GUILD OPERATION membership is debated and the n put through t he process of referendum at meetings. Whether it’s electing new officers , changing t he bylaws, or deciding whethe r or not to voice a collective opinion o n a matter of the day. Meetings also serve as venue for introducing new membe rs and initiating them into the brotherhood. Some guilds have more elaborate initiation rituals t han others. It can involve nothing more than presenting the new member, announcing, “We welcome Taka Markavian into th e brotherhood of the Silk Sellers”and basking in the a chorus of “Hear, hear ” Or it can require swearing a complex oath to the guild, or performing arcane rituals. Some evil g uilds require even darker practices, requiring self-mutilation or worse. The same goes for rituals of expulsion, when a guild membership. Psycho logica lly, regular mee of collective identity among gives them a ritual feeling, and col membership stresses to each member t a group whose strength and than their particular aims a guild meetings are not usually open to except by invitation. Allowing outsid meetings indiscriminately w lectiv e solida rity that the me they have to go to meetings all the time. Arcane spellcasters and scholars prefer to spend the bulk of their time alone, engaged in study, and bringin g them together too often seems a bother to them. Guilds, of course, can always call ad hoc meetings in ti me of emergency. Emergency meetings not only communicate important news to the membership quickly and efficiently, but they also have the psych ologi- cal effect of rallying members to meet whatever crisis is upon them. RE RUITMENT Wit h the general exception of Inte rest Guilds, guilds are exclusive organizations by nature. Each Class, Craft or Professi on Guild only represents a small segment of the population, defined by a set of skills or an activity pu rsued rofession. Therefore, not just anyone can join, nor they. But the degree of exclusivity that a guild s varies across a wide range of possibilities. uilds mostly rely on pure numbers for st rength, doesn’t serve them well to turn away new mem- ess they’re obviously unsuitable. Someone who There are als o meetings at which only a sm of guildsmen are welcome. Guild officers me own, out of earshot of the general membership, to discus s their guilds affairs. Very often, they feel it important to discuss sensitive matters amongst themselves before airing them before the general membership, so that they ma y establish consensus within the ir own limited ranks. Also in large guilds the process of administering their affairs is so cumbersome that they require small commit- tees to oversee particular areas of governance. Such a guild needs a handful of members to meet on a regular bas is just to review its finances, or tr ack projects meant to improv e its standing within the community, or discipline wayward members. The frequency with which guilds meet varies according to their needs and circumstances. It’ s just practical for a guild to meet often if its member ship is spread out across the countryside or their business requires that they spend a lot of time abroad. Other guilds just might not need to meet that frequently. Small, dying and inactive guilds probably find little excuse to bring their membership together, if they take an honest look at the state of their organization. Members of Class Guilds might go about their activities with considerable autonomy, their guilds being unable or unwilling to enforce a strong sense of unity amongst them. Rangers (who could also form a Profess ion Guild as trackers), for one, prefer to spend a lot of time o n their own, and actually feel constrained if or whose alignment runs too ominant alignment of the guild, d to turn him away. But in believe that every new member ronic decline may wish exclusive as a sal ve to thei r cannot afford to turn away ity guilds that have lost ave little influence in public affairs. Guilds in remotely populated areas have trouble finding enough members to justify their exis- tence and probably wo n’t be too choosy about whom they take in. The same goes for disgraced guilds and guilds in trades for which there is little demand in their local area (such as shipbuilders in a port that is no longer a great center of trade). Such guilds are beggars who cannot afford to be choosers, although they would like to pretend otherwise. If they are honest with themselves about their estate, they will recruit new members as aggressively as the most fervent Interest Guild. At the other end of th e spectrum, there are guilds that are so closed that they seek out those whom they want to apply for membership, otherwise making themselves completely unapproachable. Some guilds (thieves guilds in particular) operate under conditions of secrecy and need to screen new members carefully before allowing them to join. The same ho lds tru e for otherwise legitimate
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