THE GUILDS

Tentative Guild Establishment

This is a brief account of which guild were established first and the reason why they were founded in the first place. The Miners, Smiths, and Healers Guilds were established long before Kreysthahlia Tree was founded and established. In fact, they were founded when the colonists landed in Sotan and started building their Cave Houses. The Miners Guild was established because they were the experts in mining or at least in digging out the dirt to build their dens. The Smiths Guild was established in conjunction with the Miners for the Smiths were the ones who made repairs on the miners' equipment. Of course, mining is not done without any mishaps here and there which is why the Healers Guild was established to deal with any unforseen incidents during the mining operation. These three were the first three guilds founded and established by the people of Kreysthahl.

Then, the horrible time of Rain came unexpectedly and the people had to relocated to a new safe haven. It was decided that they leave Sotan altogether and relocated to Noran. There was another continent on the planet but... it was much further than Noran and since the people was pressed for time, Noran was chosen for their new home. In addition, it was noted that certain trees were immune to the burning Ribbons that fell from the sky and the decision to make such trees as their new homes was voted upon. And so, with the Shower just starting to fall incessantly, the woodworkers were given sole responsiblity in building the homes in Noran for the people who were still waiting in Sotan. This constituted in the establishment of a fourth guild called the Woodworkers Guild. However, working in Noran unprotected proved to be fatal for there were wild cats about the place and so, the foundation and development of the fifth guild called the Guardians Guild was established. At first, their purpose was to guard the lives of the woodworkers working on the trees. However, as time passed, these Guardians then expanded to guard and protect the people of Kreysthahl from harm. Still, time kept passing by until Guardians now guard and protect those who have either brought their services or those who they have sworn to protect and serve for all their life.

The Miners are those who delve deeply into Kreysthahl's depths to supply Den, Tree, and Guild. Without the Miners, there would be no gems and other precious stones for Jewel Smiths... none of the all important Fire Rock used to fuel flamethrowers... and let’s not forget the Ice Crystal which has become the main ingredient in making iceblowers...

Name: Miners Guild

Current Guild Master: Guild Master Miner OPEN

Colors: Charcoal Black

Device:

Purpose: In Crystal Branch itself, the mines produce Fire Rock, Ice Crystal, coal, and various crystals like quarts, amethyst, sapphires, all of which are handy to the much-respected Miners Guild. As of this time, there are as few as half a dozen guilds within Kreysthahlia Tree. But, soon there will be many minor guilds all over Kreysthahl. The skill of the Guild Master Miner must extend not only to the excavation and shaping of minerals, but also to the knowledge of ecology of the land. The Miners Guild is considered to be solid, honest, and reliable, as well as discreet.

The Miners Guild hand in hand with the Smiths Guild, for whom it digs ore and minerals in exchange for new and more efficient tools. Their functions frequently dovetail. Not only must the Guild Master Miner be premier in his Craft, but he must also be able to coordinate with the Guild Master Smith. In effect, they are two halves of the same whole. The smith refines ore and puts it to its final uses. There are a number of mines all over Kreysthahlia Tree, and the Guild Master Miner is in charge of them all.

He has in his service, a huge number of Harper Journeymen and Journeywomen, who act as the communication system between him and his Master-miners. With the Harpers Guild's aid, he keeps in close touch with what is happening in the world, both specific to his craft and of general interest. The Guild Master Miner occasionally makes use of Dragonlings as messengers, but he also uses the little dragon cousins in the mines for killing Burrowers and detecting gas leaks.

Main Guild Location: Crystal Branch (Three Seams)

Minor Guilds: Kreysthahlia Tree (Two Seams), Teran Stem (One Seam)

Beholden to: Kreysthahlia Den

The Smiths are in charge of creating new technologies every day in order to simplify life on Kreysthahl, but more than that, they aid the Den as well. Flamethrowers and Iceblowers, for example, were a Smith innovation that gave the Queens the chance to fight Ribbon.

Name: Smiths Guild

Current Guild Master: Guild Master Smith OPEN

Colors: Silver

Device:

Purpose: The Smiths Guild and the Miners Guild work closely together. One supplies raw materials while the other supplies the tools with which the first can do its job.

The Guild was set up, north of what came to be Jewel Branch, because of its proximity to the necessary ore and raw materials and to the Jewel River, which flows swiftly and deep down from the Crystal Mountain Range all the way to the Endless Sea. The earliest smiths set water-driven wheels in Jewel Branch to run their machinery. The great wheeled barges follow Jewel’s riverbank from the mines west of the Branch and continue their runs taking refined materials and finished goods down to the sea-side Branch, Gem Branch.

The Smiths Guild embraces a number of occupations. The masons who construct a building may come from the Miners Guild, but the stress analysis of the stone and foundation are done by the Smiths Guild. Some Masters concentrate on making tools and doing practical metalwork. The Guild makes cooking vessels of all sizes, some with a nonstick coating to ease cleanup. Other Master Jewelsmiths do fancy metal crafting, such as casting jewelry.

The Glassmiths Guild and Woodsmiths Guild is an offshoot of the Smiths Guild, each in its own building in the complex. Journeymen Smiths interested in the Glasssmiths Guild will be immersed in work from ceramics to lead crystal to porcelain. This branch practices glassblowing that ranges in complexity from flasks to bottles to windowpanes to lenses for reading glasses.

Woodsmiths Guild begin with whittling and go on to working with chisel and saw, creating furniture, toys, jewelry, and wooden slates as one of the means of recording history. Smiths who have a knack for chemistry formulate stains, dyes, varnishes, and cleaning compounds in their own building, which is as far remove from the others. (Among the other compounds they create are explosives.) In these disciplines, the Apprentices spend a great deal of their time washing pots and retorts, sifting sand, and sweeping.

A Smiths Guild Apprenticeship is one of the longest, but at its end, the graduate Journeyman is a practicing member of one of the most respected Guilds on Kreysthahl.

Main Guild Location: Jewel Branch

Minor Guilds: Crystal Branch

Beholden to: Kreysthahlia Tree

The Healers are the men and women who have dedicated their lives to savings those of others. Whether Ribbon-seared or feverish with summer fever, the Healers are the ones you can look to for aid.

Name: Healers Guild

Current Guild Master: Guild Master Healer OPEN

Colors: Red

Device:

Purpose: The Healers Guild is one of the oldest Guilds on Kreysthahl. The colonists brought with them many different medical specialists, and medicine was one of the first programs for which they started apprenticing boys and girls. Once the children had the basic training in first aid, those who showed particular aptitude were encouraged to go on to further study.

Children and adults had to learn what plants and which animal bites or scratches were toxic on their new world. The ships brought many medicinal plants from Earth, which the colonists were able to adapt to Kreysthahlian soil. All the seasoning herbs and spices from the two worlds grew in the soil or in hydroponics tanks. Native herbs and shrubs underwent thorough tests to determine their uses in healing or cookery. Some discoveries were made by accident, such as that of nopil.

The Healers Guild doesn't have the technology to sustain defective humans. After three generations, the bacteria on Kreysthahl’s air have bred clean the race of most defects. The humans may have mutated somewhat over the Cycles. Kreysthahlian humans live long lives and are still active in their eighth decade. Most of their ailments are a result of their environment.

The Healers Guild is watched over by the Guild Master Healer. Under him are Masters of the different disciplines of healing, whose specialties and ranks can be read by the rank cords on their shoulders. The Guild Master Healer also oversees stewards who take care of stocking supplies, keeping the Guild clean, and preparing food. Another of his assistants is the Nursing Master, a nurse with teaching skill and administrative ability. There are doctors and nurses and apprentices of diagnostics, pediatrics, geriatrics, obstetrics, urology, pharmacy, dentistry, surgery, and respiratory ailments. Gifted Master-healers become specialists in one of these facets of the craft. Some remain at the Guild to teach; others find posts where such a specialty is needed. Each Den has at least one urologist and a surgeon.

Main Guild Location: Kreysthahlia Tree

Minor Guilds: Gem Branch

Beholden to: Kreysthahlia Den

The woodworkers of Kreysthahl ...

Name: Woodworkers Guild

Current Guild Master: Guild Master Woodworker OPEN

Colors: Brown

Device:

Purpose: ???

Main Guild Location: Kreysthahlia Tree

Minor Guilds: Crystal Branch, Jewel Branch, Gem Branch

Beholden to: Kreysthahlia Den

The Guardians of Kreysthahl

Name: Guardians Guild

Current Guild Master: Guild Master Guardian OPEN

Colors: White

Device:

Purpose: The Guardians Guild was first created to protect the Woodworkers Guild, but eventually grew to protect all of Noran. The Guardians Guild depends heavily on the Healers Guild, of course.

The Guardians Guild is responsible for the safety of the inhabitants of any den, tree, and even other guilds. The guild uses various weapons ranging from swords, axes, daggers, and spears, to staves, clubs, flails, and war hammers, to bows, crossbows, and slings. Mostly, members of the Guardians Guild wear leather and chain mail, lacking the need for any of the heavier armor.

Training in this guild is rigorous and requires extreme conditioning. Because of this, it tends to lack women members. However, the women that do complete their training tend to fill positions that require the most leadership skills. In order to graduate, apprentices must complete a tough and dangerous training exercise in the woods of Noran. Once a full member of the Guardians Guild, a former apprentice is assigned the duty of scouting the outskirts of inhabited areas. This gives them experience without risking inexperience on the more important jobs.

The Guardians Guild has various jobs, beside the one of protecting its people. Its members will often be used as escorts during travel, mostly for ranking officials. There are some who believe that this particular guild has become more for looks, than effectiveness. However, the veteran guild members think of this as a sign that they are doing their job well.

The Guardians Guild is one of the longest apprenticeships. This is because the guild prefers to allow as little room for error as possible. Their job is to protect lives without the pointless risk of inexperience.

Credited to Onichan a.k.a. Ceryll.

Main Guild Location: Kreysthahlia Tree

Minor Guilds: Crystal Branch, Jewel Branch, Gem Branch

Beholden to: Kreysthahlia Den

Planters are the ones who developed new growing practices to raise the quality of Kreysthahl's vegetable supply. They are experts on soils and plants.

Name: Planters Guild

Current Guild Master: Guild Master Planter OPEN

Colors: Red

Device: ??

Purpose: Like the Beastmasters Guild, Tanners Guild, Weavers Guild, and Cooks Guild, the Farmers Guild is the science for the average farmer. It provides the Tree Folk with the fruit of Turns of experience and the results of experiments to which the Tree Folk does not have to sacrifice precious dragonlengths of land.

The Farmers Guild is aware of the uses of cross-pollination to produce larger and healthier root vegetables, sweeter greenroots, or bigger tubers, and it understands the need for fertilization to keep the soil from becoming exhausted. The Guild Master Farmer himself takes on the task of negotiating with Gem Branch fishermen for fish heads and bones to enrich the soil. His Journeymen travel through the farmlands advising small Stems on matters of healthy soil, suggesting where to plant what for superior yield, and acting as arbiters on when to plant certain crops. Tree Folk from Stems often refuse, as a matter of pride, to follow the journeymen's directions, but eventually common sense wins out. One problem that has never been solved is the difficulty the Tree folk have with propagating broad roots.

Main Guild Location: Jewel Branch

Minor Guilds: Crystal Branch

Beholden to: Kreysthahlia Tree

Name: Herders Guild

Current Guild Master: Guild Master Herder OPEN

Colors: Yellow

Device:

Purpose: The Guild Master Herder, who is usually a skilled veterinarian, covers all breed propagation. His Guild is in charge of the care of stud beasts and breeding dams, and keeping track of the best bloodlines. His goal is to breed stronger animals suitable to their uses and locations. Mountain bleaters and moohs are different from the type best off in fields and plains. He and his crafters keep stud beasts of each variety to breed stronger crosses in Trees that find their breeds are weakening.

Artificial insemination has survived as a skill from the earliest days of animal husbandry. The present-day Master Herders do not know the source of their knowledge, but the process works and continues to work, so they continue to employ it. During the First Shower, the veterinarians used embryo transplant as well, but those techniques are long lost.

The Herders Guild has nothing to do with Dragons or Dragonlings. Generally, a Dragon Healer from the Den, cares for one of these when need arises.

The Herders are involved mainly with the study of the animals that once came from Earth: runnerbeasts, moohs, llamas, porcines, caprines, bleaters, and canines. They also look after avians, domestic wherries, and the rare chickens and geese, improving egg yield and size of roasting fowl. Some journeymen make a particular study of tunnel snakes, not as they do of breeding stock, but more as an investigation of their habits so that Tree folk may more easily rid themselves of these destructive and dangerous pests.

Main Guild Location: Jewel Branch

Minor Guilds: Crystal Branch

Beholden to: Kreysthahlia Tree

The Harpers of Kreysthahl...teachers, judges, and smooth-talkers, these men and women are a group to be well respected. Manipulators when they need to be, the Harpers can leave you feeling as if you should agree with everything they say....

Name: Harpers Guild

Current Guild Master: Master Harper OPEN

Colors: Gold

Device:

Purpose: The harpers began as the teachers who gave children their basic instruction before sending them on to other assignments for which they showed aptitude, and as the musicians who entertained the Tree, Branch, and Stems in the evenings after the day's work. Gradually the Guild evolved in a similar direction to the druidic tradition on ancient Earth: prognosticator, judge, and bard.

The Harpers Guilds purpose is the dissemination of information. The network of Journeymen and Masters across Kreysthahl keeps all the Trees, Guilds, and Dens in touch with one another. Musically skilled people can begin their Apprenticeships in minor Guilds, though the Harpers Guild does not recruit outside students for its information-gathering service. The Guild Master Harper and Master Harpers prefer to study likely candidates at close range. A single misplaced or indiscreet message can badly damage the Guild's credibility as an unbiased judge.

A Harper negotiates his own contract with the Tree Folk seeking to employ him. He may choose privileges rather than Chits, or a combination of perquisites and money, such as a few Chits, a runnerbeast, a choice apartment, and certain foods. Haggling for services can go just as smartly as any chaffer at a Gather. If a Harper is permanently assigned to a post, he is expected to settle down and marry a local woman. If he is temporary, he will probably make himself popular with the ladies, not limiting his attentions to a single one who will be brokenhearted when he leaves. One of his duties is to help arrange marriages for young men and women both inside and outside the Tree or Branch.

Main Guild Location: Kreysthahlia Tree

Minor Guilds: Crystal Branch, Jewel Branch, Gem Branch

Beholden to: Kreysthahlia Den

Name: Fishers Guild

Current Guild Master: Guild Master Fisher OPEN

Colors: Blue

Device:

Purpose: This Jewel-based Guild comprises several specialties under the tutelage of the Guild Master Fisher. Under the Guild Master Fisher there are Master Captains and Master Fishers; and under them are the Captains, who rate their Journeyman Seamen according to tradition: seaman able-bodied, second mate, first mate. Apprentices act as cabin boys and lure tiers.

Shipbuilding includes construction and maintenance of boats, improvements on lines and sheets, and learning to choose materials for sails. Seamanship also involves basic navigation, understanding of the wind and sea currents, and the study of individual coastlines, underwater reefs, and navigable rivers. Journeymen are taught to make maps of the generally accepted trade routes and the locations of the moorings best sheltered from the wind. Chart making is a precise craft, and only those who have fair hands as copyists are trusted to make charts, since many men's lives will depend on them.

Very accurate charts have been handed down to the Fishers Guild from their remote ancestors. Modern seamen have ceased to wonder how the Archive charts of the coastal waters are so incredibly accurate and detailed, and are just grateful that they are so. The knowledge that these are original fax pictures taken by the atmospheric probes has been lost since technological knowledge has been stripped from the people’s education. All that an Apprentice today knows is that he had better copy those charts correctly. Any sea Captain will want to have charts with him of his own copying, and keeps archives of sailing dates and cargo carried on board his ship.

It is easy to learn the basics of fishing. Apprentices start off tying lures, coiling ropes, scrubbing and polishing ship's wood and brass, and repairing nets. The journeymen do most of the actual work of fishing aboard a boat. They set the nets and haul in the catch, and both journeymen and their apprentices have the messy job of cleaning the fish. A Master Fisher knows how to judge where and when a good run of fish will appear, and will captain a crew to go and bring in the catch. All year round the women, children, and apprentices dry fish to store for use over the long, cold winter.

The personality of each man working on a ship needs to dovetail as well with his mates' as his skill does, for the crew that builds a ship usually sails her as well. This way, the crew know the ship, every ring, spar, and board of her, before she hits the water, saving precious sevendays that would otherwise be spent learning the vessel and her quirks. Their own lives thus depend upon their own work.

Main Guild Location: Jewel Branch

Minor Guilds: Crystal Branch

Beholden to: Kreysthahlia Tree

Weavers are the ones ...

Name: Weavers Guild

Current Guild Master: Guild Master Weaver OPEN

Colors: Teal

Device: ??

Purpose: ??

Main Guild Location: Kreystahlia Tree

Minor Guilds: ??

Beholden to: Kreysthahlia Den

The Tanners create the hides on which the people of Kreysthahl write their thoughts. Not only that, however, but they also make skins, rugs, and the like.

Name: Tanners Guild

Current Guild Master: Guild Master Tanner OPEN

Colors: Tan

Device: ??

Purpose: The Main Guild teaches the basics of tannery to any interested student; in fact, the Tanners Guild has one of the most active Craft school for Non-apprentices, since the needs and applications for cured hides are many. Most people have some knowledge of the basics, whether they learn them here or from the tanners back in their home Tree.

Apprentices cure all the hides they can in their own Trees. Salt is used for curing when it is available. Curing done with creatures' brains produce glove-soft leather that is much prized for garments. The Guild Hall is well downwind of the Tree, protecting the population from the natural effluence of smells that accompany the preservation of hides. Hanging from the rafters and beams are sheaves of drying thongs, and stretching racks hang or are propped against any unoccupied surface. Because of the noxious air, the shutters of the many windows are flung wide most of the time. The stone floors are swept and scrubbed regularly, but scraps of leather and scattered drops of cure or dye are constantly underfoot.

The more sure-handed apprentices are expected to re-grind knives and tools to the customary razor-edged sharpness as part of their duties. Every tanner's hands are covered with cuts and blots—the marks of his profession. The Guild Master Tanner's own hands are a rainbow of dyes.

Every major Tree, Branch, or Stem has a tanner-trained cobbler working full-time. He keeps lists of everyone important to make shoes or boots in their size. The Den has at least one tanner or hide specialist whose job it is to produce the leathers needed for riding gear.

The Guild Master Tanner is really not as important as many of the other Guild Masters. Like Cooking, Winecraft, and Masonry, Tannery is considered a Tree craft. The rougher work, such as the fashioning of harness, riding garments, and furniture covering, is easily learned and passed on. To maintain Tree prestige, the Guild Master Tanner has reserved as craft secrets some special processes and chemicals, techniques, and compounds to make finer leathers, such as glove and boot leather. He personally oversees the continuation of some Ancient techniques, which he keeps very secret. He considers it good business to have as barter-fit goods or services for trade some things that only the Tannercraft can provide.

Main Guild Location: Kreysthahlia Tree

Minor Guilds: ??

Beholden to: Kreysthahlia Den