The Herald from the Far Beyond/Guild Essay

An Expanded Use of Guilds

By Qusay Burhan Rasil

Here in the Sautican realms, we employ our guilds differently than how you would in your world. It has been related to us by the Herald that your guild system is lacking the vitality, and drive, that ours do. Through the research he has given me, and with the blessing of the Most High, I have written this treatise to educate you on how to use your guilds properly. I will show you the great potential these areas offer to those who wisely use them. I will teach you how to effectively use the positions in a guild as a hierarchy, how to use guilds as institutions of your realm, and why the guild communication system is far better than the realm public group system. Open your mind, perk up your ears, and learn the Sautican way of things. This has all been decreed by the Most High, may he grant us the devotion, the discipline and the worth to learn these useful lessons. The intention of this treatise is to share with you the proper use of guilds so that they may be used correctly instead of wastefully, as is your habit.

A guild provides many options for those who construct them, and for those who join them. The highest price a guild demands is participation. That is the point in which the Herald claims your world is lacking, and that is the reason we feel it is necessary to share this wisdom with you. To begin, it is important to define what a guild is and is not. Actually, it is important to stress the flexibility of the definition of ‘guild’ to your world. On the surface, a guild is a manner in which like minded enthusiasts can arrange to gather together and discuss their hobby. Guilds are inter-realm as well as intra-realm and they are not exclusive to nobles (freeman may join without discrimination). Most of all, guilds have a great potential for many activities if used correctly. To build a guild, one must be in collaboration with, or be themselves, a landed noble, Lord or Duke, and be prepared to pay a 300 gold fee for the first chapter. To expand further, another landed noble must pay half price, 150 gold. This is how it is in our world, and we have learned that this is so in yours. So the Most High has validated this information, and you cannot refute it.

In depth, a guild may have a variety of purposes, even to the extent of having Royal Mandate, as one in my home region does. A guild can become a symbol of regionalism, or as we sometimes term it, ‘duchyism’. This point will be explained first. Having a guild in a realm is fine; having more than one guild which share similar purposes but are in competition with each other is better. For example, as is the case in the Duchy of Numm, there are two guilds representing a cultural variation. In the past, nobles from an ailing realm fled and arrived in this Duchy. Being companions, they wished to maintain their heritage in this new realm and decided to form a guild with their traditional land’s name. In response, the nobles who were native to the Duchy formed a guild that emphasized the established culture. This allowed for variation within a realm. The nobles recognized their differences, but accepted their sameness, as they all fought for the same King. This guilding led to political endeavours, as the guild built for heritage wanted one of their own to represent their culture and become a region lord in the Duchy. A referendum was had and they won. Now within that Duchy, two cultures are represented. The guild system used in the Sautican way allowed the traditionist nobles to create their own forum, provide themselves with a point of departure for their goals, and it created a hierarchy within their social circle.

Following this, guilds provide a hierarchy within their structures which leads to organization, determination, and effective business. In public groups, there is no recognized ordinance that establishes the chain of command. In guilds, it is clear who is of what rank. The aims of the guild can be handled by the elders with consultation of the ordinary ranks, and in the case of a government guild, there is the allowance for private conversation. The hierarchy also allows promotion and demotion as a reflection of service. If a member has become a sour candidate, they can be demoted out of the loop. This is especially useful if a perpetrator is found to be a spy. In this case, a guild elder can remove the infiltrator with ease. On the other hand, if a member is a very active and devoted candidate, they can be promoted to the higher circle. This is a great way to determine who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out.’ Those who are in will appreciate their level of achievement, and those who are out will wonder why it is so and perhaps try to reach higher. Hierarchy creates desire, desire leads to action, and action leads to the vitality of a realm. This vitality is rooted in a guild used properly.

In Sautica there is also a special guild known as the Aristocracy. This is the one that has Royal Mandate. Its purpose is to create a hierarchy of nobles within our lands. Every member of the continent is a member of the Aristocracy, and the ranks reflect their position. Those in the elder stations are royalty and dukes, those in the ordinary stations are region Lords and knights, and all of the other class variants our world provides. The Aristocracy crosses borders and creates a network for all nobles. It is a great way to define who is of high birth in each realm, who is up and coming, and who is bottom feeding. This guild has a complex structure which the Most High does not permit me to reveal to you. Should this guild be explained fully, you will imitate it in the worst manner, or the most disgraceful fashion possible. You are unworthy of this knowledge.

Moving on, a guild used properly is also one that benefits the whole of the realm. It is one thing to have a guild built for a Lord’s self interest, but entirely another to have one built for the function of government. In our Sautican homeland, each realm has roughly four guilds operating for government necessities. It is just common sense to us to compartmentalize the nobles into their respective classes. Each guild represents a need of the realm and the class that is a participant of it. We have a guild for bureaucrats, one for traders, one for the military, and in the capital, one for the politicians. From these guilds we grow future government officials. A General would be an outstanding member of the Military Guild, a Banker would be an outstanding trader or bureaucrat in the Bureaucrat or Trader Guild. We do not allow easy overlap, as that would blur the lines of the class system. A member of the Trader Guild must not be a part of the Military Guild, for example. We also do not allow the high councilor to also be the highest rank in the guild, a banker should never also be the master of the Banking Guild. It creates a conflict of interest and does not allow for the sharing of power. Too many civil wars have been fought over this issue and we have learned through experience that separating the two is the best course.

A Knight, a Cavalier and a Hero belong to the Military Academy. A Bureaucrat belongs to the Bureaucracy, a trader to the Merchant Guild, and those who have designs on becoming the Most High join the Parliament. A person who is part of the political guild may be of any rank, but must have had some experience in their respective stream and has decided to become the Head of State instead of the Head of their guild’s stream. They must be an active member of the political guild in order to be worthy of the highest position. The details of our parliament are as complex as our Aristocracy, and once again the Most High deems you unworthy of this information. Should you attempt one of your own, it will be a blasphemy of the grandest scale. We do not restrict mobility, so should a trader suddenly desire to become a knight again, they may do so by leaving their class and their guild to join the other one. Related to what was mentioned earlier, this type of guilding creates regionalism. As is the case in one realm in our homeland, the guilds are particular to a city. The Trader Guild is in a city far north and the Military Guild in the east, and so we say the traders come from the north and the military is housed in the east. Regionalism, Duchyism, these are both important words in the meaning of guild.

Next I will explain the benefits of guild communication versus public groups. In a public group, there is no restriction on who has access to what. Public groups have their uses, but are not structured for the sort of system we run in Sautica. Public groups are used as access points for the specialized guilds. If a bureaucrat needs a trader to help make a profit in a region, they will access her through the public group. Should a knight need an infiltrator they may do so through the public access points, the public group. The guilds allow separation of communication because of its systemic hierarchy. There is the option to communicate with only the elders, which is good for security reasons; there is the option to speak with all members of the guild, which will most likely be frequently used, and because of the hierarchy it restricts the involvement of those at the lower levels.

All of this together proves that guilds have a great potentiality for the success of a realm, and that if they are used in the ways discussed here, or beyond, then they will be used correctly to Sautican standards. This treatise has provided the knowhow on what you can do with guilds, but it is your own effort and determination that will provide the dohow. The Most High has recognized the great potential of guilds and uses them extensively across his lands. As stated above, they are used to emphasis the class system and as government institutions. They provide an excellent and clear hierarchy within each department, their communication system is used to its full provision and we have greater variety within our land which engages our nobles. This engagement produces motion, and motion is vitality. Let this knowledge be proselytized and internalized or you will face severe consequences.

All praise the Most High!