The Voyageurs, “The Riverborne Brotherhood”

“Unleash the wild spirit of the North with the Voyageurs — fearless fur-trading adventurers who paddle into uncharted wilderness, barter with shadowy tribes, and battle nature’s fury for fortune and glory!”

• Name – Brotherhood of the Voyageurs
• Symbol / Emblem – A birchbark canoe beneath a rising twelve-spoked sun, encircled by a braided river reed
• Motto or Slogan – “The River Knows the Way”
• Type – Riverine trade guild
• General Alignment – Neutral; practical and commerce-focused
• Purpose / Function – Transport of furs and goods between coastal colonies and inland territories
• Founding Date / Origin – 1347, after the discovery of the Western Continent
• Founders – French merchants, military scouts, and native guides
• Beliefs & Core Values – Endurance, loyalty, discretion, and respect for the river
• Public Reputation – Trusted by merchants, feared by commoners, disliked by some clergy
• Hidden Agenda – Rumored involvement in smuggling and folklore contraband
• Leadership & Hierarchy – High Factor, Courants, Captains, Voyants
• Number of Members – 800 to 1,200
• Key Figures – Guilhem de Sorel, Yvette Manceau, Pascal Duval
• Recruitment & Membership – Open to capable individuals, often from river communities
• Initiation Rites – Completion of a seasonal haul and Ledger Fire oath
• Rules / Code of Conduct – Loyalty to crew and cargo, obey the river, keep silent about the uncanny
• Headquarters – Grand Dockhouse of Nouvelle Couronne
• Territory – Rivers and trails of New France
• Allies – Merchant houses, furrier guilds, trade partners
• Rivals – Smugglers, rival guilds, religious inquisitors
• Known Operations – Birchflow Expansion, Winter Cache Lines, Southern Tributary Initiative
• Funding – Trade contracts, portage fees, private retainers
• Affiliated Organizations – Fur syndicates, cartographer guilds
• Symbols in Use – Birchwood pendants, paddle carvings, ochre and blue banners
• Attitude Toward Outsiders – Cautiously open; respect earned by action
• Customs & Rituals – Sunrise silence, Ledger Fire oath, stone offerings
• Language / Ciphers – River-patois, trade tongues, carved glyph codes
• Notable History – Frostbound Haul (1409), Red Fork Refusal (1424)
• Human/Non-Human Members – Humans only; rumors persist of oddities

The Brotherhood of the Voyageurs, known in common tongue as simply Voyageurs, is a riverbound guild of transporters and fur-carriers operating along the inland waterways of New France, their long canoes as much a symbol of their trade as the battered seal they bear: a silver canoe beneath a rising sun of twelve spokes, set against ochre cloth. Their banner is rarely flown in courts or parades, for the Brotherhood deals not in titles, but in distance—measured by paddle-stroke and portage rather than scroll or coin. They are not men of land nor lords of sea, but of the restless rivers between, binding outposts to markets with calloused hands and steady rhythm.

Their stated purpose is simple: to ferry goods—furs, wax, salt, and sometimes men—between the coastal cities and the raw heart of the inland world. They claim no divine favor, no clerical charter, and no noble right, only the earned trust of merchant houses and the ruthless reliability that sees their canoes reach places maps do not name. To speak of hidden functions is perhaps unwise, for the Voyageurs are not keepers of lore nor defenders of the spiritual; they hold no temples in their hearts, only campfires and contracts.

Yet wherever they go, tales follow. Some whisper that they carry more than fur—items best left buried, charms pried from the hands of dying shamans, or relics soaked in stories too old for ink. The Voyageurs deny such things with gruff laughter or silence, but they do not explain. They leave that to priests and poets.

Among nobles, they are viewed with a mixture of disdain and dependence—necessary instruments of commerce, but uncouth and untamed. The clergy, while often disturbed by their proximity to places of folkloric power, can find little fault in their creed, for the Voyageurs profess no heresy beyond pragmatism.

Commoners hold them in awe, for they return from the north with strange scars and stranger stories, often clad in the leathers and sigils of distant tribes, speaking of rivers that turn backwards, forests that whisper, and creatures glimpsed beneath glassy lakes. Though they neither worship nor fight the supernatural, the Voyageurs move through a world steeped in it—some say exploiting it, others say ignoring it, though the wiser know they simply endure it.

Their numbers are loose and shifting, bound by oaths of trade rather than blood or faith. To join is to survive a season on the river under the gaze of a Courant, to prove one’s strength, silence, and sobriety amid hardship. Leadership is practical, not ceremonial: at the head stands the High Factor, elected by captains every ten years at the Guild’s Great Assembly held in Nouvelle Couronne. Beneath him, regional Courants command by reputation alone.

The Brotherhood does not boast legends, but it remembers them—such as the Frostbound Haul of 1409, when a column of Voyageurs crossed frozen rivers besieged by storms and wolves to deliver their cargo, arriving half-dead and half-mad, yet on time. They built no shrine to the dead. They marked the moment with a notch in a paddle, and kept paddling.

Thus are the Voyageurs—neither saints nor sorcerers, but men of the in-between, who trade in the goods of this world and pass, uninvited, through the threshold of the next.

Membership of the Voyageurs

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Low Rank – Voyant

Role: Apprentice trader and laborer
Responsibilities:

• Learn river routes, canoe maintenance, cargo handling, and basic trade practices
• Act as porters during portage, set up camps, and assist in negotiations
• Keep silent and observant—Voyants are expected to listen more than speak

Membership Size: 400–600
Traits: Often young, orphaned, or impoverished recruits from river towns or frontier hamlets. Some are the children of seasoned Voyageurs, continuing a family trade.

TTRPG Use: Think of this as a background or tier-1 faction rank. PCs here might be gaining experience, hearing rumors of strange things in the deep interior, and starting to suspect there’s more to the guild than trade.

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Mid Rank – River Captain

Role: Veteran crew leader and expedition commander
Responsibilities:

• Command a full trade canoe and its crew, often 6–12 Voyants
• Defend cargo from bandits, beasts, and the hazards of the wild rivers
• Represent the guild when trading with remote forts, native tribes, or colonial governors
• Keep logs of encounters, route conditions, and observed anomalies

Membership Size: 200–300
Traits: Experienced and hard-bitten, River Captains are chosen more for loyalty and problem-solving under pressure than kindness. Most wear carved pendants denoting routes they’ve conquered.

TTRPG Use: This rank is excellent for mid-level PCs commanding their own expeditions. They may start seeing oddities along their trade routes, stumble on smuggled relics, or be tasked with denying rumors of lost crews.

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High Rank – Courant

Role: Regional guildmaster and overseer of trade routes
Responsibilities:

• Maintain control over a network of River Captains and ensure seasonal quotas are met
• Handle diplomacy with native factions, merchant guilds, and colonial officials
• Suppress or cover up incidents that threaten trade reliability (e.g., disappearances, cursed goods)
• Approve new route expansion or abandon dangerous ones

Membership Size: 12–15 total
Traits: Intelligent and pragmatic. Courants walk a careful line between maintaining trade, silencing superstition, and avoiding political entanglements.

TTRPG Use: These figures serve well as patrons, mentors, or antagonists—players might answer to a Courant, compete with one, or uncover that a Courant is involved in something illicit.

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Highest Rank – High Factor

Role: Supreme leader and guild policymaker
Responsibilities:

• Chart the future of the guild across continents
• Determine large-scale economic direction and secret policies
• Resolve disputes among Courants
• Command access to secret maps, old trade pacts, and hidden waystations

Membership Size: 1
Traits: Rarely seen outside the Grand Dockhouse of Nouvelle Couronne. The High Factor is elected once per decade by unanimous vote of the Courants and wields authority with quiet precision.

TTRPG Use: A powerful NPC of immense influence—may issue dangerous missions, uncover secrets best left buried, or become entangled in political struggles across the known world.