Viper's Gate/Thieves Guild

Viper's Gate is a very modern city, with a primarily absent noble class. The duke lives in a far off hill fort, and many of the lands that should have lords are abandoned. Therefore, the guilds run most of day to day life.

This means that the guilds have an incredible amount of power, rivalled only by the many churches to control the whole city outright. Some have even called for petitioning the king to make the Guild Council the formal rulers of the city, and in light of the unusual ascension of the recent duchess, popular support is growing.

This unusual arrangement has lead to the management of crime. The traditional problems of crime decided to be managed from the bottom up. Due to the circuit judges being rarely in the city, no judge being permanently appointed, and the marchant class keeping the watch and other mercenaries on the road, and certain organizations wanting a place on the guild council, a guild of theives was formed.

The guild operates out of a series of territorial pawn shops which will happily sell back items to their original owners at reduced prices (assuming ownership can be verified), and also offers theft insurance in that the guild will return items to people who pay a monthly fee. Obviously this only protects against burglary of homes, businesses, and other thefts of objects. Getting robbed in an alley or pick pocketed is still a worry. This is the backbone of the theives guild, and the Thief Lord manages this, making them the most important of the triumverate. They also deal with unlicenced crime quite harshly.

The Beggar King operates a welfare scheme which people can pay into. Any licensed beggar, or payer into the system who can demonstrate need, splits the proceeds from these sources, generally letting those involved survive, uncomfortably. Obviously the split is unequal, but the corruption of the beggars is surprisingly low considering how corrupt the pawn shops are.

Finally the Count of Cudgels maintains a series of bullyboys and assassins. Their primary role is in union busting for the other guilds. They also are used any other time someone needs a large amount of hired muscle, especially the Thieves Guild itself. The highest levels of this portion of the guild acts as assassins and hired killers, a lucrative but infrequently used portion of the guild. These assassins most frequently hone their skills on minor necromancers and unlicensed beggars in the Deeps.