The Guilds

The Guilds—formally The Athkatlan Guild of Merchants and Artisans—is one of Athkatla’s five principal organisations. In practice, citizens call it the Guilds, the Guild, or the Guilds’ Council.

Function

Functionally it resembles guild collectives in other cities: artisans, merchants, and tradespeople regulating their crafts. Yet in scope it outstrips any coastal counterpart and, quite possibly, every guild in Faerûn. Acting as the umbrella for all recognised guilds in the City of Coin, its chief purpose is two‑fold: to defend its members’ rights before the city’s authorities, and to keep relations among the guilds fair, peaceful, and mutually profitable.

Governance

The Guilds is formally governed by a council consisting of a representatives of all member guilds. However, there hasn't been a meeting of all representatives in centuries. There are simply too many guilds, so governance of the Guilds has fallen to biggest guilds with the most trade and most influential representatives. Historically, the Culinary Guild, the Pleasure Guild, the Shipwrights of Athkatla and the Central Cooperage have been the biggest and have governed the Guilds continually. Some other guilds have come and gone over the years to sit along side them. Particularly banks and generic merchants' guilds seem to come and go. Every so often an ambitiuous figure from one of the Northern cities will try and gain a foothold. Only for them to sink deep into the proverbial sands, as they realize such trades are taken of by the Temple of Waukeen and Caravaneers, two other principal organisations.

Relation with other organisations

The Guilds sit firmly in the center of Athkatla's day-to-day and the health of the Guilds greatly influence the health, wealth and power of the other four organisations. Of course, it'd be dangerous to argue the Guilds is therefore the most powerful organisation. It wouldn't sit well with the theocratic Temple of Waukeen which relies on the cities trade, but sees is position and control over money as divine providence. The Caravaneers have a two-sided relation with the Guilds, as without the Guilds there would be little to no work for them, but the Caravaneers do seem to decide who and what comes and goes to the City of Coin. The Arcanists of Athkatla seem to be the most dependent on the Guilds and happily make use of all the high-quality trade and goods that run through the city. Of course, they do tend to have their own portals and teleportations and seem to mind their own business. So, in effect, the Guilds and Arcanists are rarely, if ever, at odds with one another. The Shifting Sands, then again, seem to have very close relations with the Guilds. Overall to great benefit of both, but sometimes to the detriment of specific members. For example, the Guilds succesfully protect its members from theft and in return turn a blind eye to the many black markets and illegal trade routes that the Shifting Sands maintain.

Controlled Territories

• Pavilion of Ata