Life as an adventurer

Adventurers
--------------
Those who, whether by accident of birth or diligent training, possess exceptional capabilities suitable for braving with the myriad dangers that fill the world, and put them to use for that purpose.

Adventurers' guilds
----------------------
Organizations that serve as a number of useful functions for both adventurers and civilians. For adventurers, the guilds serve as a resource for finding work, equipment, allies, and temporary lodgings. For civilians, adventurers' guilds provide a stable fixture through which adventurers can be reliably reached in times of need.

Quests
---------
It has become customary to refer to the jobs undertaken by adventurers as "quests". Quests can be just about anything, but usually require use of the adventurer's unique talents. Typical quests involve escorting clients through dangerous territory, providing security for important functions, and rebuffing external threats like goblinoid incursions and monster nests. However, as a general rule, adventurers do not undertake clearly immoral or illegal quests (see Legal Status, below).

Petitions
------------
When someone has something they'd like an adventurer to do for them, they submit a quest petition to an adventurer's guild. At this time, they set out what they'd like done, and negotiate payment.

Payment
----------
Adventurers who accept the petition typically receive a reward upon completion (though sometimes a portion may be paid up front), as well as being entitled to keep any valuables they might acquire during the course of the quest. Many kingdoms and city-states budget for a fund to reimburse adventurers for quests that serve the public interest, allowing citizens without the means to hire adventurers themselves to nonetheless get timely assistance in dealing with threats.

Legal Status
---------------
Adventurers and their guilds are generally supported (albeit sometimes grudgingly) by most governing bodies. They tend to enjoy a somewhat extralegal status, but it's in their best interests to avoid doing too much to piss off the powers that be, lest they lose their support.

Thieves' Guilds
------------------
Thieves' guilds are essentially the clandestine criminal counterparts to adventurer's guilds. Their members typically possess similar skillsets (though often with a greater emphasis on stealth and subterfuge), and like adventurers' guilds they take job requests for pay. Unlike adventurers' guilds, thieves' guilds routinely engage in immoral, illegal, and otherwise shady dealings, and are nearly universally opposed by governing bodies.

Magic Items
--------------
Adventurers probably use magic items more than anyone else, partly due to necessity, and partly to access. While artificers make all manner of interesting trinkets, the techniques required to make truly powerful magic items have been lost to the ages. Thus, such items can generally only be found by delving deep into ancient ruins and the like -- a task that typically falls to adventurers. Scholars interested in such artifacts often hire adventurers to explore these lost locales in search of them; in such cases, the patron often makes a deal with the adventurers to allow them to use any artifacts found for future quests, provided they return the artifact to the patron between quests for study.

While the magic items commonly available for purchase pale in comparison to the relics of ancient civilizations, this is not to say that they are useless. Potion-making is a fairly prominent art, and adventurers are common customers at potion shops. The most common purchases are healing draughts and salves, but one can also find elixirs for the augmentation of various physical and mental capacities, and (most coveted of all) even potions producing wondrous effects such as invisibility, flight, and water breathing. While most commonly-available magic items aside from potions are generally intended for the convenience or amusement of wealthy nobles rather than adventuring purposes, adventurers are a clever bunch, and often find creative uses for such things in their own careers. Items intended specifically for adventuring generally must be commissioned directly from an artificer, which of course is a fairly expensive prospect.