Guilds are professional associations for classes in society. Each of your characters is a member of the sodality of their chosen class, with a guild master and corresponding guild hall.
The term ‘guild’ is often used in reference to the actual guild halls, establishments in cities where each class can learn their skills from doyen masters. Guilds often sell tools of the trade for their particular class, such as musical instruments for bards, holy symbols for knights and clerics, and lockpicks for sneaky thieves.
Most of the guilds have dedicated guild guards to prevent the admittance of outsiders, but cannot be counted on when faced with some of more powerful players of the realm.
In the dangerous, magical past, where fantastic monsters roam the lands, Medieval society is at its height, and religion reigns, the following guilds have formed:
Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Knight, Mage, Monk, Ranger & Thief
After a thousand years of evolution and technological progress, the intelligent inhabitants of the planet fit quite different classifications. Magic and religion have died out, giving way to scientific phenomena and the pursuit of hidden and fleeting energies. These events have formed guilds that reflect the technological, scientific, and philosophical advances of the future realm:
Cyborg, Mercenary, Monk, Physic and Psionicist
The fiercest and most brutal fighters belong to the Barbarian Guild. Known for their incredible strength, dexterity, and constitution, they have very little trouble reducing their enemies to a bloody pulp. Due to their focus on pure power, Barbarians tend to be below assorted rocks and plant life on the intelligence scale, causing some problems with learning new skills. Once a skill is learned, however, a Barbarian exploits it to its fullest.
Gildhalls
Modrian, just north of Mercenary Street, dubbed the Hangout of Horde
Minstrels and wanderers, members of the Bard Guild often live off the charity and misfortunes of others. As natural entertainers, Bards are often seen traveling with parties on missions and quests, keeping spirits high with a love of music and assisting with their multiple talents.
As travelers far and wide, Bards functions best when neutrally aligned in conflicts and spirit. Should their alignment drift towards evil, their protection songs will suffer; Should it drift towards good, so suffer their damaging songs and skills.
The guild has honed their talents through songs and sonic attacks, enabling them to channel the spiritual energies of the universe into verse. Bards must PERFORM their songs with a musical instrument to be effective.
Gildhall
Pious defenders of their tenets of faith, Clerical Orders unite in tradition and battle to support their religious creed. Clerics of both orders call upon their deity for divine spells, focusing their granted power through a holy symbol. Upon reaching level 4, believers are required to bear a symbol of their faith to cast spells. Clerics have two disparate sects, good, and evil.
The Good Cleric Guild worships the goddess Guiharia, the bestower of truth and beauty. With a prohibition against bladed implements of war, these clerics are powerful healers, harnessing goddess’ power greatest during the full moon. Following guild custom, disciples drapes themselves in silver and blue - silver for the divine, blue for the mortal world.
While the holy guild can be found throughout the realm, most can be found in the major cities, spreading the word of Guiharia, battling evil, and healing and retrieving the corpses of the fallen. By far the largest concentration can be found in Modrian, the holy city in the center of Rodinia, and in their skyscraping headquarters just outside the city, the gleaming Silver Tower.
Gildhalls
Specializing in the blackest of arts, a fallen sect of clerics worship Zhel, the god of pain. Due to the nature of their deity, the guild’s clerical powers of healing have been mitigated, yet their skills of death and destruction are heightened during the dark period accompanying the new moon, when Zhel’s influence is greatest.
Dreaded by many, these evil clerics are shunned in the Holy City of Modrian and despised in Guiharian temples. Found mostly in evil temples and the darker parts of the world, these vile clerics are powerful entities whose flowing crimson and gold robes symbolize the spilt blood they revel in, and the divine power they relentlessly seek.
Gildhalls
The Powerful and secretive Mage guild are masters in the manipulation of magic. Guild members of every race are found far and wide across the planet Calidan, grouping in large numbers only in their mighty towers and their magical city, Mavernal. Stemming their power and influence from the great High Tower of Magic, mages are deeply respected for their knowledge of forgotten lore, magical abilities, and influence on the powerful.
This scholarly guild channels the mystical energies of the universe, or mana, through an esoteric procedure called casting. Certain factors may interfere with a caster’s spells, such as encumbrance, distractions, and metallic equipment, causing unpredictable and sometimes dangerous effects.
Led by the Grand Mistress of Magic, the guild has cultivated a secret empire of political control. Having learned from history that all great empires eventually fall, the Magi Order perpetuates their power by staying deceptively in the background of major events, often serving as special advisers to rulers and the influential.
Each major city in the past has a mage tower, acting as an embassy, guild hall, and reminder of the overt influence mages have on society.
Both awed and feared amongst the populations, guild members are often seen wearing long, flowing robes, most notably purple.
Gildhalls
The reclusive guild of monks choose to stand apart from society, though they are known throughout Rodinia for their grace and agility in battle. Retreating into deep meditation at times when others would panic, members derive their power through discipline, self-contemplation, and intuition rather than faith and devotion. Spiritually focused, the monk guild strives for pure neutrality of personal alignment and in their interaction with others.
Monks focus inward through the practice and mastery of hand-to-hand combat. Developing a natural advantage to fighting without wielding a weapon, monks often keep their hold and wield positions free, though some have been seen wearing sharp implements on their hands. With dexterity of the mind and body as their primary strength, monks perform poorly when encumbered, such as when they carry too much or wear bulky armor of metal and stone.
Members of the monk guild can be found wandering throughout Calidan seeking enlightenment. Often solo wearing simple robes and a humbled stance, monks are deeply respected, and can dangerous to trifle with.
Gildhall
Champions of their chosen creed, Knights are powerful religious warriors. Aligning themselves with a paladin demigod–either the benevolent Alron or the wicked Veloth–these militaristic dogmatists bear a holy symbol as a conduit for their religious spells and a mark of their devotion. The magical abilities of a Knight with neutral alignment are far diminished, being an outcast of both Alron and Veloth. Knights of all races, save for the beastly Half-Orc, are found throughout Calidan.
The Paladin guild of Alron’s holy order uphold the highest ideals of chivalry and justice by seeking a greater purpose for their actions and believing honor is accrued through self-sacrifice, compassion, mercy, and faith.
Palidans have a strong sense of loyalty, seeking internal strength in their honor and duty, and divine strength in their demi-god, Alron.
Guild members are found throughout the continent of Rodinia, in the cities, on noble missions, and patrolling the border of Duke Araken’s fiefdom. Many join the elite guard of the Duke, protect the holy city Modrian as esteemed Holy Defenders, or seek personal quests to destroy evil.
Paladins display the jade and silver emblem of Alron: jade for his courage, and silver for the divine. These religious warriors call upon his noble spirit to heal the injured, protect them from evil, and grant courage in battle.
Gildhalls
The unholy guild of Veloth inhabit their demigod’s unrelenting fervor, seeking valor in warfare, strength in aggression, and power through personal gain. Bearing the symbol of the anti-Paladin, these religous warriors are able to call upon Veloth’s menancing spirit to harness aggressive spells to punish their enemies.
Focusing on offense over the preservation of self, the guild’s healing and defensive spells suffer in order to inflict the greatest amount of damage on others.
Crusading against the forces of good and preying on the weak, the guild of Veloth rage across the planet Calidan, leaving death and destruction in their wake. These ferocious religious warriors armor themselves in red and black: red for blood and black for the dark underworld.
Gildhalls
Protectors of the natural world, the Ranger guild is a reclusive fellowship of skilled woodsmen, swordsmen, wanderers, and trackers. Living off the land and maintaining a balance with their environment, these independent brethren have developed keen senses and druidic abilities, able to draw upon the mystical energies surrounding the prime material plane to manifest spells, influence animals, and command weather.
While members of this loose alliance can be found in cities–often on an errand, acting as a guide, or visiting a formal guildhall–Rangers are most at home in the wilderness, roaming far and wide across the hinterland with stealth and good footing.
Rangers pay homage to Selene, the goddess of the Moon and the Wild, and are a favored class amongst the Elves. These wardens of the wild clad themselves in earth tones, natural fibers, and are known to wield two weapons at once with deadly anatomical accuracy.
Gildhalls
Existing alongside society rather than within it, the guild of thieves is a motley crew of rogues, renegades, pickpockets and assassins. Achieving power, wealth and status by their skills and cunning, members of the guild rely on the element of surprise, trickery and stealth to survive.
One of the most controversial guilds in the past, Thieves are often looked upon with great suspicion until their motivations are clear. Yet artful dodgers of all alignments lurk within this diverse guild, using their shady skills for both good and ill.
Neither warriors nor magic users, this scrappy guild uses every trick at their disposal to achieve their means, experiencing no shame in stunning an opponent into submission, kicking a fallen victim in the groin, stabbing hapless prey in the back, or retreating from a fight.
Concentrated in densely populated areas–most especially the underground city Skullport–the guild of Thieves lurk within shadows of society, making their presence only known when and where you least expect.
Gildhalls
Embracing the zeitgeist and neoteric technology of their time, the Cyborg guild is an eclectic spectrum of biomechanical beings perpetually seeking a greater union of organic and synthetic systems.
The infusion and integration of cyberware throughout their bodies have greatly enhanced their physiological and mechanical processes, transforming the guild into a powerful force of technocrats, warriors, and dystopian survivalists.
Downloading powerful new programs from the guild-run SUN Global Network System or directly from each other, Cyborgs have access to an array of abilities, such as damage control, nanite reconstruction, a deadly
discharge, and even self destruct.Dependant on the extensiveness of their cyberware, some guild members are visibly mechanical while others are almost indistinguishable from their natural appearance. These bionic beings are densely integrated in major urban and technological centers, influencing and reflecting the culture and lifestyle of a cybernetic world.
Guildhall
Futuristic rebels, paramilitary forces and soldiers of fortune comprise much of the rough and tumble ranks of the Mercenary guild. Forming a loose allegiance for personal gain, this scattered guild contracts their deadly skills to the highest bidder.
These venal soliders are masters in the modern art of war. Trained in energy weapons, hand to hand combat, demolitions, and stealth tactics, these fierce warriors answer to no one. While their focus on combat has ripened their lethality, it has left no room for medical training, leaving them unable to mend injuries while in battle.
The guild of Mercenaries are found through the technologically omnipresent future, carrying out personal missions and acting as hirelings in the urban concrete jungles, devastated countrysides, and orbiting space stations.
Guildhall
For thousands of years, from the rise and fall of religion to the slow emergence of a technological society, the reclusive guild of monks has chosen to isolate themselves from world community.
Known across Calidan and beyond for their grace and agility in battle, centuries of tradition have trained members of this oldest of guilds to retreat into a deep meditation at times when others would panic. Deriving their power through discipline, self-contemplation, and intuition rather than faith and devotion, monks remain spiritually focused during an era where religion and spirituality are considered lost.
Staying neutral in the countless conflicts throughout history, the monk guild strives for a neutral personal alignment as well, harnessing the greatest power when they are calm, detached and focused. Achieving this inward focus through the practice and mastery of hand-to-hand combat, the guild has developed a natural advantage to fighting without wielding a weapon, though some have been known to wear sharp implements on their hands.
Members of the Monk Guild can be found seeking enlightenment across Calidan and in orbiting space stations. Often solo wearing the simple robes and a humbled stance of eras past, monks remain deeply respected and dangerous to trifle with.
Guildhall
Centuries of warfare and scientific research have transformed this professional guild from geeks in laboratories to deadly manipulators of matter and energy. Comprised of skillful scientists from academia, corporate laboratories, and private institutions, these practitioners of physics have evolved into scientists from hell, and they aren’t going to take geek jokes any longer.
While not warriors in the traditional sense, these students of quantum, electromagnetic, nuclear, and particle phyics have researched and mastered a broad arsenal of scientific warfare techniques. Harnessing the ability to alter the world around them, physics can convert matter to energy, produced electrostatic fields, compress time, produce fission reactions, and lecture to sleep those unfortunate enough to be within hearing range, while expounding tirelessly on sub-atomic principles, esoteric calculations and professional achievements.
Often adorned in long robes of their chosen institution, these intellectual technocrats abound in the mechanized and technologically oriented future, as their scientific talents are highly sought, valued and feared.
Guildhall
Most inhabitants of the realms have an innate mental connectiveness with the rest of the cosmos, often exercised through interpersonal psychic telepathy channels. After centuries of discipline and development, the Psionic guild have cultivated, expanded and mastered the art of these psychic abilities.
Using the mysterious powers of the mind to convert mental energy into psychic triggers, the guild has developed extraordinary mental processes. From psycho-metabolic abilities to wild paranomal talents, guild members can concentrate their minds to ignore pain, spur cell regeneratation, elicit vertigo and clumbsiness in others, create mass hysteria, and blast an opponent with psionic energy.
Known throughout the war-torn future for their intelligence, intense discipline, and mental prowess, Psionics are an eclectic guild of street fighters, telepaths, mystics, mavericks, and influential advisors to the powerful.
Guildhall
