Mercenary Guild

Ostensibly under the command of the Mages, the Mercenary Guild serves as the only standing army allowed within the lands controlled or influenced by the various City-States. The Guild was chartered to protect the process of trade (including caravans and barges), keep the trade routes clear and safe, and to prevent military conflict between the City-States by removing the need for each of them to keep their own armies. Over time the Guild has evolved and gained additional duties; among these are guarding the Titan Wall, exploring the outer edges of the City-States' territories, and providing physical protection to Mages and high-ranking City-State nobles/officers.

Guild Membership

The Mercenary Guild is looked upon as both a degrading and honorable service, depending on one's point of view. Nobles look down upon the mercenaries as mere bodyguards and sell-swords, worthwhile as protection but not worth a second thought outside of that. Traders view the mercenaries as a worthwhile and necessary evil: the taxes levied upon trade pay the wages of the soldiers, but the soldiers also keep their goods safe from bandits and monsters on the long treks between cities or in from the mines. Craftsmen look at the mercenaries as equals, viewing those carrying the shield as simply making their living in the world through hard, tough work. Finally, the common laborers have the most glamorous view of the Mercenary Guild: to a farmer or cart-pusher, the Guild represents an opportunity to escape their low station in life. The guild would let them see lands beyond their own patch of dirt, to earn a solid wage without a landlord taking half of it away, and to maybe, just maybe... become a hero.
All of these views are valid in some way, yet all are simplifications of an enormous organization. The Mercenary Guild is the largest single employer within the region; while there might be more carpenters than soldiers, they all work for different people. The upkeep of the Guild's soldiers, equipment, and facilities is responsible for the unified taxation system imposed upon the City-States by the Lasair Compact, and they receive the largest share of the taxes collected. While many merchants may complain about the “ruinous expenses” that they must pay, almost all of them realize that the standardized coinage established in the Compact benefits them all, and that they would be even more imposed upon if they had to pay taxes to each individual city in which they did business.
The individual soldiers are paid somewhat lower than an average crafstman; in fact their annual pay isn't that much more than a lowly farmer might make on his yearly crops. However, guild soldiers are exempt from paying taxes on their purchases. While this might open them up to corruption, i.e. serving as a way for people to get around paying their own taxes, the guild laws are extremely strict on this count. In addition, a Guild soldier has all of their basic needs taken care of, whether housing, food, clothing, and transportation. A soldier needs to spend zero money as part of their duty, and a canny guildsman that saves well can retire with a significant amount of gold - especially considering the bonuses that are granted to all soldiers for five, ten and twenty years of service). More than one soldier has retired from the Mercenary Guild and founded a business or bought his way into nobility.

Guild Holdings

The Guild's primary headquarters is Guildhall, near the Titan Wall's mountain end. This garrison-fortress is the largest single barracks belonging to the guild, serving as a training center for new recruits, artillery support for the wall's defenses, and an honorable place for senior guild members to serve their last few years of service training the future of the guild.
In addition to Guildhall, the Guild maintains a small barracks outside every city in the region over a certain size as well as at a central location in each of the major trade production areas (such as the remote lumber towns south of Altor). Registered trade companies and caravans can pay a small fee at one of these barracks and receive a guild guard to their destination (the fee is determined by the distance traveled and the size of guard required).
The guild also maintains ownership of a few blacksmithing foundries for their mass-produced weapons, though they still generally pay more skilled smiths for higher-quality weapons (such as those provided to senior enlisted soldiers).