# Groups in your world



## Gryphos (Feb 26, 2014)

This is in the same vein as the races and nations threads. What different groups of people do you have? This could be an order, a guild, a company, a rebel group etc.

I'll start with some in my world.

*The Coin Guild*

The Coin Guild is an international guild in charge of the coinage throughout the land. They own all the mints and the gold mines. Essentially, they control the economy. It's so notorious that it's often just referred to as 'The Guild'. The Guild doesn't just deal with coinage. It also likes to have eyes on everything that goes on. Often guildsmen will have a representative to inspect crime scenes and they have an almost constant presence at political meetings. Members of the Guild are so influential that often they're essentially above the law.

*The King's Knights*

A special order of aeronauts knighted by the king of Pelepan. The airships of the King's Knights are powerful vessels and crewed by knights who are trained to an exceptional degree. The purpose of the King's Knights is mainly the defence of the king, but often they're used as a special task force for covert operations. Essentially, the knights are the king's ace in the hole. Their deployment at a key moment has been known to turn the tide of an otherwise hopeless defeat.

*Noose Monkeys*

Noose Monkeys is a nickname given to retired Line Monkeys who try their hand at contract killing. Line Monkeys is a nickname given to airship mechanics, who are known for their acrobatic ability ('line' refers to the way they often have to tether themselves to the ship and leap overboard to fix the engines). This acrobatic ability makes Noose Monkeys almost like ninjas, able to navigate urban environments with speed and skill. Therefore, with some supplementary training they can become deadly effective assassins and spies. Most Noose Monkeys are freelance but some governments take advantage of their ability and formally employ them. The Coin Guild is also known to use Noose Monkeys regularly.


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## Devor (Feb 26, 2014)

I've got the _ten serving traditions_, who are kind of like the Japanese Geisha in that they train from birth in their profession and have a lot of odd rituals and specialties.  One group, for instance, trains in engineering and mathematics while another studies people to decide if they deserve loans or a different job.  For the most part I've tried to have the groups radically reshape parts of society, although with ten of them, some are more developed and several are loose, little more than placeholders for their role.  One, for instance, does "operas and festivals," and that's all I've got for them.


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## DassaultMirage (Feb 27, 2014)

I have The Order of the Black World, magic practitioners that have consumed the flesh of a Fallen to be Nephilims. Members are called Disciples. They desire to facilitate the return of the Fallen named Legion by killing at least one Sorceress of the Rift, to puncture a hole in the veil of the highest god, Ein Sof's own magic, big enough for Legion to enter our world again.

Then I have the Order of the Hanging Sword, practitioners blessed directly by a specific Erelim. Members are called Damocles. They desire to find all the Sorceresses of the Rift and cast the most powerful defensive spell on them. The defensive spell is an eternal enchantment called Aegis. It will protect its target from all known harm, death included.


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## A. E. Lowan (Feb 27, 2014)

In our urban fantasy series we have lots of groups, such as packs of shape-shifting therian and vampire and dragon Courts all around the world, but I think the only organizations we have are our Sport Hunters and The Reapers.

The Sport Hunters are a wizard club formed to hunt wizard sports, those wizards born to human parents, outside of the ancient bloodlines of the wizard Houses.  Sports are seen as a threat to the bloodlines because they do not always produce magical children, so they are either captured and sterilized, and then taken as slaves of ones of the Houses, or they are killed on sight.  The Sport Hunters see the containment of sports as a duty to the bloodlines - and great fun.

The Reapers are an ancient organization of humans dedicated to the protection of humankind and the elimination of the preternatural threat that preys on them all.  They try to do this either by educating the rest of the "flock" about the existence of the "wolves" or by hunting and killing the predators and their collaborators. They have been responsible for the witch trials of previous centuries, the vampire hysteria in Eastern Europe, and some of the worst events of the Inquisition. It is notable that more humans died in these attempts to rid humanity of some of the threat than did actual preternaturals, but The Reapers see this as a small sacrifice which must be paid.  They tend to run in families, exist worldwide, and no one knows exactly how many there are.  They have the motto, "When One Falls, Ten Shall Rise."


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## thecoldembrace (Feb 28, 2014)

I've always been big on world building, probably to an unhealthy extent. When I first created my world and got to the point of different nations and cultures I created a great deal in the aspect of "groups." 
 Probably the most notable groups in my world are the Black Dawn, The Council of Eternal Weaves and the Sorcerers. 

The Black Dawn came to be under the current ruling dynasty in my largest empire as the secret police force for the royal family. They became the spies, the assassins, and soldiers willing to do the specialist strikes against enemies of the crown. I made them very good at these three jobs, giving the crown a very powerful and very loyal intelligence network that knew what a king in a far off region had for breakfast that morning in just a few short hours. Assassins did... well assassination, and the specialist strike teams strike at enemy holds behind the lines, attack generals amid a larger battlefield scenario, and hunt down the enemies of the empire. Their leader is known as the Designer, leading to the phrase "death by design."

The other two main groups play off one another. In my world, sorcery is far different than in most other worlds, and in mine is largely (due to propaganda) seen as an abomination and provides power that no one should have. The Council of Eternal Weaves is a group of secretly elected (per session) Archmages who set policy and decree to the magical community and to the world in general with nearly everything that involves magic. 
   The Sorcerers are just that, Sorcerers born who have started to finally become their own entity and fight back against the oppressive power of the Council that would see them destroyed for being just who they were born as.

I also went very deep into building the national structure of every kingdom, and the cultural background of all my invented cultures. I created iconic images for nearly every region and place, and specialist groups are usually at the forefront of these iconic images, whether it be militaristic, economic or political in origin.


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## Wanara009 (Feb 28, 2014)

Well, there are ~13 guild/society in my current project. Here's a few important ones:

*Freelancer Guild*
The Freelancer Guild was originally founded to provide labor. Somehow, it grew to become a very influential and vital to the running of the Underworld. They provide as a source of extra labor force for all the societies as well as perform tasks deemed too insignificant by the other guilds. Basically, people put up jobs to them, ranging from babysitting to assisting in fight against roused Colossi. My main character is slated to be a member of this group.

*Darwinist Combine (Formerly Naturalist Combine)*
This group was initially created to provide healthcare for the people living in the subterranean under-cities. However, they soon expand their domain into all manner of biological science. Their ultimate goal is to improve on the work of Mother Nature and to that end, they were responsible for inventing the process to create chimera (organism grafted with traits from others organisms) and the creation of the _Homo sapiens adventus_. Most of its members sees the world through different moral scale, which is why they often obliviously commit acts regarded as taboo or amoral by everyone else.

*League of Ferrum*
While the Darwinist Combine have a goal, albeit a very-nebulous one, the League of Ferrum does not (at least on the surface). Originally founded to provide engineering service to the under-cities, they soon expanded their domain into all fields of sciences except biological ones. They strive for progress for progress sake, regardless of everything, and became hostile if someone tries to stop them. They are also the ones responsible for building the under-cities in the first place and they still maintain it to this day, which is fortunate since their experimentation more often than not damages them.

*The Webbed Shroud*
This guild is the reason why the Underworld is not common knowledge to the everyday people... or so goes the urban legend

*Luminar Legion*
The governing body, law enforcer, and peacekeeper of the Underworld. They are divided into two parts: Magistrate and Legion. The former held the judicial and administrative power while the latter act as the enforcers of the Magistrate's will and law. The Legion is also responsible to make sure that the regular skirmish for territory between the Guilds does not degenerate into all out war.

*The Agency (for Paranormal Phenomenon and Creatures Control)*
The Agency international clandestine organization built to control and study paranormal phenomenon. They deal with incidents that the Luminar Legion cannot (which mean they deal with _all_ magic and Underworld-related incident that happen above ground). They also maintain the secrecy of the Underworld from the world at large (or at least they think they do).

*The Foundation*
The Foundation is another surface-world organization, like The Agency. Unlike The Agency, the Foundation cares only for the study and utilization of paranormal phenomenon/device/creature/etc in order to advance the surface society sufficiently so it could keep abreast with the world under it. In effect, they are like an amalgamation of the League of Ferrum and the Darwinist Combine, but far more cautious and paranoid than the two.


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## Hainted (Mar 1, 2014)

My main character in my WIP is a freelancer and is licensed by the Sudines, Myrmidions, S.K.E.P.T.I.C., SITU, The Spiritualist's Union, and The Polite Society for The Animated Formerly Living.


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## KingoftheAndals (Mar 5, 2014)

One of my main POV characters in my WIP is a member of group called Black-song. Black-song is a guild that handles contract killings, political upheavals,starting wars and other various secret acts.


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## Ophiucha (Mar 5, 2014)

Most of the 'groups' in my story are just the different races, but there are two groups in one race that are sort of central to the story.

*The Roots* are the royal family, 'the roots of the empire' if you will. Generally used to refer specifically to the blood-related men. They're, well, emperors. Not necessarily evil, but kind of by nature of being colonial monarchs, they're not really good either. They're all dead when the story starts, though, except for a couple of women - a wife and a sister of the previous emperor.

*The Lady Bastards* are all of the 'uprooted' blood relatives of the dead emperor. Dude got around, had a ton of illegitimate children... but all of the boys are dead. In this society, female bastards usually have higher status than male ones, since bride prices are still a thing. If your wife has an illegitimate son, then the husband will usually disown him to avoid inheritance issues. But a daughter is often given her father's name so he can get a cow out of her when she's married. The faeries have killed all named bastards in the empire and all blood relatives of the emperor, so these gals are basically the only ones left of the roots save for the emperor's sister (who dies during the story).


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## shangrila (Mar 7, 2014)

I've got a few that show up in my current WIP;

*Awakeners of the Flame*: A cult that is secretive and exclusive, but can be found in almost every city. They believe in the ancient monolithic dragons and strive to awaken them from their slumber, spending most of their time digging for them (the dragons are said to have gone to sleep before the earth formed, hence they're buried). They work in secret, killing anyone who enters their tunnels, though the vast labrynthine creations are hard to police and inevitably become the haunt of crooks and no-gooders, especially when the cultists move on if they find no sign of a dragon, which they haven't (yet). It's rumoured that the tunnels beneath the capital city Joridon could cross the world twice over if they were laid out straight, though that's just a rumour.

*Stormguard*: An order that worships Pyrus, god of storms and conflict. Their city Tulva is located on the northern shore of the Jorii kingdom, which they are a part of. They are split into two sects; the Whisperers (demon summoners), who all have pacts with demons impacting the sea/weather, and the knights who guard them, warriors whose initiation involves walking out into a storm in full armour. If you're struck and survive you're inducted as a full knight, if you die you were unworthy, if you weren't struck at all then Pyrus has given you a second chance (whether you're supposed to work harder or get the hell out of dodge is unknown). However, those that get inducted typically find themselves hideously burned by the experience and thus are marked for life. Most of their nerves also get burned out, allowing them to fight with no pain, although mainly struggle with feeling nothing at all.

*Order of the Bleeding Rose*: Their founding is shrouded in mystery, with the order itself not even knowing, but it's believed they were created shortly after the old empire disappeared in a single night. They do know they were created to hunt blood mages, or Augers. Over time this has extended to other magic users (or Riftborn), but the world has passed them by as magic has become less feared and more integrated in society meaning they're barely tolerated, for the most part. Their prowess in battle can't be denied, though, and so they're usually utilized by lords fighting against opposing Riftborn.

*Hounds*: Secret agents of the Throne of Jorii. There isn't much else to them, except to say that they are typically given free reign in their investigations/operations and there is no sort of standard; they're all individuals, ranging from how they dress, their skills/powers, how they operate, etc. The only thing that links them is a golden badge featuring a snarling dog's head and their loyalty to their kingdom.


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## Jabrosky (Mar 7, 2014)

The group I am about to describe isn't a singular guild so much as an occupational class. They are, simply put, hunters by trade. They get their income from selling bush-meat, hides, and other animal products to villagers and townspeople, but they spend most of their days pursuing their prey across the country. They also come in handy as protection against wildlife, scouts, and guides for explorers.

Originally I conceived of these professional hunters as bound to particular villages, but then I realized that following wildlife would take them quite a distance from whatever permanent homes they owned. At the moment I am leaning towards making them essentially nomadic, with their activities in civilization limited to commerce.


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## icerose05 (Mar 7, 2014)

In my fantasy story, I have a continent called Celithien, which contains nine kingdoms, eight on land and one under the sea. In the beginning there were eight well known brothers and sisters called The Primevals, who were said to be the children of God, or Gods themselves, sent to Celithien to rule, whether it be peaceful or catastrophic. The Primevals went to sections of the land to claim it as their birth right. Some had no trouble, and were welcomes to rule. Others weren't as lucky, and had to fight their way into power.

The only kingdom I have developed almost fully is *Nydia*, the "safest" and largest kingdom in the country. They pride themselves on the well being of their people, their land, and their security. They have the strongest army, the best weapons, their technology is the most advanced, they have the best health, the best medicine, the best everything! They only have one ally, the kingdom of Tiligan who is on the other side of the country, but they trust them as much as they trust the rest of the world, and no one dares mess with them. No one is allowed inside Nydia unless approved by a high society member trusted by the king. Magical beings are not allowed in this kingdom either.

You'd think that, because the kingdom is like a utopia, you'd think they'd all be happy, right? Well, not exactly. The majority of civilization goes along with how society is, but there are those that want adventure and zest in their lives, not just safety, so they go out on their own adventures, creating negative attention to them. Also, people and magical beings from other countries have managed to get into Nydia, and they live in the forests and mountains.

Special Features of this Kingdom: The citizens wear a magical coin linked to their blood and their blood line. If anyone but a Nydian touches the coin, they are severely burned. Their weapons are legendary, as they are made of a metal you can only find in Nydia, and only the Nydian blacksmiths know how to use it to the best of its ability. 

Maybe I'll look for help on the other 8 kingdoms . . .


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