"Want to make a deal? I've got what you need. Just don't put it in writing.
—A Thief.
Asherah has long been rife with organized crime. While most would-be adventurers aspire to join one of Ascelia's guilds, some cannot countenance the thought of working for the Goddess Tower. As it so happens, the same sorts of men and women have even less taste for the discipline of the Arxian military. For many centuries, the labyrinthine hierarchy of Thieves has given such people outlets for action.
This phenomenon has not really changed. What has is the organization of these so-called "Darker Guilds." Some time ago, a mysterious individual called simply "Cutter" began taking over one individual guild after another through bribery, assassination, and extortion. In time there was not a single Thieves' Guild remaining that was not owned by Cutter. All pretense of being an alternative to the Tower's guilds in name was dropped, and the sprawling organization became known simply as "Nightscape."
Virtually all criminal activity in both Ascelia and Arx now falls under the Nightscape umbrella. Yet there has been no aggressive effort to destroy the organization: it's known that Cutter aids the Goddess Tower and Arx's generals alike when it comes to major threats. For Nightscape, it's likely a simple matter of needing civilization to survive if they are to continue doing business. For the powers that be, better the devil you know…
Streetwise 30: No one who's still alive has ever seen the Cutter. He communicates to various sub-bosses and assassin masters only through writing. This has led some to speculate that the Cutter no longer exists, if he ever did, and that Nightscape is really managed by the group of high-ranking thieves who supposedly receive missives from the organization's founder. After all, it defies belief that no one in a huge criminal syndicate with the world's best spies and sneaks would have caught a glimpse of the boss himself in so long.
