> [!infobox|wikipedia] > # Green Gryphons > [![[Green_Gryphons_small.webp|cover hsmall]]](Green_Gryphons.webp) > ###### Faction Information > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Type | Faction | > Category | Mercenary Guild | > Allegiance | Independent | > Base | Decentralised — chapter halls across the continent | > ###### Status > Attribute | Details | > ---|---| > Status | Active | The Green Gryphons are a continental mercenary and adventurers' guild — one of the oldest and most widely recognised organisations in [[Elandis]]. For five centuries they have maintained halls in cities and settlements across the world, serving as the first port of call for anyone with dangerous work that needs doing. Their name is synonymous with getting the job done without fuss. ## Purpose & Goals The guild's mandate is simple and openly stated: fill dangerous work that requires trained fighters and adventurers. A creature terrorising a trade road, a smuggling operation that wants clearing, an escort through bandit country, a building that needs watching — this is what the Green Gryphons are for. Any job where the hazards are real and the required skill cannot be hired off the street. They take contracts from essentially anyone. What they do not take are contracts with an overtly political character — backing a faction's military play, serving as a private army for a power struggle, tilting the outcome of a conflict. That line is not principled idealism; it is practical survival. The guild's ability to operate in every city on the map depends on being seen as a professional body rather than a political instrument. ## Structure & Leadership The guild operates as a confederation of autonomous chapters. There is no central Guildmaster and no founding seat of power that chapters answer to — each chapter head runs their own operation, signs their own contracts, and makes their own decisions about local business. What holds the guild together is a shared Guild Code: standardised contract practices, member protections, and conduct rules that every chapter observes. New chapters are vouched in by existing ones, and the right to use the name and emblem is contingent on upholding those standards. Chapters communicate when they need to — sharing word of a client who has defaulted or a contractor who has behaved dishonourably — but there is no standing council and no hierarchy above the chapter level. The chapter head is the authority within their hall. Titles vary by posting (Commander, Captain), but the role is the same: manage the local operation, uphold the Code, and keep the guild's name worth something in that city. ## Notable Members | Member | Role | Notes | |---|---|---| | [[Porta Hale]] | Chapter Commander, [[Val Miriel]] | Pragmatic and blunt; leads the guild's most prominent chapter in party dealings | | [[Teresa Martari]] | Member, Val Miriel | Tiefling fighter; known for plain speech and keeping watch over members heading out | | Commander Alaric Brack | Chapter Commander, [[Darmouth]] | Human; middle-aged, heavy-set, red hair, Viking-style braided beard | ## Chapters | City | Status | Key Figures | Notes | | -------------- | ------ | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [[Val Miriel]] | Active | [[Porta Hale]] | Military Way; see [[Green Gryphons - Val Miriel\|the Val Miriel chapter]] | | [[Darmouth]] | Active | Commander Alaric Brack | Main avenue, Civic Quarter; first chapter the party contracted with | | [[Camaar]] | Active | | Docklands hall | | [[Farhaven]] | Active | | Central crossroads; most prominent intersection in the city | | [[Silverdeep]] | Active | | Two-storey stone hall; large central firepit; dorm quarters on upper floor | ## Symbols & Iconography The guild's emblem is a green griffon on a field of bronze. The device appears carved above guildhall doors, stamped into contract seals, and worn on members' equipment. Older iterations accumulate their own character — [[Porta Hale]]'s plate armour carries the emblem in a shade of verdigris so worn it barely reads as green — and this is mostly ignored. What matters is that the mark is recognised, and across the continent it is. ## History The Green Gryphons are approximately five hundred years old, predating the [[Valtorran Empire]] by some margin. Their origins lie in the professional hazards of a world that has always needed dangerous work done: roads made safe, monsters cleared, settlements protected. The guild formalised something that had always existed informally — a body of trained fighters and adventurers operating under a common code, with a name that clients could trust and contractors could shelter behind. Over five centuries, chapters have been established in every major city and many smaller settlements, each adapting to local conditions while holding to the shared Code. The guild has survived the rise and fall of states and empires, in no small part because it has always kept clear of the business of running them. ## Relations ### Order of Ravens The guild and the [[Order of Ravens]] are aware of each other and maintain a careful mutual respect. Their methods and clientele are entirely different — the Green Gryphons are a public institution, their halls prominent and their contracts advertised; the Ravens operate in shadow and choose their clients selectively. There is no meaningful rivalry between them, and they generally have little cause to cross paths. ### Valtorran Empire The guild operates freely across [[Valtorran Empire|Imperial]] territory and takes contracts from Imperial clients and their subjects alike. It holds no allegiance to the Empire and does not function as an Imperial instrument. ## [[The Bloody Nails|Campaign: The Bloody Nails]] #### [[Session 03 - The Streets of Darmouth]] Newly escaped from Imperial custody and navigating [[Darmouth]] on uncertain ground, the party were pointed toward the local chapter by [[Gemma Finegold]]. They registered for a contract to clear the goblin clan terrorising the coastal trade road — their first paying work under the guild's roof, taken under the shadow of possible arrest. #### [[Session 04 - To Free a Raven]] With the party unable to return to Darmouth after breaking [[Ella Sable]] out of Imperial custody, Gemma handled the contract paperwork on their behalf, collecting their reward and freeing them to move on without re-entering the city. #### [[Session 06 - The Goblin Lair]] & [[Session 07 - Grakthor Falls]] The party fulfilled the Darmouth contract, descending into the goblin lair and killing the raid captain [[Grakthor]] in a Wild Magic-saturated battle inside an ancient shrine. The contract was closed. #### [[Session 10 - The Coastal Cave]] In [[Camaar]], the party visited the Docklands chapter and took a short-term contract to clear a coastal smuggling cave where a ship's crew had gone missing. They survived a sea hag and a water elemental, cleared the cave, and registered their company name — the Iron Nails — on the chapter's books. #### [[Session 20 - The Streets of Val Miriel]] onward The party's most sustained dealings with the guild took place at the [[Val Miriel]] chapter, spanning Sessions 20 through 27 — multiple contracts, a prolonged stay at the guildhall during a period of Imperial martial law, and an Imperial raid on the hall itself. See [[Green Gryphons - Val Miriel\|the Val Miriel chapter]] for the full account. ## Trivia - Guildhall interiors tend toward a recognisable practical design: a main hall built around a large firepit, long tables and benches, hunting trophies on the walls, and dorm accommodation upstairs. A guild member passing through a city they have never visited before can usually find the local hall by reputation and recognise it the moment they walk through the door.