Guilds & Their Functions
Guilds are a wide spread organization that allows civilians and even nobles to place requests at for Adventurers to complete.
Those who register and work under a Guild Hall are called "Adventurers", and those that do adventuring work without registering at a Guild are called "Coth". Coth are generally looked at with disdain by the public eye and other Adventurers, however being a Coth has its perks. Generally you keep all the profits of your job, everything is kept off records. Due to this, however, most Cothare typically those willing to take out dirtier tasks such as assassinations or spy work.
Registering with a Guild offers an array of perks at the sacrifice of a portion of your payment for jobs. A guild member will always have lodging and food in another town with a Guild Hall, and there are many shops around the world that offer discounts to guild members - the higher the rank, the higher the discount. Having a high rank will also allow you entry and access to places that would normally be off limits, or granting you an audience with royalty from around the world.
Guild Halls use a form of magic that allow a person to register at one location, but turn in their job at another should the job require traveling. This method of magic is wildly debated by many scholars, as the magic used seems to be unclassified and developed by The Udar and only usable by Guild Masters. Adventurers carry badges that hold their information, rank and other things, and can be upgraded once someone ranks up. All Adventurer's are written into a large compendium of names upon sign up which registers which Guild Hall is your "Home" Guild, and it is said that there is a Master Compendium of every name ever recorded in the organization's history at HQ in The Udar's office.
Structure
Guild Halls are typically made up of a single Guild Master that oversees the entire operation and reports back to the Headquarters where the Grand Master (Also known as The Udar ) keeps all the Halls and Masters in check.
People who wish to join the Guilds and partake in its jobs are known as Adventurers, and are wildly more respected and trusted than those who don't register with a Guild. New Adventurers start at the lowest rank in the Guild and work their way up the ranks, giving them access to increasingly more dangerous (but also more lucrative) jobs and guild perks.
As of right now, here is the hierarchy of the Guild system:
Every Adventurer starts at the Copper level, and there are more Silver Adventurers than any other rank. Mithril Adventurers are extremely rare, and there have only ever been about 12 in the history of the Guild, most of them long since deceased. As of right now, there are 5 living Mithril Adventurers.
As of right now, here is the hierarchy of the Guild system:
- The Udar
2. Guild Masters
3. Mithril Adventurers
4. Diamond Adventurers
5. Platinum Adventurers
6. Gold Adventurers
7. Silver Adventurers
8. Copper Adventurers
Every Adventurer starts at the Copper level, and there are more Silver Adventurers than any other rank. Mithril Adventurers are extremely rare, and there have only ever been about 12 in the history of the Guild, most of them long since deceased. As of right now, there are 5 living Mithril Adventurers.
Public Agenda
Guilds serve as a form of civilian military, allowing Adventurers to join and make an honest days work helping civilians and those around the realm. People from around the realms can approach a Guild Hall and place a request, ranging from finding a lost cat or heirloom, guard a caravan, to slaying a dragon. The leaders of the Realms (Monarchy, Councils, etc.) often times put requests in for large scale tasks, or hand request notorious Adventurers for select tasks.
Assets
The Guild Halls are a wealthy organization that works hand-in-hand with whatever government prevails in most realms and is a wildly accepted and respected group. The house always takes a portion of the fees paid by whomever puts in a request, and this money goes towards taxes, offering Guild Services to those employed by the Guilds - more typically food and lodging and offering discounted services for potions. There are many shops that are also partnered with Guilds and offer discounts to adventurers based on their ranks.
History
No one really knows the exact date that Guilds began to form, but history texts can point to a similar singular organization located in the Acoltica capital city of Aubermont by someone called The Udar. This precursor to the current Guilds vary little, but seemed at one time to be a branch of Aubermont government before breaking off at some point. There is little surviving documents left that tell how or why the split happened, but it is assumed that the Aubermont Monarchy wanted to use the Guild as some sort of spy organization, and when The Udar refused, it created some sort of civil unrest between the regency and the people.
Today, guilds are a large scale world wide organization that act on its own and separate from any government.
Demography and Population
Guilds play a host to all sorts of people, and there is one in almost every major city or capital. Because of this, each Guild Hall is slightly different in terms of what races are more prevalent.
Military
Guild Halls in and of itself are not considered inherently militaristic, even if they technically are a form of civilian militia. If the Guild Halls ever decided to turn themselves into a military, however, they would easily out rank even some of the Royal Guards of the biggest capitals just in sheer numbers alone and potentially even skill do to their wide varying abilities of their members. However, many members have never seen organized military life, and turning a group of this size into a cooperating one would be immensely difficult if not impossible.
The Guild itself does have its own security personnel that look over keeping the peace if a rowdy customer takes things too far, or to guard the treasuries. Most of the security guards are ex-military turned Adventurers for whatever reason.
Religion
The Guild has no interest in religious affairs, though doesn't prohibit the worship of any gods either. Typically, though, Guild Halls follow the rules of whatever city they are in to avoid causing issues - and as such, typically worship of "Evil" gods is heavily frowned upon.
Foreign Relations
Guilds are wildly spread across the world in almost ever region and are seen as their own form of "government". They have no interest in political games between countries, and should two countries go to war, they remain neutral. However, governments can look for potential soldiers to fill ranks during war time from the Guild Adventurer's ranks should they need to, and there is a global understanding that even if one country does this that it does not fall on the head of the Guilds.
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