The Beggars' Guild

Towards the end of the Fourth Age, as Forktown blossomed into a bustling market town, something important happened that many people to this day still are unaware of. Castor Blackfingers, a petty thief just released from the Forktown Prison found himself without a home and no way of making money. That night, as he stumbled down a back alley, blind drunk from a tavern where he had spent his last crowne on a seventh tankard of the cheapest ale, he fell through a hole in the ground. As he blinked in the darkness, the moonlight filtering down in shards from above, he realised he stood in an abandoned system of tunnels and sewers, long forgotten. That was when the idea for the Guild came to him: a community, separate from the world above, living and working together to support each other. A town beneath the town. A Beggars' Guild.

Word spread, whispers of the Guild through all the nooks and crannies of Forktown, and soon many of the town's homeless, criminals and orphans joined Castor in the tunnels. They got to work, organising raids on merchants travelling along the roads in the Dunneland Hills around Forktown. After taking as much as they could, they would sneak it back into the town through secret tunnels. Most believed the attacks to be carried out by bandit clans living in the hills and therefore few suspected that they were taking place from people within the town itself. Other resources were taken, little by little, from houses, the market squares and other such places in Forktown. These tasks were usually carried out by the younger members of the Guild, who used their size and stealthiness to attack when the citizens least expected it. Taverns were built using wooden boxes as tables and serving ale and rum from barrels stolen outside Forktown's inns. Markets were set up to trade stolen good amongst Guild members and living areas were built to accommodate as many as they could.

The first few winters in the tunnels were the hardest. Many who hoped that the Guild would bring them sanctuary and safety and a sense of belonging died, of starvation, of disease and of the bitter cold. The raids, previously the lifeblood of the guild, became as increasingly difficult as merchant caravans employed greater numbers of guards to protect from the "bandit attacks". The Guild were forced back inside the walls to fend for themselves and take what they could find. And for those first few years, the Guild was merely a title, nothing more. Despite Castor's best efforts, there was little sense of community. Instead, chaos ensued, with brawls and thefts amongst Guild members occurring daily. Castor realised that something had to change. After weeks of hearing and seeing nothing of him, Castor returned, and gathered together all he could in the area now known as the Rat Warrens. He announced that order must come to the Guild if they were to survive, and to have order they must have a leader, a Guild Father, of which he would be the first. He also announced that he had written a set of rules, known as 'The Guild Father's Code', which he and every Father after him must abide by. The Guild should be like a family.

He began assigning tasks to each of the members, depending on their individual strengths. Some were sent out thieving in the streets, others were set to cooking in the makeshift kitchens, others became healers and innkeepers, or spent their time sewing together old sacks to make clothes for the children. To bring money into the Guild, some took up roles as prostitutes on the poorer, rougher streets of Forktown. Others became spies or thieves in secret for select figures outside the Guild, selling their skills for a profit. At one point, it is believed, that the Sixth Baron of Forktown knew of the Guild's existence and used it to his advantage in wiping out an assassination threat by Andurian forces.

By the time Castor Blackfingers was cold in the ground, the Beggars' Guild became exactly what he had hoped: a huge family living and working together beneath Forktown. Everyone had their place. 

The title 'Beggar's Guild' can be misleading. Very little begging is done, and those sent out onto the street to appear as beggars are in fact acting as the eyes and ears of the Guild. In the words of current Guild Father, Silas Wain:

“It’s not about what we do, it’s about who we are. We are forced into this situation by circumstance, not by choice, and our name is a reminder of that. We are people who have nothing left. Except each other. We’re a family."

For many years now, the Beggars' Guild has been operating on and beneath the streets of Forktown, with few even aware of its existence. Every time the Guild Father dies, a new one is appointed in their stead, and so the Guild continues.