Sealers

The Sealers' Guild is made up of legal experts whose profession is the creation and validation of contracts. Most Sealers are based in Alanor, though some make regular excursions to other areas within the City-States Region.

Sealers

A Sealer is an individual that has become highly trained in the use of language to very precisely specify the terms of a contract, including the details of the agreement being made and the primary penalties for breaking such terms. To become a full Sealer (meaning one that has earned their sealing tool), an individual must spend several years of study and apprenticing to become well-versed in the techniques and specifics of creating contract language.
In the City-States, while laws are intentionally made a little bit vague to provide authorities some leeway in enforcement, contracts are expected to be extremely specific, sometimes overly so. The most cynical would suggest that this is because the wealthy make laws to keep the poor under their thumbs and have no problems with vagueness there, while contracts are usually made between wealthy individuals and thus require much more specific language to protect both parties. In practice it is mostly that laws are made by specific cities and what governments exist can't really be bothered to go into much detail beyond "don't do this".

Contracts

A binding contract, to be accepted in all cities, must bear the embossed mark of a Sealer. This seal verifies that the contract has had its wording looked over and approved by a Sealer, and meets the standards defined by the guild. When a contract has been approved, the Sealer uses an embossing tool (one is issued to a Sealer upon joining the guild) to create a raised "stamp" on each copy of the contract (at least three are required by guild law). He then signs his name to the seal, as well as giving the seal a number. The number will be the same as that stamped on (at least) three copper coins, produced by a special mint within the Alanor tower complex. One coin will be kept by the Sealer along with a copy of the contract; the others will be given to those party to the contract along with a copy.
The Sealer will take his copy back to the Tower, where he will present the contract and the coin to a clerk. The contract will be filed according to its number, and will possibly never been seen by mortal eyes again as it is gradually shuffled deeper and deeper into the tower's storage. Should a dispute regarding the contract arise, however (e.g. if one of the parties decides that the other has defaulted and wishes reparations) the contract can be retrieved by presenting a coin with its matching number.
In this way, only those who are party to a contract (or who have been granted permission by such persons) may actually view the contract stored within the tower. This guarantees the privacy of those involved, while allowing for those making judgment to view the contract as it was written down (as the other copies could be lost or modified). Most cities will require that anyone seeking reparations for a violated contract to present their coin to the authority they are appealing to.

Sealers and the Mages

While not strictly in competition with one another, Mages never use the Sealers' services: they instead create their own form of contract. A mage-pact is a magically binding agreement entered into between a mage and a non-mage, usually for services rendered or to establish a noble as an apprentice to a master. Mage-pacts don't require much in the way of specific language (and are often no more than a few sentences long) but are kept by the mage and embedded with command words that contain power over the other party to the pact. Breaking the agreement with the mage can often lead to interesting effects being placed upon the unfortunate interloper.