Overguilds

Five overguilds rose to power during the Exploration Bryte. While these organizations do not control all business in Olaxis, each has a firm stranglehold on their chosen industry. Even in the Burn Bryte, overguilds maintain their internal order, searching for opportunities and profit amid the chaos. Overguilds are looking out for themselves and their members above all else and, as they work in different industries, they often work together rather than against each other. Adventurers could find themselves working on the side of or at odds with any of the five overguilds, and their relationship with each could vary over the course of an adventuring career.

Senchal Overguild

The Senchal Overguild controls the industry of private security. Most governments use their privatized police forces for keeping order while the wealthy and other overguilds hire Senchal security to guard their assets, personnel, and secrets. Senchal’s biggest business is hidden security: monitoring activity on the Complenet, observing people through the walls of buildings for their safety, and more. There are rumors that the overguild also provides espionage services for wealthy clients, but these claims have never been proven. Senchal also manufactures security systems, military vehicles, and weapons. The overguild is the largest arms distributor in Olaxis, but they are not the only dealer.

Egan Overguild

The Egan Overguild controls medicine and health in Olaxis. The organization owns most hospitals and hires most healers. Egan also sells medicinal potions, pills, salves, injections, and equipment. The overguild often works with a ruling body to provide healthcare to patients under that government for free in exchange for reimbursement in the form of tax dollars. At the moment most governments do not provide such a service, as resources are scarce and only becoming more so.

Bahiri Overguild

The Bahiri Overguild controls the industry of communication. They craft devices that can send messages across the galaxy in a moment’s notice and link people together through the Complenet, a massive digital and magical space where people can share ideas, information, and entertainment. Bahiri devices automatically translate speech via the Allspeak spell so that people of different cultures can speak with one another. It is rumored that the organization controls the flow of information when it benefits them to do so, but no actual proof of such actions exist.

Kosma Overguild

The Kosma Overguild controls transportation in Olaxis. They build and operate public transit systems, spacecraft of all sizes, and almost any other vehicle one can imagine. Kosma takes its duty of birthing spaceships and the magical intelligences that operate them quite seriously. Before the Burn, the overguild was working on portal technology that would allow instant transport, but they claim to have abandoned the project given the current situation.

Wessh Overguild

The Wessh Overguild controls the construction and maintenance of infrastructure in Olaxis. The ruthless construction organization outbids or intimidates potential competition and is rumored to have criminal connections. Of all the overguilds, the Burn hit Wessh hardest. While there are needs for security, medicine, communication, and transportation in the Burn Bryte, no one seems interested in building something new, and the resources for repair are increasingly scarce. If the rumors are true, Wessh might use its considerable assets to diversify into a new industry, though no one can say which. What is known is that any expansion is bound to lead to conflict as Wessh moves into the territory of one of its fellows.

Alliance of Relief and Conservation

The Alliance of Relief and Conservation (ARC) formed when the Burn consumed the first of Olaxis' planets. The organization of emergency responders, healers, and adventurers is scattered, underfunded, and overworked. They make it their mission to evacuate and provide relief for people close to the Burn, recovering from natural disasters, and in war-torn areas. The leaders of ARC clash with governments and criminals alike, but they never back down from helping those in need.

When ARC was first formed, it was run by Luckystar 23, a peacecraft explorer who ran the organization smoothly and solicited funds from the various governments of Olaxis until the Burn took her during a rescue mission deep in the Ghost Belt. Since then relationships with the governments of the galaxy have crumbled and the leadership of the organization remains unclear. ARC now acts as separate cells with the same mission, but their uncoordinated efforts mean they are less effective than under Luckystar’s leadership.

ARC is also dedicated to collecting and preserving the flora and fauna of planets near the Burn, hiring adventurers to obtain them before they are consumed. Many debate the importance of using resources to save wildlife when there are still plenty of sapient species in need of rescuing.

The historians of ARC are dedicated to preserving all of the various cultural knowledge and histories of systems lost to the Burn. The organization keeps a massive library on Yvlen III in the city of Tsela.

The Order of Heroes

The Order of Heroes, or simply the Order, is a group of like-minded scientists that formed an organization intent on stopping and reversing the Burn. This organization has become very influential in the galaxy and has no restraint in accomplishing their mission. The Order came to the conclusion that to stop the Burn from occurring, heroes from around the universe must be sent out past the phenomenon’s edge.

The Order was originally formed by a group of scientists gathering resources from a planet being swallowed up by the Burn. As they worked, the Burn suddenly leaped forward at an unexpected rate. Their leader, a zivoy named Josinto Josing, was the first to be swallowed up, but before it could consume the rest of the scientists the Burn’s edge retreated backwards a few feet. The team was spared and the planet remained unconsumed for several more days. 

The scientists gathered information from around the universe and discovered the odd phenomenon they experienced was not unique. Many people had similar experiences of the Burn retreating after notable people went beyond the edge. To the scientists this was hope.

To this day they are unsure of what exactly is happening. The current hypothesis is that when people go beyond the edge, they are not actually lost. The Order was formed to explore this hypothesis and stop the inevitable collapse of the universe. 

The Order grew, gathering supporters around its cause of exploring the Burn and fighting back against whatever is causing it. As time passed the Order amassed a large fleet comprised of the most advanced ships in the galaxy and started enacting their plan.

Using its fleet, the Order searches for the most accomplished heroes in the galaxy. People they believe if sent over the edge, could fight back the Burn. If they learn about a hero that meets their requirements (an ever changing list based on information they gather), they try to appeal to the hero’s sense of duty and sacrifice to get that person to go beyond the Burn. If rebuffed, the Order takes the hero by force and shuttles them to the galaxy’s edge to be pushed into the Burn. The Order often uses non-lethal weapons. They cannot risk accidentally killing someone who might be vital to the survival of the universe.

A formidable military presence, the Order is generally feared within the galaxy, particularly for their cult-like dedication to their mission. Most planets simply allow them to take who they want, as to fight them off would be entering into a full-scale war with an organization that only wants a handful of people.

When members of the Order are questioned about their practices, they stand by their philosophy. They realize that what they are doing goes against basic societal norms, and they acknowledge they cannot prove their efforts are working, but they believe they are the only ones who have what it takes to save the galaxy.

Rythwir Telanco

Rythwir Telanco, often just called Rythwir, is the name taken by a loose collection of conspiracy theorists working together remotely to get to the truth behind galaxy-shaking events. The group gave themselves this name since they first worked together to discover the identity of an assassin who murdered Rythwir Telanco, a famous kith’uk general. The collective proved the ulran Davo Sokolotoyona was the culprit, and since the organization’s fame and membership has grown.

Rythwir Telanco consists of individuals sitting at computer terminals digging through information, decoding files, and hacking secure computers remotely. This information is shared with all members of the organization. They don’t let a new member join until the prospect provides a piece of covert information unknown to any of the current members.

While the public ignores most of the theories they put forward as the unsound ramblings of paranoid hackers, Rythwir has gotten its fair share of information correct. They work with adventurers to get to the bottom of mysteries and can provide valuable, if not always reliable or complete, information.

Porde Pirate Collective

This universe is ending, but there might be others out there ready to be inhabited. Merlock Trillzal, a kith’uk pirate lord, believes in the multiverse theory, the idea that there are other universes parallel to the one containing the Burn and Olaxis. She convinced several of her peers that the key to surviving the Burn was to find a new universe to call home and formed the Porde Pirate Collective.

Porde seizes scientific instruments and kidnaps prominent scientists, forcing them to work at the possibly impossible task of opening a gateway to another universe. Porde plans to conquer and set themselves up as the new leaders of this place when the portal is opened, but progress is slow.

As the Burn closes in and people become more desperate, the charismatic Merlock uses the situation to get more than just criminals on her side. Some universities and governments donate their time and resources to the cause of Porde, complicating matters for those scientists that work against their will.

Vaans Collective

Though many Olaxans believe AIs have been destroyed forever, there is a group of scientists, overguild leaders, and hackers who believe otherwise assembled by a wealthy investor that goes by the pseudonym Vaans. This group operates in the shadows to bring the technology back, believing AIs could be controlled if they were recreated or discovered hiding in the ruin of some old server. With the Burn threatening to end existence, the Vaans Collective works harder than ever to uncover that which they think could save the world—and they let no one get in their way.

Vi Marone

The Burn chased space-dwelling creatures into Olaxis from other galaxies; the Vi Marone are a collective of big game hunters who sponsor hunting competitions to see who can kill the most dangerous fauna. Winners of these contests are encouraged to display the hides of their kills on the outsides of their ships as trophies. The organization was founded by ino hobby hunter CieloServonte. While the organization is controversial, none devote much time or effort into fighting the Vi Marone what with all of the other crises in Olaxis.

Xura

The Xura, an organization of bored, wealthy individuals who inherited their worth, has been around for centuries. The Burn brings new opportunities for the thrill-seeking group. The organization arranges death-defying excursions into Olaxis' most dangerous places for rich folk who need excitement in their lives. They hire adventurers as guides and guards for its members, though they are often at odds with ARC, which tries to keep people away from the Burn.