The Craftsmen Guild
Any who are skilled with their hands, be they carpenters, tanners, tailors, masons, bookmakers or chandlers may apply for membership of this guild. This guild is in fact an amalgamation of several smaller guilds. Alone, they were unable to survive. Craftsmen were concerned that without an organisation to regulate their work, the trades would become polluted with lesser craftsmen. Without the training networks it provided, vital skills may be lost. To preserve their skills and livelihoods they joined together in one guild. This unified ethos is echoed throughout the guild’s activities.
After such an unsteady start it is ironic that this is now the largest guild in the city and possibly the most stable; mainly due to its policy of supporting its own members through thick and thin. All members are required to tithe ten percent of their earnings to the guild. Some of this is given in subsidy to the Apothecaries Guild; the rest is kept and then given to any tradesman who has fallen on hard times. There is a strong bond of unity in the guild, with members always ready to back each other up during disputes.
Entry to the guild requires the presentation of three crafted items demonstrating the skill of the individual applicant. These are then assessed by a Master of that specific craft. If they are deemed to be of an appropriate standard, the craftsman is admitted to the guild and given a guild seal to mark his work with. He may also register a trademark seal of his own, which is then safe from plagiarism. A further requirement of the guild is that a craftsman at some point takes on an apprentice. He may either choose his own, or ask that the guild assign one to him. His apprentice will then live with him and become akin to his own child. This further establishes strong bonds between the guild’s members.
The current guild head is Blake Alacost. He is a tailor, who is affectionately know as “our Gaffer” by the other guild members and feels that the talents of his guild are overlooked and taken for granted. He has suggested that if they entire guild raised its prices; they may be accorded a little more respect. Blake is in his early thirties and is unmarried. He has long been head tailor to the Evron family. He is hopelessly in love with Verita Evron, but unfortunately ‘hopeless’ is the word. He has very little experience in affairs of the heart and is unsure of how to proceed. Efforts to prevent this becoming common knowledge have only had marginal success and Blake fears the day that word reaches the ears of the lady herself.