Setting fluff

[thirdkingdom]

Below are detailed two of the Guilds present in Karameikos. The Moneychanger's Guild is essentially a way to handwave money deposits as well as the sale of gems/jewelry/goods. The Wizard's Guild provides a way for characters to easily train and study for spells. Note that while we will be using the practice times as given in the rulebook to improve in weapon skills, the table below supplants that for studying spells. Dark Dungeons has a set of rules for studying spells, taking essentially the same amount of time to do as it does to improve in weapons. Except mages will be doing this at every level.

Unless otherwise stated, the following Guilds exist and have authority only in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. That is not to say that other nations do not have analogous Guilds or organizations, or even that the foreign Guilds do not have relations with Karameikan Guilds. For instance, the Moneychanger's Guild, while it only has "branches" within Karameikos, has treaties with say the Darokin Guild of Moneylenders that will enable PCs to withdraw funds while in Darokin (at a slightly higher interest rate).

Moneychanger's Guild

Established in 980 AC, the Moneychanger's Guild acts as the de facto Karameikan bank and pawn shop. The main function of the Guild is to facilitate the exchange of Karameikan coinage with foreign/obsolete currency. In other words, they will convert that chest full of old Traladaran gold pieces into Karameikan coin . . . for a small fee, that is. In addition, they have grown to act as a bank as well as a commodities exchange. The bank function allows a PC to make a "deposit" anywhere within the Duchy and withdraw it at a later time, wherever they happen to be within the Duchy (and, as stated above, potentially elsewhere as well). The Guild also accepts non-coin treasure and will pay the PCs a given percentage of its value. The above services essentially provides a way to hand-wave a bunch of the annoying minor stuff such as hauling large quantities of coin around, searching for a buyer for jewelry, etc. Rates are as follows:
Deposit. Coinage, regardless of origin, may be deposited with the bank at no charge. Withdrawals are made with a 5% fee. Note that in some smaller towns there may be a limit to the amount of cash readily available. Funds may be "withdrawn" anywhere a Guild office exists.
Gem conversion. The Guild will pay face value -10% of gems brought to them. They will convert coins to gems at the same (10%) rate. Note that if a PC wants to get gems instead of coins from their account they pay the 10% rate, not a combined rate of 15%.
Jewelry and Goods. The Guild will purchase jewelry and other valuables at a rate of face value -10% of items costing up to 1,000.00 gp. A 15% fee applies for valuables worth more than 1,000.00 gp.

Wizard's Guild

The Wizard's Guild of Karameikos was established fairly recently, within the past five years, as a means of increasing and training the Duchy's pool of magic-users. Each city/town of at least modest size have a Guildmage in residence; the Guildmage, in addition to providing their services to the town in general, is responsible for recruiting new members, maintaining the local Guild library and laboratory, etc. Only in Threshold is the Guildmage located outside of town, due to the prohibition on spell-casting within city limits. In order to join the Guild a magic-user or elf must be at least 1st level. They need to be sponsored by either another Guild member or a reliable, well-known spellcaster. The dues to join the Guild are 100 gp a year per "step" (see below). In addition, Guildmembers are expected to act to protect the Duchy's interest when required (essentially, they are required to join a ducal militia in case of war, and there is also a reasonable expectation the wizard/elf will act to protect citizens when asked) as well as contribute any new spells they find/develop to their local Guild library.

Members of the Guild are given a brooch magically attuned to the individual to identify them as a Guild member in good standing.
Joining the Guild does a couple of things. One, it gives the PC access to various Guild libraries and laboratories, increasing the chance of learning a spell as specified below. Second, the PC is able to hire a "tutor" at half the listed price.

The spell study rules assume that a spellcaster can spend a minimum of 2 hours per day trying to learn a new spell. If adventuring, two hours at night or in the morning is the maximum amount of time that can be spent. So, in for a first level mage to have a minimum chance to learn a 1st level spell they would need to spend 8 hours in study. This could be broken down into four days of two hour increments. The chance to learn is rolled after the minimum time required and every two hours thereafter.

The essential idea is that a PC has a decent chance of learning a spell during weeks of adventuring or by buckling down and spending a few days just studying.

Spell Study.pdf

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[thirdkingdom]

Religion in Karameikos

Church of Karameikos

The Church of Karameikos is by far the largest practiced religion in the Duchy. It is in some sense a made up sect, borrowing elements from both the Thyatian and Traladaran traditions, although the Thyatian aspect is dominant. It is the state sponsored religion; the Patriarach of Threshold, Baron Sherlane Halaran, is both the spiritual and temporal leader of the region. The church worships a number of different Immortals, including Vanya, Valerias and Tarastia (originally Thyatian Immortals), Ilsundal and Kagyar (elven and dwarven Immortals, respectively) and several others.

Church of Traladar

The Church of Traladar is still adhered to by a number of the Traladaran peoples. They worship the three Immortals Halav, Petra and Zirchev, ancient heroes of the Traladaran peoples. The church is much more diffuse than that of the Karameikans, but does have a strong presence in Threshold.

Cult of Halav

About a decade ago a group of Traladaran priests seperated from the Traladaran church, believing that Duke Stefan Karameikos is the reincarnation of the Immortal Halav. This sect is tolerated but not encouraged, and has no visible presence in Threshold.

Others

There is a fairly large dwarven population in Threshold and a shrine to Kagyar in the dwarven quarters on Fogors Isle.

There are a number of other Immortals worshipped in Karameikos, both good and evil, but these others are done in much smaller numbers and not always in public. Due to the location Threshold on the north-south trade route there are several smaller shrines to various Immortals. The largest of these in Threshold is Ixion, the Darokin Sun-god.

[frobozz]

Order of the Guardians of Threshold

"It is, I freely admit, a largely empty title. There are no lands, nor gold, nor arms attached to it, and in return all that I ask is for you to defend Threshold in her time of need, provided you are nearby and bound by no more sacred oath. It is no knighthood, no formal order, but it is a properly granted title, and added after your name should the need arise to impress or prove one's worth... It was actually my niece's idea, as a way to reward those who have served the city while trying to build some loyalty to the region. This is a wilderness we are attempting to tame, and we need all the men and women we can get. Oh. There is also a small silver pin that comes with membership in the order, that you may use to fasten your cloak." --- Baron Sherlane Halaran

Order of the Elvenguard of Karameikos

"The Elvenguard is a small company of elven knights, numbering no more than 100. Our primary goal is to maintain order and law within the new nation of Karameikos, and we are under the direct command of the Duke. About two-thirds of the Elvenguard is stationed in Specularum, whilst the other third is stationed throughout the whole of Karameikos. We were instructed to serve the Baron as scouts and rangers, patrolling the vast wilderness that is northern Karameikos." --- Dreilfiin and Duellian, Knights of the Elvenguard

[Atlictoatl]

From various sources (apologies for OOC nature of this post):

The Story Thus Far (Flaurmont 29)
Description of the plot-line regarding the Wizard Burgle and the Apostate Elwyn.

More on Immortals worshipped in Threshold.
More on Immortals worshipped in Karameikos.