The Exorcist's Guild

The Exorcist's Guild, also known as the Greycapes for their standard-issue attire, are a global network of bureaucrats and messengers dedicated to the destruction of rogue Ghosts. Ghosts can only be permanently destroyed by delivering specialized paperwork to the Ghost Village on the back of the mobile Dragon Turtle Ruko- and so the Exorcists have built their own headquarters there as well. Given the changing and remote location of Ruko, the Exorcists are the only organization truly able to reliably dispatch dangerous specters.
Most exorcists have a fair amount of freedom within their jobs- some choose to be monster hunters, some choose to be detectives, though most choose to just be office bureaucrats. The majority of desk exorcists are ordinary literate members of the local area who are willing to give up the chance or land and titles to live a comfortable life and do a little good. Others are born to this life. There are strict prices set for every exorcism, and one of the ways for the poor to pay are to offer their children as payment, to be taken to the headquarters along with the paperwork and trained as an expert courier and exorcist. Guild-trained exorcists are trained in languages, combat, survival, and paperwork to be excellent couriers and exorcists. They are the ones that make the long journeys transporting the exorcist paperwork to Ruko, and they are the elite exorcists deployed against particularly cunning spirits.

Structure

The Exorcist Guild is organized under a loose hierarchy

• The Mortality Committee, the most seasoned bureaucrats and administrators of the order and those who interpret the Code for judicial purposes
• Turtle Keepers, those bureaucrats who manage the actual day-to-day administration on Ruko's back at the Guild Hall
• Chief Regional Exorcists, who manage each continent's exorcist activity
• State Exorcists, who work with governments and local powers to ensure that local branches can operate smoothly
• Branch Exorcists, who manage regional offices
• Transit Exorcists or Couriers, who transport paperwork around the world, known for their survival and fighting skills and generally the most independent of the exorcists
• Exorcists, who investigate ghostly claims and file paperwork appropriately- the actual, on the ground work that makes the Guild function

Public Agenda

The Guild is devoted to upholding the Ghost Code by exorcising rogue spirits and censoring rogue Exorcists.
For ghosts, the Ghost Code is:

• Ghosts shall not rule over the living
• Ghosts shall not work to make other ghosts
• Ghosts shall not take mortal life unprovoked
• Ghosts shall not reside among the living

The code for exorcists is:

• Do not take sides in mortal conflicts
• Do not take mortal life unprovoked
• Always charge according to set prices
• Hold no lands or titles

History

As long as there have been ghosts, there have been specters that refuse to play by the rules- and those who sought to stop them. The first exorcist's guild ever formed began in the late 200's, when a group of Cuttlefolk in the North Central Seas organized an aquatic network of messengers so that all aquatic tribes of the area could reliably petition Ruko's ghost town for assistance in case of hauntings. This early system served as an inspiration for the foundation of the terrestrial Exorcist's Guild in 600.
The early guild was very much a reaction to current events: all around the world, a boom in funny and tragic deaths had led to the creation of an excessively large number of ghosts, and in Suneka, the heartlands of the continent had fallen under the rulership of the Ghost Emperor Yezok. Ghosts from across Suneka and beyond had flocked to the Invisible Emperor, ruling as an immortal administration that promised to rule for eternity.While the administration was not particularly brutal, the creation of an undying ruling caste was troubling for many in the Northeast, and other lands of the living began to eye their ghostly neighbors with fear. When a Sunekan priest of the Fox God Olkum, a human named Konoko, ventured North with his companions to create a group to mediate between the living and the dead, the living Sunekan elites poured money into his efforts. Konoko's exorcists successfully exorcised Yezok in 605, and became the foundation for the modern Exorcist's guild.
The Ghost Boom created a worldwide demand for exorcisms, allowing the Exorcists Guild to rapidly spread along trade routes. What began as a Sunekan religious group was fully divorced from the Sunekan religion in 690, when the Prism lieutenant Suratet took over the Guild and moved its headquarters to a newly constructed city on the Dragon Turtle's back. By 820, the whole of the Northern hemisphere had accepted the Exorcist's Guild. In 860, The Khilaia and Healing Church of Shekota brokered The Duskpoint Accords, giving The Exorcists Guild free transit and support by those groups in exchange for unlimited free Exorcisms. This has led to some trouble since, as some groups have mistakenly believed that the Exorcists are Selkie puppets.
In the 1000's, some internal controversy broke out among Guild ranks when the Infamous Solar Exorcist Slayer-of-Evil (known simply as Slayer) used their position as an Exorcist to hunt monsters more generally- creating an image of the Exorcists as general monster hunters for many desperate people. To this day, some Exorcists seek to follow in Slayer's footsteps as more general monster hunters- forming an internal faction within the Guild known as the Grey Slayers.
By 1600, almost every urban state on the planet had integrated with the Guild- but such a large organization has had its problems. Countless squabbles with local monarchs and temples led to the Exorcist Mortal Committee being quickly overworked, and there were periods where the Guild just stopped being able to function - in 1680, 1730, 1790, 1810, and 1840. The Guild never vanished, though, as it remained the only structure for reliably handling rogue spirits. This led to the system becoming more decentralized and regional, as it is today.

Founding Date

600 ME

Type

Religious, Holy Order

Alternative Names

The Greycapes

Demonym

Exorcist

Notable Members

• Ruko