The Court of Shadows

The Court of Shadows is organized by criminal specialty and divided into 4 Minor Courts -

• Clubs, who are hired muscle, leg breakers, bandits, robbers, and common thugs.
• Hearts, who work as con artists, tricksters, forgers, prostitutes, hustlers and gambling cheats.
• Coins, who are traditional thieves of various types, from common pickpockets to cat burglars.
• Cups, who work as beggars of all types.

Every Minor Court has a leader, known as a King or Queen of their Court.  This leader has all members of their portion of the guild under their control, allotting turf each criminal may act upon, resolving disputes between members, and setting rules and prohibitions on their members. The leader takes a piece of every crime enacted under their specialties, typically one fifth of the value of anything illegally gained. This is commonly called the Thief's Tithe or the Thief's Fifth. The leader dresses ceremonially as royalty, displaying the symbols of their particular Court - for example, the female leader of the beggars would be termed the Queen of Cups, and would wear a crown and long robes displaying the image of cups.   Every Minor Court also has a Beadle, who is in charge of recruitment and intelligence. Each Beadle has a number of contacts, gossips, informants and spies that report to them, both on likely recruits (such as up and coming youngsters in the slums or independent criminals lately come to Avencourt), but also watching the members to ensure that they are following the rules placed upon them and not holding back their tithe from the leader. The relationship between a Beadle and a leader is very important; more often than not, an ambitious Beadle has used their information and authority to undermine a leader in an attempt to rise to that position. Beadles dress ceremonially as priests and priestesses of some stature, displaying the symbols of their Court.   Finally, every Minor Court has a Knave, who acts as the leader's enforcer. Along with punishing members who break the rules, Knaves are also called upon to engage in ritual combat when two Minor Courts are in conflict. This is done only at the Court of Shadows, although it is not unheard of for either Minor Court to exercise self-help in the back alleys and streets to resolve their conflicts. Ceremonially, the Knave dresses as a knight at the royal court, again bearing the symbols of their Court upon their costume.   Above all of the Minor Courts is the actual Court of Shadows. The leadership of every Minor Court are members of the Court of Shadows, and report to the Court the activities of their members. Conflicts between Minor Courts, even as between individual members of the guild, are decided here. Discipline for breaking the great laws of the guild is meted out in this subterranean chamber.   At the top of the pecking order is the King of Shadows, the leader over all organized criminal activity in Avencourt. He leads the guild and all of its members by setting down the great laws of the guild and managing the leadership of the Minor Courts. While not always a man (there have been several Queens of Shadows in the past) the current leader is reputed to be a man. At the Court, he wears the costume of a king that resembles (and perhaps intentionally parodies) the raiment of king of Carador. The main difference is that the color of these garments is always black.   There is also a Beadle of Shadows who, similarly to their lesser counterparts, works as the spymaster for King. At Court, they wear the costume of a high priest or priestess, done in black.   The final member of the Court is the Knave of Shadows, who is the guild's sole "official" assassin. While the guild employs any number of brutal characters, particularly in the Court of Clubs, murder for hire is prohibited to any save the Knave of Shadows and can only be sanctioned by the King of Shadows himself. The Knave of Shadows wears the costume of a knight done all in black, with a mask that resembles a skull.

The Court of Shadows is a parody of the royal court in many ways.  Thieves and criminals called to attend the Court are expected to wear finery, doublets and hose for men, wimples and gowns for women.  Most will dress in purloined fashions.  The other tradition is that masks are worn at all times.  Members who are not part of the leadership are permitted half-masks or domino masks, which simply cover the eyes and forehead.  All members of the leadership wear full face masks, in part to hide their identities.  In truth, no one knows the actual identity of the current King, Beadle or Knave of Shadows.   Criminals are often given fanciful titles the denotes their specialty and the part of the city they are permitted to operate in.  For example, a cat burglar named Darius who has been permitted to burgle the homes and shops of the Chalk Gate neighborhood might be called Lord Darius Cloudwalker, Marquis of the northern Chalk Gate.

The Court of Shadows collects protection money from almost every shopkeeper in Avencourt's "Low Court" or western half of the city.  The Court maintains the Thieves Highway, a path across the rooftops of Avencourt, and patrols the sewers and maintains careful routes through them as the Shadow Paths.  Both can be used by members of the guild to move around unseen, although there are tolls to be paid.     The Court of Shadows has a headquarters that is only reached through the Shadow Paths.  Along with the main audience chamber where the full Court meets, there are changing rooms, an armory, practicing rooms, sparring rooms, and the treasury, which has a larger locked door than most banking houses.  The tale that if you can get inside the Treasury you become the next King of Shadows is entirely false, but still gets told.