The Emris Adventuring Guild is a renowned institution of adventurers, scholars, and explorers based in Shariz, the capital of the Serrakhan Sultanate. Founded during the late Fourth Age, it claimed to stand as a beacon of progress and discovery—its charter declaring a noble mission to chart the unknown, recover the relics of lost civilizations, and rekindle the ancient knowledge buried beneath Osira’s shifting sands.
But beneath the sunlit banners and scholarly pledges lay a deeper truth.
The guild was founded by Altair Emris (aka Alistair Emrys), a former Solir of Itela and once-advisor to Avatar Lumina, who betrayed his people to the malevolent schemes of Malekith and saved his own skin only to live in exile beneath a false name: Altair Emris. His true motivations were buried beneath decades of carefully curated vision, but those who knew him—or survived him—now speak of a man haunted by guilt, grasping for redemption through the building of something greater than himself.
Today, in the Fifth Age, the guild has been reformed under the stewardship of Professor Henry Endsworth, who leads it in the wake of Talyen’s return and revelations during The Star of Dawn. Under this new light, the Emris Adventuring Guild (formally renamed the Sunsations Adventuring Guild) is more than a waystation for glory-seekers; it is a crucible of research, restoration, and reckoning with Osira's forgotten past.
Origins & History
The guild was established in Shariz as an outwardly noble effort to unify the downtrodden peoples of the Sultanate through shared purpose—adventure, exploration, and the pursuit of truth. Under Altair Emris’s guidance, it flourished. Its members ventured far into The Sands of Serrakhan, unearthing relics from their not-so-distant past, and even deliving into ruins left by the vanished Solir civilization of Itela.
But the truth behind its founding was far more personal. Alistair Emrys did not create the guild solely to lift up the realm—he created it to unearth what happened to the Solir of Itela, the people he betrayed when he exchanged their safety for his own life in a pact with Malekith. The guild’s charter, its reach, and even its seemingly altruistic principles were all extensions of Emrys’ guilt—his attempt to write redemption in the annals of history.
He hid his true identity for decades. It was not until his death within the Promythean—the conjured inter-planar ziggurat of Prometheus—that the truth was unveiled to Kairus the Brass and Losk the Wanderer. His consciousness, preserved through the Emr1s construct, was exposed and dismantled by Talyen during the event now known as The Star of Dawn.
The Star of Dawn
The Star of Dawn marked the definitive turning point for the guild. In a blinding flash of radiant light during a gathering in the guild’s central arena, Talyen destroyed Emr1s, the artificial construct created by Emrys to preserve his mind beyond death. In doing so, he shattered the veil of lies that had cloaked the guild since its inception.
With the false idol shattered and the truth laid bare, Talyen released Kairus and Losk from the Dawn Device, exposing the hidden legacy of Malekith’s manipulations and the guild’s complicity. These revelations shook the institution to its foundations.
But Talyen did not abandon it—he reformed it. With the blessing of the newly established Senate of the Sun, he appointed Professor Endsworth as the new Headmaster, charged with restoring the guild's integrity and ensuring its mission would never again be twisted by secrets or silent shame.
Structure & Schools
The Emris Adventuring Guild is structured around three distinct schools, each designed to reflect the nature of its adventurers and hone their skills accordingly:
- School of the Phoenix – For warriors who fight with valor and resolve, even in the face of certain death.
- School of the Owll – For scholars, mages, and clerics who seek wisdom and understanding above all else.
- School of the Snake – For rogues, survivalists, and cunning individuals who have learn to manipulate the world around them to achieve their goals.
Each school has its own dormitories, ritual chambers, and training facilities, though all are unified beneath the greater halls of the guild complex. To become a fully fledged adventurer, one must first complete the Trials of the Sun and then attend the selection ceremony which will determine what school they are placed into (depending on their performance during the trials, as observed by the acting headmaster).
Renewal & Reformation
Since its reformation, the Emris Guild has become an essential pillar of Serrakhanian stability and progress. It now works closely with:
- The Sand Scribes of the Solace Atheneum – Providing arcane and historical research partnerships to recover lost truths from across the elemental realms.
- The Serrakhanian Survey Corps – An elite wing of the Sunsteel Legion led by Talyen, which integrates guild members into formal charting expeditions across Osira and the realms beyond.
This trifecta—Guild, Scribes, and Surveyors—now works in concert to not only protect the people of the realm, but to uplift them and uncover the history which was once lost to their forefathers.
Legacy
Though born from guilt, the Emris Adventuring Guild now stands in the light of truth. Its halls echo with the voices of those who choose to seek what lies beyond the edge of the known world, and its walls bear the scars of battles fought not only for survival, but for the sake of the realm itself.
From the frozen wastes of Norska to the sun-scorched sands of Serrakhan, The Sunsations, and all who wear the mark of the Emris Guild carry one truth with them:
"No mountain stands too high, no desert stretches too wide, no sea runs too deep for those whose indomitable will burns with the flame of their forefathers."
The guilds symbol – a phoenix rising from ashes towards a radiant sun – reflects this profound truth.