In the year 717 CE, Lord Drakewyn of New Aetaltis made the Declaration of Talimane. In that historic speech Drakewyn declared adventuring as a valid occupation. He further commanded that all who chose to follow the adventurer’s path should receive the same respect and rights as the members of other crafts and professions.

    This marked a turning point for adventurers in the Sea of Tears basin. They could come out of the shadows and take a place in the heart of society rather than on the outskirts where they’d been forced to exist prior to the declaration.

    The declaration alone, however, was not enough to change the way adventurers were seen. Opinions aren’t instantly swayed just because the lord of a nation commands it. What changed the way society viewed adventurers were the adventurers themselves.

    Lord Drakewyn’s declaration drew people into the profession who would not have considered it in the past. When adventuring was a questionable career choice at best, only those individuals with nothing to lose would choose to become an adventurer. With an official declaration that this should change, however, many honorable and upstanding members of society set out on the adventurer’s path.

    This influx of new, honorable blood into the profession caused a marked change in public opinion. Adventurers went from being seen as shadow-skulking outcasts to brave heroes risking their lives for the people. In the years immediately following the declaration many young men and women rushed to become adventurers and the popularity of adventurers soared.

    With time, the bloody reality of the adventurer’s life has calmed this enthusiasm somewhat. When only a small percentage of those young souls who set out to become adventurers returned, people quickly remembered the dangers of adventuring.

    It was also realized that adventurers, like the members of any other profession, are a cross-section of society. Some are stalwart and upstanding while others are greedy or even criminal. While adventurers are still held in higher esteem than they once were, each adventurer must prove his own worth. The lasting change is that most people are now willing to give an adventurer the chance to prove himself, something they never would have done before Talimane.