The Guilds

The guilds dominate Sharoban's mercantile life. Since the earliest days of the city, proper, there has been an underlying assumption that guilds exist to help regulate trade, mostly by stopping anyone who is not a guild member from trading; often violently. Whilst they do not have oblique political power their influence over the economy means that they are listened to. They are permitted to have their own heraldry, seals and holidays, though these usually coincide with the city's general holidays.

For the young people seeking a trade the guilds are where their start begins and ends. Most children are expected to begin work between the ages of seven and ten and most will end up as apprentices in one of the guilds. Their first contact comes from the quarterly hiring fairs. These are huge events where the guilds advertise what positions they have. Other apprentices come from other routes, children entering the family business or being taken on as a private arrangement with a friend. But the bulk of apprentices do have to run the gauntlet of the hiring fair. For the would be apprentices' part this involves approaching the guild masters and journeymen and making a case for being hired. It usually involves being inspected, tested and sometimes even having the condition of teeth, eyes and hair checked, and many apprentices find the process a humiliating one.

If they are accepted apprentices will work for seven years initially doing the most menial tasks from cleaning, fetching and carrying and performing minor inventory duties before progressing onto more responsibilities. It usually takes three years before they are permitted to even take on minor work and that will usually be the construction of the most basic pieces. After seven years they will be tested to see if they can be trusted to produce good work. If they pass this test they progress to being journeymen and can travel or seek positions with other artisans. They are usually encouraged to visit the House of Fools and master other skills before leaving; a dead journeyman is no use to the guild at all and most master are happy to pay for basic defence training for their proteges.

Becoming a master takes a long time and is a long, arduous path which most artisans never complete. Those people who go on to become masters are driven, canny or have so much money the guild cannot see a good reason not to grant them master status. Masters are split across two different styles, some are so focused on their craft that their journeymen must do all their administration, whilst the other school of master is the opposite, the business side is important and their subordinates do the work. Masters are expected to take part in the public life of the city including the various banquets and high holidays where they parade in their finery for the full day.

The biggest guilds in Sharoban are the Smiths, Tanners, Bakers and Dyers but they are far from the only ones. Every trade operates some sort of guild even if there is only one artisan of the trade in the city. Every guild has its own culture and traditions; apprentices may look back on the humiliations of the hiring fair with fondness in comparison to the first few weeks at work. There will always be a period of hazing and apprentices are sworn to keep the guild's secrets and follow the Artisan's Law.

There is a great deal of variation in the way that the guilds in Sharoban conduct these matters. The Illustrious Brotherhood of Bakers for instance, prepares a small poppet of the apprentice and during their induction to the mysteries of the oven the apprentice must bake the poppet to show their commitment to the guild. The Dyers guild in contrast marks their new blood by painting their hands with Sharoban Blue dye (and there are rumours that the Dyers' hazing can be truly horrific). All the guilds take the issue of secrecy seriously and infractions are punished swiftly. This usually takes the form of a whipping in front of the other apprentices and journeymen, but someone who is a true blabbermouth will be ejected from the guild with their tools broken.

Next we'll turn our attention to crime, and the threats that lie within the city.