Description
The Diamond Vigil, more commonly known as the Delver's Guild, is an organization that provides insurances for retrieval and resurrection services. Its headquarters is based in
Middenland, but it has offices spread out over almost the entire continent except for the treacherous
Lu'qua Tropics.
Services
For a monthly fee and a large initial deposit, an individual can insure their life at the Delver's Guild. The Guild provides the individual with an orb with a divination enchantment cast on it that they must attune to. These orbs are linked with another orb that is stored in the office where the contract is signed, as long as the individual carrying the orb remains alive and retains attunement to the orb, it gives a blinking signal. When the carrying individual dies, the signal is also lost and the linked orb gives an alarm. The divination enchantment is then used to identify the location where a signal was last sent from. The office then uses a Sending spell to send a message with the details to the office nearest to that location, who will then send out a retrieval team. This team is either accompanied by a cleric of high enough level with an appropriate diamond, or an individual capable of casting Gentle Repose to maintain the body's condition while they bring back the body for resurrection.
The fees for this service are hideously expensive, especially due to the artificial scarcity of diamonds. There is an extensive questionnaire about the occupation and position of the individual, and those more likely to die such as adventurers or leaders at risk of assassination pay a higher fee.The initial deposit is usually equal to 2-3 months of fees and if one loses their orb they have to pay an additional fee of 100 gold pieces for a replacement.
Some offices also have a storage unit for corpses sustained by Gentle Repose where bodies can be stored against a fee while loved ones liquidate their assets to pay for the resurrection. Occasionally these have a sub-unit where the local law enforcement keeps dead suspects from decaying so they can be interrogated through use of the Speak with the Dead spell.
Influence
The use of resurrection spells throughout the ages had already caused some scarcity before the Vigil appeared, but their aggressive market tactics towards obtaining diamonds and diamond mines have furthered this inflation at a rapid rate. Their mercenary Diamond Hunter squads are infamous with good reason, mostly for the wrong reasons. Many of the temples and churches are nearly forced to make deals with the Vigil for access to sufficient diamonds in exchange for providing their services (the Vigil does require skilled clerics after all).
Due to the expensiveness of this service it is mostly used by the nobility, who live longer lives on average due to this. It does not make them immortal however, the resurrection does not remove any diseases they were suffering from and any assassin worth their salt will remove a target's head or a vital organ.
Life is short, but it doesn't have to be!
Alternative Names
The Delver's Guild
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