In Wraith: The Oblivion, the Proctors are one of the Guilds. The Proctors are considered a criminal Guild, since their Arcanos, Embody, violates the Dictum Mortuum by allowing a wraith to cross the Shroud. Relatively little canonical information is available on the Proctors, as no sourcebook was ever published for the Guild.
Of the criminal Guilds, the Proctors are the one that has the tightest relationship with the Hierarchy. Unlike the Puppeteer or Haunter Guilds, they have no known exterior agenda about crossing the Shroud – they want to experience life again, and are generally self-absorbed and fairly pacifistic about this. Consequently, the Proctors are largely tolerated by the Hierarchy; if a Legion needs a shroud-crossing job (and they do more often than they care to admit), the Proctors are the natural choice.
History[]
Early Proctors[]
Embody and the wraiths who would found the Proctors’ Guild arose together in Shroud’s earliest days. As the dead encountered growing difficulty with passage to the lands of the living, several groups approached the problem from different directions. The Proctors’ forerunners learned to subvert the Shroud through sensation, first extending their senses across the Shroud, then manifesting their own forms.
Embody is a difficult Arcanos to master, relying as it does on maintaining intense focus in the most chaotic surroundings. Many wraiths preferred commissioning Embodied intercessors to learning the arts themselves, particularly for a task among the Quick that needed to be done immediately. Early Proctors saw this as a service model and seized the opportunity to establish a monopoly on Embody. While the Artificers have deeper history, the Proctors were the first Guild to take on the trappings of mortal trade associations and organize as a body of monopolistic service providers.
Since its inception, the guild has struggled with the fundamental question of how best to use Embody. Business-minded Proctors argue for the traditional model of Skinlands services for hire, while idealists see a higher calling than pure commercialism. A strong minority of Proctors reject both service-oriented perspectives, studying Embody simply to feel fleshly pleasures again. Few Proctors are neutral. Once experienced, Embody itself is a polarizing force, and the drive to feel its sensations again engenders myriad justifications for continued use.
Persecution and War of the Guilds[]
Unsurprisingly, Stygian authorities saw Proctors as walking violations of Charon’s will. Unmonitored use of Embody was prohibited, though local authorities’ interpretation of acceptable practices varied widely. In more hardline Necropoli, the empire tried to establish a monopoly on the Arcanos, effectively subsuming the local Proctors into the Legions. Ironically, enforcing these policies fell to Legionnaires who also required proficiency in Embody to pursue offenders across the Shroud. Many of these wraiths developed Guild sympathies through their own Skinlands experiences, becoming de facto Proctors themselves.
After centuries of insult and repression, the Proctors were at the forefront of the War of the Guilds, striking viciously at their opponents’ Fetters and mortal resources. Stygian retribution was harsh; few senior Proctors escaped the forges.
Recent History[]
In the following centuries, the guild became less centralized, adopting a resistance cell-like structure coordinated through mortal contacts, Skinlands dead drops, and other methods difficult to trace or interdict without Embody. As Stygian fervor has lessened in recent years, today’s Proctors have become slightly more open, but they still maintain a healthy distrust of anyone in a position of power who appears a little too understanding.
During the Great War, the Proctors explicitly sided with the Loyalist faction against the New Stygians and the Grim Legion. Their role in Grim affairs was taken up by the Puppeteers for the duration.
Organisation[]
The Guild’s primary trade has always been in services performed across the Shroud. Simple manifestation is enough for a wraith to serve as another’s hands and voice. The Proctors distinguish themselves from lesser parties through their ability to provide specialists. The surest path to advancement within the Guild is to be able to apply a high-demand skill set to Skinlands objectives — whether that’s political manipulation, archaeological retrieval, or even removal of troublesome mortals.
Factions[]
Within the guild, Proctors tend to associate with similarly-skilled wraiths. The most notable such groups are:
- Agents: Wraiths who meddle in mortal politics and business.
- Secretaries: The "Keepers of secrets” who provide the Guild’s intelligence tradecraft and sometimes can be convinced to use it on others’ behalf.
- Boojums: Boojums are often short-lived wraiths make a trade of turning the tables on ghost hunters.
- Tasters: Proctors who join the Guild simply for personal gratification are known as Tasters, which is either a mild insult or a badge of honor, depending on one’s bent.
- Factors: Factors coordinate the Guild’s commercial endeavors as well as its quietly maintained Hierarchy relationships, and provide most of the structure for the Proctors’ overall organization.
Version Differences[]
According to Wraith: The Great War, the Guild was organized into a number of local Proctors' Societies across Stygian territory, which took care of such things as contact with the local Hierarchy. Should the need arise, delegates from the Societies met in the Proctors' Congress in Stygia, which decided on matters that affected the Guild as a whole.
In 20th Anniversary Edition, Guild structure is provided by the Factors, who coordinate both the Proctors' commercial endeavors and their quiet relationships within the Hierarchy. Groups within the Guild include Agents, who involve themselves with mortal business and politics, Boojums, rare and often short-lived, who attempt to bust mortal ghost hunters, Secretaries (in the sense of "keepers of secrets"), who handle the Guild's espionage operations, and Tasters, who join simply for personal gratification.
References[]
- WTO: Wraith: The Oblivion Second Edition
- WTO/cMET: Oblivion, p. 105
- WTGW: Wraith: The Great War Rulebook, p. 62
- WTO20: Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition, p. 159
Wraith: The Oblivion Guilds | |
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Alchemists · Artificers · Chanteurs · Harbingers · Haunters · Masquers · Mnemoi · Monitors · Oracles · Pardoners · Proctors · Puppeteers · Sandmen · Solicitors · Spooks · Usurers |