The Hierarchy

In the lands of the Quick, the Crusades caused many thousands of wraiths — both Christian and Muslim — to enter the Shadowlands from the battlefields and besieged towns as well as from the sickness and starvation that accompany war. Though many attempted to continue the wars of their living days, they were quickly taught the nature of their new state. Most elected to join Nhudri and his followers in repairing roads, or signed on with the Stygian militia, finding common ground with former foes in battling against Spectres or Renegades. As life in the Skinlands changed, Charon remade Stygia to reflect the Kingdoms of Europe. He founded the Hierarchy, with Charon and his Deathlords at the top. The Legions and the Eqitaes, now called Knights, were just below that level, along with the Ferrymen who remained loyal to Charon. The lowest place was reserved for the equivalent of serfs — wraiths called thralls, who were bound with Stygian steel chains and used as slaves or as payment among the higher classes. The Founding of the Guilds At this time, many of the ancient organizations of likeminded wraiths coalesced into Guilds, societies modeled on the trade guilds of the living. These Guilds sought to protect and grow the knowledge of their particular powers, called Arcanoi, and to find ways those powers could be marketed to the populace of the city. Hand in hand with that went the responsibility to prevent abuses of said powers. Each Guild developed its rites and rituals, and many wraiths with any demonstrable power signed on, even if the inner circles remained restricted to the chosen few. Charon later claimed credit for organizing the Guilds, a grievance that was remembered when the Guilds later revolted. Regardless, the Guilds took a place just below that of the Knights and Legions in Wraith society. During this time, however, discontent continued among some of the wraiths who resented Charon, his Hierarchy and the Guilds seeking to curtail their free use of their talents. These penetrated the Shroud time and again, appearing to mortals as demons or devils and demanding tribute or sacrifices. To provide legal recourse to stop such practices, Charon instituted the Dictum Mortuum.

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In the wake of the wraithly abuses during the so-called Dark Ages, Charon created a code formalizing the separation between living and dead. These laws dictated that no wraith was to penetrate the Shroud under any circumstances. There was to be no contact with the living, no attempt to impart what the future might hold for them or to harass or threaten those still living in any way. Finally, wraiths were forbidden to suggest or compel the Quick to take a life, whether their own or any other to facilitate passing over into the land of the dead. As one might expect, the Dictum Mortuum was immediately honored more in the breach than in the observance. To this day, the Legions spend an inordinate amount of wraithpower policing Dictum Mortuum violations, pursuing everyone from heartbroken wraiths seeking to reach out to their loved ones to hardened poltergeists-for-hire.

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 In the year 1598, the Guilds struck. Despite uniting themselves in the attempt, the always quarrelsome and jealous Guilds ultimately failed to coordinate and fell to Charon’s forces. Scores of Guildwraiths were destroyed. Included among the fallen were Nhudri’s original three apprentices, wraiths who had helped to build the roads of the empire. It is said that Nhudri no longer plied the forges quite so willingly after that loss, but only Nhudri and Charon knew the truth of it.

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Today ,The Guilds of Stygia are each one part trade cartel, one part secret cabal. Formed in the earliest days of Stygian society, they coalesced around the development and perfection of specific Arcanoi. Guild members are the undisputed masters of their respective arts and the gatekeepers of advanced study. Though the Hierarchy relies on their knowledge, it has always been wary of the Guilds’ ambition. Their suspicion is not unjustified: The Guilds attempted a coup centuries ago, and the threat of a reprise always lurks in the background. But time heals some wounds, and while the Guilds are still officially illegal, they’ve quietly — in most cases — crept back into Stygia and set up shop. After all, everyone needs what they have to offer.

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The Collegia

Occult orders and secret societies have always attracted the Restless. Oracular mystery cults older than recorded history thrived among the Mediterranean cultures that fed into early Stygia. Souls crossed the Shroud expecting to find answers to the metaphysical questions they pursued in life. To the dismay of many early wraiths (and the delight of a few), the Underworld was if anything more confounding than the Skinlands. Those for whom arcane study was a concern often redoubled their efforts when confronted with an afterlife rife with mysteries and dangers. By the time of Rome’s ascendancy, cults and cabals in Stygia were common as cobblestones. One popular form, carried over by early Roman dead, was the collegium. In the Skinlands, collegia served a broad array of purposes. Many were nothing more than organized crime syndicates. Some served as social clubs, others as trade cartels. Most were a little of all of the above, in the way a modern country club is a great place to do some insider trading between rounds of golf. And within them, they carried the seeds of what would become the great Guilds of Stygia.

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As noted above, most wraiths are not members of a Guild. Finding one in a time of need, however, requires different approaches for different Guilds. Members of the High Guilds practice openly under Stygian auspices, though they don’t proclaim themselves as Guildwraiths, per se. Working Guilds may be difficult to track down in a group, but individual members can be found. They just may not be willing to admit that they are Guild members, or be willing to introduce a stranger to the organization. The Criminal Guilds can be found on the wrong side of the tracks, and connections are made through cutouts to ensure that everyone’s on the up and up. As for the Forbidden Guilds, seeking them out is a matter of luck and chance, and the wraith who’s looking for a meeting with a Solicitor is far more likely to find himself on the short end of a sting operation conducted by the Unlidded Eye. There are some wraiths who’ve decided the Guild structure is not for them. Some want to disrupt what they see as a calcified way of doing things, others want the still-considerable prestige (and ability to charge top obolus) that Guild status confers without any of the restrictions or discipline, and so pretend to Guild membership they have no claim on. The actual Guilds — and their de facto allies in the Hierarchy — crack down on faux Guildwraiths hard and mercilessly, but out on the fringes of Stygian territory, nobody’s going to look too closely to see if the wraith with the Shadow-stained fingers has their Pardoners’ Guild dues paid up. As for the would-be disruptors,if discovered they’re put under observation. It’s highly unlikely they’ll discover something the Guilds haven’t, after all, but just in case they do, the Council wants to be ready.

 

The Mnemoi

No one is as reviled in Stygia as the Mnemoi. Their ability to manipulate memories is particularly terrifying to wraiths, beings who are by and large constructed entirely of their memories of themselves. And everybody knows that the Mnemoi, once the trusted judges of Stygia, must have
done something utterly horrible to have been stripped of their powers, exiled, and hunted. The problem is, no one can quite remember what exactly it is that they did. Rumors and contradictory evidence abound, but as for the truth, it remains elusive. Meanwhile, conspiracy theorists among the Legions and in Renegade camps put forth a thousand crackpot theories: The Mnemoi were framed, the Mnemoi are the Deathlords, all of this is part of a long game the Mnemoi are running so that they eventually return and conquer Stygia, and a thousand more. But the truth remains elusive.

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