ADVENT OF THE AIMLESS Annora Caestrum (K3) ~ Keydis Lysistrata (swaswj) [ 4079 ] |
One such inn stood scarcely a few blocks over from the town's Fraternitas Lodge. A fair sight more respectable than the ramshackle lodge, its two-story brick-and-mortar architecture denoted the laicar infrastructure. A curiosity amongst the sandstone that demvir shaped into their great cities in the desert, and perhaps telling of the owner's original residence in Terminus so many miles away.
Sitting in the room she shared with Keydis, Annora had busied herself with a particular surprise. She knew full-well that it was Keydis' birthday today, and Annora was determined to have a present ready.
So here she sat, having borrowed the newly-forged armor Keydis had made for herself (without asking, but Keydis would thank her... she was pretty sure). The long, segmented pauldron that ran down the length of her companion's arm sat inside a simple enchanting circle, and she was currently directing the magic contained within the array.
She'd improved her methods by miles since her first basic augmentations to her own armor, and had taken a page or two from her experience with El's unique approach to enchanting. By allowing the object to absorb the magic directly, the enchantment was less fragile, but the process was more exhausting and time-consuming.
To say nothing of the concentration it was taking from her. She almost envied El's natural talent for it, if her concentration was broken for more than an instant, the expulsion of the magic could-
The door slammed open, a very unpleased looking Keydis behind it, and Annora yelped. Her sea-green magic wavered and swelled in the array, and she crossed her arms across her face, exclaiming, "Shit!"
A moment later, the array exploded, sending the auritium pulveris she was using every which way across their room. Feeling a few specks ricochet off her arms, Annora lowered her arms a moment later to find the pauldron sitting innocently in the middle of the now-emptied floor.
"I just know some of that stuff got into my bed." She remarked to nobody in particular, before turning with a remarkably deadpan expression to Keydis. "So what happened?"
The brunette's sleeveless black coat finally settled back against her form. The brief look of bemusement returned to the scowl she had been wearing moments before. Keydis lifted up a heavy sheaf of papers and wagged them in Annora's direction. "This shit happened!" she snapped, stepping into the room and slamming the door back closed behind her.
Storming over to the small table in the room, Keydis dropped the heavy stack of forms onto it and dropped heavily into one of the chairs. "After how much they charge for registration fees, they ought to fill these damned things in for you," she grumbled, annoyance etched clearly on her face. "I went to register our new guild, but they dropped all this legal crap on me and I don't even know where to get started on all this!" She huffed and lifted the first paper up to read it.
After a brief moment, her violet eyes finally settled on the armor laying in the middle of the floor. "Uh, what were you doing..?"
"Nothing important," Annora shrugged, "I wanted to surprise you with- wait."
Stopping short, the spurii took a long look at the stack of papers on the desk, and then cast narrowed eyes back at Keydis. In her time traveling with the laicar, she'd manage to perfect what Keydis had once called 'the voice'.
It was just the right mixture of suspicious, irked, and inquiring, and she used it now as she jabbed a finger at Keydis, "What do you mean, our guild?"
Wilting a bit, guiltily, Keydis swallowed and then forced a grin. "You know... our guild! We haven't found any guild that really fits, so it only makes sense to start up a new one that's perfect for us! One that, well... suits hunting bounties and digging up artifacts and creating awesome weapons and enchantments... and things like that."
Keydis coughed and then tried to redirect the conversation. "What sort of surprise are you talking about, though? I just finished making that thing!"
Annora's eyes narrowed, stubbornly refusing to let Keydis change the subject. "Things like that? Keydis, registration nowadays requires you to have co-signers just to form a..."
The woman trailed off for a moment, jaw going slack and mouth hanging open for a moment before her gaze swiveled instantly to the stack of papers on the desk. Double-taking at Keydis for just a moment, Annora immediately half-lunged, half-stumbled from her sitting position, making for the papers.
"I know that," Keydis insisted with an insulted scoff. "I'm not that stupid. Sheesh!" She grabbed one of the top papers before Annora did and then held it up for her. "See! I've got you down right here, and El's dumb ass. I had someone else in mind, but I only know her by a nickname and you know they'd never accept that."
If looks could kill, Keydis might've burst into flames on the spot. Drawing up to her full height, Annora's hand snatched the paper from Keydis and turned it back at her. "You signed in my name, without telling me beforehand, and probably without intending to tell me afterwards either.
"Now you want me to help you do the paperwork to finalize said guild? No deal. You're lucky I don't let Pico shred these." Annora stated, crossing her arms – though she strangely took the care not to crush the paper she held – and all but glowered at her friend.
It was Keydis' turn to glare back, though. "What the fuck are you on about? I didn't put your name there, for one -- the snobby bird clerk did that -- and that's not even a spot for a signature! I listed you as a co-founder because I thought, as my friend, you deserved to be involved in the creation of the guild!"
Some of the justification was made up after the fact, but it was no less sincere.
"El's just on there as a placeholder, though. Apparently they don't let you do just two."
Annora didn't back down, however, instead pointing to her neatly-printed name. "Oh, really? The clerk just happened to know my name, then? Just had my name off-hand when you needed a co-founder? Don't act like you did this out of the kindness of your heart, Keydis. This is the first I've even heard of you wanting to create a guild, much less starting one with me.
"As my friend, don't put my name on something, even if it's not a signature, without telling me first. I could've helped you from the get-go if you'd told me first." Annora chided, her words losing some of their venom in place of some half-hearted curiosity.
Keydis hadn't mentioned anything about a guild before, so this was equal parts surprising and obnoxious. Honestly, she'd at least thought the younger woman would've thought to ask her about it before going out and naming her as a co-founder.
"We've talked about it loads of times!" Keydis argued. Hadn't they? True, Keydis had never said anything about founding her own guild, but they had talked before about how they were being fleeced on bounties because of being guildless and they had shared quite a number of tales of what kind of guild they would like to join.
Sighing forcefully, Keydis leaned back in her chair and propped one foot up on the table. "I decided I wanted to finally do it. Those last jobs left us with plenty of money for it, even after we buy supplies and passage for your trip. So why wait?" Angrily slamming an open palm on the pile of forms, she added, "Would've been a great surprise if it wasn't for all this fucking nonsense."
Afraid she might say something harsher if things kept on, Keydis dropped her leg from the table and stood up. "Nevermind, though. If you're not interested, I'll just find the redhead. She'd probably jump at the chance to be part of the newest, most badass guild in Araevis!"
Frowning, Annora relaxed her posture. If Keydis was trying to leave, it meant she wanted to end the current train of conversation, and her own ire was already fading in the face of her friend's bluntness. Keydis did not do things to spite her, she reminded herself. She was rude, and overly honest, but she was still a friend.
"I never said I wasn't interested, Keydis," She said. Sighing as she forced away what few embers remained of her anger, Annora took another look at the sheet in her hand. It included most of the basic information on the guild, the rest was likely space for them to lay out a charter and credos, and establish an infrastructure.
The name perked one of Annora's eyebrows, and she remarked to Keydis, "The 'Aimless Blades', really? Where'd you get that one from?"
Although she eyed Annora suspiciously over the sudden reversal, Keydis couldn't help the relieved smile that spread across her face. She sat back down and explained, "I don't want to be stuck in one place. I've been in Terminus almost my whole life, I wouldn't want to just end up locked down someplace else now that I've left. I wanted to name the guild something that reflected that. At first I thought 'nomad' but that just made me think of history classes. I want to catch people's attention not put them to sleep. 'Transient' just brings hobos to mind. 'Pilgrim' is too religious -- I mean, I believe in the Vis as much as the next person, but I'm not going to pretend to be a priest, you know? World-travelers? Too mundane.
"I was stuck on wanderers for a while, but then I thought, I'm not a wanderer, I'm a fighter. I'm a blacksmith, a personal guard, maybe a mercenary. Even if I wander, I'm not just a wanderer! I know what I am, just not where I'm headed to next. I'm just..." Keydis paused and raised one bushy eyebrow. "... aimless." Grinning at her own cleverness, she shrugged and added, "And 'Blades' just sounds better than mercs or warriors or whatever. 'Blade' could mean all sorts of things."
A small smile quirked on Annora's face, and both of her eyebrows rose. "You've been thinking about this for a while, huh?"
Taking a deep breath, she held the sheet out for Keydis to take back, "Keydis, I'd love to found a guild with you. Just... next time, if you want to include me in something, please tell me first, okay?"
Awkwardly rubbing at her shoulder with her other hand, Annora hoped that Keydis would take the compromise.
All morning, Keydis thought but didn't say out loud. Aloud, she agreed, "I will, I promise." She did feel a tiny bit guilty after seeing how Annora reacted, after all. Flashing a grin, she asked, "Can we make more than one guild? Like a whole armada of guilds, all reporting back to this one?"
Returning the grin with a smile of her own, Annora patted Keydis' shoulder before moving over to the desk. "Sadly not. Only five guilds have conglomerate rights, and you've already decided we're going to affiliate with one of them.
"I forget when it was signed, but the Fraternitas, Conexus, Commercium, Arcanum, and Impraevitas are the only super-guilds, and by all rights, ours will belong to the Fraternitas. It doesn't stop us from cooperating and working with other guilds, but we can't legally collect dues from others, even if we're the ones creating contracts." Annora explained, withdrawing her graphite pencil from the pack next to her bed.
"So what did they ask for, specifically, over at the registration office?" she asked, tucking an errant bang behind her ear as she started looking over the stack of papers.
"Everything!" Keydis griped. "Charter, membership dues, application processes, location, insignia, one arm and one leg, first-born child." She flipped through the papers irritably. By now everything was out of order. Grumbling to herself she sat up and tried to tick off the things she was actually sure of.
"I don't want to charge membership dues. That just seems like an asshole thing to do. Applying should be easy, too. I'd rather make it easy to start, and boot out scum-suckers who aren't going to cut it. I don't... I don't really get what the clerk meant by organization. I mean, I'd be the leader, right? Or the three of us would be the leaders, or something. Isn't that enough?"
Going through the motions of sorting the papers, Annora absently grabbed sheets from Keydis as she threw them back on the desk, keeping up with the conversation as best she could, "Guild infrastructure is largely freeform, by default, to allow guildmasters to set out their own method of promoting members through rank.
"So unless you intend to manage a chain of command, it'd probably be best to simply maintain something simple. You, your lieutenants, and the guild body. It's similar to the Fraternitas infrastructure; although they have the numbers to implement an in-between for their Regulus and the lieutenants with their captains." Slowly filling out the information Keydis had already given her as she talked, Annora made a brief request, "Could you bring me my pack? I should have a spare inkwell in it."
Sitting back as she read through the next segment, she finished her earlier thought. "Of course, if you wanted to account for different branches in the guild to take on certain jobs, it's possible to lay that out as well."
Eager to do something simple, Keydis nodded and hopped to her feet. Once she grabbed the pack and started back across the room, she asked, "Branches, huh? Like one for tracking bounties and one for, say, pinpointing ruins? Delving in to find ancient treasures?"
Annora nodded, "Yeah. Same way that the super-guilds divide up who seeks out what contracts and all. Since we're a smaller guild, we can be more specific in how we divide up who does what."
Something else Keydis had said stuck with her, though, "You also said something about location? They were probably asking for where we intend to centralize any potential office space for application purposes. With what you said about the whole 'aimless' bit though..."
Annora lapsed into thought as she fished about in her pack, withdrawing the closed inkwell and a spare quill. Setting aside a small number of papers, she drew a short series of crosses on each one, at specific sections. "Sign these, next to the crosses."
"Is there a way to say, 'no central location,' you think?" Keydis asked. Accepting the pen she boggled at the number of crosses. "This many..?" Shaking her head, Keydis began signing each one as quickly as she could. Her signature was basically the same as her maker's mark, an ornate and flowy, KeyLys. She might not have been great with books but she had a steady, deft hand.
"I'm not signing my freedom away, right?" the brunette asked, laughing quietly. She was trying to skim each thing before she signed it, but it was barely enough to get the gist of what topic she was signing against. That just meant she had to trust the spurii's judgment.
"What, you don't need your soul that badly, do you?" Annora joked back, before explaining, "It's just to verify that you were part of the documentation. Nothing is going into these that you didn't say was going in."
Now that the mood had lightened a bit, Annora felt a little easier in teasing the laicar. "As for location, I can take care of it. Have you considered what you want for an insignia? We'll probably only end up using it for tabards or guild property, but it's good to have something recognizable but distinct. Might I suggest avoiding using profanity for it?"
In response, Keydis laughed and flipped a rude gesture at Annora. "I can try. I was actually thinking of something that uses the initials, AB. The B could be half of a broken compass rose, just a half circle with the compass cross. Would need an N to show it's a compass, and it could also stand for Nora. The A could be a simple sword with a wide cross-guard for the right side and cross notch, with an arc as the left side, like a cut or just the path it's cutting."
Annora nodded, but then scrunched her nose up. "I don't suppose you're a fair hand at art, then? Unless you want a vague scrawl I'm not much help in that department. Anyways, the infrastructure. What's your verdict?"
"Let's keep it simple," Keydis replied immediately. She put a hand to her chin, thinking. "I'll be the actual leader because I paid the registration fee, but I really think it'll end up probably being three branches. I just need to find a branch I can trust El's dumb ass with." For a moment she paused, a grin appearing. "Can make him draw up that insignia, too. He does art stuff." Returning to the subject at hand, she continued, "Anyway, three branches, and each branch head can pick one lieutenant! And... when we get big enough where that's not good enough, we'll restructure.
"How's that sound?"
"I suppose I get to be in charge of diving into incredibly dangerous ruins, to extract horribly unstable artifacts with unknown purposes?" Annora asked. "Sounds perfect to me."
Then, the bulk of it. Several of the sheets in a row were simply writing space for what appeared to be something else. Giving a sort of half-frown at the corner of her mouth, Annora cast about for it and found a couple of sheets Keydis had tossed off to the side. "Hey, it looks like there's a couple of things still left."
Picking one up, Annora's eyes lit up with understanding as she found what would surely take them the longest to do. "A charter, huh? So they're even requiring guild founders to make something like that nowadays?"
Keydis looked at the paper, ahhing as she remembered. "Yeah, the enlil lady said something about that. What is a charter, really? I mean, I kind of know, but... not really."
Scratching absent-mindedly at an itch behind her ear, Annora tried to answer in a way that would resonate with her friend, "A charter is kind of like your credos. It's what the guild believes in, or follows. If the charter states the guild pursues a particular goal, all members of the guild are expected to pursue that goal. It's the rules, the expectations, and the recommendations all rolled into one.
"If another guild wants to know what we're about, or what grants us authority on a particular subject, they'll go to our charter. Same with people who want to join." Punctuating her statement, Annora reached down and grabbed a blank sheet of paper outside of the forms. "The charter is more or less what allows our guild to act in the eyes of the law, while also working as a summary of what is expected of all guild members."
Leaning back in her chair and turning to Keydis, Annora tucked her pencil behind the ear she had been scratching, letting her friend take things at her own pace.
Aimless Blades Charter
- Statement of Purpose
- The Aimless Blades guild, its members to be referred to hereafter as Blades, exists as a coalition of men and women of all races, ethnicities, and creeds, so long as they share in a desire for individual sovereignty and possess an innate yearning to go out in the world, visit new places, and use their varied and unique skills to provide aid and support wherever it may be needed, offering a strong arm, sharp mind, or honed skills as appropriate. We value camaraderie, but shun conformity. While adhering to a basic code of conduct, we do not represent an organized, structured militia; instead, Blades are encouraged to follow individual pursuits, supporting one another where warranted.
- Conduct
- When out and abroad, you are always a representative of the Aimless Blades. As such:
- Do the right thing. If this needs to be explained, we're going to have problems.
- Don't break the law, or have a damn good reason ready.
- Finish what you start! If you need help, get it, but don't back down from a challenge.
- When dealing with your fellow guild members:
- Don't steal from or cheat your guildmates.
- Solve your problems without killing each other.
- Man the fuck up. If you feel insulted or offended, handle it or get over it.
- When out and abroad, you are always a representative of the Aimless Blades. As such:
- Recruitment
- The Aimless Blades is always seeking new members that fit the guiding principles of the guild. All members are encouraged to invite prospective new members as they encounter them.
- Due to the nature of the guild, the Aimless Blades will accept all new members, who may sign up at any Fraternitas lodge.
- There are no guild dues or complicated applications.
- Any member who is expelled may not rejoin without the guildmaster's approval.
- The Aimless Blades is always seeking new members that fit the guiding principles of the guild. All members are encouraged to invite prospective new members as they encounter them.
- Organization and Rank
- The Guild Master is Keydis Lysistrata, who has ultimate authority to change this charter as needed.
- There are three primary branches within the Aimless Blades. Each is headed by a captain, who may appoint a lieutenant to assist them. Captains and lieutenants hold authority over their respective branch guidelines, if any, but in all other respects, all members of the Aimless Blades stand on equal footing.
- The Front - This branch deals with all forms of combat activity, whether that is the tracking and capture of bounty targets, hunting troublesome beasts, or escorting and guarding clients. The current captain is Keydis Lysistrata.
- The Crucible - This branch deals with the manufacture and forging, augmentation, upgrading, maintenance, and repair.
- The Dig - This branch deals with the location, excavation, and exploration of forgotten ruins, ancient relics, and other activities of historical significance. The current captain is Annora Caestrum.
Sitting back in her chair, Annora went back over what she's transcribed for Keydis. There was certainly a solid foundation available, but it was perhaps a bit... colorful. Speaking up, Annora moved their rough copy to the side and started on the final draft, on the proper forms. "It looks good for the most part, but really? The Dig? I'm definitely making some better names for these branches.
"Still, this should work. Was there anything else we needed? Or is that it?" she asked, not looking at Keydis as she worked on the papers.
"I'm not an archeo-person," Keydis said with a shrug, followed by a laugh. "I'm not really sure what else we need. That's everything the clerk mentioned, I'm pretty sure. Is there anything else in the papers that we're missing?" She slid several of the forms aside, checking for any blanks that hadn't been filled in. Thankfully some of the forms had been blanks, extra pages to fill out more details if they wanted.
After a thorough search, Keydis finally shook her head and let out a relieved sigh. "All that's left is location, and you said you had something for that, right?"
At the thought, Annora's smile softened, a certain vulnerability compounding against it. The first sheet, which included the location, was next to her, hiding just under the newly-written charter.
"It's an old term, but it should still hold up. With what you said about us being 'aimless'... I guess it stuck in my mind. I hope it's alright," she explained, passing the sheet to Keydis.
It wasn't a simple answer, and what's more, Keydis couldn't actually read it. The location section had been written in the Old Tongue. 'Ubi ventus inciderit. Ubi mari prohibere. Ubi terra consurget.' A quizzical look to her friend netted Keydis a translation:
"Where the wind falls. Where the seas still. Where the land rises."