of Magic in 1124, the Watchers gathered together ritualists and crafters and set them the task of understanding the changes.
To their surprise the first of these returned with what are now called Ether Spheres - crafted concentrations of magic the likes of which none had seen before made from ether. They were crafted using ritual, invocation and crafting to contain the material in a form which could be used. Yet the Spirit of the Circle itself let them know these spheres were precious and powerful, useful in ritual and magic alike.
So the Watchers set those who would to collect these spheres as they appeared and bring them to those who could use them, starting with the warhost.
The worshipful guild is a collection of traders, crafters and ritualists who have set their sights on collecting ether spheres, blessed by Ritual and neutral towards all parties, the bring these resources to those who can use them.