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Old 04-28-2017, 12:53 PM   #41
Daigoro
 
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Meifumado
Default Re: [Game] Collaborative world building for DFRPG.

Quote:
Originally Posted by (E) View Post
Question 32)
How do the ratcatcher's guild operate? Who is in charge?
Answer 32
The Ratcatcher's Guild
The Ratcatcher's Guild operates as the front for the bulk of thieves and organised crime in Newbridge, so they have incorporated a lot of ideas from vermin control into their traditions and lingo.

As an example, you can see this in their power structure:
Bagger- generic term for thieves of any rank
Den- a gang or district
Stomper- an orphan or runaway child taken into the protection of the guild (Guild Rank 0, Social Status -1)
Duster- an indentured apprentice (Rank 0)
Baiter- a journeyman level thief (Rank 1)
Trapper- a master thief (Rank 2)
Wrangler- a district level boss (Rank 3), in charge of one of the city's dozen or so dens
Kennel Master- One of grandmaster's lieutenants, controls the gangs (Rank 4)
Pit Master- One of grandmaster's lieutenants, in charge of gambling & treasury (Rank 4)
Trap Master- One of grandmaster's lieutenants, in charge of enforcement & special jobs (Rank 4)
The Fancy- The guild's grandmaster (Rank 5)

The guild covers most organised crime and thievery in Newbridge - burglary, extortion, protection rackets, gambling and such. For more random street level crime, such as pickpocketing, the Ratcatchers' rival, the Guild of Orphans, Panhandlers and Vagabonds, controls that. One of the Ratcatchers' more visible rackets around the city is running ratbaiting pits in tavern basements or disused warehouses, where punters can typically gamble on terriers or ferrets to score as many rat kills in a set time, but more exotic combinations of beasts are not uncommon. And one of their less tasteful rackets is to extort business owners with the threat of an untimely rat infestation. By the way, both of these particular rackets benefit from the practice of keeping a nice breeding supply of rats available in the local ratcatchers' office cellar.

Ratcatchers' offices are sited throughout the city, so each gang or district has a colourful name associated with the location of their office. The gnome district gang, for example, are the Silversmith Lane Dambaggers. Most gang territories are well-defined and follow the city's layout of districts, but there is some overlap. There is no guild presence in the elven quarter for example, while the upper class suburbs of Vintners and Muttons Crest, with their wealthy manors and estates, are considered open game for all the city's baggers.

The Fancy
In ratcatching argot, a fancy rat is one bred and domesticated to be kept as a pet, and by extension, the fancy means the nobility or upper set in society. Thus, the king of thieves gains the semi-sarcastic title as well. They are generally addressed only by that title and not by their name, as in "Roight, The Fancy wants a word wi' you, bruv."

By chance, the past five Fancies have all been halflings, but there's no particular guild rules about this. Perhaps some halflings just have a particular understanding of the criminal mind. This trend has led to some significant influence by The Fancy over halfling council politics for the past few decades, however, and it would be fair to say that there are some civic-minded halflings who would like to see a change in guild leadership.

Thereby Shandyloins
In the normal state of affairs, the guild grandmaster is a thief who has worked the city streets from a young age and made his way up through the ranks of the guild, either by skill or by applied treachery. However, when a halfling thief adventurer worth 655 character points chooses to retire in Newbridge, there's one particular natural ecological niche that he's likely to end up in- grandmaster of the thief's guild.

Thereby Shandyloins has been The Fancy for around 15 years now. He made his fortune as a dungeon delver in Logran's Lair Looters, and like his other crewmates, bears a tattoo on the web of his left hand showing their stylised three-L emblem. The other members also hold high positions in different spheres of the city's power structure, but his former colleagues have now become rivals or enemies.

Shandyloins is a halfling with a thick, rampant, fuzzy mane of long black hair that would shame an eighties era heavy metal guitarist. He carries a permanent scowl which belies his keen sense of humour- he's probably one of the funniest people you’d come across, but anyone who meets him is too afraid to laugh at his quips. For fashion, he wears a dark, floor-length leather trench coat and hob nail boots, and accessorises with a selection of enchanted items from his adventuring history. Of note here are his black-bladed shortsword, the Runic Scramasax of Tanton Barrow, and his Girdle of the Gibbon's Exemplary Alacrity.

He also has a literally palpable aura about him, the static residue of a thousand protection spells combined with a particularly virulent curse that he hasn't been able to completely shake- a memento of a long-ago encounter with the Bog Sage of Slaymuir.

Question 33
Who were some of Thereby's team mates in Logran's Lair Looters? What positions do they currently hold in the city, and how are they at odds with this guildmaster?

Question 34
What are the different districts of the city called, and where are they located?
How is each district characterised in regards to race, social class, civic function, architecture, etc? E.g. the docks area, the governmental district, etc.
What are some landmarks in each area?
And what are the names for the local Ratcatchers Den in each district?

(This is a set-up question for my coming contribution on the gnome's quarter, but others can jump in too of course.)
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Last edited by Daigoro; 04-28-2017 at 12:56 PM.
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