8.99 WHAT WERE GUILDS?
Guilds were once the major adventurer-run organisations in Achaea, aside from
cities. The Age of Guilds has passed, and they exist no longer in Achaea. Each
guild has transformed into a House. (See: HELP HOUSES.)
It was on the 3rd of Valnuary, 394 years after the fall of the Seleucarian
Empire, that the first of the new Houses arrived in Achaea. By the 25th of
Daedalan, five years later, the last of the guilds converted into a House,
heralding the end of the guild era througout Sapience and the beginning of the
Age of Houses.
Differing in name and motive from one to the other, these powerful
organisations were spearheaded by a single individual known as the Guildmaster.
Each Guildmaster appointed a number of Secretaries, all wielding nearly the
same powers of the Guildmaster. Composed of twenty guildranks altogether,
guilds were possessed only of a single class and were, indeed the only
organisations that could grant class skills to Achaeans. Access to class was
handed down by guild elders upon the satisfactory completion of a series of
novice requirements, and was by no means guaranteed.
Discontent over these archaic methods of access to class brought the time of
the guild to a close. It was decreed that class could be gained outside of
the jurisdiction of guilds. Once guild control of class was at an end, the
single-class organisation of guilds became obsolete. The House system was then
introduced, with the ability to allow in multiple classes, more general powers
dispersed throughout the ranks, and greater formal weight in city politics. One
by one, each guild transformed into a House. Some chose to remain as close to
the ideals of the old guild as possible, while others took this unique
opportunity to take a divergent path in the shaping of their House.
A listing of former guilds and the Houses they became:
Guilds Houses
-------------------------------------------------
Ashura The Ashura
Apostates The Blood Congregation
Arcanists The Arcane Kindred
Bards Ty Beirdd
Dawnstriders The Dawnstriders
Druids The Ancient Circle of Druids
Jesters Carnivalis Institute of Jestering
Kharon The Sect of the Black Lotus
Magi The Crystalline Circle
Maldaathi The Maldaathi
Mojushai The Mojushai
Naga The Naga
Occultists The Occultists
Paladins The Templars
Priests The Empyreal Assembly
Runewardens Wardens of the Cerulean Spire
Sentaari The Sentaari
Sentinels The Sentinels of Nature
Serpentlords The Cult of the Serpent Lords
Shadowsnakes The Shadowsnakes
Shamans The Spirit Walkers
Sorcerers Merchants of the Crown
Sylvans The Sylvanic Fellowship
Tanjinn The Ebon Fist
Warlocks Warlocks of the Rising Phoenix
