Artisinal Houses of Cartr'wyr (Car-Tru-Er)

The Elven Artisinal Houses are a group of publicly known legendary artisans who inhabit the floating islands of Cartr'wyr. They are organized into familial houses based on their speciality:

Meilyr (May-Lee-ur) - Alchemy & Herbalism

Amlodd (Am-Lawth) - Enchanting

Crwys (Crew-us) - Woodworking

Ithell - Glassblowing and jeweling

Trahaearn (Tra-hi-urn) - Smithing

It should be noted that traditional wood elven herbalism is second to none, but the Meilyr house focuses more on the creation of powerful magical potions using rare herbs and reagents, while wood elven herbalism is more focused on distilling and utilizing the natural properties of herbs.
They make their home on the Floating Islands of Cartr'wyr (also known as the Artisinal Isles), with each clan occupying its own floating island.

Just getting to the Artisinal Isles is substantial challenge, but even one who manages to physically travel to the floating islands must still prove their worth to recieve an audience with one of the artisinal houses. Additionally, the islands are protected by numerous magical barriers and wards to prevent theft or intrusion by unworthy entities. The most commonly used method of travel is by chartering a skyship, although certain powerful magics also allow easy traversal through flight.
Before visiting, a visitor must request a reference from one of the trusted factions of the Houses of Cartr'wyr. Then, visitors will first arrive at the central island of Nexus, where they must wait for an artisan of one of the houses to acknowledge their arrival and meet with them. Unexpected visitors who have not provided a reference from a trusted faction in advance are simply ignored. After your arrival is acknowledged, the artisan will discuss the reason for the visitor's arrival, the visitor's life accomplishments and current skillset, and if deemed worthy, the artisan will then design a trial for the visitor(s) to complete as proof of their worthiness to utilize the legendary skill of the Cartr'wyr houses. Some individuals (such as leaders of respected artisinal guilds) may be permitted to skip the trial process.
Two options are usually permitted for the trial: First, a test of artisinal skill, which will require creation of an item consistent in quality with that of an elite artisan using a set of provided resources, or second, a resource collection trial. The resource collection trial will require the party to gather a set of rare resources (usually some of which are the ones required for the visitor's requested artisinal work, which will also provide a substantial discount in the final cost of the service). The rare resources often require interplanar travel (i.e. demon horn dust from the abyss), and / or harvesting from a powerful creature (i.e. adult frost dragon heartstrings).
After the trial is complete, the visitor(s) are recognized by the houses of Cartr'wyr in future visits, and are permitted to seek audience with any houses (although the visitors may still need to wait for the houses availability, and of course still need to pay the exorbitant fees for the service of master craftship).

Type

Guild, Craftsmen

Ruling Organization

Kylorian Confederacy

Liked

Artisinal Houses of Cartr'wyr

50

The White Hunt

50

The white hunt provides the Houses of Cartr'wyr with many rare resources and reagents needed for their high level artisinal endeavors, and they maintain a formalized trade agreement in which contracts from Cartr'wyr are prioritized over contracts from other factions.