A guild /ɡɪld/ is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as confraternities of tradesmen, normally operating in a single city and covering a single trade. They were organized in a manner something between a professional association, a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society. They sometimes depended on grants of letters patent from a monarch or other ruler to enforce the flow of trade to their self-employed members, and to retain ownership of tools and the supply of materials, but were generally regulated by the city government.

Details

Ruler: The Grand Master
Seat: Usually a local guildhall

Perception

Origin and History

After the fall of the Old Empire, and rise of the new independent kingdoms that resulted, the growing cash economy gave a tremendous stimulus to the rise of the middle classes. Where a craftsman might previously have worked exclusively for a landowner under a feudal arrangement in exchange for keep and lodging, now he could find a sufficient market for his goods in a nearby town, and earn enough money to support a comfortable lifestyle. Merchants thrived as the market economy began to mature, and long-distance trade along rivers and across the sea became profitable. It was against this background that the guild system arose. Guilds arose as associations for mutual support. They developed into regulatory bodies that held a monopoly on a trade or group of trades in their town, supervised training and apprenticeships, regulated standards, and generally furthered the interests of their members. In many towns it became impossible to do business without joining a guild.

Ranks and forms of address

These are typical of most such guilds, but not universal

• (Master X) The Most Honourable X, Grand Master of the [Trade] Guild
• (Master X) The Honourable X, Councilman of the [Trade] Guild
• Master X, [Officer] of the [Trade] Guild
• Master X, Master of the [Trade] Guild
• X, Craftsman of the [Trade] Guild (included from DF17)
• X, Journeyman of the [Trade] Guild
• X, Apprentice of the [Trade] Guild

Practices

The guilds are organizations of traders who seek to regulate trade in their town, and ensure that local traders receive preferential treatment over outsiders. For example, where the wool trade forms the basis of the local economy, the guild rules that only guildsmen can buy and sell wool wholesale to whom they please. They can not sell retail to “strangers” (traders from other towns), and strangers who bring wool can sell only to guildsmen. Guildsmen are exempt from certain taxes and tolls, and ancillary workers in the town, such as wool washers and packers, can work only for guild members. In exchange for their privileges, guildsmen pay a membership fee, and subject themselves to the guild laws and customs. The guild has its own court where complaints and disputes are heard, and it is at meetings of the guild – commonly accompanied by formal feasts – that elections to guild positions are held. As well as organizing and regulating their own particular trade, guilds offer mutual support for their members – burial costs, pensions for widows and orphans, and so on. In theory, the king’s consent is required before any guild can lawfully be established. Each guild pays the king an annual fee in exchange for the right to meet. In practice, many guilds overlook this formality. Some guilds also dabble in politics. The guild is often recognized as a town’s ruling body, since every townsman of any consequence is almost certain to be a member.

Some "major" trade guilds are not tied to a specific town. For example, the Masons' Guild: A major reason for this is that no town, however large, is likely to provide permanent employment for stonemasons, so they tend to travel from one great building project – cathedral, castle, palace – to another as they are needed.

Specific Guilds

Imperia

Major Trade Guilds

Major guilds are large enough, or "travel" enough, that the Guild branches to multiple cities. Some of these guilds grow quite powerful, almost a nation to themselves.

• Masons' Guild
• Bankers' League
• Merchants' League

Minor Trade Guilds

Minor guilds appear in most large cities, and serve only the host city

• Alchemists' Guild
• Bowyers' Guild
• Horse Breeders' Guild
• Smiths' Guild
• Swordsmiths' Guild

Dwarfmount

• Enchanters' Guild

Elfwood

• No "guilds" but some families specialize in a particular craft or trade

Rumor Has It…

• Many guilds meet behind closed doors to guard their "trade secrets," which inevitably leads to speculation about what exactly it is they're doing in there…

Behind the Scenes

• Mostly "historical": ideally, fewer of them, covering somewhat broader, "generic" categories of crafts/trades.