Guilds of the Tripatriquon

Tripatriquon motto: *Skill is absolute*

## Governance

The Tripatriquon is unique among the nations of Adratal. The citizens do not hail kings or honour bloodlines. They have no interest in politics. They are strictly meritocratic and they cling fiercely to this practice. The nation is run by three guilds. Guild masters are chosen for their skill, and it is their responsibility to lead their city once given that position.

Each guild order appoints a master after a rigourous test of ability. Those guild masters then convene to elect a principal Guild Master who will be in charge of the city. At this state, candidates are expected to demonstrate their knowledge of finance and governance to prove their competence in the Master position. But for many traditionalists, it is purely on the basis of skill in their craft on which a candidate is judged. Self-interest is not considered an issue in these elections, and votes are frequently unanimous.

After election a Master is guaranteed an 8 year term (except in the intervention of death or debilitating injury). After that period, a Master must submit to be tested again, to defend his or her title, or else be supplanted by another.

## Division of Guilds

There are three major guilds, each represented by a city. The Textilers (Larz), the Armorers (Arkten), and the Artists (Rialtus). Each of these guilds has sub-strata within it, and has, over time, subsumed other guilds underneath its umbrella. The three major guilds now comprise many different "guild orders". They are as follows.

Armorers - The largest portion of this guild involves metal workers. Steelsmiths, blacksmiths (iron), bronzesmiths, greensmiths (copper), tinsmiths, whitesmiths (silver and gold), and jewellers, along with orders for light weapons design and heavy weapons design. The guild also extends to cover the orders of miners and masons. Recently, the guild has extended to shipwrights. Finally, the guild includes orders of mercenaries and sailors.

Textilers - This comprises the orders of spinners, weavers, tailors, tanners, leatherworkers, shoemakers, fur-cutters, milliners, an dyers. It also covers an array of agricultural orders: husband, herder, vegetable tender, fruit tender, grain tender, cotton tender, hemp tender; as well as hunters, herbalists, lumber harvesters, carpenters. They have also included the order of ellikan-tamer since assimilation of the Ellikan tribe (an ellikan being an animal, which is also the tribe name).

Artists - Traditionally, this comprises painters, sculptors, poets, dancers, and musicians (which itself divides into flautists, drummers, lyrists, and singers). Two new orders have been added recently: woodcarvers, following contact with the Ellikan tribe, and actors, following the artists exchange with Cadia. Athletes have come to be acknowledged as guild members over time, and they developed three orders of swimmers, sprinters, and ballers. This guild also extends to crafts pertaining to revelry: brewers, distillers, game-dealers (purveyors of card and dice games in casinos), and courtesans. Prostitutes without guild certification are common, but registered courtesans afford much greater respect and wealthier patrons. And even for all of Rialtus' revelry and open sexuality, the examinations for choosing Master Courtesan are only spoken of in reverent whispers.

Guild members are divided into four categories: apprentice, journeyman, elite, and master. Appointments to elite are decided solely on the discretion of the master, and appointments to master are decided by a council of elite. Each rank bears a title that precedes the worker's name. An apprentice is called "Young", a journeyman is called "Good", an elite is called "Honourable", and a master is called "Lord".

There are also what are called "problem professions", which appear to straddle the line between two major guilds. The most prominent of these are the tapestry-weavers and the bronze and copper sculptors. As of present, masters of these professions are allowed to apply for Mastery over either of the two guilds they straddle, though as yet that has not happened.

Sundry professions are too minor or too diffuse to be granted their own guilds. But even for those workers, they can apply to their local guild for a Merit of Labour. This allows them recognition for their work even outside of a guild hierarchy. Most labourers work towards receiving this honour, for even a dung-shoveler with a Merit of Labour is afforded respect.

## Notable Guild Masters

### Artists

**Lord Yrollo (Poet) -** Yrollo has the distinction of being the youngest and oldest serving Guild Master. He died at age 76, six months before the expiration of his term, when he would have been called upon to defend his title in a test of skill. Yrollo was only 28 when he became master of poets, the youngest in history. He was already famous at that time, able to delight crowds of up to a thousand, and a frequent traveller. But as guild master he demonstrated keen business sense and leadership as well. Thus, two years later, when a new Master of Artists was to be named, Yrollo won by unanimous support.  He quickly brought the Masters Council to heel, earning the respect of his elders with his shrewd politics and poetic wisdom. Within a few years, he emerged as the principal voice on the council. He was, at heart, a traditionalist, who often advised patience. This earned him respect, but it meant that eventually his influence on the Council waned in favour of his more forward-thinking colleague Lady Tiama. When he died, Rialtus held a weeklong period of mourning. His greatest poem, "Rhapsody on the Shores of Epherna", is now etched into the Rialtan city gates.

**Lady Chatta (Courtesan) -** Chatta is the youngest woman ever to be made Master of Artists, as well as the first master courtesan to be awarded the position. She ascended to master courtesan at age 29, and became Master of Artists at age 32, in what is called the greatest surprise victory in the history of the guild. There were heated debates of who would succeed Yrollo as head of the guild, with Lord Arbinnus, Master Distiller and Lord Zendas, Master Singer the two front-runners. As the feud between those two camps became more bitter, Lady Chatta arose from the split. The appointment was contested, although none of her detractors could doubt her skill. But Chatta distinguished herself as a capable leader, engaging in foreign policy in a way Yrollo never did, arranging the great artist exchange with the nearby country of Cadia. Her greatest test came when Rialtus was devastated by the Mad Plague. Her own guild was hardest hit at the beginning, and she herself took ill, and was believed to be soon dead. But she recovered, apparently possessing the immunity afforded to a small proportion of courtesans. She stayed in Rialtus the whole year, caring for the sick, even when the city became completely overrun with disease. Following the plague, and the death of Lady Tiama, Chatta began to overtake the role as head of the Masters Council.

### Armorers

**Lady Tiama (Steelsmith) -** Tiama was the first woman ever to be made master steelsmith, and the youngest woman to become Master of Armorers. She ascended to the position at age 41. In her early years, she focused on her own city and deferred larger matters of the nation to Lord Yrollo, who was only 4 years her senior in life, but was 15 years senior in the Masters Council. Yet she eventually grew tired of the Tripatriquon's isolationist practices and began pushing for greater involvement in international matters. She helped to arrange the first meeting of nations of Adratal. She began construction of a navy. She spearheaded the alliance with Andalus in the wake of the Fauseen invasion. She was also the primary force behind expanding the Tripatriquon's borders southwest and incorporating the Ellikan into the nation. Her progressive thinking and passion soon made her the de facto head of Tripatriquon government in a way that even Yrollo hadn't done. It was thought that she would be forced to abdicate when her master steelworker credentials came up for renewal at age 71, because no one had passed an examination at that age before. Yet her blades were as sharp and lustrous as ever, and she remained Master of Armorers for the next four years until her death. The final year was the most trying, but her courageous leadership and and clever thinking were instrumental in the country surviving the Mad Plague. Sadly, she died only days before the plague was officially conquered.

### Textilers

**Lord Empenas (Leatherworker) -** Empenas was brought into the council after the death of the widely respected Lord Arcturus, and the brief stint of Lord Beglen, who was forced to abdicate after failing to renew his mastery. He never distinguished himself in quite the way of his contemporaries Lord Yrollo and Lady Tiama, but he was significant in expanding the Tripatriquon's borders, and personally scouted new expanses of land for resource potential. He was well-liked by the people of Larz, and he was dismayed by the devastation wrought by the plague. In the wake of a loss of over a thousand farms, Empenas oversaw emergency food production (it is said he pulled a plough himself) and kept supply lines open so that plague survivors wouldn't starve.

**Lord Arcturus (Dyer) -** Lord Arcturus represented the end of an era for the Tripatriquon. It was traditionally the Master Textiler who brought the other two masters to heel when it came to matters of the nation, owing to the fact that the Textilers Guild was traditionally the wealthiest. The generation before Arcturus, the three cities of the Tripatriquon had finally reached the point where they were roughly equal in wealth, but masters still typically deferred to the Master Textiler as a matter of tradition. This ended with Arcturus. He had enjoyed two decades of power, and thought he would be able to manipulate the upstart poet Lord Yrollo. But that was not to be the case. The young poet had a charisma that Arcturus never had. He remained in his position for another 20 years, and continued to command respect for his skill in dyeing, but his influence over the Council waned, and he became rather sullen and withdrawn. His mastery came up for renewal when he was 73, and there was a lot of talk that he would become the oldest person to defend his master title. Yet he died mysteriously the night before the examination was to take place. Suicide is suspected.