The Guild of Gondoliers

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"Jericho Locks is home to its Guild of Gondoliers: the canal-men and women who live and work the necessary but distasteful trade routes between the two great cities of the west."

"The canals are full of barges, black-painted and sombre. Some are adorned with silver bells, others heavy with crates, bottles and stacks of padded envelopes. Each barge is staffed by two gondoliers: one to row, the other to play a reedy viol."

The Guild of Gondoliers is a trade guild based in Jericho Locks.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat...

"Barges steered by black-liveried oarsmen pass by slowly. Somewhere, a distant viol plays, before being lost upstream."

The Guild of Gondoliers' members, stationed in the canal hub of Jericho Locks, travel the rivers of the Hinterlands between Hell and London, facilitating trade and transporting passengers. The Gondoliers have a somber aesthetic: they wear black uniforms, and their boats and oars are painted the same color. Captains of the Guild wear silver half-masks, and other senior members of the Guild wear black and silver full masks when on duty. Each of the Guild's barges is staffed by two gondoliers, one an oarsperson, and the other a viol player.

The Gonfaloniere's mask.

The Guild is a highly structured organization. At the bottom are water carriers who perform menial tasks like wayfinding. Above them are pole-arms, explorers, and scouts. At the top are masters, captains, and the Gonfaloniere himself. The Doleful Poleman is a captain and the Gonfaloniere's second-in-command, who handles affairs in his superior's absence. The Guild's governing body is called the Court of Penances. Not all of the Gondoliers are human: some are devils, such as the Saturnine Gondolier who is apparently "on loan."

The Guild oversees the Hinterlands' waterways, demanding tolls and firing upon those who refuse. They also defend their territory from enemy factions and monsters of the canals. They do not often explore the waterways, however, outside of expanding their trade interests. Gondoliers congregate at meeting places like the Fiddler's Scarlet, an inn which they run to house their own. They also have secret dealings with certain factions, such as the renegade devils of the Cedar-Woods.

Origins

"A Neapolitan scholar details the exodus in the wake of political upheaval. A time of promises hastily made, of opportunity opening in deep below...."

"A rose-hued text details the fierce competition with the bargemen contracted by Hell from the docks; the mysteries of their disappearance, its totality..."

The Cumaean Canal

The founders of the Guild were workers from Naples who migrated to the Neath in the wake of the Fall of London. These workers may have also worked on the Cumaean Canal. In its early days, Hell assisted the gondoliers in navigating the Hinterlands' rivers, and the two factions forged many a contract between them. At some point, the Guild faced competition from dockworkers contracted by Hell, but the latter group disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

The members of the Guild believe their organization dates back to before the First City, at which point its membership consisted of devils and "other things." It is said this ancient Guild forged a treaty with the Neath's powers, leaving behind a monument in a language called the Tongue of Ash.

Culture

"The traditions of the Gondoliers are legion: feastdays of the old world syncretise with the new. Once adopted, a tradition is held in the highest reverence. By such codes, the Gondoliers are willingly and eternally bound."

"A green tome slick with amber reveals a tradition of leaving coins in the river for the Swan Bride, in the hopes of paying a debt. The debt goes unsaid, the Swan Bride entirely unaware of the custom. "Given no one will sell a thing to me, I think the execution leaves a little to be desired," she says wearily."

The Guild has many rules and traditions its members would never dare violate. Examples include a ban on any music in Jericho except the viol, a rule that anyone who charters a gondola can choose their gondolier, and a ban on conferring with the Swan Bride. Not all of the Guild's traditions arose organically; the Masters of the Bazaar rely on the Guild for trade, so they manipulated its previously unaffiliated workers by setting up hierarchies and rules to ensure their compliance. In fact, several of these rules were justified using fabricated tomes.

The Thoroughly Experienced Gondolier, a former Guild member.

The Guild's members are typically conservative in their outlook, and have strong faith in their hierarchy. Since they are often away from London for months if not the rest of their lives, their knowledge of current events may be outdated. Conversely, they focus heavily on the Guild itself and its history, staging parades to celebrate it. The Guild views the Great Hellbound Railway with distrust, as it poses a threat to their business. Members are known to call its locomotives "the devil's own chariots," and some even attempt to sabotage the railway. The Gondoliers also view zailors as rivals, despite their frequent interactions.

Weddings and marriage are treated especially seriously among the Guild. A member of the Guild may typically only marry another member. Many choose not to marry at all, but some may symbolically marry the water itself. In fact, water has a very special place in the Guild's culture, described as the "mother and bride and mistress of ceremonies all."