Artificer's Guilds across Faerûn

Membership to the Artificers Guild is a highly coveted prize, and the only route is through apprenticeship with an existing guild member. Of course there are Artificers who aren’t members of the guild but they operate in secret, quietly plying a trade that would see the Guild exact the highest possible punishment - public shaming and full body shaving followed by expulsion from the local area via catapult. Melvaunt is the centre of Artificers Guild activity across Faerûn and home to the two major factions, the ancient Order of the Black Sun and the more modern Red Iron Consortium of Engineers, Metal workers and Machinists, known as RICEM+. There are other groups of course, the Noble Gnomish Nuckling of Nuunun for example but these two control 90% of guild members and their collective tithes.
The divisions between these two groups frequently spill over from friendly competition to outright violence with sabotage of machinery and arson of each other’s workshops commonplace.
The animosity can be traced back to the founding of RICEM+. The Order of the Black Sun is one of the ancient guilds, whose origins are tied up in the centuries dragon rule. However a mere 6 decades ago, a young gnome apprentice named Finley Rice, took exception to the Order’s draconian policies of humans being the only creatures allowed into their upper leadership positions and their banning of the use of black powder. In fact it is rumoured that it was Rice’s love of fireworks and all things explosive that drove the young gnome rather than a sense of injustice. Whatever the true reason, Rice assembled a group of disaffected Artificers, gnomes, dwarves, elves and more, who in a single night, quit the Order taking many guild secrets with them and setting up their own guild.

Type

Guild, Professional