Envoy society
Envoys are a guild of messengers, diplomats, translators, mediators, and traders common in all Omban successor states and Ashnabis. The envoy (Ombesh nambi 'carrier') is central to medium and long-distance communication throughout the former Empire.
There is no evidence for envoys as a formal profession during the Omban monarchy; however, by the early Imperial period, the role of nambi had become increasingly formalized under a loose guild structure. The massive expansion of Omban societies in the decade or two prior to the Omban Empire's formal establishment brought about massive new needs for exchange and communication across long distances. Eventually, several classes of important Imperial bureaucrats were restricted to the envoys, most notably the messaging system that spanned the entire Empire and the heralds who kept track of noble lineages and their affairs. Envoys, both those employed directly by the Empire as well as others, enjoyed special Imperial protection from harassment and violence, and to interfere with their business was a serious criminal offense.
After the Imperial period, the duties of Imperial envoys fell to the individual states. While no longer quite the protected class they once were, they still enjoy wide latitude and protection in most civilized areas. Today, envoys are employed for a variety of functions by governments, by individual wealthy lineages, trading concerns, and temples. Each individual envoy is free to accept or decline employment or any contract, so long as they otherwise obey guild rules, which can be numerous and convoluted, but are meant to protect clients from extortion, manipulation, or deception. Because magic is often usable for transmitting simple messages or small documents, the role of the envoy is rarely simply information-carriers; rather, envoys are trusted with complex negotiations or with sensitive documents, and their training in near-perfect recall allowed them to be confident in the information they conveyed. Envoys are quick to dismiss the idea of a fixed or standard rate for their services, which must be negotiated in each instance.
Each region, province, or community may have a kelta, a guild hall, which can range from a room in a tavern to a massive multi-storey structure. Every kelta has an area that is public - where clients and others can enter, and an area that is private, where only envoys may enter. A kelta is place where anyone can find an envoy, train as an envoy, conduct business with an envoy, register a complaint, (temporarily) store goods to be collected by an envoy, and related tasks. Keltas regularly share information with one another, particularly ensuring that new envoys are recognized and any disciplinary decisions are conveyed, as well as keeping a networked blacklist of clients who may not be employed. Keltas are where apprentice envoys find masters who take them on for a four-year period of service before they are deemed ready for independent work.
Each kelta has a leader known as a nambikhosi, and is an individual of any gender, usually older and experienced, who takes responsibility for mediation and discipline of the envoys of the group. The nambikhosi is normally elected by members of the kelta and can be replaced by a majority vote. There are some craft lineages of envoys, and nambikhosir tend to be drawn from these old, prestigious common lineages rather than directly from the nobility.
From time to time a kelta, or a group of keltas, may call a nambimoshe, a conclave or moot in which envoys come from far afield to discuss some key matter of importance. In times of war, disease, or political change, the role of the nambimoshe is to set expectations and norms for the envoys and to ensure that rapid social change does not lead the guild to falter in its standards or expectations. It is also an opportunity for exchanges of information, social meetings, and merriment.
