Cross Rogue

The Cross Rogue Guild (クロス・ローグ, Kurosu Rōgu) is a recently founded dark guild that serves as a safe haven for most dark wizards in Earth Land from the prying eyes of the magic community, serving as the foundation in which individual growth by any means is emphasized among it's members. A guild founded with the philosophy that power and strength are the fundamental values that govern the natural world and all that reside inside; that the strong devour the weak, with every member acknowledging the "kill or be killed" mentality to be the very best regardless of consequence or hesitation to do so. Cross Rogue's ideals sponsor the firm belief of survival of the fittest, encouraging the personal development of wizards in an environment suitable for them to nurture their abilities without the Magic Council being able to hinder their growth, creating an ideology centered around independence and freedom from limitations based on the idea that an individual only deserves what they are strong enough to take.

Location
Mainly hidden in the farthest reaches of Fiore, near the badlands where very few venture, Hell's Valley is avast bleak wasteland that leaks unknown poisonous gas across the surface of the rocky area that encompasses the entirety of the terrain. With the amount of lethal gas spewing daily, the valley’s atmosphere takes on a sickly-purple hue, a result of the constant of volume floating upward, causing a miasma to swallow the the vicinity. With such a hazardous environment, the valley is completely devoid of of all type of living organisms, including plants life, animals, water, or fresh air. The landscape mostly consists of various large rocky formations with several massive hills and summits riddling the surrounding vicinity, giving it a maze-like design that obscures one’s forward vision. Around it are several large mountains that eclipse the valley from sight, making it an ideal place to keep prying eyes away from observing what is going on on the ground level due to the purple clouds of poison hanging above it. The most prominent feature is without a doubt the large quantity of holes and open vents scattered across the valley floor and slabs of stone sticking up from the bedrock, taking on the appearance of upright incense sticks releasing toxic smoke into the air. According to a multitude of wizards, Hell's Valley was originally the center of an old extinct civilization where people used to worship flowers and plants, until the climate change destroyed everything, triggering the land to poison itself by releasing the accumulation of underground poison steadily leaking out through the ground’s pores. With it’s history laying over the foundation, several ancient structures and ruins still remain in the form of decaying houses and castle-like buildings riddling the land, embedding themselves along the mountain side.

Ever since came under new management by Cross Rogue’s guild master, large portion of the venomous gas floating above the valley has been redirected toward other areas, now serving as a defensive measure against intruders rather than an environmental hazard for the guild residents. In terms of access, a large, single gate serves as the only entry point to the guild’s inner sanctum, creating a large earthly corridor that leads most visitors deep underground to the center of a massive chamber in which a large castle lays submerged. Consisting of a single, massive cavern chamber Standing at an astonishing 410 feet (125 m), hanging at the side of the cavern entrance, the castle is fashioned out of the bedrock that makes up the underground caverns, making them incredibly durable from both physical and magical attacks, making it an excellent location for housing a household full of dark wizards. Created with an architectural gothic style of castle building, Cross Rogue’s guild building was constructed to resemble several types of churches and cathedrals, while still retaining a sense of nobility. Engraved with a number of towers and windows along the walls and back, with a large watchtower standing on top of it wall, making the entire building a fortress. Along the east side of the building lies a large balcony that connects to the building’s mess hall, giving the residence a place to unwind by bringing some life to the castle’s depths. Aside from the building itself, a vast array of buildings remain that originally belonged to the ancient civilization that used to inhabit the land, loitering above and underground in the form of small structures and corroding buildings.

Its characteristics include a large the pointed arch near the entrance with three castle spires directly on top of it, held together with multiple pillars along the sides that form the ribbed vault and the flying buttress. Although large on the outside, the castle has additional sub-levels buried beneath the building’s floor, with each individual floor carrying the very basic necessities needed to support a large group, such as a training ground outside the building and an infirmary around back—since it functions as a basic hideout for most most of the guild’s members, which are comprised of wanted criminals or wizards with ill intentions, the building serves as a hospitable home for the majority of its members, providing housing and space for them to live in. Additionally, along with living quarters for each member, a large dungeon resides at the very deepest section of the guild’s basement, primarily used to discipline by functioning as a type of brig for the more “troublesome” members that break the rules and a prison for intruders/enemies that Cross Rogue captures. With so many sub levels and locations distributed along the vast structure of the guild home, the guild master's chamber is located at the very base of the castle in the deepest chamber even beyond the prison dungeon, with very few members being allowed entrance to this room. Aside from living quarters, the castle includes some leisurely accommodations, such as large library, a banquet hall, with the addition of a fully functioning bar.

Job Occupation
Functioning in many respects to any legal guild in Earth Land, Cross Rogue’s main set of income comes from accepting a wide arrange of jobs and request from all manner of employers. However, the only noticeable difference between what Cross Rogue does in comparison to other guilds is the fact that it deals with criminal-based activities that more often than not help aid other criminal enterprises or increase the guild’s level of infamy in the region, increasing the clientele they have available. For the most part, most of the members deal in jobs that involve them using the magic and skills they bring to the table to murder and kill others by accepting contracts, targeting prolific targets or people of interest that go against the interest of the contractors. From time to time, the guild does have its members pick out jobs that serve more philanthropic jobs rather than have them dirty their hands with gruesome work, such as transporting good, safeguarding key individuals, or transporting certain goods that would otherwise be illegal to deal with. It should be noted that the guild members have the freedom to choose whatever they want to do when it comes to these jobs, with certain ranks being set to match the difficulty of the mission, which can range from simple beatings to high-stake robberies from people of influence. When it comes to the success and failure ratio that the guild has with past jobs, Cross Rogue has a genuinely respectable number of accomplished jobs that separate it from most other dark guilds in the area, as well as the diversity that each member brings when joining. Naturally, hiring wizards for murder has been banned by the Magic Council, and is mostly frowned upon by the rest of society, especially by the magic community.

Regardless of the circumstances, the guild follows its own credo by going against their rules by taking on much more dark-oriented jobs by apply their magic without the need to hold themselves back, always improving themselves with every mission completed. To put in a request is no easy thing to do, as the very act of issuing a request of this very nature would result in the individual being arrested and trialed for trying to submit a job, as such, people tend to contact an agent that work for them, hence the the source of job requests. Jobs are normally issued in from other criminals, dark guilds, or civilians looking to eliminate specific individuals; the range and location a target is located in is of no issue. Provide mercenary services at well under the competitive rate, using the money gathered in the first step to offset costs. When a job is taken, one should take into consideration that these types of jobs have a stricter time to be accomplished, that often have specific conditions in which they have to be accomplished with, making them more difficult to handle. Like any guild, the difficulty in which the jobs are offered rank between D-Rank to SS-Rank, providing menial tasks such as burglary and protection to much more complex objectives that base themselves in assassination or intel gathering.

Organization
Although categorized as a Dark Guild, the Cross Rogue guild is much more organized and disciplined than most other similar establishments, following a strict hierarchy of command that has the guildmaster run the show by possessing the very highest authority above all other members. With the inclusion of S-Class level Mages, a Deputy Commander, or second-in-command of the guild, is the second highest member of the guild, being a position of power equivalent to any Guild Ace. Even though the entire guild is comprised of dangerous wizards, the group itself follows a democratic style of organization, in which majority rule always decides the best coarse of action without any of them complaining on the results later on. For the majority of the time, each member is often tasked with all manner of tasks that help raise funds for the guild for future endeavors, commonly in the form of events or projects, accomplished by taking on job requests or keeping their activities out in the open, occupying any prying eyes away from the guild. This is only further reinforced by the rather dangerous mind-set that the guild follows: personal freedom. As a guild first, it serves as a place in which wizards can grow and improve their skills without any type of restrictions being placed on them, thus giving them free range to do whatever they want.

In normal instances, this normally takes on in the form of each member being given the liberty to pursue their own goals without anyone telling them otherwise, resulting in most of them either assaulting others or concocting their own plans. When order does come down from the chain of command, most members are required to be present whenever a large announcement or order is given from the guild master. But as a rule of thumb, so long as none of them break any rules in the guild, they are encouraged to use whatever means they deem necessary to expand the guild’s influence or strengthen their own abilities, receiving full support from the guild's vast resources. When it comes down to the members of the guild, foundation of the guild is held together by a band of wizards that are no less consisting of troublemakers and loose cannons that more often than not fly off the handle the first chance they get, which makes the guild as a whole a rather unruly bunch. But it can also be said that this behavior is also the guild’s greatest strength—by placing so many like-minded individuals together, it bolsters the number of allies they have, as well as the means to compete with one another.

S-Class Promotional Trials
Held twice a year in the Cross Rogue guild, the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial (Ｓ級魔導士昇格試験, S Kyū Madōshi Shōkaku Shiken), also known as the S-Class Wizard Promotion Trial, is an annual guild tradition celebrated by nearly all guilds in Earth Land, ranging from both Legal and Dark Guilds alike with the task of testing the members for the chance to ascend to the next rank of mage, which is the status of S-Class. Serving as the opportunity to highlight the very best in the guild, the very ceremony selects the guild’s most powerful wizards that have the demonstrated the utmost growth and contribution in the guild, recognizing this by giving a small number of its members a chance to compete for the title of S-Class through a series of trials befit for those who would inherit such an important mantle. As a status of such high honor worthy of those with an exceptional skill with magic and competitive prowess, the trials that are used to test these wizards are no less constructed to test their abilities and skills in all manner of fields. Being a Dark Guild, this is heavily taken even further by how daunting and dangerous the challenges can become, intensifying the stakes for each contender.

Trivia

 * Originally conceived as a Legal Guild. After some persuasion from some friends, he was convinced to make it into a Dark Guild.