guild recruitment
TRANSCRIPT
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G U I L D
OPERATION
membership is debated and then put through the process
of referendum at meetings. Whether it’s electing new
officers, changing the bylaws, or deciding whether or not
to voice
a
collective opinion on a matter of the
day.
Meetings also serve as venue for introducing new
members and initiating them into the brotherhood. Some
guilds have more elaborate initiation rituals than others.
It can involve nothing more than presenting the new
member, announcing, “We welcome Taka Markavian
into the brotherhood of the Silk Sellers” and basking in
the a chorus of “Hear, hear ” Or it can require swearing a
complex oath to the guild, or performing arcane rituals.
Some evil guilds require even darker practices, requiring
self-mutilation or worse. The same goes for rituals
of expulsion, when a guild
membership.
Psychologically, regular mee
of collective identity among
gives them
a
ritual feeling, and col
membership stresses to each member t
a group whose strength and
than their particular aims
a
guild meetings are not usually open to
except by invitation. Allowing outsid
meetings indiscriminately w
lective solidarity that the me
they have to go to meetings
all
the time. Arcane
spellcasters and scholars prefer to spend the bulk of
their time alone, engaged in study, and bringing them
together too often seems a bother to them.
Guilds, of course, can always call ad hoc meetings
in time of emergency. Emergency meetings not only
communicate important news to the membership
quickly and efficiently, but they also have the psychologi-
cal effect of rallying members to meet whatever crisis
is upon them.
RE RUITMENT
With the general exception of Interest Guilds, guilds are
exclusive organizations by nature. Each Class, Craft or
Profession Guild only represents a small segment of the
population, defined by a set of skills
or
an activity pursued
rofession. Therefore, not just anyone can join, nor
they. But the degree of exclusivity that
a
guild
s
varies across
a
wide range of possibilities.
uilds mostly rely on pure numbers for strength,
doesn’t serve them well to turn away new mem-
ess they’re obviously unsuitable. Someone who
There are also meetings at which only a sm
of
guildsmen are welcome. Guild officers me
own, out of earshot of the general membership, to discuss
their guilds affairs. Very often, they feel it important
to discuss sensitive matters amongst themselves before
airing them before the general membership, so that they
may establish consensus within their own limited ranks.
Also
in large guilds the process of administering their
affairs is so cumbersome that they require small commit-
tees to oversee particular areas of governance. Such
a guild needs a handful of members to meet on a regular
basis just to review its finances, or track projects meant to
improve its standing within the community, or discipline
wayward members.
The frequency with which guilds meet varies according
to their needs and circumstances. It’s just practical for
a
guild to meet often
if
its membership is spread out across
the countryside or their business requires that they spend
a
lot of time abroad. Other guilds just might not need to
meet that frequently. Small, dying and inactive guilds
probably find little excuse to bring their membership
together, if they take an honest look a t the state of their
organization. Members of Class Guilds might go about
their activities with considerable autonomy, their guilds
being unable or unwilling to enforce
a
strong sense of
unity amongst them. Rangers (who could also form
a Profession Guild as trackers), for one, prefer to spend
a lot of time on their own, and actually feel constrained if
or whose alignment runs too
ominant alignment of the guild,
d to turn him away. But in
believe that every new member
ronic decline may wish
exclusive as a salve to their
cannot afford to turn away
ity guilds that have lost
ave little influence in
public affairs. Guilds in remotely populated areas have
trouble finding enough members to justify their exis-
tence and probably won’t be too choosy about whom they
take in. The same goes for disgraced guilds and guilds in
trades for which there is little demand in their local area
(such as shipbuilders in
a
port that is no longer a great
center of trade). Such guilds are beggars who cannot
afford to be choosers, although they would like
to
pretend
otherwise. If they are honest with themselves about their
estate, they will recruit new members as aggressively as
the most fervent Interest Guild.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are guilds that
are
so
closed that they seek out those whom they want
to
apply for membership, otherwise making themselves
completely unapproachable. Some guilds (thieves guilds
in particular) operate under conditions of secrecy and
need to screen new members carefully before allowing
them to join. The same holds true for otherwise legitimate
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GUILDC R E T I O N
guilds that have driven underground after committing
some terrible misdeed or indiscretion. In these cases,
a guild could find i t prudent to ‘tap’ potential new
members, seeking them out and letting them know that
the guildhas reason to believe that they may be worthy of
membership. Tapping rituals vary from guild to guild.
They can involve nothing more elaborate than a discreet
note slipped under the potential applicant’s door with
instructions about what to do if he is interested. Or a
delegation of guildsman might visit at night, when they
are likely to go unobserved, perhaps dressed in formal
and imposing costume to propose that the candidate join
them. Under no circumstances can someone approach a
guild this secretive and ask to become a member. In fact,
to do so would risk his life
was trying to infiltrate the or
But most guilds fall in
They set reasonable membership re
diately screen out those who are
For instance, there is no reason to
guild would accept as a m
experience making or fixing shoes. Howev
ticeship system to which the vast majori
Profession Guilds subscribe
rienced a way to gain the
As
a
general rule, the on
some reason.
is continuum.
all new members pay a one-time initiation fee, and the fee
is set high enough
so that
only someone who has done
reasonably well for himself could afford to pay it. The
Ancient Quill Historians’ Society (page
67
also allows
its patrons to purchase what amount to honorary mem-
berships, although the guild admits that this is simply
a
way of generating revenue from wealthy members of
the community who take an interest in history. Interest
Guilds require a fixed amount of volunteer service to the
cause, participating in their formal activities, before they
accept someone as
a
full member. In sum, the majority of
guilds try to strike a balance between being selective
about whom they take in
so
that they can create an aura
of privilege, and keeping their ranks open
so
that their
membership can renew itself and maintain their strength
as an organization.
Craft and Profession Guilds also have recruitment pro-
grams aimed at identlfying particularly talented individu-
als and bringing them into the guild. This is especially true
in large cities and other areas where more than one guild
s for a given craft or profession, and they must
with
each other i they want to claim the most
or industrious as their own. Every guild wants
a
for having the most talented, skilled and reliable
ers of its trade under its roof, both as a source
nd because it generates more business for its
is to hire on with a member of a guild in that t
under no obligation to accept someone who as
take him on, especially if he has one or more already. But
if
he does, the apprentice must then serve under his tute-
lage for
a
minimum period of time that varies from guild
to guild and trade to trade. The more complicated the
trade, the longer the required period of apprenticeship
(less skilled jobs like teamster require little time to
master, while learned professions like law and medicine
take much longer). After the minimum period of appren-
ticeship expires, the master tradesman makes a decision
about whether or not his apprentice
is
ready to become
a
full-fledged practitioner of the trade. If he does so, he
releases the apprentice from service, who then becomes
eligible for membership in a guild. Of course, the appren-
ticeship system is subject to abuse, as unscrupulous
tradesmen keep apprentices in their service past the time
when they have earned their release,
so
that they can use
them as a cheap source of subcontracted labor. But guilds
actively discourage this practice. Every apprentice who
is held back from graduating to tradesman could be
a dues-paying guild member, after all.
Other guilds set the bar a little differently and make do
without requiring apprenticeship, although they still
adhere to the idea that guild membership should be
exclusive, yet not prohibitive. The merchants guild
known as The Flowing Cup sets no professional service
requirements for new members. But it does mandate that
ure that i t earns such a repu-
romising individuals and recruit
rm of friendly means of per-
dly conversation, avors and
n resort to darker methods
brated practitioner of their
rates more business for the
members easier by playing on their desire to associate
themselves with someone they admire. Many a struggling
guild has thought that gaining a particularly famous
member would solve
all
of their problems, either directly
or indirectly. Therefore, a
craftsmen or professional who
has earned fame for his work might well find himself the
object of a bidding war between two or more guilds, each
wanting the glory
of
claiming him
as
one of their own.
If the competition heats up, he could more or less set his
own terms for membership, rather than allowing the
guild to set conditions for him. Of course, a guild
that pays
a
heavy price to gain the membership of any
individual runs the risk that his special status will breed
resentment among the other members. In the long run,
this
sort
of backlash actually causes more problems for
the guild than it solves.