The Historical Society of Kinos
Discovering, exploring and ultimately exploiting the past is an incredibly lucrative business on Ere and no organization is more diligent and efficient in this pursuit than the Historical Society of Kinos. Since its founding as an adventurer’s guild (then called the Novrom Adventuring and Excavation Company) during the Western Wars and its restructuring as a historical preservation centered group after the Ashing of the Green, the Historical Society has grown into a continent spanning force that has dealings in multinational politics.

Originally, the society was founded as a group of opportunistic adventuring companies specializing in scavenging towns and fortresses abandoned during the Western Wars. By sharing information and pooling resources, the Novrom Adventuring and Excavation Company was able to send specialized troupes to deal with each location’s unique defenses and dangers. Over decades and centuries, the organization expanded to exploring lost Elfholmes from the Hailene War of Ascension and sojourning into Taunuanese desert.

By the 4th millennium, the Company had branches all across the continent; controlling inns, warehouses and other key resources. However, political pressures began to turn on the Company. National governments grew more and more ambivalent about a Novromi entity not only owning many businesses within their borders, but exploiting the resources of lost and abandoned sites as well.

In order to escape the political ire of their neighbors, the Company restructured itself as a historical society. In this capacity, the Society was able to continue the activities that made it so powerful by essentially cutting the nations that controlled such sites in on the bounty they uncovered.

Today, the Historical Society of Kinos controls some forty percent of the recognized adventuring troupes (called troubleshooters by the Society) on the continent. The society receives fees from other parties to select adventurers based on the needs of their client. Adventurers receive job offers through the society by registering with them as freelance troubleshooters.

The adventure for hire trade only serves as a means of funding Society led expeditions with aims to uncover lost relics of the past to either reverse engineer or sell at private auction. These expeditions are inherently dangerous and often not sanctioned by the governments controlling the target sites. Because of this, the Society uses non-affiliated adventurers as expendable forward scouts with promises of fantastic loot and exotic locales.

By necessity, the Society also bankrolls colleges of history and archeology in most major cities on the mainland and in recent years on Illium. These schools also offer business and leadership courses from which the best students are groomed for positions within the Society’s controlling body.

In politics, the Society traffics in favors for national and local leaders; providing free items, services and personnel in exchange for political capitol. The Society has heavy influences in All nations except Genmide and Chordin and continually seeks political footholds in those states.

Plot Hooks
The Historical Society can play a part in almost any style of game. They make a handy quest giving body for hack and slash adventures, serve as employers for adventurers of all stripes and are a catalyst for starting epic adventures. On the other hand, the society’s troubleshooters can make excellent rivals for more roleplaying oriented groups and the less than moral nature even makes them candidates for antagonists.

Most games won’t deal with the society as a whole, but rather the local branch or an assigned team, meaning that the society can take multiple roles even within a given campaign.