Commercial Guilds

"The Commercial Guilds" is the popular name for the network of administrators, functionaries, attaches and liaisons who facilitate the co-operation of the major mercantile guilds of the Eleven Cities. Individually, these people are known as Guilders and are esteemed figures in most places, even if only because they are officers of an organisation without which very little large-scale business gets done in the Cities. Capable of directing workflow in the mercantile economy to an extent that could virtually shut a city down, the Commercial Guilds are a powerful force across the Sea of Jars and effectively run some cities, most notably Chogyos.

History

The Commercial Guilds trace their history back to the cult of the deity Zargyod in the second century BWR. Zargyod was worshipped differently in different cities, being seen in the north primarily as a god of the sea, in the insular cities as a god of metals and craftsmanship, and in the southern cities as a god of chance and fortune. The power that the Chogyan Hegemony was able to establish over the cities of Ramoros, Elpaloz and Loros spread that latter interpretation of the god as agents of the Hegemony brought representatives of the powerful cult to these population centres. These clerics worked to further trade within the Hegemony, generally with an eye to enriching Chogyos, and eventually began working with their colleagues in other cities to ensure that international trade continued even as the other cities worked to undermine the power of their secular clients. Although this did little to arrest the decline of the Hegemony, this had the interesting effect of spreading the Chogyan perception of the god throughout various other cities. By the time the Hegemony slipped into irrelevance in the years surrounding 100 BWR, temples and chapterhouses of the god were present in all of the Eleven Cities, all informing local worship of Zargyod with Chogyan priorities.
A century later came the Wesmodian Reformation, in which belief in the traditional gods of the Eleven Cities abruptly dropped off. Wesmod's Invectives were spread along trade networks and the cult of Zargyod seem to have done very little to stop this. This inactivity is likely related to the secular role of the cult, which at this stage in history was functioning as a society-wide group of trade facilitators as much as a religious organisation, providing letters of introduction to merchants, liaising between the mercantile sector and secular governments and even using temple funds to invest in trade deals. In Chogyos, Elpaloz and Ramoros they genuinely ran the docks and in all the other cities the temple of Zargyod was a major local centre of commerce. To an extent, therefore, the role of the clerisy of Zargyod as clerics of religion was secondary to their role as bankers and speculators; this was, in fact, a point briefly raised by Wesmod in his invective against the cult. It was in fact very little skin off the nose of the cult if they could dispense with their religious duties and focus on what had become their core business.
Interestingly, therefore, the pre-Wesmodian cult who most readily acquiesced to the paradigm shift of the Reformation was also the one that changed its day-to-day operations the least. The vestments of a religious order became the livery of secular functionaries and the temples to the god of fortune became meeting places where fortunes could be made. The Commercial Guilds retain their antique hierarchy, lending a faint air of mystique to their activities that other merchants do not have. By involving themselves with the lesser "member guilds" these functionaries invest their activities with a glamour that they would otherwise lack.

Modern-day activities

The Guilders involve themselves with inter-city trade. Once a consignment of goods is off a wharf and in a marketplace, they tend not to take much further notice of it, but they maintain a very close eye on shipping between cities and work extensively to facilitate it. This work includes sending attaches between cities, engaging in research projects to study the rhythms of international trade, monitoring imports and exports between cities and analysing the data to spot emerging or aberrant patterns, arranging and hosting meetings between functionaries of the member guilds both within and between cities, providing spaces in which deals can be made, and lending or even giving money to mercantile projects they deem worthy.
To this end the Guilders also mint their own currency. Guild scrip was initially intended as an intra-organisation method of ensuring that attaches and messengers had their expenses met at their destinations but 'escaped' the guilds into the general mercantile population and is now valued as one of the few currencies which is accepted at a fairly consistent value almost anywhere. Its value outside the cities is, in fact, almost nothing, but few merchants concern themselves with activities in the hinterlands. It has been over a century since the guilds began minting scrip for the specific purpose of circulating outside their organisation, and this currency has long since supplanted the internal scripts once used by the various member guilds.
Drawing on their roots as a religious organisation the Guilders take pains to present their activities as essentially altruistic and, to be sure, the standard of living enjoyed in the cities is in part due to the extent to which the organisation greases the wheels of commerce. This being the case, however, critics from outside the guilds have been known to query their ubiquity and the power they wield. Most merchants aspire to work with the guilds, and indeed in some places it is all but impossible to work outside them. They are the only particularly credible authority in Loros and the citizenry (or at least aristocracy) of Chogyos have explicitly handed over the running of the city to the organisation, making them the de facto governments of those two cities. Few critics can point to specific instances of the Guilds abusing the resulting social authority, though the potential is always there as this is a self-selecting organisation which answers to essentially nobody.

Structure

In the former cities of the Chogyan Hegemony - Chogyos, Ramoros, Elpaloz and Loros - the Guilders maintain the rank structure of the pre-Wesmodian cult of Zargyod, or at least what they claim that hierarchy to have been. As laid out in the full version of The Book of Favour - a devotional text of the cult, the original of which is kept at the Chogyan headquarters of the Commercial Guilds - this rank structure identified clerics in six ranks each named after metals, these being (in descending order) Gold, Silver, Copper, Iron, Tin and Lead.
The Book of Favour states that there will be a single Gold-ranked priest in each temple, and that he (male pronouns are used in the book, dovetailing with other sources that suggest the pre-Wesmodian cult was an all-male affair, at least at its higher ranks; in the post-Wesmodian era, women have served as Gold officers in all the cities with the notable exceptions of Oluz and Dyqamay) is ultimately responsible for ensuring the ritual functioning of the temple. In the modern era this amounts to an executive supervisory role concerned with major policy initiatives and the most important of trade deals.
The Book goes on to mandate two Silver priests in each temple, stating that these men will serve as the primary aides and ritual assistants of the Gold. In the modern era these two figures are the main public faces of the Guilds in their respective cities and do most of the important liaising with the member guilds.
Copper priests were, to borrow a military metaphor, petty officers, responsible for the day-to-day running of the temple. This included everyday ritual duties and assisting the Silver priests in business not worthy of the attention of the Gold. Modern-day Copper Guilders lead delegations and research projects, serve as attaches and esteemed messengers, and are the most senior officials an independent merchant is ever likely to liaise with face-to-face.
The three lowest ranks appear to have been gradations of minor functionaries and debate exists among researchers if those who held these positions were considered clerics or privileged laity. Iron operatives appear to have been accorded some respect, though Lead operatives were seemingly some sort of oblate or (as is often the case today) indentured servants. The three lowest ranks of the Commercial Guilds are record-keepers, librarians, secretaries, greeters, servants, cleaners and cooks.
In other cities a degree of heterodoxy has crept into this organisation. The customhouse at Dyqamay lacks a Gold official, being run by a strictly all-male triumvirate of Silvers. The Guilds in the northern cities of Oluz and Halumay recognise an intermediary rank between Copper and Silver, known as Brass, which is accorded to Copper operatives on international duty away from their home customhouse; Brass operatives often serve as political officers of a sort on ships bearing important cargoes or as semi-permanent ambassadors to other cities. In recent years Brass operatives have also been appointed in Pholyos, where the chapterhouse also makes a point of employing no Lead operatives. In Dypholyos and Tyros the chapterhouses recognise two additional ranks, Bronze and Steel, which respectively serve as the officers and rank and file of small bodies of armed troops who serve as security for the Guilds in those cities - a function that the 'mainstream' guilds delegate to Iron and Tin operatives.
The liveries worn by these different ranks are subject to rules that have become proverbial for their convolutions and complexity. As a general rule, however, Guilders are recognisable for wearing the ginger-coloured accoutrements and brass medallions that were the traditional vestments of the clerics of Zargyod. Exactly how much of a Guilder's clothing can be ginger-coloured is the subject of torturously complex internal regulation. The livery is iconic, however; in Andymalon, the city in which the Guilds have the least prominent presence and are least trusted, suspect individuals are sometimes said to be "wearing ginger shorts" - that is, hiding Guild livery under civilian clothing. Guilders, particularly at the higher ("coloured") ranks also ornament their medallions with gems, trims and cloisonne work to indicate achievements, service record and personal status. As with the robes, the exact etiquette of this ornamentation is convoluted; it is also, interestingly, something of an institutional secret, as even those who can 'read' a medallion at a glance politely decline to interpret them to outsiders.

Major member guilds

The Commercial Guilds constitute a central bureaucracy which aids and facilitates the operation of other guilds. Guilders are often seconded to these organisations and it is not unheard of for a given operative to spend their entire career working closely with those guilds (such members are usually either of Copper or Brass rank). Conversely members of the other guilds can transfer to the central bureaucracy, usually at Copper or Iron rank, in order to provide the Guilds with expert input into their dealings with the outside organisation.
The following organisations are considered 'members' of the Commercial Guilds and therefore worthy of such attention:
* The Coking Guild.
* The Vintner's Guild.
* The Commissaries.
* The Guild of Labour.
* The Minters of Metal.
* The Miner's Guild.
* The Shipbuilder's Guild.
* The Potter's Guild.
Some of these organisations are known in some cities solely because of the patronage of the Commercial Guilds. The Guild of Labour, for example, has its roots as a small domestic operation in Chogyos but has spread to several other cities thanks to the influence of the Guilds.
In several cities, smaller, local organisations are also granted the dignity of direct aid from the Commercial Guilds. In Pholyos, for example, the Glassblower's Guild receives such patronage.

Facilities and assets

The Commercial Guilds maintain bases of operations in all of the Eleven Cities, mostly in buildings that were once temple complexes to Zargyod. These bases are:
* Reef Tower in Andymalon.
* Chogyos Customhouse 
* A network of buildings on the docks of Dypholyos. 
* Dyqamay Customhouse.
* Elpaloz Customhouse.
* The House of Brass in Halumay.
* Loros Customhouse.
* A suite of offices in the Palace of Oluz.
* Pholyos Customhouse.
* Ramoros Customhouse.
* Tyros Customhouse.
The Guilds are a strictly urban undertaking who do not concern themselves with business outside the cities, except insofar as it alters trade. The extraction of raw materials, for example, is undertaken entirely by the member guilds; the extent of the Commercial Guild's involvement will be to possibly delegate a Copper operative to oversee affairs.

Type

Guild, Merchant