Guilds

A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade, confraternities of workers. They are organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society. They often depend on grants of letters patent by a monarch or other authority to enforce the flow of trade to their self-employed members, and to retain ownership of tools and the supply of materials.

The guild is made up by experienced and confirmed experts in their field. They are called "masters". Before a new employee can rise to the level of mastery, he has to go through a schooling period during which he is first called an apprentice. After this period he can rise to the level of journeyman. Apprentices will typically not learn more than the most basic techniques until they are trusted by their peers to keep the guild's or company's secrets.

Journeymen are able to work for other masters, unlike apprentices, and generally paid by the day and are thus day labourers. After being employed by a master for several years, and after producing a qualifying piece of work, the apprentice is granted the rank of journeyman and given documents (letters or certificates from his master and/or the guild itself) which certify him as a journeyman and entitle him to travel to other towns and countries to learn the art from other masters.

After this journey and several years of experience, a journeyman can be received as master, though in some guilds this step can be made straight from apprentice. This will typically require the approval of all masters of a guild, a donation of money and other goods (often omitted for sons of existing members), and the production of a so-called masterpiece, which would illustrate the abilities of the aspiring master craftsman; this is often retained by the guild.

List of guilds and organizations

 * Trade guilds:
 * Merchants Guild, which is an alliance of various trade and service guilds, including:
 * Bakers' Guild
 * Carpenters' Guild
 * The Alliance of Tailors and Weavers
 * Cobblers' Guild
 * Stone Masons
 * The Guild of Physicians and Surgeons
 * The Brotherhood of Scriveners, Scholars, and Educators
 * Art and performance guilds:
 * Troubadours
 * Secret guilds
 * Sable Masque
 * Brotherhood of Common Goods
 * Religious organizations:
 * Holy Order
 * Cult of Transcendent Ecstasy
 * Peacekeeping organizations:
 * Knights Lithmorran
 * Reeves