Portal:Discworld/Article of the day/3

Article of the day

The Guild of Thieves, Cutpurses and Allied Trades is a fictional institition on the Discworld city of Ankh-Morpork. It is distinguished from Thieves' Guilds in other fantasy universes by being completely legal. The Thieves' Guild was established early in Lord Havelock Vetinari's rule of Ankh-Morpork. Lord Vetinari realised that what people crave is stability, and that, while it is impossible to stamp out crime altogether, it is possible to regulate it. The major gang leaders of the city were therefore called to the Patrician's Palace, where they agreed to be held responsible for ensuring a socially acceptable number of thefts. While they may have been insincere in this promise, they soon found the Patrician knew too much about them for reneging to be safe.

The Thieves' Guild quickly became the major law-enforcement body of the city, causing the Ankh-Morpork City Watch to slide even further into the pit of depression they would remain in until Carrot Ironfoundersson's arrival. In the year of the Engaging Sloth, the Guild had a General Strike, and the amount of crime doubled.

While the main money-making venture of Thieves' Guild members remains theft, more recent books show a system of "insurance", whereby people may pay a fee directly to the Guild and therefore become immune to robbery for a specified period. Unlicensed theft remains illegal, under both city and Guild law, and perpetrators consider themselves lucky if the revitalised Watch catches them.