| There are two different types of guilds, aspirant and house.
An aspirant-guild is a group of at least ten dreamers who hold
the same beliefs, and wish to take over one of the Great Houses.
A house-guild is an aspirant-guild that has successfully taken
over and assumed the mantle of a Great House.
"So, Calenture no longer wishes to deal with the
current rulers of the Light? Well … you'll have to deal
with a Aspirant, and we offer the best option. Why, you ask?
See these warriors here? All are ex-members of the Light."
- Kraelich
An aspirant-guild must have at least ten members. A group wishing
to form an aspirant-guild decides on the set of beliefs they
will follow, the House that they wish to open, and their initial
ranks. A guild must have at least 2 rulers, 2 guardians and
6 initiates to begin with.
The leader of the soon-to-be aspirant-guild evokes the art
of Found Guild at a special location within the City. The art
requires that all ten founding members to be present. During
the evoke, the leader will provide the name of her aspirant-guild,
its charter, the names and ranks of the members, and the set
of beliefs the aspirant-guild will follow. The leader will automatically
receive the highest rank of ruler. Before the evoke is complete
each member of the group must give assent to the details of
the aspirant-guild, if not, the evoke is disrupted. The ranks
of the members are locked in from highest to lowest in the order
of assent: First two are rulers, second two are guardians, and
last six are initiates. Once the aspirant-guild charter has
been agreed to by all members, the evoke is complete, but the
group is not yet a aspirant-guild.
The GM team must sign-off on the potential aspirant-guild's
charter. They will be looking for in-character consistency,
and of course any out of character violations. The qualifications
for an appropriate house charter will be available to everyone.
This process will last, usually, no longer than 24 hours. If
the house charter meets the qualifications, the aspirant-guild
will become official, and all its members will be elevated to
aspirant-guild status with all of the appropriate arts/powers
based on rank.
The house charter is one of the most important documents a
potential aspirant-guild can create and agree to. This document
will define the guild for its life, and will be the basis for
both role-play support and role-play adjudication by the GM
team regarding said guild. Imagine, a role-playing environment
focused on the unique player-made guilds! Well, that is precisely
what we are talking about! There will be many good house charter
examples in and out of game, so that an aspirant-guild won't
go into the process completely blind. The house charter will
allow every group to define and facilitate its unique characteristics.
The house charter has a number of parts. Each guild has a major
dream belief: either Illuminate or Freesoul and a minor belief
associated with nightmares. The two major beliefs are the foundation
of every part of the Dream. Illuminates believe that the Dream
is a higher plane of being to which their souls come. Thus,
they believe that events in the Dream may impact their souls
and their waking lives on Cloudsbreak. Freesouls, on the other
hand, believe that the Dream is a mental plane only, a shared
dream in which their minds and imaginations take part. Freesouls
do not believe that the Dream can have more than minor, mental
effects on a Dreamer's waking life.
Each guild also has a unique approach for dealing with nightmares
and nightmare essences. This approach is defined by their minor
belief. Each Guild believes that their belief is the best and
only belief for handling these dangerous and powerful essences.
The methods are: Banishment, Imprisonment, Draining, Cleansing,
Captivation, Destruction, and, Cohabitation. Each method has
a corresponding Art, except for Cohabitation whose believers
use the Art of Sacrifice to alter damaging weapons and produce
tokens with which to power their House Prime.
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