The Survivalist's Guild
A Harsh World
While every planet has it's dire threats and treacherous environments, a majority of Jhoutai is still dominated by unconquered wilds. Since the original Verin stepped onto the shores of the Jhoutai mainland, survivalism has been a requirement for expansion, exploration, and research.
Founded by a group Monolith who found thier power through the untamed wilds, the Survivalist's Guild boasts a membership of the toughest and most experienced splunkers, adventurers, and wild-life specialists. The Guild is a pillar of the ValuSelu Pact, hired and utilized for colonization, exploration, escort, or emergency response.
Behind every discovery and catalogue of Jhoutai, a Survivalist of the guild has no doubt staked their life. No amount of study and book-reading can prepare the mind and body to survive a world where we are not the Apex Predator.
That's where the Guild comes in. With the right reasoning and the right contract, we venture with the brightest minds of the Pact to learn about the world we live in.
To reach the seat of our expertise, you must make your first journey as we did. The path to the guild is well-marked and well-travelled, but without the proper equipment it is sure to be treacherous if not deadly.
The Guild will provide you your gear, but you must make the journey without our help.
This temple once birthed false gods, liars who came through its doors and called themselves Monolith for that feat alone. Faur'ricai forges true Monoliths in the hottest crucible and with coldest steel.
The Headquarters
Among the glaciers and boreal forests of Faur'ridar'ru, the Guild makes its home on the tallest mountain peak. An underground complex marked by a series of massive braziers that light the sky even in the darkest of northern nights.
The Complex reachs down into the mountains, and is built with classrooms, testing chambers, living quarters, and laboratories.
Entering the Guild
Those seeking entry into the Guilds ranks are required to pass a test of fortitude to show their abilities. This test comes with simple instructions, "Reach the front door by foot alone."
At the beginning of continent splitting trail to Faur'ricai, Seat of the Survivalists, a small Temple manned by the Guild awaits new applicants. The Temple will take any gear they bring, and give them a set of allocated gear for the journey. Applicants are dispatched in small groups of three maximum.
The challenge is a week-long expedition that straddles some of the highest and most unforgiving mountain ranges on Jhoutai. Hikers are subject to numbing winds, flesh-cutting snow, and low visibility.
When and if they arrive at the end of the trail, the applicants will knock upon the small door to the old Malisyk Temple. The temple itself has long been rearchitected as a welcoming hall to the newest initates in the guild.
Power through Staying Alive
The Survialists Guild maintains power and funding within the ValuSelu Pact by lending out it's expertise to other organizations or individuals. With Jhoutai being such a dangerous world, and colonies constantly being founded, survivalists are in constant demand. A single well trained survivalist can keep an entire team of scientists or colonists alive through their knowledge and fortitude alone.
Advancing in the Guild
Advancing through the ranks within the guild requires the undertaking of missions of survival and endurance. This can come in the form of government contracts, colonization jobs, emergency response, and any other tough jobs. Initiates need to prove their longevity, and masters need to expand and train.
| Rank | Description |
|---|---|
| Adept | Adept's have proven themselves in multiple missions that span multiple environs. |
| Master | Master is for those who have gathered enough experience to become a Monolith or Mentor. |
| Specialist | For those who bring unique skillsets along with survival. (Engineering, Meta, etc.) |
From the deepest Jungles
The Survivalist's Guild offers escort and protection for scientists who seek to enter the inner layers of the Nege Trees. Armed with a comprehensive knowledge of the fauna and flora, as well as the Nege's natural events, they boast the highest survival rate of any Nege expedition force.
These Journeys lead to increased understanding of Jhoutaioan Gigaforms and how they affect the planet as whole.
A Survivalist Adept ventures in one of the outer cells of a Nege tree, and discovers a village long since claimed by the overgrowth.
The jagged peaks of the Dar’ru region are one of the most inhospitable places in all of Jhoutai. Learning about this remote and unwelcome location was the original goal of the Nasyk & Khirmagne who came north to found the Guild.
Surveying these peaks has helped expand resource mining and helped expand settlements further and further north towards the pole of Jhoutai.
Dressed in bright orange, a Survivalist Master walks on the Razor's Edge formation that divides Faur'ridar'ru and Aempis.
And the world that lies below
Jhoutai's Corralum is an ever-shifting, ever-treachorous, and near-infinite depth filled with uniquely adapted flora and fauna. Most of the lower depths still remain unexplored. Delving down into the depths is a specialty of the guild, but is often the hardest task that can be taken.
Corralum Expeditions bring in a lot of money, and has led to breakthroughs in nearly every scientific field, but the endeavour has taken many lives.
A pair of Survivalist Adepts in envirosuits spleunk below the depths of Yak'koli's Ventricle Corral.
Making a Guild Member
Being part of the Survivalist's Guilde requires first and foremest the right mindset. Nature and its inherent dangers are not something to be avoided, but to challenge yourself with. As the Survivalists guild resides within the ValuSelu Pact, a majority of its members are Sazashi, but Humans and Verin can be found surviving just as well as their Sazashi counterparts.
To advance in the guild, you will need to prove yourself against the wilderness time and time again. Doing so will earn you greater clout amongst your peers, and respect from other Pact citizens.
Guild Initiate
You have made your pilgrimage to the guild, and in doing so been entered into the roster of the Guild.
You are ready for challenge, why you seek it, is your own story to tell.
Vitality is one of your favored Attributes.
Start with the Following: A Basic Raiment of your choice with Rank 1 Armor.
Fulfilling a Mantra restores 2 Sanity and uses up the Mantra until your next downtime.
Choose one of the following and gain it as a Mantra for your character.
Confidence is only sharp when tempered by experience.
Care for your body, as survival is impossible without it.
If we all play to our strengths, we are unstoppable.
What did you bring the Guild?
You entered the Guild by the power of your strength. Pushing yourself to your limits physically has enabled you to enter this new chapter in your life.
Choose a favored attribute:
Upper Body or Lower Body
Start with the following:
- Case of Adrenalol Inhalers (6)
- Flywheel Mace
- Chitinous Armor
Survival becomes trivial with the right mind. You embodied that statement with your ingenuity that allowed you to get through the pilgrimage none the worse for wear.
Choose a favored attribute:
Acuity or Metaphysics.
Start with the following:
- Pack (20) of Meyfar
- Machinist's Toolkit or Gensculptors Toolkit
- Orga Material (20) OR Mecha Material (20)
Brain and Brawn only get you so far in a snow storm, but through your wit and a little luck, you managed to get through the pilgrimage unscatched.
Choose a favored attribute:
Reaction or Nerve
Start with the following:
- Envirosuit
- Box of Genazine Sachets (10)
- Canister Gun and 5 Impact Gel Canisters
Updating your Sheet
You have chosen your origin. If you are satisfied with your selection, write down your chosen items in your inventory, and make a temporary note of your favored attributes—they will be important to the next step of character creation.
I bet the members of this organisation have so many interesting and scary stories to tell. I'd like to visit with them, but not go on an expedition!
Explore Etrea
Don't worry, you'll get to go on an expedition vicariously through Isaac "Fuzzy-Lips"
Oooo the updated article is so lovely. <3
Explore Etrea
Hah, thank you! It was super fun cleaning this one up!