AXE: The Alliance of eXploration and Expansion

AXE emerged as a premiere Guild Houses (which were used as a workaround to the governments of Bastion’s stifling bureaucracy and political infighting). The bulk of their resources and effort are focused on exploration, and they have already begun gearing up to assist strata governments with colonization efforts, and are likely to direct those efforts with an eye toward profitability.

Though similar Guild Houses existed, AXE appeared and rose to power with astonishing rapidity. Given that, the general perception of the public is that AXE had either been in the works for a long time just waiting for the barrier to fall one day, or that it was backed by private interests with deep pockets, extensive political influence, and a lack of patience for the speed at which the existing governments operated.

Update: With efforts to colonize Beyond the Lake being greatly stifled due to the chaotic and hostile nature of the region, AXE has developed an Interior Concerns Unit which is known to work (reasonably) closely with OoPS (Office of Post-action Sanitation), i.e. the "Clean It Up" crew.

Setting Notes
''AXE finds itself not only on the forefront of exploration, but at the center of many conspiracies - some being more true than others. And in this season, enemies within and without are stirring up trouble. In short, there's plenty of room for the players to shine.''

''It's recommended that all players start out working for AXE. With its many activities, a Characters as AXE Agents (or freelancers) scenario works very well for setting up any number of issues while still providing a sense of overall guidance.''

Structure of AXE
AXE’s public modus operandi is the design, oversight, and dispatch of exploratory, freelance adventure parties, with an emphasis on missions that take them outside of Bastion to Beyond the Lake. That being said, they’ve dedicated significant resources to house and train candidates and recruit judiciously with an eye for capability and loyalty. Most members of AXE occupy one of the following ranks.
 * Informant - Someone that AXE pays for info, typically concerning a mission - but there are other things that interest AXE.
 * Freelancer - Someone who respects both a healthy paycheck and values silence (unless a PC has done something to get on AXE’s bad side, it’s assumed that they’ve already passed the necessary background checks).
 * Agent - Freelancers who have proven themselves and are willing to take on contract status with AXE. Would require at least 3 to 5 ventures depending on how much the prospect put themselves out there on behalf of AXE.
 * Specialist - A Very Trusted Agent with “select” skills and/or abilities.
 * Coordinator - An Extremely Trusted individual who knows how to recruit and direct a team of assets (agents).
 * Administrator - The folks who run AXE.

AXE Guild Houses
AXE is very well funded; the amount of resources at their disposal fuels the theory that they are a pre-existing organization simply waiting for the right moment to spring to light. They are known to have three major Guild Houses as well as a dozen or more minor ones (a necessity given the size of Bastion). Here are the three major Guild Houses:

The Library on Strata 90
Not to be confused with The Great Library of Draxis, this is their administrative seat, and is rarely accessible by anyone with less than full “Agent” status. The Library was the bequeath of a very well traveled Sage/Wizard who was known to employ an extremely efficient administrative-minded Lunarian. It's rumored to house a number of Artifacts.

Upstairs on Strata 73
Home to the personnel services hub and secondary AXE library (very well appointed, but not nearly so well as The Library). The “daily chores” of AXE are performed here; most new recruits of high potential are screened and directed for assignment from here. ''Update: Recently The Garden Parlor - a quickly popular AXE employee lounge and restaurant was opened down the street from Upstairs. It has quickly become the hangout of AXE affiliates with space to rest and offices for meetings. Though two separate buildings, The Garden Parlor is officially part of Upstairs.''

Downstairs
is the Logistics division of AXE. It’s housed in Strata 2 upon one of the old Mass Exodus points used in early days to move large groups of people and stuff further up Bastion as better living areas were prepared. They have access to at least one Very Large Glyph (30’ by 30’, used for moving up to 100 humans, or a few stagecoaches complete with horses and riders) and storage facilities on this level.

Other Guild Houses
AXE has minor guild houses On perhaps a dozen strata for the purpose of housing, recruitment, and social networking (aka monitoring). A few houses serve specialized purposes however, such as training, and there is one house that is rumored to have a very talented surgeon/healer.