Trade Guilds of Sihi

A combination of professional guild, trade union, and corporate entity, the Sihian trade guilds are more than just a handful of traders and craftsmen sharing secrets. The guilds are collectives of professionals and skilled enthusiasts of various trades and crafts who have banded together under written charters and contracts to protect their trade and their products. The various services and functions vary from guild to guild, however the guilds universally connect students to apprenticeships, maintain a minimum standard for the quality of their craft’s work, and offer civil and social protections and support to their members.

Trade Brands and Standards

Many guilds create a brand for the goods their trade produces and use the creation and sale of these branded products as a tool to protect their members, maintain the minimum level of quality of a certain good, and generate revenue for the guild itself. The guild does this by creating a design, blueprint, or formula for a product. This product is the standard by which all members of the guild are measured, and all members of the guild must be able to reasonably replicate this standard in a reasonable volume and time frame to be considered full members of the guild. Guild members are free, and encouraged, to experiment and try to surpass this standard with the quality of their work, but it is important that all guild members be able to reproduce the standard if called upon.

Guilds will order and stock these standard products, branding and selling them as a corporation often would. Sales of these standard products bring wealth to the guild, which the guild then uses to promote new talent, experimentation, and the livelihood of its members. Guilds are similar but vary from corporations in this fashion, as corporate entities will create such products for the purpose of creating and extracting profit. The Sihian Trade guilds on the other hand do so to maintain the standards by which their members are measured, to create wealth for their members, and to promote the health and wellbeing of their trade and craft.

Guild brokerage and Labor sharing

Another major function of most guilds is the proliferation of techniques and practices, and the distribution of labor and tasks across multiple craftsmen and workshops. Where other organizations would promote competition and cut throat practices to ensure the best results for ones money, trade guilds take a more cooperative approach. Guild houses will often keep records and catalogs of products created by their members and do their best to match the needs of the customer to the creator who can best serve their needs.

When orders are more complex and require the direct attention of a guild member, the guild will do its best to find the most qualified available guild member to fulfill the task, and at times will connect the customer to more than one member, promoting collaboration in tasks where it is necessary. The guild will negotiate on behalf of their members in these cases, and will act to the best of its ability for the satisfaction of the client and fair compensation of its members, sometimes taking a loss from the guild's coffers to do so.

Guild research and and patents

Just as all guilds help connect their members with apprentices and spread their standard products, most guilds encourage or even fund their members to experiment and create new patents and products within the purview of the guild. While members of a guild can carry personal patents, it is seen as gauche and in poor form to not at the very least share the patent or design with the guild at no cost. Taking guild funds and claiming a personal patent with the resulting discoveries is usually an offense that could see one banished from the guild all together.

Guilds of note

The Golden Valley Guild of High Arts

The leading guild of painters, sculptors, architects, musicians, and poets, they are responsible for much of the aesthetics of the Starlit Court, and are viewed by many as the gold standard of high art and class.

Automaton and Aeronautical design Trust

The largest civilian producer of ground vehicles, agricultural tools, and military grade aircraft.

The Inverness Guild of Tanks and Assault-craft

A prolific designer and producer of ground based assault craft, varying from armored assault motorcycles, ATVs, tanks, and mobile ground based fortresses. also produces a popular line of sports vehicles.

The Ariedor Guild of Soft Drinks and Confections

One of the most prolific producers of sweets, confections, and staple food stuffs for both the Sihian civilian market, and the ration kits of the Knightly orders. Best known for inventing and supplying the starlit court with Krackle

The Mynanth Guild of Blade-Craft

The oldest civilian bladesmiths on Sihi, they have been producing swords, knives, and other edged tools and weapons for the civilian and military markets, including mech grade swords, pile-bunkers, utility knives, and entrenching tools.

The Inverness Mechwright’s Guild

A popular guild of mech builders, primarily making their trade on the creation and maintaining of civilian grade mechs. The guild does however have a lucrative business in design knight grade mechs for training and combat purposes, as well as supplying the forge orders with mass produced replacement parts.

Aster Associated

A guild founded after the Tereket wars dedicated to the exploitation and application of plasma technology. The largest producer of Plasma swords in the court, for both use on mechs and refinement of the technology for on foot knights and men at arms.

The Crystal Winery

Formed at the behest of Grandmaster Caelia Seer Sethdragon, the guild cultivates and produces produce from Crystal Fruit, including wines, Jams, Jellies, soft drinks, and candies. While founded by the Sethdragon family, the guild is fully independent.

The Glinting Guild of Gears

The Glinting Guild of Gears are an industrial guild on Sihi with their hands in numerous technologies and businesses, though primarily develop and produce weapons and military equipment for Knightly Orders of the Starlit Court. They have been responsible for several technological developments through the ages, though have been accused of underhanded trade practices, and the theft of non-court intellectual properties and patents prior to Sihi's arrival in Beacon Space

Camlan Guilds

As the largest urban area on Sihi, Camlan is home to the largest concentration of guilds on the station.

The Camlan Riflemaker’s Guild

A popular specialized guild that splintered from the Guild of Artillerists and Gunsmitheys, specializing in the creation of fine tuned and customized rifles and sidearms. They are particularly well known for developing the current standard cold one hunting rifle

The Camlan Guild of Smithery and Powered Actuation

This guild originally only produced civilian grade mechs and hard-suits for industrial applications in and around Sihi, but in the last two centuries have become the most reliable source for the power armor most guilds use to equip their men at arms.

The Camlan Guild of the Performing Arts

A popular guild of playwrights, musicians, and rappers who create numerous shows for the public consumption of the Sihian population.

The Guild of Artillerists and Gunsmitheys

One of the oldest Guilds on Sihi, dedicated to the crafting and maintaining of magnetically and chemically propelled weapons ranging in size from side arms to ship borne weapons.

The Adadist Commune

A bizarre counter cultural artistic movement and artists collective founded in Camlan, that uses the absurd and the strange to challenge the status quo of Sihian art and culture. Despite its seeming lack of popularity with the bulk of the Sihian people, their exhibitions and projects still draw crowds and generate enough of a proffit to continue existing.

The Fellowship of Authors and Journalists

The largest publisher and association of writers, journalists, and playwrights. They produce two of the largest newspapers and magazines on Sihi, as well as numerous popular books and vid-series.

The Culinary Arts and Sciences Guild of Camlann

Often simply referred to as the "Camlann Guild" among those in the culinary field, the Culinary Arts and Sciences Guild of Camlann stands as a venerable institution at the intersection of culinary excellence and scientific innovation. Located in the historic city of Camlann, this prestigious guild has played a pivotal role in shaping the culinary landscape for centuries. Renowned for its dedication to advancing the culinary arts through the application of scientific principles, the Camlann Guild has left an indelible mark on the world of gastronomy.