The Clerks

They say draas can’t buy happiness. I can tell you that draas can buy a feather bed, and that’s pretty close!

Colloquially called “the Clerks,” the mercantile guild is at the center of everything but is the center of nothing. The Clerks facilitate trade throughout the continent. They maintain the draas (money) supply, notarize contracts, provide banking services, offer caravan services… Dash it all if this stuff isn’t a bore. This is about the time where you skip ahead to the next page. Well I say HALT! Because if you want a feather bed, I mean, if you want happiness, you ought to rub those eyes clear and give this little section a heave ho!

The Powerfully, Powerlessly Powerful

The Clerks walk the line between having all the draas and having no official power. They maintain the integrity of draas (the currency of Aropria) through a rigid adherence to a congruence core standard (think of the gold standard). The guild maintains vaults of congruence cores, against which a set amount of draas are minted. Congruence cores and draas can be exchanged at any Torhiv Bank.

While they control the draas supply, they are a third party to all nations. The Torhiv Council of Twelve knows full well that favoritism towards a nation will ruin the guild within a generation. And nations know that to move against the guild will ruin their nation within a year.

Torhiv Banks

Torhiv Banks can be found throughout major cities and are common sights on down to medium-sized towns. Here you can change between draas and cores, though normally only the richest of the rich would be able to afford an exchange or possess a core in the first place, the exception would be adventuring parties or monster hunters who manage to bring in a new core and exchange it for a massive payout (thought the Clerk’s transactional cut is more than most would believe). You can inquire about hiring space on a guild-sponsored caravan. You can notarize important documents. You can even ask for a loan for that feather bed you’ve had your eye on.

Congruence Signatures

The Clerks are a necessary fixture of the continent’s business apparatus. The guild specializes in congruence signatures. No contract is complete without a Clerk’s assistance in imprinting the document with each party’s congruence signature.

Draas

As mentioned, the guild mints draas based on its stockpile of congruence cores. Each draas is imprinted with the signature of the core from which it is credited against. This imprinting process is a closely held secret of the guild, and its theory is extremely difficult to actually practice. As such, counterfeiting continues to be an expensive, and thus rare, profession.

Structure and Appearance

You can pick out a Clerk by their crisp, black uniforms, cut with simple, clean lines, but not so imposing as to appear militaristic. Upon the left breast is denoted the Clerk’s rank, ranging from zero up to five opalescent stones. The more stones, the more important. A Superior Clerk for a region will sport five stones. An individual Branch Clerk will sport two or three, depending upon the size of the branch. An apprentice begins with just the blank, black uniform.

The Torhiv Council of Twelve

When it comes to stones, the Torhiv Council of Twelve has the privilege of breaking the rules. As symbols of their wealth, council members wear a row of six congruence cores across the left breast in the place of their clerks’ stones. It is rumored that many or all of the members use these cores to power Guardian Blooms to keep their persons safe.

These council members control and maintain the guild’s secret core vaults. They oversee the integrity of the draas, the notaries, and the guild’s caravans.