The Alchemist's Guild is a (fictional!!) centuries-old secret society with vast wealth and properties and facilities all over the world. It is dedicated to furthering lifestyles that others find deviant or depraved. It has tens of thousands of members, all of whom are there voluntarily and can leave at any time, despite any of the perversities that they might engage in at any particular time. It has parallel systems of finance, communication, and transportation available to its members, as well as certain goods and services that one cannot find anywhere else in the world. Its symbol is a brass scale balancing a lock and key, reminding members of the combination of secrecy and access that the guild provides. Once a member, you will see this symbol in many unexpected places, showing the reach of the society and the range of its investments and activities. The society eschews **** and ****: its resources are so great that it simply pays for the silence of anyone who might be tempted to expose it. As such it operates not so much covertly as simply discretely, with the occasional public notice of its activities being easily ignored or written off as peoples' "eyes playing tricks." Joining the guild is by invitation only from an existing member. Although the paths vary, the most common way to be noticed by a member is by dressing in a particularly risqué manner, exhibitionistic behavior, or by the public display of a kink or fetish. Below are stories of how different people found themselves members of the guild and the experiences that followed.