8.99 WHAT WERE GUILDS?

Guilds were once the major adventurer-run organisations in Achaea, aside from
cities. The Age of Guilds has passed, and they exist no longer in Achaea. Each
guild has transformed into a House. (See: HELP HOUSES.)

It was on the 3rd of Valnuary, 394 years after the fall of the Seleucarian
Empire, that the first of the new Houses arrived in Achaea. By the 25th of
Daedalan, five years later, the last of the guilds converted into a House,
heralding the end of the guild era througout Sapience and the beginning of the
Age of Houses.

Differing in name and motive from one to the other, these powerful
organisations were spearheaded by a single individual known as the Guildmaster.
Each Guildmaster appointed a number of Secretaries, all wielding nearly the
same powers of the Guildmaster. Composed of twenty guildranks altogether,
guilds were possessed only of a single class and were, indeed the only
organisations that could grant class skills to Achaeans. Access to class was
handed down by guild elders upon the satisfactory completion of a series of
novice requirements, and was by no means guaranteed.

Discontent over these archaic methods of access to class brought the time of
the guild to a close. It was decreed that class could be gained outside of
the jurisdiction of guilds. Once guild control of class was at an end, the
single-class organisation of guilds became obsolete. The House system was then
introduced, with the ability to allow in multiple classes, more general powers
dispersed throughout the ranks, and greater formal weight in city politics. One
by one, each guild transformed into a House. Some chose to remain as close to
the ideals of the old guild as possible, while others took this unique
opportunity to take a divergent path in the shaping of their House.

A listing of former guilds and the Houses they became:

Guilds          Houses
-------------------------------------------------
Ashura          The Ashura
Apostates       The Blood Congregation
Arcanists       The Arcane Kindred
Bards           Ty Beirdd
Dawnstriders    The Dawnstriders
Druids          The Ancient Circle of Druids
Jesters         Carnivalis Institute of Jestering
Kharon          The Sect of the Black Lotus
Magi            The Crystalline Circle
Maldaathi       The Maldaathi
Mojushai        The Mojushai
Naga            The Naga
Occultists      The Occultists
Paladins        The Templars
Priests         The Empyreal Assembly
Runewardens     Wardens of the Cerulean Spire
Sentaari        The Sentaari
Sentinels       The Sentinels of Nature
Serpentlords    The Cult of the Serpent Lords
Shadowsnakes    The Shadowsnakes
Shamans         The Spirit Walkers
Sorcerers       Merchants of the Crown
Sylvans         The Sylvanic Fellowship
Tanjinn         The Ebon Fist
Warlocks        Warlocks of the Rising Phoenix