The story of Guilds is not a single fluid history: rather it is a series of stray threads that wound together over centuries in order to form one singular, powerful tapestry. It began in Japan with Merlin, an ancient and powerful noble capable of tapping into Magickal preserves unlike ever seen before. It began with Alexander the Great, an Indian scholar-king who knew the power of wisdom. It began at the hand of King Arthur himself, whose prowess with the sword and the crown carved his place into history.
Early Guild history is muddled and dim. Much is unclear as to how Merlin, Alexander, and Arthur made contact with one another, but one thing is clear: their union was absolutely mandatory. While mankind had been able to access Magick for some time, it had never been practiced as widely as it was under the rule of Merlin. As the Patriarchs, as they came to be known, spread their knowledge throughout all of civilized society, this use of Magick led to the rousing of Dark spirits. Much to their chagrin, the Patriarchs found that using Magick for good only caused more evil to be brought to the human realm.
Over the next few decades, as the Patriarchs died and their legacies were respected, their students began to form unions. First called Colleges and eventually Guilds, these Guilds existed mostly in areas of high population in order to not only further the research and education of the Patriarchs’ practices, but also to keep the Dark problem at bay. Slowly, the use of Magick among average humans faded, and further breakthroughs were made.
This was where Scouring came into play. Still a widely-used practice to find those with closest blood ties to the original Guilds, Scouring is a magical process that can only be carried out by the highest ranking officials in the Guild hierarchy. Those high-ranking officials are called Elders and Supreme Elders. Elders and Supreme Elders came to be recognized as officials as contemporary times meant that Guilds had to become more industrialized.
For some time, Guilds all recognized the English Guild Haven as the highest power in the hierarchy. The Haven was where all Elders and Supreme Elders stayed, and where all official Guild matters, including Scouring, took place. It was with the American Revolution that this seat of power was shaken. Funding for Guilds had always come from those rich enough to foot the bill for people who spent all their time parading the streets and dark corners of society, beating with sticks and wands anything that seemed too ominous. However, the English Guild Haven ultimately answered to the King. So when the colonies stopped doing the same, all Guilds in North America were completely defunded and left high and dry.
It was through a series of backroom dealings that the States’ Guilds ended up being absorbed by the US Military. Scouring stopped being practiced, as it was considered a violation of bodily autonomy, and Guilds became a far more voluntary (but nevertheless grueling) practice. Citizens still had to be trained and educated, and while some still subjected themselves to Scouring, it was no longer universal. By the 1980s, the US Guilds and Military had collaborated with the English Guild Haven (which had since become the World Guild Organization, or WGO for short), and the Guilds in the United States answered again to the ultimate authority of the WGO. However, this did not promise good times for the US Guilds.
They were becoming a burden on the United States budget. Running Guilds was expensive. While equipment and housing and pensions themselves were affordable, the Guilds themselves caused damage to the city and its people that money couldn’t always cover. In the 2000’s, the US Guilds became a hot topic issue when a small school was attacked by Dark Manifestations, and the city’s Guild couldn’t save all the students.
With Guilds’ morality and safety in question and a bill far too big to be footed, this became the United States’ perfect opportunity to drop funding for Guilds. Since Guilds were still a subset of the United States Military, however, there was nothing the WGO could do but watch helplessly as its greatest powers in the west were slowly dwindled down.
This is where our story begins. A Guild, in its last few months of existence, has been tasked with its Patron (a person who runs and coordinates the Guild and all related Guild activites, as well as providing minor assistance off the battle fuild) to find and destroy the Heart of the city’s Darkness. With only three people at the helm for this task, it’s much more than just daunting. It seems impossible. With all odds stacked against them, the Mage, Hunter, and Scholar of this city face an impossible mission: save the city, end the Darkness, and save their guild.
Hosted and narrated by:
stella
Started 04/23/16.
Scenes played: 1
License: Community License
