My Ideas about the Minrothad Guilds

The Official Version of the Minrothad Guilds

South of Karameikos, east of Ierendi and west of Thyatis there is a cluster of islands where merchant-princes, privateers and craftsmen ply their trades - the Minrothad Guilds. This is based on Gaz9 in the Known World gazetteer series. 

Art by Clyde Caldwell. source

My feelings about the official version of Minrothad? Unimpresssed. It does not grate against my perception of verisimilitude the same way as Ierendi does - I consider it far more plausible. But I am not that interested in the adventures the setting is geared towards. The authors decided this was a place of commercial and political intrigue but I prefer D&D to be about action, adventure and high fantasy. Maybe I am just not the target audience?

There is a lack of substantial terrestrial wilderness. The seas around the islands are wild in their own ways but sailing in a ship has a different sort of dynamic to a party hiking or riding through hills and forest. And the B/X rules simply don't have the range of maritime monsters to inspire many seafaring adventures, unless one finds monsters and animals from either supplements such as AC10 Creature Collection or from other editions such as 1st Ed AD&D. Having said that there are various aquatic races and monsters in the Sea of Dread that can threaten adventurers and the ships they sail on. 

There is also a lack of ruins and dungeons. Again I understand the writers were not interested in that sort of adventure. But to ignore that aspect of D&D completely for a whole nation such as Minrothad is a mistake in my opinion. Perhaps I am being harsh here - I remember my discussion about dungeons in Karameikos. The absence of named dungeons in the gazetteer does not prevent DMs from placing their own dungeons and ruins. But its not as if the gazetteer has much background to suggest suitable dungeons. 

There is a lack of bad guys and monsters, at least on land. I know that this is intentional and that situations in the Minrothad Guilds are intended to be either morally vague or complex. I don't mind that in some situations, but to have a whole gazetteer where the party is almost discouraged from fighting seems weird and not the sort of D&D I would choose to play. I should add that this is something of an exaggeration - there are some bad guys, most notably pirates, but there is nothing in the gazetteers that suggests a threat to towns, cities or institutions of Minrothad that would require the intervention of brave adventurers to save the day.  

Finally the guilds themselves don't cover trades and professions I would have expected while covering some rather mundane crafts that I would not have bothered with. Although there is a chapter on religious beliefs in Minrothad there is no explanation as to whether clerics are involved in the guild structure that the rest of the nation is composed of. Meanwhile we know who the master of small shell workers is. But there is no mention of entertainers such as jesters or musicians. Somehow I find the guilds that are meant to make this nation unique to be actually a bit boring. Minrothad has no dragons, no ogres, no hordes of savage orcs, but there is a chance the PCs might encounter some unruly cabinet-makers.... 

Part of me is tempted to just ignore this nation. The authors of the gazetteer and I have different ideas about what is interesting and exciting. Maybe this is acceptable? After all, not every nation needs to be a hotbed of adventure and conflict, and having the Minrothad Guilds as the most stable and peaceful nation in the Known World of southeast Brun might not be so bad.  But another part of me has other ideas. 

My ideas about the Guilds of Minrothad 

While reading Gaz9 I ended up thinking about some other D&D settings with very different takes on guilds - Planescape's city of Sigil with its 15 factions (at least before the Faction War) and Ravnica, City of Guilds, ported over from Magic: the Gathering and given D&D 5E stats in "Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica" with its 10 guilds. I'm not going to directly copy either of these over to Minrothad but to me they both show how interesting, dramatic and radically different the groups that make up a fantasy society (either a collection of islands or a city-state) can be. 

The guild structures laid out in the gazetteer were once true but have now been replaced. In 990 AC the Guild Master Oran Meditor reorganised the guilds. This caused a lot of turmoil and anger, but the reforms have nonetheless stuck.  Firstly guilds can have branches, sub-guilds that specialise. This allows for particular professions to maintain their own unique traits within a larger general guild

Several new guilds have sprung up, most notably the Guild of the Spiritual, the newest political guild. Its branches include a branch for each of the major faiths in Minrothad (as detailed in Gaz9 Players' booklet). However, the Guild of the Spiritual also includes the Undertakers and Gravediggers Branch and the Orphan-keeper and Alms-giver Branch. The Guild of the Spiritual is the obvious guild for clerics, but not everyone in this guild is necessarily a cleric. Visiting clerics of other faiths can join the guild of the Spiritual but are not required to join a specific branch. 

The Guild of Governance is a new political guild based in Minrothad City that now includes the Lawyers and Judges branch, the Record-keepers Branch and interestingly the Public Works Branch that keeps roads, bridges, docks and other public infrastructure in working order. This guild is quite small but since the decisions of the judges in the guild are widely (though not universally) accepted, it has rapidly become very influential. It has also absorbed those who worked in the Treasury and the Master Treasurer, currently Eliz Blanceer, is the head of the Guild of Governance. The Senechal of Minrothad City is now considered the deputy guildmaster and the person responsible for keeping an eye on the Guild of Governance, making sure it stays neutral and honest. The Jailers and Executioners Branch of this guild is particularly feared. 

The Privateers Guild was mentioned in the gazetteer but not incorporated into the guild structure. It has now been turned into the Privateers Branch, now part of the Mercenaries Guild. Officially it is considered Minrothad's navy, ready to defend the island from seaborne threats. Unofficially members of the Privateers Branch are little better than state-sanctioned pirates. 

The Merchant-Sailors Guild is still the most powerful and influential guild but it has no branches - instead it has companies, similar to modern commercial companies or perhaps the great merchant houses of Darokin. Nearly all members of the Merchant Prince class are part of this guild and although a few are solo traders, many have banded together into companies to pool their resources and talents. 

There is some leeway as to which character classes can join which political guild. Previously all fighters were expected to join the Mercenaries guild, all magic users joined the Tutorial Guild and thieves joined the Thieves Guild. Now the guilds will accept members of different classes at their discretion. This means that there are a few battle mages, battlefield chaplains and sneaky scouts among  the Mercenaries Guild, the Tutorial Guild has a few bodyguards and clerical scholars, the Thieves Guild has a few heavy enforcers and criminally-inclined mages, and the Spiritual Guild has a few temple guards and devout mages. But the majority of each guild are of its traditional character class. 

The Family Guilds are furious with the Guildmaster who decreed that they should be open to members of any race as long as they are competent at their profession and are loyal to the guild. Previously each guild had been very race-specific (Guild Corser for humans, Guild Elsan for Water Elves, Guild Hammer for Dwarves, Guild Quickhand for Halflings and Guild Verdier for Wood Elves). Now although most of each guild's members are of the traditional race, more and more of other races are being accepted, albeit grudgingly. There have been accusations of harassing and ostracising those who do not fit the guild's traditional membership. 

Guild Corser has established the Farmers Branch, a fairly broad-ranging group who all focus on producing the basics for food to feed the Minrothad Guilds and maybe beyond. The Butchers Branch, the Chefs' Branch and the Bakers Branch all cook and prepare the food and sell it to the public. But the guild master is still annoyed at losing the Master Magic Dealer who was transfered to the Tutorial Guild.

Guild Quickhand has founded the Entertainers Branch, where acrobats, actors, jesters and musicians and even storytellers all find their place in the guild structure. 

The big threat to the Minothrad Guilds is not invasion but infiltration. The Cobra Cabal is a shadowy conspiracy to subvert and take over the existing guilds. Unlike the Cult of Chaos, the Cobra Cabal is primarily driven by greed rather than ideology - a criminal organisation that seeks to acquire as much money and influence as it can without being confronted by the authorities. The Cobra Cabal seeks to establish its agents in every guild and hopefully every branch. Agents and members of the Cabal have already established themselves in both the Merchant-Sailors Guild and the Privateers Guild where they can command several ships. Crew who are not loyal to the Cabal have been replaced by various means including fatal "accidents" at sea. Similarly there is a company within the Mercenaries Guild, the 15th Company, that has become effectively the Cabal's own soldiers. The Thieves Guild is aware of a number of their members who have defected to the Cabal and the master is worried that there are some who have yet to declare their true allegience openly. 

I shall cover non-guild matters in a later post.