Gnomish Travelers' Guild:

Symbol: A case full of maps.

Members: Gnomes, Travelers, Adventurers

Region: Any

HQ: Gnomefort

Perhaps the loosest of the true organizations in the world, the Travelers' Guild is also one of the most influential. The central council consists entirely of gnomes, but the lower order members can be almost anyone. While the main hall, and "the Big Book" as gnomes call it are located in Gnomefort, there is a guild hall in virtually every city, and many larger towns across the civilized lands of the north, and a few are even located in the settled regions of the Southern Continent now.

The primary purpose of the Guild is to collect tales of far off places, adventures and happenings from all over the world, and compile them in as unbiased a fashion for future reference. Accuracy to the events is critical to the gnomes, and any tale teller should expect to be subjected constantly to magic to detect lies, to discern the truth behind events, or to verify the account. Because of their natural tendency towards absolute accuracy to core events, gnomes are favored as members.

The Guild rarely provides any material resources such as funding for expeditions, but they do make for a powerful font of knowledge about almost everywhere someone could want to go, and any member who has brought them at least one tale they didn't already have in their stores that has been verified as accurate can access these resources. (Allows for taking 10 on any Knowledge: Local check and providing a +2 Masterwork materials bonus for such checks and for other types of knowledges for the lesser guildhalls, and providing a the +2 bonus and taking 20 for Knowledge: Local at the main hall.)

Most guild halls also possess a general store which is specialized to provide for the likeliest needs of adventurers in that region.

Karak Elite:

Symbol: A waraxe and a warhammer crossed over a shield.

Members: Dwarven Warriors

Region: Dwarven Strongholds

HQ: Per Stronghold

The Karak Elite are the best known and most dedicated defenders of the Dwarven strongholds. By the time a Dwarf is allowed to swear fealty to the Defenders, they have been extensively tested and trained, and been given an oath to protect their Karak, their people and their allies, with their lives if need be.

All Dwarves will recognize the marks of the Karak Elite, and tend to treat these devoted warriors with the utmost respect and regard. Most others near Dwarven lands will also recognize the Elite, and enemies of the Dwarves most assuredly will.

When a stronghold has resources to spare, the Elite get the best equipment and provisions, and a traveling Elite can expect whatever hospitality a Dwarven stronghold or other settlement can afford.

Knights of Blackmar:

Symbol: A Rose made of Mithril

Members: Human, Half-Elf, Dark Elf and High Elf Knights

Region: Blackmar

HQ: Blackmar City

Known across the northern world, the Knights of Blackmar are the high chivalric order of the world. The coming of the Demon Kingdom shattered virtually all such orders that had come before in the regions south of the mountains, and scattered the survivors far and wide. Many of these died out in the following centuries of the rule by the demon kings and queens, and were among those the dark lords and ladies hunted down most fanatically. The survivors were mostly small cult-like gatherings loyal to old ideals, or survived among the elves.

In her adventuring days, Tinara Blackmar discovered a number of these, and called upon them during her campaign against the demon lords. When the demons and their followers had been driven into the valleys, she began to try to unite the disparate orders into one body. It took years, but the result is still considered her second greatest accomplishment. The Knights of Blackmar are the largest single military organization in the known world.

Driven by ancient codes of chivalry combined with Elven romantic ideals, and given strength by a mix of devotion and Elven cavalry tactics, the Knights are also the most potent and mobile military organization in the known world, especially as they are the primary heirs to Blackmar's large mithril deposits, which mostly go to build armor and occasional barding for the more notable knights of the order, and almost every knight aspires to one day have their own suit of mithril plate and one of the rare Blackmaran longswords.

In addition to their martial training, all knights are given extensive religious training, taught devotion to the patrons of the knighthood: Athena, the goddess of intelligent and lawful warfare, Apollo, the lord of enlightenment and righteousness, Corellon Latherian, the Elven god of war, and Elistraee, the goddess of freedom. The four temples all advise and aid the knighthood equally, and most knights take one of these as their patron, and all have studied with one or more temples before joining the knights.

Finally, each knight is given training in leadership and inspiration, the better to be able to rally the militias and smaller armies of the land around them should the need arise. There is at least one knight attached to, and mostly in charge of virtually every militia, every fort, and every city or town army within Blackmar. By the time they've risen terribly high in the knighthood, almost all knights have learned how to command respect, not simply feel entitled to it. The priesthoods screen the candidates very carefully, and merit alone determines rise into the leadership ranks. The children of nobles and other wealthy individuals are screened and tested as rigorously as anyone else, and attempting to bribe the priests given sway over testing, whether the bribery is by the knight-candidate or their family is punishable by life imprisonment, with no regard for station. Too many of the old orders collapsed or failed due to wealthy but incompetent leadership, and the rigors of the modern leadership selection were overseen by Tinara herself.

Midnight Children:

Symbol: Five Knives in a row

Members: Thieves and Assassins

Region: Northern Continent

HQ: Ravenshold

Depending on who you ask, the Midnight Children are a tale meant to frighten children, or the most powerful underground organization in the world. While they do exist, few people know the truth behind the upper echelons of the membership, even among the children themselves. The Midnight Children select their members from among the most promising students of various thieves and assassins' guilds. There are outposts of the children everywhere there's a large population, but usually only a few Children in any location. Indeed, the leaders of many assassins' guilds, and some of the thieves' guilds are part of the Children.

The ultimate goal of the Children is to maintain peace and order at nearly any cost, while building themselves into an economic power. They believe that for society to progress, there must be some underlying order that will survive any chaos or destruction. Noble families will fall, governments and empires will collapse, but something must survive that can help rebuild, and in the meanwhile, watch over the progress of civilization to make sure it continues to advance.

They do this by making sure members are invested in stable and critical resources, and gather allies where they can. They take money from those with enough wealth to afford them to eliminate conflicts, primarily agreeing to contracts that either don't interfere with their plans, or that would place more power in the hands of merchants or politicians willing to work with them. They also work to eliminate corrupt rulers or those who would be too weak to overcome a real challenge, were one to arise. Despite the stories of the evils of the Children, they actually very much support organizations such as the Knights of Blackmar --- they do a wonderful job maintaining order and are a vanguard against larger threats. Likewise, they have little interest in politicians or watchmen who take bribes. While this would seem to be helpful, they reason that those who would easily take bribes from the Children would have their price for others as well.

Regardless, again, despite the tales, no member of the Children is an actual ruler of any land, nor a high priest or the like. They don't want to rule, they want to be a power behind the throne. Likewise, they're far more likely to manipulate events through removing inconvenient individuals, or calling on bonds of old alliance and kinship than they are to use bribery or outright fear. The latter two means of manipulation are just the visible ones --- and the ones they want those who know of them at all to believe are their favored tools. Meanwhile, they run many of the criminal activities present in any city or large town, and keep much more order than most similar organizations would, including the guilds.

Betraying the Children has only one punishment.

The Order of Ash:

Symbol: Crossed Longbows

Members: Any willing to devote their lives to the poor

Region: Any

HQ: None

Many of the world's most renowned heroes have emerged from the Order of Ash. The Order devotes itself to the welfare of the poor of the world, and operate in a wide variety of fashions to try and aid them. Some are noted healers, others bring large amounts of money taken from adventuring, from bandits and other evils of the world, and some from a bit of banditry of their own, while others come into regions as gifted craftsmen and builders who donate their services for nothing more than room and board. The most famous of the Order, however, are the ones from whom the Order takes its name, the famed archers who devote themselves to mastery of the distinctive bows of Ash wood. These men and women are not typically popular among the nobility, and indeed, more than a few have prices on their heads as bandits, but they are universally popular among the poor and downtrodden. Even those who do engage in more roguish activities are noted for their care to not take the lives of people like knights or other proper defenders, though they have few such reservations where corrupt officials or merchants and the like are concerned. Regardless, all members refuse to bow before any nobility, and follow only those laws which they feel are just.

All members take a vow of poverty which greatly restricts what they may carry on their persons, and prevents greed from taking hold among the members of the order. Beyond this, they tend to be highly individualistic, and the only real status among them tends to be that of merit --- regard for the amount and degree of deeds done for the poor. In rare cases of great danger to the peasantry, dozens or even hundreds of members of the Order in a country will band together under the banner of legendary members of the Order, but these events are rare. At most, groups of members of the Order rarely get much larger than five or six, though many peasant children dream of one day being taken as an apprentice by one of the great bowmen, and many of the better known could raise a militia quickly if needed.

Priestesses of the Reflecting Pool:

Symbol: Clear, Reflecting Pool

Members: Priestesses of Aphrodite

Region: Blackmar

HQ: Blackmar City Temple

While those with a known tendency for being vain, self-absorbed and occasionally chaotic would not normally be drawn upon as the ideal diplomats, the priestesses have the dual advantages of being very, very good at what they do, and the ability to work between disparate factions with ease. Their real rise to power came during the first negotiations with the High Elves, the priestesses of Elistraee and the liberating armies of Blackmar, trying to forge a united country. While the highly lawful and restrictive old orders of knighthood were set on a strong code of governance, the elves were much more devoted to a degree of individual freedom. To most, it very much looked like the Demon Kingdom, though freed, would devolve into chaos rapidly. A group of priestesses most known for tending to the noblewomen and running a number of expensive prostitution rings in the warm climes of the south arrived unheralded, and negotiated a settlement between the sides. Their charisma and willingness to work within a greater structure appeased the paladins, while the priestesses of the Elven goddess of beauty got on quickly enough to act as mediators for their people. The Priestesses of Elistraee saw something of kindred spirits in the new arrivals, enough to overcome their significant differences, and an order, and from it, a country, was born.

Since then, the Priestesses have had a temple in every city and large town in Blackmar, have a complete hold on many of the establishments catering to the entertainment of the wealthy, and are part of virtually every diplomatic entourage within, and even going out from Blackmar. While some do find issues with their vanity and behavior, their beauty, charisma, and especially their long and brilliant record of success at diplomatic endeavors has cemented them within Blackmar as both one of the most famed and attended temples, and one of the most influential political organizations in the country.

Red Guard:

Symbol: A Red Fist

Members: Hobgoblin Mercenaries

Region: The Scar/Worldwide

HQ: Southern Scar

During the fall of the Hobgoblin empire, an unheard of thing (for Hobgoblins) occurred --- one of the great tribes pulled back from the war over the scraps of the empire, and managed a peace with the orcs, ogres, trolls, goblins and gnolls who had once been the front lines of the Hobgoblins' empire. They sold away what contracts with these others they had left to build monetary resources and maintain peace treaties, and established a territory and dug in, all with the goal of maintaining something of the old empire to build out from again, though they kept this very secret, even among their own kind.

The Red Hand has become one of the most powerful of the tribes of the Hobgoblins over the past 11,000 years of their existence, in part because they refuse to war upon their neighbors, and refuse any large scale participation in the Endless War --- again, near travesties among the warrior culture of the hobgoblins. Indeed, their treaties with virtually every tribe has the same clause --- the Red Hand will not attack them, but in exchange, they expect their allies to come to their aid immediately should anyone attack the Red Hand. Entire tribes who violated the agreement have been wiped out overnight without the Red Hand lifting a finger.

Instead, they focus their energies on training and deploying individuals or units of mercenaries for any other power with the resources to pay them, outside of Brelandia. Regardless of payment, they will not participate in the war, save to defend themselves. Any Hobgoblin who renounces his own tribe, refuses to take further part in the war, and can prove their skills are worthy of further training can join the Red Hand. With this, and the fame of repeated successes, their numbers swell with each generation, and more and more units of mercenaries are sent out from the Scar to employers of all stripes.

Most of the members are simply fanatically devoted to their tribe, and trying to bring the Hand both glory and money through their endeavors. Only a handful know the real purpose of the tribe's stance --- to one day have the resources to hold a war before which all others will pale, and regain an empire.

Serpentine Order

Symbol: Coiled Serpent

Members: Monks

Region: Silver Valley

HQ: Monastery of the Feathered Serpent

One of the world's most bizarre sects, the monks of the Serpentine Order are a tiny, but devoted force for good and order within the world. Founded almost 3,000 years ago after the last Dragonwar, the Serpentine Order exists as a guardian between the evils of the valley and the deep Silverwood and the rest of the world. Their primary recognized foes are the small cults of Yuan-Ti that exist in the depths of the wood, though they have expanded their guardianship to include other threats as well, and are especially adept at tracking down cults of many varieties.

Few of the Brothers of the Serpent know the backing behind their order, fewer care, so long as they feel their mission is just. Following the Dragonwar, the Gold Dragon Veritas returned from a difficult journey over the Stormsea to try and call upon ancient pacts with the couatl for aid against the chromatic dragons. What he found horrified him: most of the couatl had been sacrificed on the altars of the Yuan-Ti, and those who remained had been forced to flee or go into hiding.

Unable to break the backs of the serpentine cultists, he devoted himself to making sure they would not take hold in the north and gain similar power there. After long study, he found an alchemical formula which, when mixed with a few drops of his own blood, would slowly alter other creatures into forms more capable of infiltrating and fighting the Yuan-Ti. He then found a small monastery, after he'd taken human form, and over two centuries, began to shape it to his own ends. The end result was the order of monks who now study the ways of the world's evils, then seek to aid in guarding against these threats, while slowly distancing themselves from the forms they once wore through the elixir of the order.

The Silver Library:

Symbol: An Open Book

Members: Grey Elves

Region: Silver Valley

HQ: The Silver Library

There is no place else in the world that begins to match the resources for study and learning, both mundane and magical, of the Silver Library. The Library itself is the size of a large town in diameter, with the secondary structures extending three sub-basements deep and five stories high, while the central building extends 24 stories into the sky and seven sub-basements deep. Around the library, blended somewhat with the surrounds of the Silver Valley and Silverwood Forest, a city extends in concentric rings.

Only Grey Elves and those who are known to be allies of theirs tend to be allowed anywhere near the city, let alone the library, and the region is covered in layers of magical wards and protections to keep out any unwanted visitor. The library itself is even more warded by all manner of magical and mundane protections, and only those with a library card are permitted entry.

Most Grey Elves have a card. The only other people to possess one are those who have performed great services for the Grey Elves, which can occasionally be rewarded with a card allowing access to the least restricted levels. Each card is unique and magically bonded to its owner, and will not function to permit passing the protections for anyone else, even if that someone else is shapechanged into the card holder.

Every card has a certain level of protection on it, and all card holders know what sections of the library they have access to. The more valued a researcher and mage a user is, the more likely they are to have their card upgraded at the next review of the Library Council. Those who are not Grey Elves are unlikely to ever possess a card beyond the most basic levels, what some Grey Elves derisively refer to as "the children's section".

The Library itself houses many of the most valued researchers and instructors of the Grey elves, as well as the Library Council, the true ruling body of the Grey Elves of the east.

For those with high enough access, almost anything can be researched. Only the very most accomplished and proven mages and researchers who have proven time and again to be of the highest character have access to the central portion of the highest floor, where the truly forbidden lore is stored.

Servants of the Eye:

Symbol: Eye of Horus

Members: Good Aligned Paladins, Rangers and other Warriors. Priests of Horus

Region: Endless Desert

HQ: Temple of the Eye

Fanatics in the truest sense, the Servants of the Eye devote themselves utterly to the eradication of evil wherever they find it. Individual members specialize in differing foes, but as a whole, the small order remains a potent force for both the protection of their home region, and the destruction of all manners of evil in the world.

When a member joins, they give up almost all trace of their former life. Family names are written on the walls of the main temple, to be protected there, but never again used by the warrior. All signs of devotion to any other person or cause are donated or destroyed that the warrior can be pure in his righteous cause.

All Servants worship Horus, the Avenger, and carry the symbol of his unblinking eye, which they hope will help them find evil wherever it hides. Each studies a different path, and most become hunters of a particular brand of wickedness, and many travel far from the temple in search of their foes, or to bolster the forces of those who have similar goals.

Wild Pack:

Symbol: Winding Thorn Branch

Members: Rangers, Scouts, Druids and others of Brelandia

Region: Brelandia

HQ: Brelandish Druids Stone Circle

The first Wild Pack was assembled as Darce Breland's personal entourage during the Demon wars. While the numbers have expanded beyond his original 50, who were a mix of stone giants, elves, humans, intelligent monsters and even a bronze dragon, the core principles have not.

The Demon War has not ended until the Scar has fallen, and the Demon Valley is barren of life.

All who join this brotherhood are united in this fight, regardless of race or belief.

All who join this brotherhood are brothers and sisters, regardless of race, religion or belief.

All who join this brotherhood are devoted to the protection of the greatest good to result from the first days of the war: the country of Brelandia, and its creed of people of good will living in harmony with the land.

They remain the elite forces of Brelandia, and while towns still have militias, and there is still a gathered army to guard the borders, the Wild Pack are the guardians who roam the woods hidden, who perform the secretive missions into the Scar, and who most Brelandians believe are out in the wilds watching over them (And are quite often right.)

Individual members are given a lot of freedom to act as they see fit, but because of the method of training, most remain in bands with those they first trained with. Many Brelandians of a variety of races and regions seek to join each year, and most won't succeed. Much of the time, rejection is based as much on inability to work with others of a different race or philosophy more than lack of aptitude. Those who remain after the first two months are broken down into units which mix druids, scouts, monsters, barbarian peoples, elves of different races and so on to get a truly diverse group. These units then live and train together, largely around exercises given either to the entire group, or one member is given an assignment which either requires getting aid from the whole group, or requires recruiting one of their allies for success. Even with the right mix of skills, these tests are often extremely difficult. The end results of the sessions tend towards people of diverse skill and fanatical loyalty to their brothers and sisters, while their backgrounds and the land encourage retaining a good deal of individuality.

These small units are then given sections of the country where their backgrounds and skills are most suited, and made the protectors of the region. When there is need in the war to get the elite involved, multiple "packs" are gathered into larger units, either to conduct operations themselves, or to lead militia troops. For the most part, the packs are defensively oriented, protectors of the land from all manner of threats, while also acting as enforcers to ensure towns are not taking more than the druids have permitted them, and making sure the plants and animals of their protectorate regions remain vital and true to their natures, despite the presence of settlements.