The divide between the Age of the Snowfall and the Age of Corporations occurred with the end of the European Dragon war. It was a time when the world had finally come to terms with the return of magic, the coastlines had ceased to flood, and the beleaguered refugees from the USA's east coast banded together to form New Washington.
New Washington was at once a barbaric and civilized society, with a great deal of violence from both magic and weapons. Very little was safe, at first. Law enforcement agencies could do little.
Eventually corporate powers took on government-contracted law enforcement, basically, and high-grade security became a universally supported facet of corporate activity. Even stores and restaurants tried to keep at least one combat elite about. Not all could afford or support this kind of security.
And in a city of plucky heroes, dastardly villains, and legendary conflicts, places like diners and restaurants were disturbingly common battlegrounds. Those with security could handle this. Those without were plagued with unchecked violence.
In response, an underground movement was started, focusing around a small group of old-style diners in a notably mercenary-controlled district of NW. No security was available, so the regulars took up the slack. They communicated through an obscure nonverbal code that could be signaled through the positions of silverware, cups, glasses, and food. After a short while, the regulars had become a trained security detail for the diners they frequented.
So this hodgepodge group of diner defenders became a local legend, and eventually blossomed into an entire secret society that communicated through little more than the difficult-to-decipher “table codes” and heavily encrypted scrawls on napkins.
Outsiders who knew of them called them The Regulars' Guild. Establishments protected by them were avoided by gangs, mercenaries, and even most law enforcement. Those who violated the RG's territory were monitored, and those who committed particularly bold crimes were actually assassinated publicly, with no outcry or news coverage whatsoever. The Regulars knew when and where their justice would be acceptable and were willing to take their time.
Ultimately, The Regulars' Guild became as respected and feared a fixture as many legitimate corporate entities, though actual communication with the guild was impossible.
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