The Guilds
In the Dominion of the Peaks, society is based not only on the feudal hierarchy of lords and nobles, but also on a network of powerful organizations that structure daily life, trade, defense, and exploration.
These guilds and orders, often rivals or allies depending on the circumstances, control vital resources: ancient relics, air routes, rooftop security, and even the purity of humanity in the face of the shadows of the Abyss.
Some are open and respected, others operate in the shadows with ruthless rigor. Together, they form the backbone of a fragile civilization, where belonging to a guild can mean survival, power... or damnation.
Brotherhood of the Green Claws
Suspended agriculture and food security.
The Greenhouse Guild brings together the most dedicated farmers and horticulturists, those discreet and patient guardians who ensure the Dominion's food supply, transforming precarious rooftops into abundant sources of life.
In a world without dry land or ancestral soils, they master sophisticated hydroponics with inherited expertise, with crops suspended in cascading greenery where roots plunge into recycled basins, and meticulously selecting seeds resistant to violent winds, mutated spores, and unexpected frosts, transforming exposed terraces into lush gardens protected by recycled glass domes that capture rare light and filter howling gusts.
They jealously guard their precious seeds, often stored in makeshift climate-controlled vaults, and their secret techniques passed down orally, negotiating fiercely with merchants to distribute their seasonal harvests in exchange for rare tools, pure metals, or armed escorts.
In times of famine, when reserves run low and storms ravage fragile greenhouses, their power grows inexorably, allowing them to influence ambitious lords and powerful guilds through absolute control of food, making them invisible but decisive players in the political balance of the Peaks.
Master seed grower
Hydrocultivator
Greenhouse protector
Crop trader
Brotherhood of Wind Navigators
Air trade, transportation, and exploration.
The Wind Navigators' Brotherhood brings together the most daring pilots, obsessive cartographers, and visionary meteorologists who brave the hostile skies of the Dominion.
Perched on the most exposed terraces, in observatories battered by gusts, they chart safe air routes amid raging storms that can engulf an airship in an instant.
Using ancient instruments, they study prevailing winds, predict devastating storms, and jealously guard secret maps, sometimes tattooed on their own skin, revealing stable passages between the peaks.
Indispensable to merchants, travelers, and even military fleets, they demand generous tributes in exchange for sharing their forecasts or training novice airship captains.
Their intimate knowledge of the skies makes them prized advisors to lords and powerful guilds. But this mastery comes at a price: it attracts the greed of air pirates, who lie in wait at their isolated observatories to steal maps and secrets, turning these guardians of the winds into perpetual targets in a sky where betrayal flies as fast as the gusts.
Master pilot
Cartographer of the skies
Wind observer
Air scout
Guardian of the Peaks
Military defense and law enforcement.
The Sky Guard is the official military force of the Dominion, the armed pillar of a civilization suspended above the void, charged with protecting the island cities from air pirates in grappling hook-equipped airships, devastating storms capable of tearing away entire bridges and terraces, and rare but terrifying incursions from the Abyss, those creeping shadows that, once they breach the defenses, sow uncontrollable panic and bloody destruction.
Recruited from among the younger sons of noble houses hungry for glory and veterans hardened by past campaigns, it patrols tirelessly the swaying suspension bridges, the bustling air ports, and the terraces exposed to howling winds, where every shadow can hide an enemy.
Loyal to the distant power of the Emperor and the local lords who finance its payroll, it maintains public order with iron discipline, suppressing merchant riots and noble disputes, and escorting vital caravans laden with food, relics, and precious water, thus ensuring the fragile circulation of goods between isolated peaks.
In large cities such as Aetherion, its elite units, often masked behind polished steel helmets or anonymous visors, embody imperial authority in its most intimidating form, executing secret orders and watching over court intrigues with a silent and oppressive presence.
Patrol captain
Air Archer
Recruiter
Wind Strategist
Brotherhood of the Celestial Forges
Repair and technological innovation.
The Brotherhood of Celestial Forges brings together the most talented craftsmen and engineers in the Dominion, true guardians of the technical knowledge that survived from the ancient world, passed down through yellowed diagrams and fragmentary memories.
In their smoke-filled workshops, where the incessant hammering and flying sparks echo, they repair damaged airships, restore rusty relics, and invent ingenious medieval-high-tech hybrids: electric lamps casting a cold glow in noble castles, creaking cable elevators connecting dizzying terraces, or formidable weapons combining forged steel and pulsating circuits capable of spitting deadly arcs.
Jealous of their secrets, often kept under lock and key in reinforced safes, they rigorously train hand-picked apprentices in fortified workshops perched on the most stable rooftops and sell their services to the highest bidder: lords eager for superiority, merchants seeking commercial advantages, or military orders desiring decisive weapons.
Their solemnly proclaimed official neutrality often hides lucrative and discreet alliances, where a revolutionary prototype can seal a pact that upsets the balance of the Peaks.
Master blacksmith
Disassembler
Inventor
Keeper of the Schemes
Order of Relic Hunters
Risky exploration and recovery of lost technologies.
The Order of Relic Hunters is one of the most adventurous and respected organizations in the Dominion, a pillar of survival in a world where every fragment of the past can mean the difference between prosperity and collapse.
Founded on the remnants of ancient military expeditions conducted just after the Fall, it continues a tradition of desperate courage by sending small squads into the abandoned middle levels.
Their mission: to recover rare resources and technological relics from the world before. Pure metals, still-functional circuits, forgotten weapons with mysterious mechanisms, or portable generators capable of powering an entire tower: these treasures, often extracted at the cost of blood, fuel the thriving trade of the Peaks and ensure the daily survival of its inhabitants.
Hunters are hardened nomads, their faces weathered by the wind and marked by invisible scars engraved by successive losses and the trauma of solitary descents where one can sometimes hear the echoes of ancient sirens or the whispers of infested minors.
Their strict code, engraved on steel plates worn around their necks, demands absolute loyalty to the squad and the sharing of all finds with the Central Order, which redistributes them fairly in exchange for reinforced protection, rigorous training in fortified camps, and care for inevitable injuries.
Yet many secretly keep personal relics, a shiny circuit, a compact weapon, or a fragment of a cracked screen, sources of deep obsession or personal salvation in a universe where lost technology can become a talisman against madness.
Squad leader
Scout
Carrier
Watcher
Sacred Order of the Watchers
Spiritual guidance, education, and care.
The Sacred Order of Watchers, the official church that governs and unifies the beliefs of the Peaks, profoundly structures society by imposing a spiritual hierarchy in which each domain of the pantheon has its place and practical role: The Priests of the Heights, often from noble houses perched on the highest towers, bless the departure of airships and ensure the purity of the hanging gardens; the oracles of Chance, solitary and feared, interpret the whims of the winds and denounce betrayals before they take root; as for the guardians of the Abyss, they organize great hunts for the mutant swarms that rise from the depths, armed with blessed spears and ritual torches.
At the heart of the Order, and directly linked to its most uncompromising branch, lies the Inquisition of the Abyss Hunters: a militant brotherhood specializing in tracking down humans contaminated by the corruption of the Void.
These inquisitors consider any human mutation to be an intimate desecration of the realm of the Abyss, far more serious than mere insectoid swarms. They operate in discreet cells, infiltrate lower relays, interrogate travelers, and purge those who bear the stigmata without trial.
Supported by the decrees of the Watchers, the Trackers embody the ruthless face of faith, transforming the visceral fear of the Peaks into an instrument of absolute control.
Scheduler
Interpretive priestess
Healer of souls
Scholar archivist
Trackers of the Abyss
Anti-mutation inquisition and preservation of human purity.
The Abyss Hunters form a relentless organization within the Sacred Order of Watchers, a shadowy and fanatical branch dedicated to preserving human purity in the face of creeping horror.
Half-religious, half-military, their sacred mission is to hunt down and eliminate all traces of human infestation, seen as a divine desecration born of the darkness of the Abyss.
They hunt for subtle signs—chitinous marks hidden beneath clothing, strange behaviors such as nervous tics or shifty eyes, persistent rumors of mutations or suspicious odors—and act without trial or mercy, convinced that the insidious and inexorable corruption of the Abyss threatens the entire Dominion by contaminating the very souls of its inhabitants.
Operating in secret, anonymous cells, they infiltrate crowded markets, isolated air relays, and even noble courts with their hushed intrigues, blending into the crowd with chilling discretion. Their justice is swift and merciless: a suspicious medallion with insectoid runes, a disturbing resemblance to a missing person, or an anonymous tip is enough to trigger an unrelenting hunt, often ending in the shadows of an alley or a deserted bridge.
Feared as much as they are needed, for they embody the terror of an internal threat, they are tolerated by lords and powerful figures who dread a tide of infested creatures declaring themselves directly within the population, transforming neighbors and allies into abominations ready to overwhelm the Peaks from within.
Inquisitor
Tracker
Observer
Archivist of Shadows
