Seeker Teams

Seeker Teams are groups of, typically, 2-7 people who explore Var Nexa, the central area of the world, to make a living.
That being said, while exact motivation varies, the desire to explore and discover is an often seen driving force behind invidiuals who form Seeker Teams.
An unofficial job, in that they aren't endorsed by a government body, do not undergo formal training, and are formed at the whims of the members.
NOTE: However, several governments and/or individuals hire or create their own Seeker Teams to work for them.
Due to the diversity of the groups, they have no specific purpose, but make a living from retrieving things of value from Var Nexa and bringing this back to the Outer Plateaus to trade at [The Seeker's Market]. This can include rare materials (such as Nexus Ore or Memory Metal), maps of Var Nexa, and even body parts from smaller creatures (though these are more readily tracked).
Seeker Teams are not a monolith, even within a specific Team. While they will usually have shared ideals, intentions or overall goals, they typically have individualistic intentions, roles and aims. While there is no set, or even exhaustive, list of what roles you can find in a Seeker Team, individuals typically have title roles to summarise their specific area of expertise for others. Examples of such roles include:
NOTE: Do different roles have a specific symbol to denote themselves?
Caretakers/Custiodians/Stewards: Seekers who classify themselves with these titles focus on caring for and researching specific areas or locations within the world (typically Var Nexa, but unusual environments on the Outer Plateaus will also been cared for by them). This will involve maintaining said environment and/or aiming to discover why they function as they do. Some Caretakers will specialise into one specific area, but some will generalise onto area types (aiming to find common traits between them).
______: A group who specialise in researching Calamities, rather than fighting them. They split into smaller groups withing themselves, such as some who focus on behaviour, others on abilities/body structure, etc.
Conqueror: A role that specialises in claiming territory within Var Nexa for themselves. There are almost none of these in the modern day, as it is an archaic term that was used when people first began exploring Var Nexa. It was used by arrogant individuals who thought their own abilities greater than those of Var Nexa. Most quickly found out this was incorrect.
Guardian: Seekers who's primary job is protection. They speicalise in defence and preventing enemies from entering territories. The exact role typically depends on the capabilites of the specific Guardian. NewerGuardians are typically hired to protect people on the Outer Plateaus, while experienced Guardians are often hired to defend expeditions. It isn't uncommon to find Guardians on boarders, especially onto Var Nexa itself.
Scouts, Spies and Cartographers: Often simply grouped under the "Scout" term (which often draws the ire of Spies and Cartographers, who consider themselves specialists in their own fields). These individuals' role is to explore new areas before too many are comitted (or slower individuals reach the area). They often focus on mobility, stealth and detection over force/power. These are often the most valuable members of a Seeker Team, as they allow early warning of potential threats. Cartographers in particular specialise in creating maps of Var Nexa, invaluable for limiting the time wasted on Expeditions.
Healers: Invaluable to other Seekers, due to how any Expeditions to Var Nexa results in being cut off from the medical services on the Outer Plateaus, Healers are members of a Seeker Team who specialise in keeping the other members of the team alive. This role is serpate from, but may include, medics and trained medical practitioners as they do not necessarily need/have medical training. For example, it isn't uncommon (and prehaps more common than having medical training) for a Seeker to use their Emblem to heal or patch up wounds. Due to this, often a member of a Seeker Team will be designated as the healer, even if they do not have training themselves.

Career

Qualifications

No qualifications or training are required to become an Seeker Team - technically being unofficial/unregistered groups results in any one is able to form one. However, it is a dangerous career, simultaneously viewed as one that only lunatics would attempt, but "champions" survive in.
Due to this, many aspiring Seekers join an established Seeker Team to gain experience and learn the "trade" - especially as it can be costly to carry out their first exploration, so being supported by a larger group is an excellent method of gaining inital funds and reputation.

Career Progression

Seeker Teams get by on the money they earn from exploring, their reputations and the jobs that will then be offered to them based on these. However, as there is no "official" organisation of them, they have no "official" ranking system. Career progression simply falls on the scale of surviving and, by extension, earing enough money to continue their pursuits.
However, because of this careers can advance purely through reputation. [The Seeker's Market] report on Seeker Team activities, especially sucessful [trips] that yield positive results, building their reputations.
As many Seekers start as members of or apprentices to more established Seeker Teams, the natural progression of their career then leads to leaving their apprenticed team and forming their own.

Payment & Reimbursement

Any Seeker Team from Terminus that wants to sell the goods gathered from Var Nexa can do so at [The Seeker's Market]. This is a long standing, technically independent, organization originally created by the first Seeker Teams, who simply sold items from the train they used to explore Var Nexa upon returning to the capital of Terminus.
However, as more Seeker Teams formed and discovered materials, this grew in size until it had developed into an expansive train with many carriages, accepting anyone, so long as thier business pertained to goods from Var Nexa.
Seeker teams retrieve items, information and more from Var Nexa. These articles vary in worth, but most are rare or unfindable in the Outer Plateaus. As such, they regularly sell for a high price.

Other Benefits

Seeker Teams, even minorly sucessful, are highly regarded in Terminus. Simply being able to survive a trip to Var Nexa is commendable, but retrieving something marks them as brave and heroic. Going so far as to find Nexus Ore, and by extension gaining an Emblem is almost guaranteed to make you well known, with the most sucessful Seeker Teams being houshold names.
The more developed the reputation, the more likely someone is to approach and hire the team for different jobs. Most minor teams actually make most money from being hired for smaller jobs - enforcers, retrieval of goods or items (particularly from Var Nexa), guards for transport trains, etc.) - off their reputation. However, the greatest jobs that stem from this are Expeditions.
Expeditions are, relatively, large scale events where a person or group hire multiple Seeker Teams to explore Var Nexa with a specific goal in mind. This goal varies (i.e. Terminus High University typically want to research something, affluent individuals aim to boost their stature, etc.), but the most famous are Expeditions to one of the "Towers" of Var Nexa. These locations have many tales about them, but little is actually known - even by Var Nexa standards. In terms of Seeker Teams, they represent the greatest challange and goal. However, the difficultly of even locating one usually means Expeditions are the only opportunity for most teams - bar the greatest - to attempt to explore one.

Type

Research / Scientific

Related Materials

• Escamoria