• The North Ticetia Warriors Guilds Association

The North Ticetia Warriors Guild Association

The fee for ordinary membership is 120gp, and 145gp for fellowship membership.

Although not as large as The Cellamrion, the NTWGA claims to have more north Ticetian members than its rival. They began life as a joint venture by three Mercinary Guilds in North Ticetia, plus The Fighters of Eversham Guild and The Birdley Warriors Association. These five entities saw falling rolls due to the popularity of the Cellamrion, and were forced to take action. Each had been contacted by the Cellam Warriors Association, but joining their organisation would have lost them too much power to the rich southern guilds and to the Union of Hallow Wood which was particularly unpalatable to the Eversham guild and one of the Mercenary Guilds. The only alternative was to create a new grouping to challenge the Cellamrion; this they did and it has gone from strength to strength.

Mercenary Guilds. Although there are other Mercenary Guilds in Arthea, the three in North Ticetia have always had a close association. Even though they had no other connection than their name, they were happy to accept each others members long before the NTWGA was formed. The inclusion of guilds has made it possible to properly organise this. The three Mercenary guilds are run separately, the largest being the Mercenary Guild of Ireby who claim membership of 70% of the warriors of the city (excluding paladins and Kings Guard). For many years the large majority of their members were made up from the richest of society. As with other guilds, as the rich spend less and less time training in weapon use, they suffered.

To join with the Cellam Warriors Association would have meant the Mercenary Guild of Ireby would have to give up some of what they stood for. Instead, they kicked off discussions for the formation of a new guild association. For their close friends at the Mercenary Guild of Sizewell and the Mercenary Guild of Eansville, joining the association was a formality. The big coup was convincing the Fighters of Eversham Guild to join them.

The Mercenary Guilds offer a third level of membership above the basic two, which is open to all fighters of sixth or higher level. The fee for this is 240gp per year, and allows the members to buy commissions within the group. The commissions are level based, and there is a cost above the price of officer membership to buy the commission. After this, a further 10% of the commission fee is required each year to maintain it. If the maintenance fee is missed, then it must be re-purchased as the full price. Also, commissions can only be bought by the rank below; e.g. the Major rank can only be purchased by Captains - forcing members to work their way through the ranks

With this being a mercenary guild, they make troops available for hire to anyone that needs them. While the commissions purchased as above are not normally recognised outside the guild, officers are always needed to fight as part of the mercenary army, and when such forces are gathered these commissions can become very important. The Mercenary Guilds do no, of course, force any members to take part in military actions, all participation is voluntary, but it is well paid. It is rare these days for requests for mercenary soldiers to be hired in Arthea.

The Fighters of Eversham Guild. As the largest warrior guild in Eversham, joining with other large set-ups could have produced some friction, but the situation with The Cellamrion had already forced this guild's hand. The Cellam Warriors Association had all but declared war upon the Eversham guild if they did not join the Cellamrion. Although the guild were not particularly worried about such a hollow threat, they did want to show the Cellamrion that they were no pushover. They replied to the Cellam Association with a rebuttal, a statement that they would defend themselves to the last man, and issued a counter threat. Then they joined with the Mercenary Guilds and formed the NTWGA. The Cellamrion went very quiet - the Mercenary Guilds were known to have associated guilds all over Arthea, and they trained their men to fight military campaigns not just to master their weapons as individuals, and clearly this left the Cellamrion unwilling to fight.

In Eversham, the Fighters of Eversham Guild has a good reputation. Until King James clamped down, they used to receive financial support from the Lord of the area, and the name of Earl Browley as sponsor used to hang with pride in the guild's reception area in the city. Although the Earl cannot now provide money directly in this manner, he is still a member of the guild at full rates.

Above the ordinary membership levels, the guild offers Advanced Membership to all warrior classes of 8th level and higher, provided they advanced their last two levels while a member of this guild. The fee for this is 250gp per year. The guild also discussed introduction of a purchased commission scheme similar to the Mercenary Guilds scheme, but decided against that idea.

The Fighters of Ridstock Guild. This guild has always had very close associations with the Fighters of Eversham Guild; while they have presented themselves for many years as a separate guild, they have shared much of their back-room organisation with their northern brothers, which has helped to keep costs low. They were pressurised into joining the Cellamrion, just as the Eversham guild was, but they resisted, and their presence in the formation of the NTWGA was a significant boost to that organisation.

The Birdley Warriors Association. In order to make the NTWGA worthwhile, another member was needed from the beginning, and because of their proximity to both Eansville and Ireby Mercenary Guilds, this guild was approached first. It agreed to join almost immediately, as it had been contemplating joining the Cellamrion, but was worried that its members might not trust any organisation run from Cellam. Although Birdley is a relatively small town, their warriors guilds is unusually large. It also has a guildhouse in Loswood, which is almost as popular.

The Westcoast Fighters Guild. The guild is based primarily in Callenhall and Barwell, but hopes very soon to add a new guildhouse in Doveridge. It is trying to hurry this through, as the Hallow Wood Guild may do the same, and the Westcoast Guild will stand a chance of survival if they can get in first. The guild has provided the only warrior guilds in these two western towns for a number of years, and has managed to keep their record of good service through all that time. They had hoped to open a guildhouse in Sizewell eventually, but this may now be impossible because of the political disturbances that the Mercenary Guild of Sizewell would create. If they can sustain grown, then expansion may only be possible northwards (away from the coast) or southwards into South Ticetia.

These guilds are all available PCs to join (if they are in any of the specified towns). If, however, there is nothing that really fits with the characters aims, then talk it through with the DM, this is not an exhaustive list, and other guilds DO exist.

Back to Warrior Guilds.
CategoryGuilds
CategoryOrganisations