Sorcery Guilds

The elite amongst the Elven Sorcerers are organized into Guilds, organizations both for the education and governance of each school of magic. These guilds also help to license and regulate magic throughout the kingdom.

### Membership

The guilds themselves are intended to be meritocratic and open to any Sorcerer of sufficient skill within the borders of Synadorei. Admission to the guilds is valuable both as a badge of honor marking one as an adept, but also in networking, education, and access to work within the government. Many - in fact most - sorcerers will never join a Guild, but generally, the most talented are found within the rolls.

### Leadership

Each guild is led by an organization called the Ordum, who operate out of an Ordum House specific to their guild within the capital city. The Ordum is a council of four to six Ordum Seats, and a single Magister who presides over the council. The Magisters of each guild meet together in the Great Ordum, a council who advises and serves the Queen herself.

The Ordum's job is threefold:

1. They manage the day to day operations of the house, including receiving and distributing work orders
2. They maintain research and educational opportunities within the guild
3. They handle governance and jurisprudence, both refining the laws of the Guild and punishing those who break those laws

### Governance and Licensure

While the guilds do not hold all practitioners of an art, they are entrusted with the duty of regulating practice within the kingdom. Practitioners of sorcery can act (within legal limits) within the bounds of their own homes, but before the practice in public, or expose others to their sorceries, they must be licensed by the Guild. Licensure is more than a rubber stamp - in order to be licensed, a practitioner must undergo practical tests, where they show their knowledge both of the basics of their particular school of Sorcery, and more importantly of rules of safety and legality in their practice. Licensed Sorcerers are given a magically enchanted badge to wear so that those who would buy their services can know that they have been examined and found competent and safe.

A basic license allows for practice of the art on an individual basis, within the boundaries of the law. After showing sufficient skill, then can apply for an Advanced License, which allows them to participate in collective magics, and to apply for warrants to perform more powerful and dangerous magics.

The laws of what is and is not legal can be quite complex, but they boil down to three general guidelines:

1. Magic must be reasonably safe for practitioner and those around them
2. Magic must not be used to aid in the committing of illegal or malicious acts
3. Magic must be practiced with the express consent of all those whom it affects

In situations that might bend or break these rules, a holder of an Advanced License may apply for a specific warrant to perform the magics from the Ordum of the appropriate guild. The Guilds are held jointly responsible for any damage caused by a warranted magic, and have strict rules about when they can and cannot be granted. Most are granted in service to the state itself, for the purpose of law enforcement or intelligence, but mending has a more active community of warranted magics than some of the other guilds, for the preservation of the public health or public good.