The Assassin's Guild, also simply referred to as the Guild, is a group composed of assassins. It's been around for a hundred or more years, and works in secret and has huge networks across different countries. Many of its members have battle prowess similar or superior to that of Gears.
Design[]
Story[]
The Assassin's Guild was founded by Slayer in 1998 to, quite frankly, give the vampire a steady supply of blood. Initially, members were chosen by Slayer himself, in order to punish those the law could not. However, Slayer met Sharon, and he began to devote less and less time to the Guild. Eventually Zato-1 joined the Guild, and Slayer fully retired. Due to the vacuum of power, the Guild devolved into a nothing but a gang of ruthless killers, its numbers growing by the day. Thanks to the Forbidden Beast Eddie (implanted in him by the Post-War Administration Bureau), Zato's power greatly increased. Within a short span of time, Zato became the new leader of the Guild.
In 2173, orphans Venom and Millia Rage were brought in. Venom was nearly killed by the Guild, as his natural aptitude for killing was hindered by his hatred of murder. However, Zato appeared and saved his life, and Venom has been devoted to Zato ever since. Though Venom was most likely a child when he was brought in and saved by Zato, it's unclear what age Millia was brought into the Guild.
However, during a mission, Millia grew sick of the way Zato used her, and abandoned Zato while they were surrounded by enemies, though he managed to escape. Millia had then fled the Assassin's Guild, and, wishing to leave that part of her life behind, cooperated with the International Police Force to catch Zato, if in exchange Millia would be acquitted of all charges of assassination and removed from all formal and informal bounty lists if they could catch the ringleader of the Guild. Indeed, they did catch Zato and put him in the dimensional prison. Zato was imprisoned for quite some time, eventually causing him to obsessively curse Millia's name.
Some time later, Millia would find herself working alongside Venom for the same purpose of tracking down what remained of Zato. At this point , he was neither alive nor fully dead. His body would be completely dead, however, as Eddie depleted Zato's life. At some point after Eddie's departure from the Guild, Slayer returned as he wanted to disband the Guild, since he believed its original purpose and has turned into something that not even he wanted. Venom took over as the leader of the Guild in Zato's memory.
In 2187, Venom was working on making the organization a more legitimate enterprise. He received a mysterious contract from the Conclave, which has a very tempting reward: the revival of Zato-1. Skeptical of the offer, he contactd Millia and has her investigate while he carried out their orders. Along with Slayer, they discover that Zato-1 was indeed alive, and that his revival was a "test" in order for the Conclave to revive Justice. Armed with this information, they intended to relay it to the High King, Ky Kiske. However, their mission was derailed by Bedman, who easily defeated Millia, Venom, and Slayer. They're dumped in Uighur, well off-course from their destination. Zato eventually managed to find Ky Kiske and relay the information himself.
The Guild took yet another turn after the defeat, allowing Venom to reflect on what it meant to "protect the organization". After fighting Millia and Slayer, they discover that he wanted to bring the Guild into the light, making all their work and hand in world affairs public. Millia decided that she should become leader as well, and Zato made arrangements with the Third King in order to allow assassins to enlist as Illyrian soldiers.
During the Gear assault on the Illyrian capitol, the assassins battled with them and the Phalanx 9, showing that they could use their power to benefit society. Venom "sacrificed" himself during his final battle with Bedman, leaving Zato to take over the new Guild.
Structure[]
How exactly the Guild works is largely unknown. It appears that members of the Guild have to wear some kind of black, hooded uniform that obscures much of the assassin's face. In later installments, this changes to a black uniform with ties and white hoods similar to executioner hoods. It's unknown how exactly recruitment or training goes in the Guild, but the Assassin's Guild sponsors orphanages and pick of the children with the most promise or fighting prowess. There is no mentioned age requirement to begin training within the Organization, though more often children are selected due to the fact they can be trained early on. You technically don’t have to be an Orphan to join.
Alternatively, they also recruit powerful warriors, for example, Slayer attempted at one point to recruit Chipp and Baiken. If one displays no talent in the fields of assassination, they will indeed be killed, as seen by the Guild nearly killing Venom. This presumably goes for people of all ages. The only known rank within the Assassin's Guild is the leader.
The Guild also tends to handle desertion and betrayal with death. In the cases of Tsuyoshi and Millia Rage, small armies of associates were deployed in order to eliminate them. However, both missions were unsuccessful (though they did later catch up and kill Tsuyoshi). As seen by Volf, if a trained assassin fails missions too many times, they are executed.[1]
Trivia[]
Notes[]
References[]
- ↑ The Butterfly and Her Gale