The Wizard's Guild

The Guild of the Masters of the Mystical Arts

(a.k.a. The Wizard's Guild)

Introduction

The Wizard's Guild is a organization whose only requirement for membership is Magery 1 (or Alchemy skill at Level 12 or better). In order to use the guild, a mage must spend 5 points for the Patron advantage. Membership is not required, but strongly encouraged. Nonmembers are likely to be looked down upon by the Guild membership, and they will pay more for or could be denied tutoring services. Also, each organization within the Guild issues licenses to use magic. Anyone caught by civil authorities using magic without the proper license will not receive the legal protection of the guild, and depending on the circumstances, could be prosecuted by the guild or civil law. Within the guild itself, there is a standing reward for proof of a mage casting spells that aren't licensed. Upon verifiable proof (magic can be used) of a mage casting a spell that he/she is not licensed for, the mage supplying the proof gets one free year of Wizard's Guild membership. The mage convicted of such has their guild and all organization memberships revoked, and can't renew them for a minimum of 6 months.
The yearly membership fee is used to provide facilities, protection, education, and political power. Since internal politics is rampant, much of the potential power of the Guild is not realized, though the Guild is still very powerful. The Guild has the authority to collect fees, discipline members, pass judgment, issue edicts, and anything else to control magic and magicians.
Specialized organizations corresponding to the various colleges of magic exist within the Guild, such as the Sylphan League for air magic and the Royal Society of Diviners for knowledge magic. The Clan of the Moonless Night for necromancers is a secret society. Some spells in each college may only be taught through the specialized groups, and some advanced spells may only be available to members of those groups. Mages may be a member of as many or few of these organizations as they wish.
In order to learn prerequisites outside a college for spells of that college, a mage will need to join the appropriate organization. The mage can pay dues only for as long as it takes for the spell to be learned, there is no obligation or (for a prerequisite in particular) expectation that a mage would keep paying dues. Do remember though, that licenses for particular spells are only good as long as one's dues are paid.

Fees

Membership fees for the Wizard's Guild are $240 per year. The dues for the individual colleges are $40 annually for major colleges and $20 annually for the minor colleges. Double these figures for the secret society. Dues in the Enchantment society are also doubled. A special relationship exists between the Fire and Air colleges, the Earth and Water colleges. A discount of $15 per year for those colleges is available to members of one of the pair. The Mind Control college will give a discount of $20 per year to members of the Communication/Empathy college. Discounts are only available if you pay your dues for an entire year at a time. Dues for the upcoming year are collected on the first of the year, or can be paid monthly at a 20% penalty ($24 per month for Guild dues, $4/month for major colleges, $2/month for minor colleges). At the beginning of the game, a mage must pay for at least two months membership dues in the Guild and colleges he chooses. The colleges will license a mage for as long as dues are paid. If a mage owes back dues when services are needed, the mage will owe at the monthly (not annual) rate. Of course, back dues must be paid before services will be rendered.

Tutoring

The organizations will teach spells up to and including skill level 19. If you need a higher skill level, teachers may be available and hired on a individual contract basis. No improvisational spells are taught by the guild, although again, if a mage can find someone within the guild who knows an improvised spell and has memorized it, it can be taught to the mage on an individual contract basis.
Rune magic is available through all mage organizations. Futhark Rune language is used throughout the Wizard's guild. The appropriate organizations teach the proper Verbs and Nouns. The Wizard's Guild teaches the Futhark Rune language, and the Create, Transform, and Control Verbs. The Metamagian Congress (Meta Spells) teaches the Activate Rune spell. A mage may start with the knowledge of runes, and only use runes, but still must pay the proper guild fees if the mage wants to learn them from the guild and its associated organizations. If a mage only wants to learn Activate Runes spell from the Metamagians, then a flat fee of $50 is charged, includes a permanent license for that particular spell.
Some spells, although taught by the Wizard's Guild, are illegal in Lorimyr, and, depending on the spell and how it was used, severe penalties can be inflicted on the caster of such by civil authorities. (Refer to GURPS Magic spell descriptions; where the possibility of the spell being illegal is shown, it is illegal in Lorimyr).
New spells cannot be learned by practicing old spells, only by being taught the new spell by someone of higher skill in the spell or by memorizing an improvised spell you improvised yourself. Practice with a spell can improve the skill level in the spell without study, if the spell is used often enough (GM's decision), although skill levels above 19 are difficult to get in this manner.

Guild Ranks

Many ranks and offices exist within the Wizard's Guild. The early ones are proficiency-based, while later ones are politically-based.

Outer Court ranks

• Student
• Practitioner
• Neophyte
• Zelator
• Practicus
• Philosophus

Journeyman ranks

• Dominium Liminus
• Adeptus Minor of the Outer Circle
• Adeptus Minor of the Inner Circle
• Adeptus Major

Master ranks

• Adeptus Exemptus
• Bade of the Abyss
• Magister Templi
• Magus

Grandmaster ranks

• Ipsissimus

College (Class)	Organization Name	Symbol
Animals (Major)	The Lodge of the Wild Beast	Stallion Rampant
Body Control (Major)	Soma Esoterica	Spread-eagle Man in Circle
Communication/Empathy (Major)	The Mind's Eye	Lidless Eye
Earth (Major)	The Solidarity of the Gnomes	Gray Mountain
Air (Major)	The Sylphan League	Whirlwind
Fire (Major)	The Fount of Flame	Jet of Flame
Water (Major)	Tidalwave	Breakers
Enchantment (Major)	The Enchanter's Guild	Anvil and Hammer
Food (Minor)	Mystical Gourmands	Jeweled Fork
Healing (Major)	The Order of Eledrada	Red Triangle
Illusion/ Creation (Major)	Miragia	Desert Oasis
Knowledge (Major)	The Royal Society of Diviners	Field of Stars
Light/Darkness (Minor)	Hall of Dawn and Dusk	Sun and Crescent Moon
Making/Breaking (Minor)	Coalition of Magical Menders and Renders	Broken Staff
Meta Magic (Major)	Metamagian Congress	Silver Pentacle
Mind Control (Major)	Temple of Hidden Thought	Head Shrouded in Cloud
Movement (Major)	The Wings of the Soul	Winged Foot
Necromancy (Major)	Clan of the Moonless Night (Secret)	White Skull
Protection/Warning (Minor)	Gauntlet and Watchfire	Silver Gauntlet
Sound (Minor)	The Arcane Fellowship of Audionists	Silver Bell