The Guild of Lawyers and Scribes

The Guild of Lawyers and Scribes is the most powerful of all the guilds and unions within the Free City, and its members go to great lengths to maintain this position. The lawyers perform all Judicial and legal functions within the city (senior lawyers within the guild are appointed as magistrates by the Directorship), while the scribes fill all the positions within the extended bureaucracy that translates the Directorship's rulings into action.

The Guild of Lawyers and Scribes further maintains its monopoly position through the exclusive use of the otherwise almost extinct Suloise language in all their proceedings. Unless a defendant speaks and understands Suloise, it would be impossible for him to defend himself within a court of law, and city legal records are similarly incomprehensible.

Guildmaster Sir Anton Palmirian is a member of the Directing Oligarchy and the city's foremost authority on legal affairs. Although a city judge, Sir Anton rarely arbitrates in court, instead spending much of his time advising the Lord Mayor and the Directing Oligarchy on legal matters. With his long white hair and beard, pince-nez, and grandfatherly demeanor, many people naturally suppose him to be a gentle, benevolent old man with the best interests of the populace at heart. In fact, Sir Anton is a cold, calculating and ruthless individual who fiercely defends his position at the head of the city's most powerful guild and uses his considerable influence within city affairs and a liberal interpretation of the word "treason" to further his extensive mercantile interests.