Mages' Guild (World's Mouth)

The Mages' Guild of World's Mouth is a guild like any other, although rather arcane in its rules and methods. Certainly the Office of the Guilds would never try to exert any pressure on them; they're just too powerful and set in their ways. The Guild maintains an office in the Turcotte Building (much to the dismay of the Libritairre whose responsibility it is to regulate the use of magic there), but its main meeting hall is the great lecture theatre of the Lycaeum.

In times past the Guild did not accept Independents into its ranks. Since Yulember 1224 the Guild has been aware of the need to bring itself up to date if it wants to remain a force in the modern Mouth, and has introduced a scheme of "associate membership" to accommodate independent mages. This gives Independent members the same voting rights and privileges as apprentices (students) of the colleges. While this is far from being egalitarian, it is a step in the right direction.

The Guild is structured much like any other, with Apprentices, Journeymen and Masters. Apprentices are either associates (independent mages who never studied at a college, as described above) or students of one of the colleges. To qualify for Journeyman status one must graduate from one of the colleges. The Masters are just that: the Masters of the various colleges. Since membership is granted for life, all these categories also include mages from the former Sophus College.

Unlike most guilds, however, the Mages' Guild does not have a Grand Master, as none of the three factions would approve a candidate from either of the other two. Everything is voted on by means of an archaic system in which apprentices' votes count for half a vote, journeymen's votes count for a single vote and masters' votes count for two votes. This system is the single main reason that the Guild is ineffective at making decisions. Voting and meetings are presided over by an official called the Convener or Speaker, who is by convention a journeyman of the Guild and receives a stipend for the role. The job mainly involves attempting to keep order and resolving disputes should they arise, and has little power in and of itself; the ability of mentalists to detect untruths means that it is impossible even to falsify the results of a vote.