Help requested: Gathering information on Tse Gaiyan

[Rias]

I'm gathering information on Tse Gaiyan to get it on the road to being active once again! Very exciting, because Tse Gaiyan goes way back to the game's beginning. Less exciting is trying to get things straight with how chaotic the organization has been and how many times it has changed hands staff-side. In addition to what I can find on GM channels, I'd love to get info from players as well to try and minimize the chances of things being overlooked. Stuff I'm looking for:

- Organizational titles/positions and their purposes, and who holds/held them (mostly NPCs)
- Changes in leadership (at any level, not just Praetor)
- Major events that occurred within or affected Tse Gaiyan, or that the organization had a major involvement in

Unless the information is sensitive or secretive, please post it here in this thread (NOT ON CHAT!). Having more eyes on it is better, so we can get clarifications or corrections if people have them. If some info seems too sensitive or secretive to post publicly, email it to clok (at) contrarium (dot) net.

I've already gathered together a lot of information on my own, but I want to compare it to what the players are aware of. So much of this stuff is murky or second-hand so it'd be nice to have some confirmations from additional sources.

[Rias]

Also requetsed: Any Tse Gaiyan NPCs that are known to have died or gone missing. I have a few I suspect are meant to be, but confirmation would be great!

[Southpaw]

Unfortunately I have nothing to contribute to this. I've had characters belonging to this guild for years but either information was never disseminated through the organization or I somehow just missed every single bit of it. As a player I eagerly look forward to finding out the things that were going on That I was not aware of. I started playing the last few years before the shut down when things were, without a doubt, a little more stagnant. Eagerly looking forward to catching up on the lore!

[artus]

There's the Arty. Let's see what I have. I'm going to try to stay on the npc side as much as possible.

I'm not sure who lead the gaiyan before Vins, but it was Vins when I joined, and then Lassyn, then Jirato. For Praetor, I know there was Evrek or something like that before I joined but it was already Bartholemew in my period, followed by one from Lassyn I can't remember the name, then Alarayn by Jirato.

By the time I joined, pcs were given four leading positions, spymaster, quartermaster, lorekeeper and warden. There may be something else I might have missed. It was either stewart Jacob or the Praetor who assigned those positions.

I'm not going to give names of the pcs who held those positions though out of respect as it could be tied to house mess way back. If anyone feel like it's needed for anything, feel free.

For those who died, I can't remember other than Evrek who was missing and Bartholemew who died.

PS. There was an account of a pc infested mentioning clarity effect emberberry had after 2017.:) It didn't cure Resen, however. Can I feel sorry for those infested stuck underground for a second?

[Lun]

Couple of tee gaiyan stuff I remember:
Banned from Shadgard for suspected espionage activities, safe houses raided. This was eventually moved past.

Someone brought infested corpses into their home resulting in their home being burned down to control a potential spread
Infested boldly started attacking the compound in bulk, leading to the Emberberry Defense gambit.
Infested attack on Emleth leading to the destruction of the hamlet.

Organization Structure came and went with generations of leadership. Some leaders treated the organization like a military.

A focus on "active members" of the guild leading to the creation of exclusive armories and shops for acknowledged agents.

[artus]

Thank you for mentioning the armory and the incidents around Shadgard. I knew about it but didn't think of it this morning. It was before I started playing though.

Also, a certain Harbinger and Utasa related incident lead to them losing safehouse in Mistral too. There was a whole plotline involving a former assassin who wanted to create his infested sanctuary that lead to a whole chain of events, but he was dead at some point from what I heard so I have no idea if this does anything.
There were a lot of events related to the concourd, but I can't list any of them off my head at the moment. Not sure how it even started.

Notable mention unrelated to any of the requested stuff: I miss that room behind the waterfall just at the foot of the trail to mount Kiri in Vailgraten valley. That room's epic.

Now, on to the npc list and smaller events.
There had been a movement to restore Tse Gaiyan trust in Shadgard pre-shutdown. It wasn't much, but it was a thing.
Snipers in the training grounds were removed at some point due to people abusing them.
Eavonne or something like that agent disappeared somehow.
Aesin or Aeson or something like that and Veronica currently missing from there treehouses in the forest.
Relyna missing from her ranger post in the house. Jacob missing from his office. Gill missing from his cabin. Wow, I didn't realize Udemi had so many trainers lol. Ah, Sethan was in Mistral but the town's closed now. I think there might be one more agent but I can't remember who.

[Kiyaani]

Most of these are more minor events that people got involved in, but might help flesh things out:

• There were a few infested-related events regarding sentient infested and what to do or not do with them. One in particular involved a child in Emleth (after the destruction) and seemed to be going somewhere but fizzled out.

• There were a few times the Dunwyr seemed interested in working with Tse Gaiyan due to their druidry connection and the constant over-logging/over-harvesting/over-hunting alerts associated with it.

• The whole Gunther thing, which Rias probably doesn't need reminders for, but bears mentioning.

• Tse Gaiyan spied on a certain character of mine a few times while outside city walls which then led to some interesting RP and a somewhat good relationship with Evrek and pushed some Corvus-related stuff along.

• I believe there was some interest in trying to get behind a wall in Dusklamp for a while, but I don't think it went anywhere.

• As Artus mentioned - seems like pretty much all wilderness trainers for this and other guilds were never put back in.

[Lun]

I need reminders about the Gunther thing, it's an active questline in my DND game. Please remind me.

Also, do you think Mayor Gunther was into the same gender? My players need to know.

[Rias]

Thanks to everyone who shared info, both posted here and emailed in. Tse Gaiyan has had a pretty rocky history, and having changed staff hands multiple times hasn't helped that. Things seemed especially chaotic the last couple years of CLOK1. I'm hoping the re-opening of the Redrock chapterhouse will serve as an opportunity for a fresh start, while still acknowledging the past. A few points I'd like to make:

- We're not going to be honoring the previous positions/titles of authority that were assigned to some PCs. They can be considered dissolved. It put a lot of pressure on those players, and also resulted in a fair amount of confusion, drama, and resentment in general.
- Tse Gaiyan won't be run as a harsh military organization as some have expressed worry over, but at the same time, the work against the resen is not something members can choose to opt out of. If the fight against the resen isn't your bag, don't join Tse Gaiyan. It's not the only thing the organization is about, but it's a primary thing, and members are expected to perform their duties.
- The Utasa branch is not an ultra-secret shadow organization whose existence is officially denied. They're an acknowledged branch of Tse Gaiyan that focuses in and around population centers (while the Udemi focus on the wilderness). Some Utasa absolutely can and should opt to be secretive about their job and operate primarily in the shadows in order to avoid detection or suspicion when monitoring suspected infested individuals or sites. At the same time, the branch should also have some agents working openly WITH the people they're trying to watch out for. Otherwise they end up with a lack of trust and the people feeling like they're just being randomly snooped and spied on rather than watched over and protected. This is a big part of why it was so easy for Shadgard to feel justified in kicking Tse Gaiyan out of their territory years ago. The Utasa felt like some shadowy antagonistic threat out to spy on Shadgardians against their will, rather than benevolent watchers protecting the people from the resen. (Of course, this negative view of the Utasa was encouraged by infested agents themselves, but even without that it wasn't a great look they were presenting.)
- Leadership is going to be extra strict in matters of discipline. I'll just come out and say that Tse Gaiyan has historically had a particular tendency for its members to knowingly bend or outright break rules both written and implied, and recent incidents are indicating that this tendency seems to continue even now in CLOK2. You won't be able to grin and charm your way out of it as a lovable scamp. It's become a real and rooted problem for the organization and they're not having any more of it. It won't take much at all to get put on guild probation at this point. I realize saying this runs the risk of turning some people off to Tse Gaiyan, but hopefully it also portrays an opportunity for people who are truly dedicated to Tse Gaiyan's cause to prove themselves and become an important and trusted part of the organization.

One in particular involved a child in Emleth (after the destruction) and seemed to be going somewhere but fizzled out.

I'd say that one was more suddenly and aggressively stamped out by player character actions, rather than fizzled out.

I need reminders about the Gunther thing, it's an active questline in my DND game. Please remind me.

Also, do you think Mayor Gunther was into the same gender? My players need to know.

Do whatever feels best for your campaign. You're in charge of it, make it your own! I'll give one clarification though, which you can take or leave: In CLOK it was *Acting* Mayor Gunther. Dannal Burgess was still official mayor, but because he was incapacitated, Gunther stepped in as Acting Mayor until such a time that Mayor Burgess was able to recover. This incident is what caused Mayor Burgess to implement the Town Council just before he retired, so that in the future there wouldn't be such major problems from a singular leader figure potentially being incapacitated. Whether this was a good decision or not depends on which Shadgardian you ask. But I'm getting off-topic. Back to Tse Gaiyan!

As some have noticed, there's been some work going on out in the canyon to restore (somewhat convenient) access to the old Redrock chapterhouse up on the canyon shelf. Way back in early CLOK, this is where the Tse Gaiyan chapterhouse originally was. When Rithiel relocated the Chapterhouse to be way out in the wilderness and gave it some significant upgrades, she called it a retcon, but I'm saying it wasn't a retcon and was just a relocation to a different facility, and the Redrock chapterhouse has remained up there mostly unused. Which I've probably already said before, but just in case. Anyway, it's nearly ready and I'm excited for Shadgard to have a nearby Tse Gaiyan location once again!

[artus]

I'm particularly happy Tse Gaiyan finally has some supervising going. It was indeed chaotic without or with little and it left some players feeling lost on what to do and some were outright unable to log in on their chars without being thrown into drama filled pit. Thank goodness pc positions are gone. Thank you for that.

As a side note that may make stuff less scary for people though, can we have written rules somewhere in the chapter house if you want to add extra rules to it? Some weren't clarified enough. I remember one incident involving lockpicks some utasa gave to a GoT member or something like that that had me report a player only to be told it was allowed, and I'm still not sure if it's actually still the case today.

[Squeak]

Is there a reason why you felt it a good idea to begin picking every lock within the Chapter house immediately upon joining?

A "good" reason? No. But it WAS fun.

Edited to Add: As an aside, will any of Cogg's Tse Gaiyan shenanigans make a re-appearance in Clok 2?

[Southpaw]

I also would love some clarification on rules and expectations for members. I played the last few years before the shut down and it mostly felt like all we did was kill infested, write up a letter, and send it back to imaginary leadership that did nothing with it. Beyond that I was never really told anything.
I'm sure that I just missed things or wasn't logged in when other events took place and maybe just an updated page on the wiki would resolve a lot of the questions. Super excited about all these changes and for everything coming though!

[xavier]

I also have a couple of questions. Mostly related to character location and the chapter house. I have a character out there at the chapter house that back in the day had a horse in the stables. that horse is now presumably in the hanged man or shadgard stables. It has presented a problem for me to try and move this character for obvious reasons. Will the old chapter house be getting removed? Will any character that was previously logged out there be spawning somewhere else? Is it possible to get them relocated by a GM given the distance?

[Kiyaani]

One in particular involved a child in Emleth (after the destruction) and seemed to be going somewhere but fizzled out.

I'd say that one was more suddenly and aggressively stamped out by player character actions, rather than fizzled out.

ROFL. I didn't want to be that harsh about it, but also I wasn't sure if there was another NPC that would take up the mantle. BUT FINE!