Mage's Guild
Perhaps the most powerful guild on the continent, the guild oversees anything to do with academia and magic. Through a variety of methods they have maintained their control over these sectors for over a millennium.
Structure
The ranks of the guild are a difficult thing to pin down, one must almost have a degree to even make sense of it. First there is a divide, there are Magic ranks and Academic ranks. Ones place in the guild and their appropriate power and respect commanded is derived from these two ranks and how they intersect. Often times a member will maintain a rank relatively equal in both sectors, but there are many exceptions and it becomes confusing quickly. To add to the confusion each school of magic is subject to its own ranking system meaning one person may have upwards of 5 ranks.
Another wrinkle is on the academic side some ranks have multiple tiers and specializations that have differing purposes and connotations. For example In the title of Professor is also Research Professor, Associate Research Professor, you get the point, and each of these is higher than the previous ranks. You can see why hierarchy in the guild can be rather confusing.
To make matters worse there are ranks and titles that exist outside of this framework, however they typically have very specific functions within the guild. For example the Silver Knights, the military arm of the guild has its own rank system and specified jobs and each interact with the hierarchy in subtle ways.
At the top of all this bureaucratic fluff sits the Guildmaster Quistis Vandran who rules the guild along with her council of Archon Medetova, Chancellor Tueke, and Grand Marshal Zhao.
Another wrinkle is on the academic side some ranks have multiple tiers and specializations that have differing purposes and connotations. For example In the title of Professor is also Research Professor, Associate Research Professor, you get the point, and each of these is higher than the previous ranks. You can see why hierarchy in the guild can be rather confusing.
Magic Ranks
- Archon
- Arch Mage
- High Mage
- Magus
- Magian
- Magician
- Grandmaster Arcanist
- Master Arcanist
- High Arcanist
- Arcanist
- Spellmaster
- Spellbinder
- Adept
- Acolyte
- Neonate
Academic Ranks
- Chancellor
- Vice Chancellor
- Warden
- Decon
- Provost
- Associate Provost
- Assistant Provost
- Senior Lecturer
- Lecturer
- Senior Professor
- Professor
- Associate Professor
- Assistant Professor
- Adjunct Professor
- Instructor
- Master
- Graduate
- Student
To make matters worse there are ranks and titles that exist outside of this framework, however they typically have very specific functions within the guild. For example the Silver Knights, the military arm of the guild has its own rank system and specified jobs and each interact with the hierarchy in subtle ways.
At the top of all this bureaucratic fluff sits the Guildmaster Quistis Vandran who rules the guild along with her council of Archon Medetova, Chancellor Tueke, and Grand Marshal Zhao.
Assets
The guild maintains campuses, colleges, and offices in nearly every country on the continent, the most impressive of which is the Ishbala Arcanum in Maris.
Foreign Relations
As it is important for the guild to maintain healthy relationships to keep its doors open many of its relationships with foreign entities are positive with a few notable exceptions of indifference or hostility.
Arveian Alliance
The most thriving of the guilds relationships and the only other place on the continent to have an arcanum other than the guild headquarters in Bevelle. With Maris' size and needs the guild in contracted to perform many services ranging from augmenting the guard to infrastructure work. And of course the Ishbalan Arcanum is one of the most sought after colleges in the world.United Houses of Chandria
A tumultuous if not outright hostile relationship. Many of the gnome houses do not like being told what they can and cannot do with their magic and see no need to police it. They take any communique from the guild as hostile typically.Nuraeven Kingdom
Not a hostile relationship but only just. The guild with its thirst for knowledge has entreated the monarchy many times to open up relations, and each time the answer has been a very succint "No".Education
Perhaps the thing that the guild is most known for are its centers of learning. It is an incredibly prestigious thing to have a Mage's Guild college in your city, and many leaders will negotiate and attempt to sway the guild in their favor so as to become the next location of a college. These colleges carry with them an extremely high reputation as nearly every well known scholar, philosopher, and mage in the last millennium has come from one of these colleges. These colleges are also home to incredibly vast collections of books and are the only thing that resembles a library.
As for teaching, the guild keeps tight control over who can teach and what they can teach. This control manifests itself as licentia docendi, or colloquially called a license to teach. The licenses are hard to get and can only be bestowed by a High Mage meaning that it is a competitive field with relatively few openings. Teachers are paid well and are often given a degree of control of the college they reside in which means that the colleges build much of their reputation from its teachers.
As for teaching, the guild keeps tight control over who can teach and what they can teach. This control manifests itself as licentia docendi, or colloquially called a license to teach. The licenses are hard to get and can only be bestowed by a High Mage meaning that it is a competitive field with relatively few openings. Teachers are paid well and are often given a degree of control of the college they reside in which means that the colleges build much of their reputation from its teachers.
Infrastructure
With knowledge and wealth at their disposal many infrastructure projects across the continent are undergone by the Mage's Guild who design and build these systems for countries, cities, and towns. A few of the systems they've constructed are sewage systems, aqueducts, lighting, defenses, and urban planning. Knowledge of how these systems work and in fact the upkeep and maintenance is all kept as guild secrets with only certified guild members able to attend to them. This has created a status quo in which the guild has ingratiated itself to the countries and in turn has become irreplaceable.
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