Western Guilds

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_bigfoot.com>
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 23:42:04 +1200


Joerg Baumgartner:

>I've assumed that in Henotheist cultures there are
>acceptable sources for magic not taught by the church itself, e.g.
>special craft magics taught through the guilds. I haven't quite worked
>out whether this means that the guild magicians are crafters which
>become clergy by definition, or whether some of the clergy join the
>guilds - this part of Western culture hasn't been expounded yet.

AFAIK Guilds are part of Western Culture. They are commoner organizations and there are no clergy or sorcerers in them. That doesn't mean that they have no magic or that their leaders teach no magic. It simply means that the magic they teach is _normal_ to the Commoners. Clergical and Sorcerous magic is more powerful because it accesses energies closer to the Godhead.

The vast majority of Commoners do not belong to a guild. Many of them are simple peasants who have not proved their right to commons before their peers and so are legally wards of their local noble (or their father if they have proven their rights) and have the easiest path into Solace. Some Commoners in the countryside have proved their right and work with their lord in ruling the place - these are your average yeoman-types.

Unlike the countryside, most townsmen have proven their rights. They have a more demanding path into Solace than peasants do (ie they must adopt the protestant work ethic). I imagine that any peasant that lives in a town for a year and a day can present himself to the town authorities and ask for the chance to prove himself.

I don't think every townsmen belongs to a guild. For a guild to exist within a town, it must be approved by the town burghers who are knight-types for its decisions to become legally valid. Usually the town burghers only approve guilds for those occupations likely to support the status quo, such as Goldsmiths, and not, say, day laborers.

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