Editing Ptolus (section)

==Organizations of Ptolus==
The city of Ptolus is home to a large variety of groups, guilds, and orders with a complicated web of relationships between them, that act as either allies or enemies to the [[PC]]s. The important powers among them are:

*'''Balacazar Crime Family:''' The oldest and most powerful crime family in the city. Tend to be subtle and finance criminal enterprises, with a recent move towards magical contraband.  
*'''Brides of Magic:''' An all-female group of [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|sorcerers]] devoted to magic, seeing it as a force that nurtures and promotes life. Believe something big is coming that will change or destroy magic as they know it and are preparing for it. 
*'''Brotherhood of Redemption:''' [[Skub|Most controversial of organizations]]. They believe that all life is innately good and sacred, and, instead of killing evil beings, they capture them and magically brainwash them to become good. 
*'''Dark Leaf:''' Elven mercenaries who work for criminal groups to ensure other elves in the city are relatively safe from crime.
*'''Delver's Guild:''' The local adventurer's guild dedicated to mapping and exploring all the areas underneath the city. Maintain a series of waystations under the city and offer retrieval insurance to high-ranked members, meaning if they die while exploring, their remains will be retrieved and raised if possible.
*'''The Fallen:''' The Demons and other evil outsiders trapped in Praemal. Divided between those wanting ally with [[The Galchutt]], those loyal to their leader ''Raguel'', and those wanting to go their own way.
*'''Fate Weavers:''' Fortune tellers seeking to guide people to the right path, being able to see how someone's fate will affect the fate of others.
*'''The Forsaken:''' People fascinated with death and undeath, valuing it more than life, leading to a high suicide rate. Members belong to one of two groups: the Torrens, who hate life and relish in wanton destruction and murder, or the Licheloved, who seek the esoteric knowledge of death and undeath. Most members worship gods of death and try to become undead themselves.
*'''The Guilds:''' The guilds of the professions (leatherworkers, bankers, brewers, etc.) in the city. Delver's Guild, Longfingers Guild, Order of Iron Might, the Sorn, and the Vai are also included in their ranks.
*'''The Inverted Pyramid:''' The secretive mage's guild, dedicated to the study and preservation of magical knowledge and comprised of some of the most powerful arcane spellcasters in the world.
**'''Dreaming Apothecary:''' A group of spellcasters who make magic items to order, and the big moneymaker for the Inverted Pyramid.
*'''Keepers of the Veil:''' An order of [[paladin]]s dedicated to the destruction of undead, especially immaterial ones.
*'''Killraven Crime League:''' A young criminal organization seeking to overthrow not only the Balacazars, but also the Inverted Pyramid and the Vai. Surprisingly is actually succeeding at this.
*'''Knights of the Chord:''' An order of [[bard]]s dedicated to protecting the innocent and upholding freedom; taking that eponymous prestige-class from [[Eldritch Might]].
*'''Knights of the Golden Cross:''' An ancient order dedicated to opposing evil in all of its forms. Prefer to keep a low profile and carefully pick their fights and goals.
*'''Knights of the Pale:''' A knightly order dedicated to fighting supernatural threats, with focus on combatting evil spellcasters and demons.
*'''Knights of Shadow:''' Middle class people seeking to create a world where people act a certain way and everyone is prosperous, and certain others more prosperous. Divided between the Knights of Enlightenment, who want to overthrow the Commissar and all temporal aspects of the Empire of Tarsis, and the Knights of the Secret Sun, who support the empire.
*'''Longfingers Guild:''' The old-fashioned thieves guild turned school for thieves and burglars. Their leader teaches the old philosophy of honor among thieves, and looks back on the days before the Balacazars and the Killraven had all the power.
*'''The Malkuth:''' Angels and other good outsiders trapped in Praemal, and their descendants, who seek to combat evil in all of its forms. Tend to be drawn to Ptolus as it has the largest concentration of evil in the world.
*'''Naltegro Shuun:''' The non-evil [[assassin]]s and thugs for hire. Go after targets if their client provides evidence that the target deserves what they want happening to them. If the client fools them, they will enact a just punishment upon him.
*'''Noble Houses of Ptolus:''' The local nobles of Ptolus. Not recognized as official nobles by the Empire, but distance and tradition has kept them in power.
**'''House Abanar:''' The mercantile house. Also the largest and wealthiest as anyone can purchase a title and a position in their hierarchy for 10,000 gold.
**'''House Dallimothan:''' The [[Dragon|draconic]] house. Their members are either [[Half-Dragon]]s or dragons in human form.
**'''House Erthuo:''' The scholar house. Mainly comprised of half-elves, they have some of the biggest collections of rare books, antiquities, and ancient artefacts.
**'''House Kath:''' The arts & culture house. Most famous of the houses, they act as patrons of arts and culture in the city.
**'''House Khatru:''' The martial house. Arrogant and self-righteous, they hate anyone who isn't a plate mail clad [[fighter]] and long for the good old days, when they could hunt down arcane spellcasters.
**'''House Nagel:''' The good noble house. Work to better the conditions of workers and help the needy. Currently in dire straits as their patriarch has been falsely imprisoned.
**'''House Rau:''' The criminal house. Pirates turned nobles, they act as sponsors for criminal ventures and find work criminal in exchange for a cut of the profits.
**'''House Sadar:''' The magic house. Persecuted when arcane spellcasters were hunted down, they survived just barely thanks to a mysterious stranger giving them a powerful magic staff. Members have a talent for magic involving shadows, leading to the nickname ''House of Shadows''. 
**'''House Shever:''' The technology house. Youngest of the noble houses, their influence and power is fading along with technological knowledge in the land.
**'''House Vladaam:''' The evil noble house. Oldest of the houses, they were founded by one of the ''Vested of the Galchutt'', Vladaam. Decadent and corrupt, they have connection to all other evil factions in the city and beyond.
*'''Order of Iron Might:''' The local fighter's guild, dedicated to finding employment for its members .
*'''Pactlords of the Quaan:''' Intelligent nonhumanoids dedicated to the eradication of humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes. Yes, this is nakedly artificial and stupid. But it's how those old 1970s-era TSR monsters got tested for 3e.
*'''Pale Dogs:''' The biggest gang in the Warrens, the slums, of Ptolus. Their leader, ''Jirraith'', works for the Balacazars and most members eventually join them as guards and enforcers, with the most bloodthirsty being sold to the Vai.
*'''The Shuul:''' A young group dedicated to restoring the rule of reason and technology in the empire, and preserving what technical knowledge remains. They own one of the biggest stockpiles of firearms and gunpowder in Ptolus.
*'''Sisterhood of Silence:''' An all-female [[monk]] order, dedicated to capturing criminals and bringing them to the proper authorities, and protecting the peace.
*'''The Sorn:''' Small, independent cells of sorcerers and [[wizard]]s for hire, often acting as spies, assassins, and enforcers.
*'''Soul Riders:''' People with the ability to leave their bodies and "ride" the souls of other people. A dozen of them live in Ptolus as wandering souls, seeking to have the city secede from the empire and then rule over the city-state through their puppets.
*'''Urthon Aedar:''' The last of the Elder Elves, precursors to the other elven races, seeking to restore the city of Dreta Phantas and promote the well-being of elves and their allies. Most know of them as armor-clad figures who, upon completing some inexplicable task, disappear.
*'''The Vai:''' A death worshipping cult turned assassin's guild. Its members try to kill a living being of some sort every day, and at least one intelligent one every month.
*'''Viridian Lords:''' [[Ranger]]s and [[barbarian]]s of Palastan, rarely found in Ptolus. The members are easily recognized from the plant life that's magically grafted to their flesh.