The Monitors Guild, sometimes called the Seven Families after its shadowy mobster-like administration, are one of the Guilds in the Underworld of Wraith: The Oblivion. They are the masters of the Lifeweb Arcanos. As with several other guilds, the Monitors never had a sourcebook, so what information is available is somewhat unclear.
Monitors, considered unimportant compared to other Guilds, such as the Pardoners or Artificers, decided to focus their Guild on the emerging population of wraiths. Many became Reapers and enslaved many of the new Lemures. This practice was strongly frowned upon, and while now officially discontinued, is probably occurring in the underground.
The Monitors are almost uniformly despised for the abuse of their power. Lifeweb, the Arcanos concerned with the connection and severing of Fetters, is one of the most powerful and important Arcanoi available, and is arguably second only to Castigate in its importance. The Monitors use this Arcanos as a bargaining chip – they blackmail by threatening to remove fetters, they bribe by promising to strengthen connections to fetters. In addition, they are extremely selective of Guild members; only those who they consider highly trustworthy are even allowed to begin learning Lifeweb.
Because of this practice, the Monitors are almost universally despised, especially by the Spooks Guild, who are usually hired to protect said Fetters. They operate on a severe quid-pro-quo basis, and if they feel double-crossed they will destroy the target of their ire, even if it is the Emerald Lord.
Their presentation in the 20th Anniversary Edition tweaks things somewhat, having the Guild originally focus on Stygian nobility first, its members pursuing power – both their own and the Guild's – by whatever means they could, and having the Breaking of the Guilds leave the Monitors with very little organization, resulting in them generally organizing around shared agendas: Marmarans continue the Guild's dubious history of political meddling, Mentors try to find and Reap new wraiths and help them adjust to the Shadowlands, for both positive and negative reasons, Spinners offer Lifeweb services and (rarely) instruction for hire, and Tsuchigumo use Lifeweb for petty crime, running protection rackets or connecting victims to fetters which are about to be destroyed.
References[]
- WTO: Wraith: The Oblivion Second Edition, p. 148
- WTO/cMET: Oblivion, p. 118
- WTGW: Wraith: The Great War
- WTO20: Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition, p. 185-186
| Wraith: The Oblivion Guilds | |
|---|---|
| Alchemists · Artificers · Chanteurs · Harbingers · Haunters · Masquers · Mnemoi · Monitors · Oracles · Pardoners · Proctors · Puppeteers · Sandmen · Solicitors · Spooks · Usurers | |