The Packmasters

The Packmasters are a unique three way blend of guild, charity and religious organization. They have no real spot directly within the hierarchy of Boran the Bloodhound's faith, but similiar to their sister organization the Harvest Mothers, originally founded through and by the church of Talia, they are funded by the religious organization of the Bloodhound's faith.

The Packmasters operate as a sort of centralized authority of sorts on Hunting and Trapping for rural communities in Raechin. Techincally it is anywhere in Raechin as they more or less are the reason Hunters and Trappers can form guilds, however in larger cities it is common for no guild to exist any further, due to the nature of urbanization. In more rural areas, villages, towns and their ilk, you cannot visit any such settlement in Raechin without coming upon a Lodge of the Guild, run by a Packmaster.

Each Packmaster answers only to the authority of Boran's own faithful, in regards to running the guild. On the guild side of things, their role is to basically allow those whom wish to make a living hunting and trapping to do so, providing them the power of a unified front when it comes to how they price pelts, meat, and other resources harvested from their catches.

Packmasters are often retired Huntmasters, former Templars of Boran's Order of Steel, though sometimes they can be former members of the cloth as well. It is this tradition that allows them the natural sort of unstructured nature of this branching organization attached to the church of the hunt, it allows them the trust

Though the Packmasters run their guilds for the reasons any guild exists, to allow its members to leverage together, collectively, to better influence and garner fair pay for their goods and services, that is a secondary mission to this organization's reason for existence and its creation. No instead their most important goals and purpose are that of an enforced charity of sorts.

You see unlike most guilds, Hunter and Trapper guilds across Raechin do not have guild dues or fees that they garnish from the coin earned by their members in return for the services their Lodges offer (shelter, connections to local vendors for discounts, room and board if needed for weather and more). All those are funded by The Huntmaster's Faithful

No instead what they demand is what they call "The Pack's Take." This concept is a rather simple one to explain. The idea is that hunters and trappers in rural communities are part of a pack. However in times of great need before the formation of the Packmasters, there were often times where people with those skills would seek to take advantage, greedily so, causing great harm. So with permission from the government of Raechin the church has stepped in and set up this system and control over the hunting and trapping industry, and setting up this principle. The Pack's Take. The idea is instead of paying Guild Dues out of your earnings, since the church funds the guild, not its members, you instead must offer up fifteen percent of every bounty you take. This fifteen percent is not any way you wish, its fifteen percent of the meat, fifteen percent of the bones and fifteen percent of the pelt, in theory. In practice of course this is impractical, thus members of the guild where possible will simply utilize facilities at the their local lodge to skin and partition their catches, allowing the Packmaster and their chosen pup(s) to work over the catch with them, and figure out a reasonable way to more or less meet the Take.

The 'pup(s)' referenced are often either orphans the Packmaster adopts, though sometimes it might be their own children, and begins to teach the craft, principles and history of the organization. Usually this education is tied to potentially opening the doors to the church for them should they wish, though the position of Packmaster is not heriditary and cannot be inherited, it must be earned. Usually a Packmaster will have no more than two 'pup(s)' working beside and under them, though in rare cases some might take on more, either because they have more actual kids. It is rare for a Packmaster to adopt more than one or two orphans, but not unheard of, they aren't in the habit of turning away any in need if it can be helped.

This tithe, this taking, is not and does not go to the Guild's pantry. Boran's church provides the finances, and anything the Guild provides is paid for via that funding. No these pelts, this meat and these bones will be utilized to make clothing, blankets and more for those in need, as well as go into meals used similarly. Some of the meat might be stored, salted and preserved for harder winters but still with the same purpose, to be spread out to any and all at times of need. The ideology here is simple. When one makes a kill the whole pack needs to feed. Boran's holy animal, the totem of his faith is the wolf after all, thus it should be no surprise the ideological model and belief that has seen this organization come to exist.

The history of the Packmasters, unlike far to many so called charitable organizations one might dig into across Valerick, is remarkably free of corruption, horror stories or scandal, for the most part. A few small poaching allegations from some uppity lord types in their early days before Raechin abolished private hunting lands tied to so called nobility in the 1402 legislative decisions. Now owning tracts of land for merely private hunting is illegal and impossible, and all such lands were repossessed in that legislative decisions, their former owners paid reasonably, though not so called market price, for it. This decision of course was heavily pushed for and rallied for by the Packmasters and the Bloodhound's church.

In Recent years, after the Ice Tyrant Winter of 1426, a winter that lasted two months longer than any on record, with temperatures so cold the soil wasn't able to be tilled until almost nine weeks later than when planting would normally begin for the various crops that can grow on the continent of Durol. This was then followed by a short summer and a cool autumn and an early arrival of the next winter. In that brutal year, well it saw the detractors of this organization, and by virtue of it, due to aid from Depenwood, the Harvest Mothers as well, all but disappear. The number of lives they saved, the number of deaths prevented, is uncountable. The number of people saved from the horrifying effects of starvation, even if they might have survived, also uncountable. Even with that, it was tough for everyone and some did still perish. However by and large most endured. No villages became ghost towns. No stories of hamlets or villages so desperate to turn to dark things like consuming pets or cannibalism. Merely stories of weakened folks coming down with cold driven illnesses and being a bit to weak to fight them off. Death from exposure to the bitter cold was more common than any sort of food depravation related causes. Thus the pack endured, and losses were minimal. Such was and is the power of community.

So now, though initially some saw them as a forced authority and even an unjust organization, an overreach by both church and government, by and large most now see the Packmasters as as a net benefit to society. Even more so, in individual villages and towns, they see their local Packmaster and Hunting and Trapping Guild as a local net good, a huge benefit for their community and are pleased to have them.