The concept of guild memberships as part of your character is important in the world.

Different guilds provide different services to their members but at a minimum all guilds provide training to their apprentice and higher members.

Most guilds also offer extra benefits to higher ranking members, like prestige class training for journeymen and higher. Exclusive guild shops and more.

Some guilds stop you from joining some opposing guilds.

Also each guild where you are a member requires you to help the guild for certain amount of time. The time is guildrank^2 days/year.

Everyone should join at least the Adventurer guild and one professional guild. Most people should also join a church. Joining more guilds is usually also useful.

Guilds have six rank levels, with five normal and one the High Master. The ranks are from lowest to highest: Initiate, Apprentice, Journeyman, Master, Senior Master, High Master. Some guilds uses different names for the ranks, here is the table of them:

For all issues in the guild that cannot be decided upon otherwise there is a vote. Each journeyman member has one vote, master 2 votes, senior master 4 votes and the high master 8 votes.

Each guild can only have one high master. Whenever a guild has at last two senior masters and total of 16 votes in active members, anyone with any vote points can collect minimum of 4 votes behind a motion for high master election. In such case there is an election, any senior master is eligible to be elected. After 6 months from date of election being called(about 2 weeks real time) the votes are counted and the winner becomes High Master(and has to pay the points).

When new high master is elected the previous high master moves back to the senior master, but if he is re-elected back to high master, he does not need to pay the reputation points again.

Gaining each rank level in a guild requires at least one recommendation.

There are three types of recommendations: NPC recommendations, Higher Guild Ranking PC recommendations and Status based recommendations.

At times a NPC may recommend you for a given rank in a guild. This can happen a result of a DM quest or a scripted quest.

For example all guilds have scripted joining quest of some sort. If you complete the quest some guild NPC recommends you for Initiate rank.

A PC can recommend you for higher rank if their rank in the given guild is at least 1 level higher than the rank the person who is being recommended is.

If the recommended rank is lower than the rank of the one doing recommendation, then the recommendation is free. So for example a master could recommend someone for apprentice or journeyman for free.

One can also recommend member to same rank as where the one doing recommendation is now, but that will cost him reputation. The cost is (destination guild level ^ 2) / 2, i.e if master will recommend journeyman to become master too, that will cost him 8 reputation points. If Journeyman recommends apprentice to become journeyman that will cost him 4 reputation points.

Any given character can recommend someone else only once for any rank in a given guild (but can recommend the same person to multiple guilds).

Normally one is expected to do a task or somehow help the recommending PC before they give the recommendation.

The rank of the recommender reduces the reputation cost of a level depending on the rank of the one doing the recommendation as follows: journeyman lowers by 1, thereafter doubling for each recommender rank above that. If the recommender recommends someone for the same rank (i.e. master recommending apprentice for journeyman) then there will not be reduction in cost of the recommended member.

Anyone who is high enough status can recommend anyone else with low enough status rank for any low enough guild rank.

The maximum guild level they can recommended someone else to is the recommender's status-1. The one being recommended must also have status level which is two lower than then one recommending.

This recommendation is likely to require a lot more as it costs reputation points for the recommender. The cost is 2 point up to journeyman or highly respected, doubling for each higher level. Half of the points are then used to reduce the cost of the rank for the one being recommended.

Again one character can only receive one rank recommendation from a single recommender.

One needs a recommendation, minimum of -1 status and one unused reputation point to join a guild.

The character has to go to the guild location and ask around for the one doing the membership functions and ask to join.

One needs a recommendation, minimum of guild rank - 2 status (Thus status 0 for apprentice, 1 for journeyman and so on) and enough reputation points to raise the rank. the reputation cost is new guild rank^2 points. This cost is reduced by the value of the recommendation from a PC recommender.

The character again has to go to the guild location and talk to the one doing the membership functions and ask to raise rank.