Providing Information

There are two quite specific ways in which a thief will be expected to supply his seniors within the guild with information. First, information concerning his own plans; second, general information possibly of value to guild members.

A thief will be expected to keep the guild informed about important ventures he has planned. This does not include dungeon-bashing, wilderness adventures, and the like! Rather, robberies and break-ins which may net particularly good rewards or strike at "sensitive" targets (such as a temple, or the warehouse of a notable merchant), particularly nefarious crimes such as kidnapping, and major scams are examples of crimes which a thief will always be expected to notify the guild seniors or guildmaster of. Many guilds will insist that such major crimes can only be committed with the guildmaster's permission. This is especially likely to be true with a strong guild, and in a lawful or repressive society where such actions may stir up a hornet's nest of trouble for the guild.

Feeding back general information to the guild will also keep a thief in good standing with his fellows. A thief casing a joint for a later break-in might see an unusual number of guards around in the courtyard of an adjacent building as some crates are being taken inside from a wagon, and one crate splits slightly at the top revealing the glint of gold or ivory in the bright sun . . . The thief knows that he cannot organize a robbery over there as well as in the place he's casing already, so he reports the pleasant view to the guild. Doing so will certainly keep the thief in good favor. The thief will be expected to provide such information should he come across it, but the guildmaster might well reward particularly helpful guild members, mark them for promotion, give them a sinecure role in some other guild job, pay a small percentage of the guild take to the helpful informant, and the like.

Snitches: These can be of special importance to a thieves' guild. Basically, a snitch is someone paid to provide "inside information." A snitch can be a corrupt officer of the law, a valet or servant of a rich man (or at a club of some kind), a nightwatchman, and so on.

A few guilds might insist that only the very senior guild members can have their own snitches; juniors must turn over promising contacts who could be developed into snitches to the guild. More likely, though, is that individual members can have their own snitches who are regarded as sacrosanct by other guild members. A guildsman does not tamper with another thief's pet snitch! This is obviously going to be easiest if the identities of the snitches are actually commonly known within the guild—how can you not poach a snitch if you don't know who is one, after all? But, because some thieves may be very nervous about this, the identity of certain really important snitches may be kept secret. The guild will protect them by warning thieves away from the key snitches indirectly (e.g., with an edict that no one is to try to "make friends" with the staff of such-and-such an establishment). This does not make the identity of the snitch known, but serves to warn other thieves away.

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