Stormhold Blades

The Stormhold Blades were a service guild/organization operating throughout the continent of Taszerania that catered to adventurers and mercenaries of all kinds. At its height, it was the oldest, largest, and most wealthy and influential organization of its kind on the so-called Western Continent of Azocar.

Structure

The Stormhold Blades benefitted from a tight and clear organizational structure almost from inception. This structure was borne of a mix the military practices of the guild's founder and his peers combined with the Eldess tradition of spreading power and influence throughout their nobility.

Stormhold Blades house leadership

Much like Eldess fiefdoms, individual guild houses of the Stormblades were primarily governed by one specific individual; a Guildmaster. However, the division of duties similar to the separation of civic powers within Eldess nobility and the division of duties akin to the traditions of Korthan fighting forces ensured that the local Master's power was anything bout absolute.
Consequently, every Bladeshome, as the individual guild houses were called, had at least one "officer" in addition to a Guildmaster. Officer positions were usually defined by the duties each was responsible for so most guild houses had more than one officer. Typical officer positions in the Stormhold Blades included someone responsible for personnel and someone responsible for the grounds and goods of the house.
A Bladeshome's Sergeant at Arms was responsible for iits local membership. Their duties included recruiting and maintaining records of the membership's activities. In times when the Stormhold Blades acted as a whole, the local Sergeant at Arms was also responsible the mobilization of their house's members. Depending on the size of a given house, it might have numerous officers responsible for personnel such as a Master Sergeant as well as several, underlying Duty Sergeants.
One or more Quartermasters would each be responsible for some portion of the house's holdings and wares. Smaller houses would typically have just one quartermaster but larger ones could have many. As with personnel, there would usually be one Quartermaster and several underlings, each focusing on one aspect of the guild house's operations. These might include a groundsmaster, a weaponsmaster, a livery master, and others.
Because of the range of services the Stormhold Blades provided, only settlements of a sufficient size would sport a full establishment of the Stormhold Blades. As such, all the "full-service" guild houses had a leadership committee of at least three members. The larger Bladeshomes, such as the one in its namesake and home city as well others like those in Varn's Gate and Eldesrand sported leadership groups numbering in double-digits.

Council of Stormblades

Regardless of each individual guildhouse's size however, each could only "seat" one person the overall organization's leadership committee. Called the Council of Stormblades, this organization of all the active Guildmasters served as the ruling body for the Stormhold Blades. The Council was primarily responsible for setting any universal policy affecting all the guild houses. Additionally, the Council was the sole arbiter over the leadership of the organization, even down to the local level.
The Council of Stormblades would typically meet only once every couple years or so. These meetings focused on general reporting on the activities of each house and any shared endeavours as well to fill any guildmaster vacancies in their number. Though they only met in person every so often, the Council members were always in contact with each other. Correspondence between them was frequent and was established by numerous methods, some mundane but others quite extraordinary.
Additionally, the Council itself did have an established hierarchy. One member of the Council of Blades was designated the head of the Council and, by extension, the head of the guild. However, this person, called the Bladesmaster, had little real power relative to their peers. They were the only member that could unilaterally call for a gathering of the Council without assent from the rest of its members and they were responsible for setting the agenda for all Council gatherings.
Otherwise, every Council of Stormblades member's vote counted equally. This unusual practice was said to protect certain factions of houses from dominating others.

Blades Rank and File

The Stormblades were not known to be too effusive with specific details pertaining to their membership and holdings. As such, beyond the individual guildmasters and their officers, who were aware of their houses' rosters, and beyond the Council members who had access to this information, it was almost impossible to know exactly how many members the Blades could boast at any point in time.
That said, it was believed that the Stormhold Blades numbered a couple or more thousand full members when things were going well. Large houses could boast of rosters number in the hundreds while the medium-sized ones could claim memberships in the many dozens. Additionally, the Blades could also point to records and membership dues for many more provisional or temporary members. Estimates held that these typically outnumbered full members by at least five to one.
Regardless of which type of membership chosen, Blades joinees could choose to affiliate with the guild on a solo basis, as part of a defined group or company, or both.

Culture

The Stormhold Blades overarching philosophy could be distilled to the belief that through it, wealth and success could be had equally by three distinct interests. These were the guild itself as a collective, each of its members individually, and the public at large in the places where the guild existed and did business. Almost from its very inception, the Stormhold Blades were meant to be a wealth-building organization. Their founder was believed to adhere to a philosophy that wealth should not be the purview of a privileged few; that is should be more widespread. To that end, if the nascent organization they founded was to redistribute wealth, it would need to first acquire it, thereby guaranteeing its own success.
By extension, success in its proceedings would be more pronounced if the guild functioned within the norms of the places where it operated. It could not comport itself in an antisocial manner. It needed to ally itself with the lawful powers of the lands it existed in, sometimes to such an extent as to suffer similar hardships during times of turmoil. The foundational beliefs were that though hard times invariably came, those should be well outnumbered by eras of shared success.

Details of Membership

Membership in the Stormblades was not cheap but the benefits were also famously generous. The costs were subject to changes through the ages but had settled on the same amount for many decades leading up to the end of the Fifth Age. These were not altered due to the Horde Wars and persisted into the Common Age. Full members paid 100 gp every year for the privilege but had full access to all the guild's services during that time. Provisional or temporary members were charged a one-time fee of 25 gp and this gave them the right to avail themselves a single use of any one of the Stormblades' financially advantageous services.

Stormblades Services

• Credentials/prestige - Stormhold Blades houses provided their all their members individual credentials that were honored not only in their establishments but also, almost anywhere on Taszerania. Additionally, the Blades also offered credentialing services for groups or parties of adventurers/mercenaries in their membership.
• Employment - In addition to the many opportunities the Blades boasted within their own operations, the guild's primary function was to link adventurers and sellswords with job opportunities and those providing them. For this service, the Blades would usually levy an additional fee based on the expected value of the job and this was usually higher for provisional members than full ones.
• Room and board - The Blades made available to their full members lodging and meals as needed and available. These also extended to the housing and care of one service animal per member where available. The amount of quality of these varied with the size of the specific houses but these were always free to full members if they were required for short periods, usually a couple to a handful of days at most. For longer periods, these were also available but for discounted rates. These services were not available to temporary members.
• Banking - Perhaps the most significant of the services that the Stormblades provided their members pertained to matters of depositing and keeping money safe. Banking services were typically only available to the very wealthy so the Blades' offerings in this area were very popular with the members. Full members had full access to the service and could keep their cash holdings secure while earning a nice return in interest; typically 5% annually. Provisional members could also avail themselves of this service but they were usually limited in how long and how much they could deposit. They also earned much lower interest rates and all these limits were variable; decided on a case by case basis. Additionally, regardless of a member's status, there was always a minimum amount required to be deposited. This could also vary and was typically inversely proportional to the size of the guild house in question but it was never less than 500 gp. A final facet of the Blades' banking services was available to full members only. These had access to their funds through any guild location, not just their "home" house, though it might take a couple days or more for a transaction to be completed.
• Storage - A final service offering from the Stormhold Blades was its most variable and exclusive on. The Blades had the wherewithal in most of the locations to store and secure valuable goods. However, availability was extremely volatile. Only full members could petition to use this service but even they were not guaranteed its availability as a matter of course. Every case was decided individually.

Public Agenda

The Blades' commitment to shared success meant that it was always closely allied with the ruling powers where it was established. Primarily in Elysia but also to nearly the same extent in Eldessar, the Stormhold Blades became so closely tied to the thrones, they could be considered one of the civic institutions of those kingdoms. For centuries, it even came to the point that the Blades were given the duty of fulfilling any militia requirements that arose in the cities and areas they were in. This was not to say that the Blades were just an instrument of the monarchs of those kingdoms, to do with what they wished. There were certainly disagreements at times between the Elysian and Eldessarn King or Queen and the Council of Stormblades. However, the Blades' interests favored civic stability and this usually suited the Crowns they existed alongside with.
Their practice of civic responsibility meant that the Stormhold Blades did not generally engage in illicit or questionable activities. Though it wasn't unheard of that a party of Blades would get into trouble for something untoward that they did, such occurrences were usually rare and always isolated. The Blades were a mercenary organization but one who generally operated on the side of the law.

Assets

As civic-minded and public-facing as the Stormhold Blades were, they were also famously close-mouthed about just how much wealth the organization could lay claim to at any point in time. The decentralized nature of the organization proved to be an additional guard against insight into the nature and level of its assets. The best that interested parties could do was to estimate how much wealth the Blades might have. Many did often speculate, particularly in times of prosperity. In the early years of the Sixth Age, after their relatively short rebound from the Horde Wards, the Blades were again at a high point in their success.

Capital Assets

During the Horde Wars, Blades membership dipped and it took a few years for it to rebound. However, by CA 10, it was estimated that their rolls had again swollen to over 2,000 full members. Speculators also estimated at least five times as many provisional members were named in the Blades' roster books at any given point in time. Based solely on the well-advertised membership fees for each category of member, the Stormhold Blades almost certainly accrued in approach of a quarter million gold per year in full membership fees alone around the start of the second decade of the Common Age. And they probably held another 100,000 gold or more at any one point in time in provisional membership fees.
Much of their capital wealth was kept in their own, well-defended vaults, located within the seven largest guildhouses in their network. The Blades provided individual banking services for their full members and, as such, were required to keep sufficient capital at the ready. Smaller guild houses also held their own capital assets but these were necessarily in lesser amounts.
Additionally, one area where Blades assets were more easily estimated was in terms of their long-term, capital deposits. For centuries, the Stormblades were a prominent client of the Triune Bank network and this continued into the Sixth Age. The pre-eminent financial assets management organization of Taszerania was known to only transact business with customers who could boast deposits exceeding 7-figures in value, it was safe to speculate that the Stormhold Blades kept millions in the Triune's coffers.

Buildings and Grounds

Wherever there were Stormhold Blades guildhouses, these were always owned by them. The Blades were always known to eschew being tenants, meaning during their expansions, they would only establish a new location once they could manage the purchase of the property needed. This was regardless of whether it was a single, simple structure in a small town or a compound of multiple buildings on a large property in a metropolis. The totality of the Blades real estate holdings were, as expected, hard to quantify. The Blades were said to have some land holdings separate of their guild houses. However, at the individual location level, they were much easier to identify.
Nine of the Blades' houses were in the largest or most prominent cities in Taszerania:

• Stormhold - Even though the crown city of Elysia was much smaller than some of the other metropolises on the continent of Taszerania, the "home house" of the Blades was its most extravagant. It was also one of only two of this size housed entirely within its host city's walls.
• Westport - The largest Bladeshome complex in Elysia lay south of the port city's southern wall, not far from another of Westport's landmark destinations, the Spitting Cockatrice Inn.
• Eldesrand - The first Bladeshome of the Eastern Kingdom, Eldesrand's Blades kept their compound outside Eldessar's capital city's walls, in the area of the sprawling People's Market.
• Varn's Gate - The Blades' presence in the independent city on the Taszer Borderlands was of vital importance to them and their compound was in keeping with this. It was housed within a walled keep on the western end of the Varn Channel's Central Island.
• Kaldar - The Bladeshome compound in the Taszer's Exarchy's largest western city was located adjacent to the Taszer Army's own compound on the outskirts of the settlement.
• Altharum - The Blades compound in its southernost location was situated on a hill outside of and overlooking the seaside city.
• Sunhold - Sunhold's Blades kept house just inside the inner wall of the city, at the base of the hill crowning the point where the two rivers met.
• Eldessarn - The Stormhold Blades compound in the cultural capital of Eldessarn was distinct in that it sat more than two miles outside of the city, on the hillside of Wrath's Point.
• Eldenholm - Eldessarn's ancestral capital hosted the Stormblades and their compound along the city's southern wall, adjacent to its harbor district.
• Lorthyr - In the Taszer's Exarchy's most prominent port city, the Stormhold Blades compound was located adjacent to the harbor district, north of the city limits.

Near a dozen other, smaller but fully-serviced locations scattered across Taszerania were also important sites for the Blades. These medium-sized houses were typically characterized by sites comprised of small compounds of a couple-three buildings. These were usually contained within the same city block. The settlements these were located in were Dargorath, Elderaas, Eldevar, Gavengarn, Moonhold, Norval, Salgarn, Southgate, Starhold, and Therzyr.
The final group of Stormhold Blades locations were in numerous, smaller settlements throughout the continent. Limitations to the services these could provide were typical of these sites. Also typical was the fact that these sites were usually contained within a single structure in the towns they occupied. Blades members were typically treated with the same regard and respect they were elsewhere but it was simply impossible for all the services of the guild to be at the ready in these more remote locations.

Other Holdings

The Stormhold Blades' largest houses were almost entire economies unto themselves. These often hosted weaponsmiths, armorers, farriers, and other producers of relevant goods. In almost all cases these merchants were always part of the organization and, as such, the goods they produced belonged to the Blades. Even in the smaller locations, it was not atypical for there to be blacksmiths or other craftsmen on the duty rosters. As such, quantifying all the items of value that the Blades as a whole could lay claim to was always impossible.

History

Founding and Early Days

Legend holds that the scion of an influential clan of Stormlands folk rejected the duties of his station to instead pursue the life of a brigand. That fellow, whose name was lost to history, was said to wander the lands of Taszerania during his youth, selling his sword for hire and acquiring a small fortune in the process. When this mercenary had exhausted his curiosity for adventuring, the stories told that he journeyed to the newly founded capital of the First Kingdom of Eldessar, Stormhold. There he ultimately established an organization that would cater to the wants and likes of sellswords.
The Blades founder's timing proved very fortuitous. As the First Kingdom spread throughout the continent, the new mercenary guild tagged along for the ride. The kingdom conquered and assimilated new lands and the guild set up shop there once it was safe to do so. Within a couple of centuries, the mercenary group became established throughout the northern half of the continent.

Eldess Schism and Recovery

By the time the First Kingdom reached its largest size, the Stormhold Blades were as much an institution as the major religions of the kingdom. Unlike the churches however, the Eldess Schism and the civil war that followed exerted a heavy toll on the Blades. Many in the mercenary guild's ranks were conscripted to fight in the vicious war waged for dominion over the Throne of Storms. The reduction in membership proved nearly fatal to the Blades; but for an ingenious move by the organization when a peace was finally established, it would have been.
The head of the Blades at the time was a distant cousin of royal family; of the two Eldesreld Princes who fought for the throne. His name was Sir Aerik Badersson and his connection to those that remained after the war facilitated his next action. Sir Aerik convinced his distant cousins, Rudrick, the first King of Eldessar in the east and Branner, the first King of Elysia in the west that the Stormhold Blades could service both nations' interests in securing the border between them.
Whether or not the Blades had the wherewithal to fulfill such a heady promise proved irrelevant. Because both kingdoms' militaries were spent from the war, they agreed. The legitimacy that such agreements gave the guild made it much easier for it to recruit new members. And, for more than a century as both Eldess Kingdoms recovered from their grievous wounds, the Stormhold Blades fulfilled their promise to ensure that the border between the two remained quiet and largely incident free.

Southern Expansion

Early in the 8th century bCA, the Eldess Kingdoms put an end to decades of hostilities and skirmishes along their southern border by establishing a peace with their neighbor, the Taszer Exarchy. The Triune Accord brought with it a new era of prosperity for all three nations. Many merchant and vocational guilds and organizations from both the north and the south benefitted and prospered as well. The Stormhold Blades were chief among these.
Over the course of two centuries, the Blades pushed southward, establishing outposts as they went. While they had trouble penetrating into the elven heartlands in the center of the continent, they were successful in establishing themselves in settlements of all sizes along the coasts of the Taszerania. Bladeshomes became prominent establishments in cities as far south as Salgarn in the west and Altharum in the east. Their successes in new lands ensured the guild's prominence for the centuries that followed.

Into the Common Age

The widespread conflict that engulfed the Western and Central Continents of Azocar at the end of the Fifth Age was called the Horde Wars. Like other major military engagements, it proved a significant challenge not just to the nations involved but also to the societal structures of these. The Stormhold Blades were faced with another significant threat. As conscription pulled their membership away, the guild's survival again came into question. Following the Wars however, another stroke of ingenuity resulted in its survival.
The Bladesmaster during and following the Wars was a dwarven fighter of great renown, Gofferin Ironbraugh. After the peace treaty was signed, Gofferin set to the work of restoring his organization's depleted membership. In order to do so, he gambled that he victors of the Wars would not scoff too much at the dwarf's decision to recruit from the ranks of the vanquished. Gofferin surmised that it would be better to give the survivors amongst the defeated an alternative outlet for any simmering animosities.
The gamble proved quite wise. Though the Taszer Exarchy and the Eldess Kingdoms claimed victory after the Wars, their political and military structures had been severely weakened. As the people of Taszerania turned to the business of recovery, the Stormhold Blades filled in a lot of gaps in security and protection that the kingdoms they inhabited were less capable of doing so. The end result was that the Stormhold Blades sufficiently recovered from the Horde Wars in little more than a decade.

Security and prosperity for all

Founding Date

~ 1200 bCA

Type

Guild, Adventuring

Alternative Names

The Stormblades; The Blades

Demonym

Blade

Leader

Gofferin Ironbraugh

Leader Title

Bladesmaster

Location

Stormhold

Notable Members

• Cerus Kin