I like this idea of Collation, and if anyone wants or needs a Mercenary/Assassins Guild feel free to use the Black Cats.
The Black Cats Security Organization is, at least on paper, a Mercenary guild headed out of Eruditio, a port city on the northern border of Paludis and Prendere. They do the work that is commissioned to them by nobles and common folk, taking on different jobs depending on who asks. They are well known for being able to accomplish any job, for an appropriate fee, as well as being as discreet or flashy as requested.
They mostly take jobs within Paludis and Prendere, however they have been slowly moving their reach and influence further north as news of their work spreads, as well as hiring on more hands and attempting to establish branch offices with cities further and further north each year.
There is a tier system to their leadership, and the council that rules the Black Cats is split into three. There is a head of finances and collections, a demvir named Krass, the head of Manpower and training, a velen man named Gremory Vain, and the head of information collecting and job assignments, a laicar woman named Polena Hark. These three decide what jobs go to which guildhalls, and can even influence whether certain mercenaries are offered the jobs first, instead of leaving it open to the halls themselves to assign them.
Each Guildhall also follows this system, with the three positions within the hall itself being staffed with less influential but necessary individuals for these jobs, allowing the allocation of work and the influx of money to flow smoothly from one end of Araevis to the other.
The Dark Underbelly:
Beneath the façade of a Mercenary guild, however, the true heads of the guild rule from the underkeep of Eruditio, a basement facility where torture, poisons and weaponry are constantly refined. Known colloquially as the Cats Paw, this group keeps an eye out for any who show potential in the art of stealth, assassination and any other underhanded methods of earning their keep. They handle the more illegal jobs that are brought to the Guild, and are much more expensive and discreet in their handling of jobs. They still often operate as common guild members, though they travel a lot, which isn’t considered uncommon for mercenaries within the guild.
They also handle defectors and those who would leak secrets from within the guild, and are actually known about amongst the common guild members, but due to information being wildly varying and often inflated are considered, and enforced as, ghost stories and myths from within the guild.
The true heads of the Black Cats are a Velen woman named Tanner Rhys, who runs the bars, brothels and contraband division of the guild. A Demvir named Hastor Khyrrus who is in charge of the wetwork within the guild, often personally choosing whose job it is to take on the target, or setting up a situation where a patsy would do the work for them. Finally there is a female laicar named Darris Shree, whose job is procurement of resources, living and otherwise, to keep the guild fully functioning. She often works as a slave within noble houses, and is the information gathering expert, often using gossip within noble houses from either herself or other slaves to gain information for bribery, blackmail or theft against a target.
However, there is a True Guildmaster within the underbelly, a mysterious mage known only as the Headmaster. He has a shadowy way about him, and uses insects as a medium for a long forgotten form of magic. The only ones who truly know his name are the three heads, though they keep it hidden for him.
The Cats Paw often uses dead drops to communicate, though in extreme circumstances they are known to use a kind of insect known as a Skrill Bug, a centipede about the size of a Yorkshire terrier, to force the person into a semi-conscious state so the Headmaster can communicate to them, though there is a way to also load a message into the poison using unknown methods which is uploaded during the hallucinogenic state brought about by the Skrill's poisonous bite.
The bug has some sort of paralytic poison within it, and if it is unable to deliver its message the poison will leak through its flesh, causing a cloud of clear, noxious gas to flood an area choking and even killing those within if exposed for too long. This self destruction kills the bug, and can cause hallucinations on those even moderately affected by it.
