Vial Vitae
The Vial Vitae Guild of Alchemists (sometimes abbreviated to V.V. or V.V.G.A.) is a large organisation that covers the production, sale, and distribution of alchemical products across the continents of Occia and Oria. The guild includes training facilities, alchemical labs and manufactories, warehousing, and shop fronts across the two continents, and is the largest organisation of its type.
Mandate
Vial Vitae promises one thing and one thing only to its customers and clients - quality. No potion or alchemical product produced by the guild will perform anything less than advertised, with all labels and dosages absolutely correct, produced to the highest possible standards. Additionally, they carefully control the sales of dangerous products (such as poisons).
Membership
To become an alchemist of the Vial Vitae, one must either pay a joining fee, or else recieve a referral from an existing member of the guild. This sets one on an apprenticeship of approximately two to five years, the time of which is spent studying under a full member of the guild and learning the ins and out of the business. This is an apprenticeship to the guild, not just an alchemy apprenticeship; while some applicants begin their training here from scratch, some are already experienced alchemists in their own rights upon joining, and are still able to perform their trade independant of the guild. Nothing an apprentice makes is permitted to carry the Vile Vitae name.
Once an apprentice has proven themself capable, both in alchemy and in the management of the business, the guild will bestow on them a full membership. As a full member, one can work in a guild hall to produce items that will carry the Vial Vitae name, as well as let customers know one is guild certified when selling personally-created products.
History
Vial Vitae got its start as a single store called the Stoppered Vial, which migrated to the continents during the Rebuilding of Arisol. Business was steady but growth was slow, and so the company sought a way to increase customer interest and sales. During the Rebuilding, there were two major social classes; the nobility - elves, who were behind the reclaiming and restoration of the ancient city - and the common worker - the men and women who were hired for the actual physical work. The Stoppered Vial first decided to appeal to the latter.
Using clever marketing and appeals, the company played up the importance of cleanliness in the long-uninhabited lands and ruins of the continents. The frequent use of soaps - which the company's highly trained alchemists were proficient in producing both quickly and cheaply - was encouraged. At first, Stoppered Vial began to produce ivory-white bars of clean, unscented, and harsh but strong soaps en masse. The migrant population bought them in bulk with intent to protect themselves and their people from unknown disease, leading to good profits for the small company, which were routed into expansion and research.
A variety of new marketing ideas were tried and tested over the next few years, the majority having little to no effect on sales, until Stoppered Vial began producing more gentle, scented soaps in soft colours. They renamed their original soaps medicinal emulsifiers, for cleansing the body, and dubbed the new products bathing tallow, for scenting the skin. The company expanded their plans further by pitching this new line to the richer noble class.
Nobody is entirely certain how they achieved it, but Stoppered Vial turned bathing tallow into their cash cow. The noble houses purchased scented soaps in large numbers, then individual houses began commissioning new and different fragrances, with the goal of differentiating themselves from their peers. Within a decade it was a highborn contest, with families and houses attempting to set themselves apart with rarer and more unique scents. Cleanliness was quickly seen as a mark of true nobility and good breeding, and soon the entire upper class made a point of bathing at least twice daily. For a brief time the highborn ladies would even throw bathing salons, inviting their female friends to tea and a meal while being washed by their handmaidens.
Comments