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The Thieves Guild

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by Jake Kerr.

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Episode 57:

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The Missing Books.

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Despite his best efforts, Rafe could find no more
books with maps.

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There were dozens, perhaps hundreds of books that
he had yet to crack open, but all of the

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books that were of a larger size or appeared that
they would contain the type of pages to

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include a map were either on other subjects or
were damaged.

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The number of damaged books broke Rafe's heart.

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Over time, it became clear that someone or some
group had made a concerted

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effort to eradicate the entire history of Ness
before the move from the

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old quarter to the current makeup of the city.

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Even some of the books that covered the migration
were damaged, and that led Rafe to focus

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on that important moment in Ness history.

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He narrowed down his immediate studies to three
books.

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Two were heavily damaged, while the third was a
book that was the longer history of

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Ness with the parts about the Magic Guild ripped
out.

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Rafe's hope was that the book would contain
valuable insight due to the censors

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assuming it had already been excised of content
they didn't like when they

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opened the book and saw pages missing.

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With each page, he realized his hope had borne
fruit.

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The book, while far from going into great detail,
laid out the causes of what it

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called the Great Migration. The initial cause was
simple to

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understand: the city had simply over-farmed the
Golden Fields and turned

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them into the current Ash Fields. But the
following chapters astonished Rafe.

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The initial idea of relocating only the Harvest
Guild across the river

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was dismissed. The guilds felt that the city
needed to sever itself from its trading

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past, and that meant abandoning the trade route,
the Magic Guild Tower, and

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killing the current Harvest House.

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It was to be a clean break.

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Rafe went to the other two books, and as he
expected, the only remaining pages in them

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discussed over-farming and the death of the Golden
Fields.

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Turning back to the only book he had found with
details of the city's history before

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its current settling north of the river, Rafe read
closely.

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Rubbing his eyes, Rafe looked out a window and was
shocked to see that it was deep

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into the night. He had learned a lot about the
move across the river, but the most

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important lesson was that the move was marked by a
multi-year civil war

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between the various guilds.

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Harvest House was presumably made out of a living
tree, and it was killed as a

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lesson to the Harvest Guild. The Night Tower was
burned to the ground, rebuilt in

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stone and then partially destroyed again.

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The Gateway, which was presumably a large gate
south of the river that no longer

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existed, was permanently closed. A smaller bridge
across the

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Great River that was used by the Harvest Guild to
start what was now the Silo

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District was also destroyed.

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The whole wave of violence was shockingly
familiar.

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The Magic Guild was eradicated, and that led to
the Merchant Guild and the

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Craft Guild joining forces to run Ness.

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The Knight Guild stood aside, and the Harvest
Guild was overrun.

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"That is exactly what is happening today," Rafe
thought.

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He stood up and went off in search of the deputy
guild master.

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Allard was pacing in his office, which was little
more than a room with a bare desk

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and uncomfortable chairs. "Rafe, this is very
important.

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How did the civil war end?" "There is not much.

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The Harvest Guild finally agreed to the wisdom of
the move to the north of the river, and everyone
ended up

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happy."

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Rafe tried to think if he had missed anything, but
he was sure he had not.

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"History is written by the victors,"

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Allard muttered. "What is that?" Rafe asked.
"Nothing.

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It is a saying of the Outlanders."

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Allard sat down at his desk, where he looked
completely out of place.

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"It is likely that the Harvest Guild stopped
fighting in return for some guarantee of

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their standing. Otherwise, today, Ness would be
run by the Merchant and Craft Guilds."

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"That's true." Rafe scratched his head.

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"They built a new Harvest House. That was probably
a requirement as well."

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"Yes, that makes sense. The Harvest Guild is
powerful, Rafe.

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Do not forget that. They control the food for the
entire city, and they are the largest guild in

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terms of numbers."

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Rafe thought of the recent Founder's Day guild
master meeting.

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"Maybe the requirement that if there are two votes
against something, it would not pass

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was the guarantee that the Harvest Guild was
looking for."

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Allard's eyes went wide. "Of course. That's the
key to everything.

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Two votes were what saved the Harvest Guild
centuries ago, and that is what saved them

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today."

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Allard ran his hand over his bald head.

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"That means that the Thieves Guild was created
solely to establish the peace for all these years.

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But why thieves? It is an odd choice for a
symbolic guild to keep the

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peace."

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Allard looked at Rafe. "Was there any mention of
our guild?"

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Rafe shook his head. "None. There were mentions of
the destruction of the Magic Guild, but nothing

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about the thieves." "There is a missing piece."

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Allard stood up. "You need to find it, Rafe.

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I don't know what it will tell us, but it is
important."

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Allard dismissed Rafe, and Rafe returned to the
library.

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He had considered going to bed, as he was weary
from hours of study, but

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Allard's comments gave Rafe pause.

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Rafe had been so interested in the history of Ness
and finding maps and learning about

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everything that he didn't know that he had not
spent any time looking for resources about his

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own guild. He didn't remember seeing any.

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So despite his weariness, he started browsing the
stacks.

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Hours later, and almost delirious with exhaustion,
Rafe could not believe the

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results of his search. He had combed every shelf
and spine of every

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book.

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There was not a single volume about the Thieves
Guild in the entire

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library.