TheNexusProject/TheBandedDisc

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The Banded Disc

by Buji

"Welcome, fellow -- a long and weary road has surely beaten your spirits down. Allow me the privilege of finding you lodging ... no? Perhaps a fine ale? ... woman? ... drug? Name your pleasure and I can show you the finest in town. A small escort fee is always appreciated, of course."

The Banded Disc is a low-profile thieves' guild that operates all over the city but is based in the Firewander district. They manipulate incoming visitors to the city into thinking of them as the most efficient means of gathering information, and to a point they are.

They recruit young, impressionable children who will not question their elders. They often shape and warp the child’s mind to see the world as the guild wants it to. Upon selecting a child, and watching them for a two-year period to make sure that they are not a potential traitor trying to infiltrate the guild, the initiation will begin. The initiation is simple: the child must get a job somewhere in the city. Now, it can be a glorious job or post in life or a slum-ridden existence -- the guild doesn’t care. What they need to do, though, once the career is secured, is to bring back information to the guild of value. This proves that the child will turn out to be a prospective member of the guild. If the information they obtain is flawed or just plain useless, the guild will keep them for the sole purpose of a fall guy or cannon fodder. Many adults have died after serving the guild for years, unaware that they were deemed useless or were just set up to take the heat for a more notorious plot.

Those that acquire useful information are granted access to the main operations and given a brass coin with a silver edge around it. This is the symbol for the Banded Disc, and it can be shown to prove membership when needed. This is often done in a subtle manner: playing with the coin during a card game, rolling it across the knuckles while milling about the streets, etc. At no point does someone slap the coin down as a badge. Those that do are killed for their ignorance and to send a message to all others. This also helps keep people out that find or take a coin from a dead body.

The Banded Disc has members throughout Nexus, and in neighboring cities as well. The reach of the guild is growing and focuses mostly on gaining information. They use this information to acquire items of interest or barter for trade. It is this bartering that makes them known to the populace. Otherwise, they would continue to work the city for information unbeknownst to the citizens around them.

Rumors

  • The Banded Disc is composed of spies selling information and children to the fae so that they can manipulate the city and expand the Wyld area in the Firewander district.
  • The Banded Disc works for Delos Ferrano to ensure his acceptance in the higher circles of society.
  • The Banded Disc is a bunch of street urchins selling information to the The Nexus Scuttlebutt for scraps and breadcrumbs.

Secret

Some of the rumors are true ... to a point. Children have been sold to the fae when they needed to be disposed of. Information has been sold to many people in Nexus to gain them status in society. Whether it is The Nexus Scuttlebutt or Delos Ferrano, none are going to say.

The Banded Disc is one of the last remote operational factions of The All-Seeing Eye. They use their new recruits to gain access to areas of the Scavenger Lands that would turn away Realm loyalists. The information they gather is used to strengthen the Realm's interests in reclaiming this area of Creation, and also to learn about Solar activities in the region. This is a useful tool for the Wyld Hunt, especially in its weakened condition.

The Banded Disc occasionally employs children who Exalt; these children are then turned into tools for the Realm or led into traps to be slain by the Wyld Hunt. A few Solars still work for the guild, unaware of its affiliation with the Realm.

The man in charge of the Banded Disc is Tyler Mehling; no one has directly seen him. A few souls claim to have spoken to him through screen windows or door frames, though no one can place his voice. It is unknown if he is an Exalt, a spirit, or merely a resourceful mortal, and it doesn't seem like we will find out anytime soon.

Comments

First rule about Fight club, nobody talks about Fight Club... :o) These guys rock, I think they'll be showing up in my next story. - Dreaming Nymph

I will be adding more as things progress, I hope to sit down and fully flesh out the guild in the spring of 2005. -Buji

I am this close to thinking up something for Tyler Mehling, but it's only because I went to school with a Tyler Melling, and so all that's really coming to mind is "tall, quiet, brown hair, paints zebras, likes Led Zepplin". >_< -Okensha