Silvercord

The Silvercord is a mysterious organization that employs mercenaries to assist the inhabitants of Ander with their troubles.

Founding
The Silvercord was founded centuries ago, around the years 200-300, by a legendary Anderian bard. According to mostly oral history, this bard, known only as the Atahar, started appearing in small villages and helping the locals, easing their worries over missing children, hungry monsters, and even droughts and failing crops. Whenever the Atahar went, he left behind a piece of a silver cord, telling the locals to build an altar and offer the cord to it, so that he can listen to their woes wherever he was.

The Atahar's fame grew, and he visited ever grander cities, saving royalty from assassins, killing beasts that shadowed over whole regions, and always leaving behind a cord and his direction to build a altar. His great temple in Lisvarna was built in 191, after he defeated the dragon Omantiir and relieved the dwarven queen Aghastra the First of its threat. After peppering the landscape with his altars and fame, the Atahar disappeared.

When the cord was offered to each altar, a piece of parchment allegedly appeared, instructing any mercenaries that want to help their homeland to kneel before a shrine and receive a quest. The altars were subsequently named Threads, but the origin of that name is lost.

Operation
To receive an assignment, one must kneel before a Thread and wait. A piece of parchment tied with a silver cord will appear. The parchment details the assignment, while the cord is customarily tied around the upper arm to show the bearer's allegiance to the Silvercord. Upon completion, both the cord and the parchment are returned, and the mercenary's reward takes their place.

While none are denied an assignment from the Silvercord at first, one can lose favor by not finishing a mission or using the cord they carry to take advantage of peoples' hospitality and aid. Those that kneel before a Thread and receive nothing are the ones that directly harmed Silvercord or its reputation.

Reception
The head of the Silvercord, and any associates that may exist, are unknown. The only way the secretive organisation communicates, even centuries after its founding, is with the Threads. This is why some harbor reservations against the whole operation, and it is not unheard of for Threads to be vandalized or bearers of the cord attacked. Even so, the general populace helps the bearers, as they know that their assignment will benefit the land and its inhabitants.