What were Medieval Guilds really like? | Medieval Misconceptions

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Let's do a deep dive into medieval guilds!
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[@joelcopeland3018]

Shad, I just finished your book. Wow, what an imagination you have. I don't know where you came up with your character abilities, but they are completely unique to your world as far as I know. I have never read anything else that has used this approach. I am super impressed and am hopefully waiting on your next book. Well done sir.

[@Malkontent1003]

It's insanely good, isn't it? I picked it up a few months ago, read for about half an hour. Haven't gotten back around to finishing it yet, but dear gods it's good.

[@hermeticinstrumentalist6804]

It is wonderful, I'm giving it another read through. It's just fun.

[@dark3031]

@@Malkontent1003 I found your sentence to be quite... conflicting. First you said it's insanely good, but somehow you haven't finished it after a few months? I just couldn't get around the idea of having started reading a great book that I really liked, and not finish reading it after a few months. At least that's not how I treat a good book that I really like.

[@Jonnell01]

What's the book called and where can I find it?

[@hermeticinstrumentalist6804]

@@Jonnell01 Shadow Of The Conqueror Chronicles Of Everfall, I first asked my Library to see if they could get it, got it from there,I read it, then ordered it Online. I would recommend checking their, there are also Audio book versions I believe.

[@cyberdemon7694]

A warm thanks to the many members of the Merchants Guild, generously funding and bankrolling these videos. You're all truly wonderful.

[@steelknightsune3716]

Have a good one.

[@thenecroinniceclothes5019]

Hey hey people, Sseth here. And today...

[@juliaturk7054]

The guilds were allowed to discriminate against children and the mentally disabled, and women, who are also mentally disabled.

[@JRBDWD]

​@@juliaturk7054BASED

[@PoetofHateSpeech]

Merchants are known as "jews" lol

[@VinylBlair]

I can't decide whether to join the Bard's College or the Thieves Guild… I'll just have to weigh the prose and the cons…!

[@josephmunoz2698]

I would say thieves but I'm completely bias

[@VinylBlair]

@@josephmunoz2698 I had to stop my old candy thief friend today. He was getting back to his old Twix.

[@Pynaegan]

Tee-hee!😏 (I see what you did there)

[@ulrichkalber9039]

both, one for your profession, the other as a cover.

[@Malkontent1003]

@@ulrichkalber9039 Yeah, I hide my bardhood behind the fact that I'm a thief. I steal things so I don't accidentally steal people's hearts.

[@sergiuosan8674]

Random fact: I don't know if this was common practice in other regions, but where I come from (Transylvania), in several medieval cities each greater guilds had the responsability to pay for the maintenance and repairs of one tower and a section of the city wall, so therefore they also had some obligations to the city.

[@vexatious.nobleman4434]

Same in Hungary I believe. I might be wrong, but I think that is what's behind the famous Halászbàstya (Fishermen's Bastion) in Budapest

[@sergiuosan8674]

@@vexatious.nobleman4434 Makes sense. I mean, Transylvania was part of the kingdom of Hungary so I would expect things to be pretty similar in Hungarian cities.

[@darktoranaga]

I wrote the same thing just now, before I saw your comment. As I mentioned already, I don't know how widespread the practice was, but it did happen here in Transilvania. Guilds provided manpower, labor and funds for the city defenses.

[@dvklaveren]

That's brilliant inspiration, thank you!

[@bossy1496]

Are you a Vampire?

[@fleetcenturion]

27:22 - In England and many other places, the dairy industry was set aside exclusively for women. So much so, that they were not required to share their earnings with their husbands, and were even exempt from all taxes. This is why _The Princess Bride_ is (accidentally) the most authentic medieval fantasy setting, with Buttercup, who owned her own dairy farm, being fought over by a prince and a pirate king. That was one wealthy woman.

[@oz_jones]

Her milkshake brought all the lords to the yard.

[@brucemaximus3797]

@@oz_jones That song was not meant to be used anywhere near that movie, and yet you have worked magic. Have an upvote!

[@lacidar3752]

Has there even been a better movie?

[@ethanmccormack9561]

Inconceivable! You make a very good point about women and working in the dairy industry but they did pay tax in the 1300's, it was actually a war tax in 1381 called a poll tax that started off the peasant revolt as sheriff's would shove their hands up females dresses to find out if they are a virgin or married and if they were married then they had to pay the tax. With how expensive the cost of living is becoming in the UK I think it's time for another peasants revolt.

[@luisaymerich9675]

@@lacidar3752 Inconceivable!

[@kacperwoch4368]

In Polish there is a term ''partacz'' which means ''someone who has botched their job'' but it originally was a term describing a person who wasn't part of a guild and so did not have a stamp of approval - quality of their work was therefor not guaranteed. Now it is mostly used for unskilled construction workers who messed up.

[@Alex-xt1rr]

In German the word for such a person is "Pfuscher"

[@anthonybanderas9930]

And the negative connotation to that word is most likely a result of guilds doing black pr and saying that a partacz was doing substandard work. The world partacz stems from a parte paternitatis.

[@peiter795]

Same with the Hungarian word 'kontár'

[@kacperwoch4368]

@@Alex-xt1rr There is also ''fuszerka'', prolly from German ''pfuscher'' and it means ''botched job''.

[@Marinealver]

"Partacz" almost sounds like Politician in another language.

[@ct7567CaptRex]

Also one has to note that the guild system in history heavily varied across different cities, staates, regions and countries. A carpenters guild in venice might very well differ from a carpenters guild in Hamburg in the 13th century.

[@haraldbredsdorff2699]

In Italy, the guilds was working under the local nobels, while in Germany, the Hansa was almost nations states on them self. When the Hansa got tired of viking raiding, they declared war on the danish crown, and won the war. In return, they got a region of the city Bergen.

[@scratchy996]

True, and most guilds did not use the DKP system.

[@jimmybobby4824]

There were no Vikings in that period…

[@ohauss]

@@haraldbredsdorff2699 As Jimmy Bobby points out, by the time the Hanseatic League waged war with Denmark, the Viking era had been over for several hundred years. When the Hanseatic League went to war, it was usually because a local King or other nobility didn't want to grant them certain privileges. And nation states didn't exist to begin with at that time... the whole concept of a nation state is a fairly modern one. The fact that whole regions such as Burgundy or Toulouse could swap allegiance between this king today and another tomorrow says a lot. The Hanseatic League also had no real centralized power. The Hansetag, the council of the Hanse, only met when necessary.

[@arx3516]

@@haraldbredsdorff2699 during the middle ages and renaissance many cities in northern and central Italy were republics, and the guilds in Florence, Genoa, Pisa and Venice etc. weren't controlled by local nobles. Often it was the opposite, with wealthy bourgeois, like Medici or Chigi becoming much more powerful than nobles.

[@NathanielHarari]

In Shad's city (City of Shad), there would only be one required guild: The Stickmaker's Guild. This would cover knives, nails, swords, bows, arrows, staves for barrels, furniture making, framing for houses, and so much more! It would be the most powerful guild because, as we all know, everything essential is made from sticks.

[@Riwillion]

"Erectyle dysfunction? You´re in luck; we´ve got you covered, my friend."

[@AnotherDuck]

But what about dra-, I mean, stonemasons? Banks and economics guilds? Velvet foot pillow makers? Not to mention all people who used those stick-based objects, like fishermen and hunters.

[@NathanielHarari]

@@AnotherDuck All sub-guilds of the almighty stick guild. 😃️

[@graywolfdracon]

@@AnotherDuck coins are slices off of a metal stick. Thread is a floppy stick made of plants(which are of course types of natural sticks).

[@thefamousemickey]

With some of the most skilled members of the stick polisher guild being women.

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

In some older cities there are a surprisingly large number of surviving records of court cases involving guilds. Guilds often had to sue individuals who had represented themselves to be of a guild or to be selling goods marked to a guild. When internal guild matters such as disputes over ranks, elections, payment of dues cannot be solved internally, the disputants had to eventually go to the courts. It was fairly common for cities supporting enough guilds for there to be overlaps in work product when one guild moved into another's territory, and unless local leaders could mediate the dispute it would have to go to the courts. You can learn a great deal about the specific structure and practise of the local guilds if you can find sources from the law courts as so many disputes are about whether their rules or discipline are valid.

[@jamesmayle3787]

Jesus Christ is Lord. Please take your salvation seriously. It is all True.

[@freddykrueger8076]

@@jamesmayle3787 Nope. Jesus is a fictional character.

[@asahearts1]

16:10 "That's not a noif. This is a noif" But yeah, I know in one case armorers had problems putting hinges on their armor because the locksmith guild controlled hinges.

[@SergioLeonardoCornejo]

That is quite insane.

[@LowinBayrod]

@@SergioLeonardoCornejo Ever checked patents and how big companies used them ?

[@SergioLeonardoCornejo]

@@LowinBayrod heard some stuff, so I get your point.

[@arcticbanana66]

@Hacknade "I see you've played Knifey-Spoony before."

[@docstockandbarrel]

@Hacknade “Why a spoon, cousin? Why not an axe?”

[@mandu9520]

This is a great question to ask and something I've thought a lot about. We always read about guilds in fantasy novels and video games, so it is a good subject to take a deeper dive into.

[@jonathanherring2113]

But what about Dragons?

[@kaelthunderhoof5619]

I have a question about what unit of measurement does they use in Medieval times. Trying to write a novel and it felt out of place when using hours, days, months or meters. Should I make my own unit of measurement? Like based on a festival or seasons? Then use parts of the body for measuring?? Like for example "I just saw a pack of dire wolves hundred of meters that way!"

[@gamerman782]

@@kaelthunderhoof5619 Meters weren't used until Napoleon Bonaparte, so I guess they used Imperial or bodily measures, such as counting a step at the same length being used as a measurement. Not a professional so don't take what I said as fact, all I know is that the metric system wasn't around until Napoleon Bonaparte.

[@kaelthunderhoof5619]

@@gamerman782 Thanks for the reply. If you wouldn't mind I have still a question to ask like. What language does they used in the Medieval period coz i wanna reference some places and structures to them maybe some things and names also. Either English or German type of language. Hahaha I'm an asian so I don't know much about these things.

[@gamerman782]

@@kaelthunderhoof5619 They spoke different languages back then compared to now, but at least the wealthy knew latin, but I think the closest modern language was German and French

[@jlokison]

The Adventure's Guild of the Goblin Slayer light novels has a very interesting take on the concept. Within the unnamed Kingdom, the stories take place in and around, they have a military and cities have a watch, but neither are suited to delving into ruins or responding to random small attacks by the forces of the non prayers and other monsters. The watches have major cities to deal with and the Military is guarding against the hordes of the demon king and untrustworthy neighbors. For those odd jobs, and requests any citizen can make, the government established the Adventure's Guild, to handle the jobs too small for the military and to out of their specialty for the watch. The light novels describe how the guild is organized, operated, funded and how they evaluate adventures. This is an issue where the Goblin Slayer Anime and Manga doesn't explain things as well as the light novels because they lean a bit on violence and sexualization, not that the light novels don't include some of that but not as much.

[@Broomer52]

Overlord’s Adventure Guild worked in a similar fashion. As described by the protagonist upon finding out what exactly Adventurers Guild entails “they’re glorified Pest Control” the Kingdom of Re-Estiz views the members of the Guild as expendable. Rather than sending valuable soldiers to deal with monsters across the kingdom it’s given to the Guild to deal if they need scouts for some unsettled or undiscovered plot of land they send the Guild. Anything the government doesn’t want to waste man power on they send to the Guild. Theirs Rankings in the guild to determine who gets what jobs so they aren’t wasting valuable resources on unproven members.

[@Jwsponky]

@@Broomer52 ...I have played the Overlord games, there is no such thing as an adventure's guild in either of them, unless Overlord 3 somehow launched and I didn't notice, in which case hurrah.

[@Arides2010]

For me as a native german the case of the „(Kriegs-)Messer“ has become more recent, as the company I work for has given an apprenticeship to a afghan refugee who speaks persian, turkish other eastern tongues but next to no german word when he started. The question he asked most was LITERALLY: „Why so many words for one thing?“ It ended up with me definining a „Hammer“ as a „blunt heavy block on a stick“. The level of guild definitions is still present in the german language. Like the meme, where a lot of nations and their word for „Hammer“ are listed and next to Germany at the bottom it reads : „Go get me a beer, this may take a while.“

[@toomanyaccounts]

his mind will be blown by how many cheeses France has.

[@Arides2010]

@@toomanyaccounts or german regional variations of bread.

[@toomanyaccounts]

@mr oko it is because Germans are being taught to hate themselves for being white. the left there are making the entire population psychotic

[@ethannehring3355]

it really says that in your dictionary? That's awesome!

[@SteamS01dier]

Ah yes, like that old joke video. "Science, Sciencia, Naturwissenschaften!!!" I love the german language.

[@torshec8634]

Different Countries had different rules and cultures for their Guilds. From what I've read there were some who had very high standards, some do heavy control of their trade secrets, and regulations that crosses towards the point of monopoly.

[@MaxRavenclaw]

The more I learn about guilds the more I think they sound like corporations. This is like a sort of corporatism before capitalism haha

[@Marinealver]

@@MaxRavenclaw Far from it, Before Unions existed the Guilds was the oldest form of organized labor and collective bargaining unit that can even contest the power of the nobility. If anything the modern Union has become more like a corporation, which is why more are turning to alternatives like labor agencies.

[@MaxRavenclaw]

@@Marinealver Yes, before thinking corp, I was thinking unions. Guilds seemed to be like a mix really.

[@darrelsteinberg4127]

@@MaxRavenclaw The Medieval period was technically capitalistic. I'm not sure why someone would think they weren't? It was a feudalistic capitalism, but if we replace "Lords" with "governments", their economic system is basically the same as we have now. Free Trade was very common back then..... even Lords abided by the idea of free trade (capitalism) to tradesmen.

[@MaxRavenclaw]

@@darrelsteinberg4127 To an extent. Agrarianism and Mercantilism were forms of capitalism, but I was mostly referring to modern capitalism myself. You don't normally think corporations when you think Medieval Europe, but some of these guilds acted like a form of Medieval Corporations, mixed together with unions.

[@matchesburn]

I love how, manga - especially isekai ("Another world" where people are transported/reincarnated/transmigrated/yaddayadda to another world and for some reason get super powers because of it), there's always an adventurer's guild or something equivalent in every town. Like, sure, they don't have a church. There's like 18 people living there, all farming, but boy do they sure have an adventurer's guild! Just for once I want them to ask if there's an adventurer's guild and for everyone to be like, "How could adventuring be so profitable and needed as to have a guild for it and people making a career out of it?" I mean, even with things like mercenaries - mercenaries will exist, of course. But is there going to be a "Mercenary Guild" everywhere? Of course not.

[@Paandaas]

It probably has to do with the fact that most isekai have dangerous monsters in the world, so the need for a location to hire (reputable and certified) mercenaries would be dramatically higher. Realistically would there be one in a small farming village? No, not really. But a member of a small farming village would likely be able to travel to the nearest town or city and place a request. I haven't read the manga for these, but out of the anime I've watched, the isekai that does "adventurer guilds" best imo would be Overlord, and for anime in general Goblin Slayer has a good adventurer guild system.

[@heavydutymaster]

You do understand most of the Isekai genre base itself not on just fantasy worlds but are more specifically based on classic RPGs video games and tabletops, right? It's a genre based entirely on the immersion you have when playing RPGs, and usually what you do in those games is adventuring, so they make guilds readily available to speed up the adventure part

[@riptors9777]

The reason why every backwater village has an adventurer guild presence of some kind usually has to do with the fact that there is "adventuring" type work to be found everywhere... where as there is not a mine everywhere that mines iron ore.. so no blacksmiths guild, But the forest over yonder might have the trope common healing herbs... but also is invested with monsters that while they might stay inside the forest for the most part minding their own business... arent exactly keen on humans invading their territory to pick flowers. Also said monsters might have special fantastical attributes themselves that makes it worthwhile to hunt them. That being said in such a small town or village it would be silly to depict a complete Guildhall with all the necesary facilities. Whats more likely to be there is a guild associate who also runs the local tradepost or shop, or tavern or inn... earning a bit extra from filing the paperwork for the local ragtag adventurers. So yeah... it makes sense for a guild presence of some kind, but most isekai blow it out of proportion and kinda forget to put a justification for said guild presence in.

[@neillindgren8992]

There’s several isekai I love, but for most of them it’s despite the fact that most of them are so “gamey”. Most of them not only have adventurer guilds, but skills, levels, stats, etc. A few don’t, and I give those extra appreciation (“Re:Zero” being one), and others cleverly play off them specifically being gamey to work (I’ve been killing Slimes for 300 years and maxed out my level”, for example), and I find those clever, but unfortunately most just fall into a formula of being gamey where they don’t have to, and some of these I like despite the fact they’re modeled off of MMOs. Then of course there’s the isekai where the main character/characters are actually stuck in a game, in which case it’s a feature, not a bug. In any event, I always like it when a fantasy manga or anime breaks the “cookie-cutter” mold and dispenses with the usual RPG video game tropes so many have these days.

[@heavydutymaster]

@@neillindgren8992 I totally see what you mean there. And I kinda agree. I love how some of them implemented game systems into their stories in a "natural" way, but sometimes you just want to see some pure fantasy world. I think the key fact in here, is how to portray progression and power scaling in a fantasy world without the use of some arbitrary measuring system and without making the start of the story drag before the real adventuring begins .I tried writing a story like this and let me tell you, it is hard.

[@danguillou713]

When thinking about guilds in either fantasy or history, it helps to remember that the ” states” of those settings are much weaker or entirely absent. So some kind of social security that activates if you get sick or die is a guild thing, because there is no other way of getting it. There are large areas of law - like contract disputes or sueing for damage - that historical states just didn’t do. A feudal system might not have a uniform law that applies to all people, and certainly not to all situations. That’s why guilds often ran their own courts. They also functioned as social clubs. If a tradesman wants to hang out at the end of the day, he would do it with his guildies. As for the infamous Thieves’ Guild, I don’t think there is any historical precedent. But. Once the guilds and guild culture are established institutions, it actually becomes hard to imagine any urban organized crime that doesn’t at least think of itself as a kind of guild, and uses some of the usual guild trappings.

[@kaelthunderhoof5619]

Are bandits real? Like how do they even survive in the wilderness and have some training? Been researching some stuff for my story.

[@danguillou713]

@@kaelthunderhoof5619 That’s a different question. Perhaps a subject for a Shad episode. But I’d say both yes and no. The ”Robin Hood and his merry men” living self sustainably by hunting and foraging in an otherwise stable and peaceful rural England and only robbing rich folks of their bags of coins: No, absolutely not. That’s a romantic fairy tale. But were there times and places where travel was dangerous because you might unexpectadly run into people who were kind of hostile, really poor and desperate, and potentially violent if you didn’t give them something nice? Hell yes. So I can think of at least four different ways this might happen. If the area is really remote and doesn’t have a strong state presence, like the medieval scottish highlands, or the eastern parts of Turkey until fairly recently. If the feudal system is unusually harsh and predatory and peasants loose their farms when they can’t pay and have nowhere else to go, that might generate an underclass of starving and desperate semi-outlaws living on the fringes of society. Also if the feudal system is unusually harsh and predatory the robbers taking your stuff might actually be working for the local lord. Finally, war generates bands of really dangerous armed unemplyed people; they might be returning home from a stint in the army to discover that their village doesn’t exist, they might be whole villages who’ve been plundered again and again and have moved their entire farming operation off road, they might be mercenaries between contracts, or they might be the remnants of a defeated army. In most cases robbers are not self sustaining. They need to get food and stuff from the locals. They might be robbing the rich as well, but just like with urban crime, most of the criming is going to be poor-on-poor.

[@kaelthunderhoof5619]

@@danguillou713 Thanks for the reply and input. I'm trying to write some base building/defense type of story hahaha coz I don't find anything about this type of story that I'm trying made one myself. If you would mind another question, what type of language or terms do they use back in the Medieval period also the unit of measurement for like length and time I'm trying to make my own terms so I needed something for reference, coz I think it would be lazy writing if I only use hours, days months or meters for that. Hehehe if you don't want to respond that's alright I appreciate your comment from my bandit concerns.

[@omnitroph1501]

@@kaelthunderhoof5619 With regards to units of time, hours, days, weeks, months, and years have been standard units of time for millennia (Source: The Bible). There's absolutely no reason to try to innovate on that. In units of length, though it may pain a metric user such as yourself, you're looking at feet, inches, and miles.

[@Geesaroni]

Funny story: The Thieves' Guild was an invention of Cervantes. Guilds in his neck of the woods in Spain were pretty corrupt, so he made up the Thieves' Guild in his writing because that's just as upstanding and reasonable as all the other guilds.

[@equinoxomega3600]

Concerning the Adventures Guild in role-playing: I would set it up in a way that the player characters are journeymen and then have to go to the local guild to ask for jobs. On these jobs they will have a master (local hero) assigned to them as a guide to help them, but also they might have to take some apprentice adventures from the local town with them on a mission (and make sure that they don't get killed in the process as an additional difficulty to balance out the master being there as well). Of course, the master doesn't need to accompany them on every mission they do in the town (maybe just the first one), because these master might also have other duties (like guarding the town, training the apprentices, ...). In context of an entire campaign, this can be expanded to having the group start as apprentices locally until the reach a certain level to graduate. Then they have to do their journeyman years for the campaign (and aren't allow to return home) and in the end one could finish the campaign by them become masters.

[@arx3516]

A guild of adventurers could work like modern PMCs, offering security services. Adventurers could be hired to escort travelers or to deal with problems outside of the city walls. And the adventurer profession would be something in between a mercenary and a bounty hunter. And master adventurers could also be granted some legal authority.

[@danielantony1882]

It works like that in Goblin Slayer. Gold rank adventurers are basically government level players.

[@civilengineer3349]

True

[@chengkuoklee5734]

In ancient China it was called 镖. An umbrella term of providing martial prowess as service to exchange for money. Jobs included bounty hunting, caravan guard, bodyguard, bouncer, hunting dangerous beast like tigers, any work that usually involved fighting and bloodshed.

[@SneakyBadAssOG]

This is what Albion Online was supposed to be.

[@xo-1320]

Eh, more like mercenaries but with better organization. I know that's what we mostly think PMCs are but they tend to be glorified security. Admittedly that's probably what the lower rank adventures are but the average or higher would be basically mercenaries.

[@greasymoth4172]

This content generously brought to you by the magnanimous Merchant's Guild (Hello Fresh)

[@Subarashii_Nem]

Hey hey people

[@CBonduMiel]

@@Subarashii_Nem morning ;)

[@proudyank4785]

@@Subarashii_Nem Seth here

[@UnfitNinjuh]

@@proudyank4785 today, we will be looking at: My Favorite Website

[@SterbsMcGurbs]

More like the baker's guild

[@QueueWithACapitalQ]

Whilst I could see adventure guilds splitting into specific class based guilds due to parties comprising of a mix of classes I think it would be more likely that they split based on the job they do, one does escorts, the other clears nests of monsters. Some maybe even handle the really big threats like evil necromancers or litches that are causing trouble or hunting dragons and giants. These are still their own neiche skillset but it keeps parties together, you go to the specific guild for the job you want rather then to a half dozen guilds to assemble a party yourself for the job. Especially since these people have to work together in a life and death situation, it will help if they can stick together all the time.

[@AnotherDuck]

That's what I was thinking as well. You'd probably have a hunters' guild, which could be further split up depending on size and difficulty of the animals and/or monsters, and a mercenary guild, which could be split into escorts, guards, and soldiers. Most people draw a fairly hard distinction between fighting animals and monsters, and fighting people.

[@TheLEPT]

Could also possibly be just adventures guild that makes sure the right party gets the right job and take a cut of the pay

[@-DeScruff]

@@AnotherDuck Agreed. I would imagine these hunters guilds would likely regulate where and how much adventurers can hunt, (depending on how the beasts came to be.) This would be to prevent depopulation, or movement of the monsters spawning grounds.

[@nathanbrown8680]

Doesn't work. You can't just start out killing necromancers. That's master's work and there's no apprentice or journeyman work in that field. Also, task limited guilds make for monotonous games and adventurers guilds only appear in games and parodies where that matters By class makes much more sense. Just as you get your armor from one guild, your helmet from a second, your voiders from a third, and your arming doublet from a fourth; you get your healer from one guild, your tank from a second, your DPS from a third, and your trap handler from a fourth

[@QueueWithACapitalQ]

@@nathanbrown8680 yeah but your not just assembling a set of armor, these people have to rely on eachother in battle, how can they have that trust if they are paired with someone new every other job, how will they be able to find a group of people they know the strengths and weaknesses of and synergise with if they have to meet new people each time. Different nieche guilds work because they dont have to cooperate and coordernate. What happens when you have recruited 5/6 people and when you get to the sixth guild it turns out they have sent everyone all jobs already? you cant just not take them, you went to them because they brought something needed that the other 5 couldnt provide. You gonna tell them the jobs canceled and to go home? you gonna pay them for the time they spent walking across town with you? Or worse, that sixth member works horribly with 3 of the other members. The group will fall apart. It makes more sense to have the generic guild with groups of people who spend all their time together, hwere they know they can trust them to have their back. Where you can go to the guild with a job contract that can be assigned or picked by a group or you just request a specific group. The only way separate guilds could work is if they were very small so that everyone can know everyone else across all the guilds but even then it would be way more difficut and awkward to assemble groups of adventurers.

[@TomorrowWeLive]

I've always summarised them as a cross between a trade union, a chamber of commerce and cooperative corporation.

[@Zajuts149]

Another useful function for an "Adventurer's guild" would be to act as a bank for its members, and let you deposit riches, so you didn't have to transport them around yourself.

[@eldorados_lost_searcher]

Similar to the Templars' debit system?

[@Zajuts149]

@@eldorados_lost_searcher Yes, so you could deposit in one town, get a receipt, and then go across dangerous roads to the next town, and withdraw money from the guild there on your receipt, and buy new gear.

[@artski09]

plus your going to need a "buyer" for the riches you "found"

[@kaelthunderhoof5619]

What are some good term to replace for guild? Like the people who are with them are not adventurers but maybe called contracted/contracts like they don't even go on adventure but only handle requests or jobs available.

[@IndraKatiK]

I remembered when i was playing kingdom come i was quite confused at why Henry's father, a blacksmith, would order his crossguard to be made separately by other smith, but guild system and how it can easily branch into specific masteries answered it nicely. My question is... in the context where the guilds have branched into multiple specific specialties, If a customer ordered a sword for example, where did he place the order? The bladesmaker guild? The hiltsmaker guild? Is this why the guild hall that become umbrella for several guilds exist? To be like the main hub for the customer to customize and place their order?

[@riptors9777]

Whoever did the lions share of the work is my guess.. so the blademaker. Also im not entirely sure but i think it was possible to be a member of several guilds at once.. if the political landscape between guilds allowed that

[@NotoriusMaximus]

Whitesmith, he works on more refined parts, furnishings etc

[@Archimedes.5000]

Pretty sure guilds, even when very specialised, still always produced the entire working product and not just parts. Having people do only one specialized part of the production chain wasn't a thing basically until the factory era

[@harambe4267]

I'm pretty sure he only had the crossguard and pommel decorated by another craftsman, not made from scratch. It was likely a silversmith or someone similar who specialized in decorating and engraving. Also, it dpeends, some people probably dealt with each guild separately, but more often than not it was probably the main craftsman that was responsible for the final product, so if a joiner was making you a gilded bed he'd contact the goldsmiths and commission them using your payment.

[@ChaoGirDja]

A Costumer do not go to a Guild, for Order something. The Guilds are for the Craftsman, not for the Costumers. They go to the Craftsman and order their Stuff there. The Guild makes sure, that he (ore she...) will do it for the right Prise and the right Quality.

[@TheQwertzschuerfer]

Hey Shad. Maybe you could do a follow up about armed guilds: Patrician military societies and fencing/shooting guilds of the 14th and 15th century? Some of those are pretty close to your idea of an adventurers guild.

[@cruelpulse]

Aren't these just small to medium mercenary organizations of the 14th and 15th century?

[@TheQwertzschuerfer]

​ @cleanpulse Many seem to have been outfits of armed and trained citizens. In essence it was about cities preemptively taking their defence into their own hands. That took either the form of sort of exclusive sport clubs for fencing and shooting. And/or paramilitary units formed by guilds and their members. Especially the latter were at times were very well equipped and trained. So much so, that there had been efforts made to exclude them from jousting tournaments. If you want to read up on the matter, I can recommend "The guild and the swordsman" by Jean Chandler.

[@TrueMentorGuidingMoonlight]

I quote Phineas and Ferb: “Millifishmirtz's Evil Incorporated, but not really a corporation because corporations haven't been invented yet so it's more like a guild or a trade association!” It was that evil jingle that gave me insight into what a guild was: kinda sorta the precursor to corporations, which aligns with the idea that guilds were often monopolistic, wealthy, and powerful.

[@Robobagpiper]

In Scotland, and I presume elsewhere, there would be processions/parades where guilds would show off their members' finery, and there were specific melodies associated with specific guilds - eg. "The Cordwainer's March" for the guild allowed to make shoes from new leather. Guilds had their own theme music!

[@emmitstewart1921]

Of course, guilds usually marched as a group on religious holidays and processions.

[@donz6211]

The first advertisement jingles.

[@Darith926]

In practice Guilds are easy enough to write once you throw away the DnD/RPG myths. And they're useful writing tools as you can easily explain why everyone's swords are the same length if there's a sword smithing guild enforcing the standard.

[@harambe4267]

A guild can easily make a good story hook or a 'quest hub' so to speak, for example could be that the local merchants guild regularly contracts adventurers and mercenaries to clear out nearby trade routes of goblins, bandits, manticores or whatever else.

[@SergioLeonardoCornejo]

You can even still use the historically unrealistic RPG guilds if you can explain them through world building.

[@fred_oxford]

Honestly, it sounds pretty similar to how professional associations continue to work today. Many professions have them, including my own medical practice. I cannot practice without taking licensure exams, receiving "guild"-approved education, etc. to ensure a universal minimum standard of quality. Sub-specialties (specialty certifications) exist within my medical "guild" as well, and are likewise regulated. In return, the "guild" represents the interests of my profession on the political stage and also will have my back if my practice is challenged.

[@zsDUGGZ]

They do sound similar, but getting a liscence for a profession is more consistent than getting into a guild from what it sounds like. Idk about liscenced workers, but I don't think they establish some kind of monopoly like guilds can.

[@oz_jones]

@@zsDUGGZ Pharmacists definitely are a guild in that sense.

[@Justowner]

@@zsDUGGZ They cannot establish monopoly directly. The shortage of medical professionals is artificial. The medical people want high pay, so they create artificial roadblocks to keep numbers down. Like rules about how many medical students a college can actually have. When the OP says they represent his profession on the political stage, what he actually means is they lobby. (At least in the US)

[@ravanpee1325]

@@oz_jones What is also good, because there are too many unlicensed drug dealers in the US anyway ;)

[@b.delacroix7592]

In the US we have a guild apparently. Its the Hospital Guild. Members of an existing hospital get to sit on a board in a given area and determine if a new hospital (or medical facility of any kind) can exist (often in competition) in the same area. Obviously, they mostly vote no. They don't want the competition.

[@Juanito_Pecados]

I didnt expect much less of the US health system

[@johan.ohgren]

Wow, just wow...

[@b.delacroix7592]

@@Juanito_Pecados Yes, its called Certificate of Need.

[@sirgaz8699]

Yeh which is why health insurance in the US is so ridiculously expensive because every member on said board will be part of the same insurance company, creating a monopoly, so they can basically charge what they want. Free market health care is a great idea, this is stupid!

[@Juanito_Pecados]

@@sirgaz8699 i find funny how a lot of people are against it under the premise that they would be paying for the health of obese diabetic people that dont take care for themselves, all wjile disregarding the fact that the system brings more life expectancy, they pay overall less, you dont have to be overweight to be, for example, hit by a car, and that like 2/3 of the US population is overweight either way, so these overweight people would be paying more than them.

[@sneezy3233]

Perfect timing, I just found in my villages chronicle my great great grandads Smithing guild membership card

[@sneezy3233]

Also. It has a signature of his master, who has the same surname as he does. Meaning it's a dynasty of blacksmiths, which is pretty rad.

[@ailediablo79]

Free market capitalism didn't exist in Medieval Europe only. But it is there in China,India and Muslim world - middle east. Islamic economical modle is a version of free market capitalism with a bit of indirect government influence to some capacity so the economy can be more efficient and independent and fair balanceing out dome problems of hardcore capitalism. It is capitalist by definition but not similar to what we understands as capitalism today. Because it has no interest and only the government that can provide a bank. Also leans to be gold influenced and based. Also in modern day you can't alowe things to be completely free: like alowing buliding a factory in a residence city.

[@sneezy3233]

@@ailediablo79 Gee golly, Damn shame no one asked

[@ailediablo79]

@@sneezy3233 what do mean

[@grinebrud]

@Telepture wtf. get out of here with that islam propaganda.

[@jimothyworldbuilding3664]

An adventurer's guild literally consists of people who can personally kill you for disturbing their monopoly, and its leadership may even breed and release monsters in secret or refuse to let anyone hunt monsters in areas where they're letting them rebuild their numbers as a way to ensure a continuous income.

[@Tennouseijin]

A bit of trivia - guilds often were assigned a fragment of city fortifications to defend in case of a siege, and maintain in times of peace. Thus, many defensive towers are named after guilds (e.g. Potters' Tower, Shoemakers' Tower, Brewers' Tower etc.) - another thing worldbuilders can incorporate into their setting.

[@Chris-ok4zo]

Man, I bet some people look back at these times and think of barbaric and dirty peasants as well as fat and rich noblemen, roaming untouched landscapes and wildernesses, like some sort of fantasy fiction AT FIRST. But turns out, it sounds a lot like modern times when you take time to learn the basics and complex systems developed, as well as the level of organization. Just because these people didn't have electricity, it doesn't mean that they're cavemen. P. S. This description is mainly MY realisation of the "Old Days". I was simple-mind when I was younger, and channels like Shad's really help to teach me many things about history, from swords to merchants. War to business. Good job, hope to see more.

[@aztaline5593]

Even "cavemen" makes it seem like prehistoric people were idiotic, and brutish. Instead we have evidence of them using plants to heal certain ailments, creating huts too yet we still call them cavemen, and supporting injured or disabled members for years.

[@alexanderhood8993]

Yeah like we just are simply repeating history nonstop and most people don't even know unless they brother to learn about the past and realize how much of things we do are just repeat of old things people back in the days do still people who do learn about past stil managed to do it again and forgot what they learned and try to rationalize their actions.

[@Paandaas]

Aside from the rapid rate in which you advance through the ranks, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind has a pretty good guild system, requiring certain skills to be a specific level or higher to advance the ranks, and couldn't be trained by certain npc's unless you were at least a certain rank. Very similar to the structure of how the apprentice/journeyman/master system was in the real world.

[@queuedjar4578]

this "rapid rate" is still quite lengthy compared to Skyrim's becoming Archmage of the magical College of Winterhold after taking less than a single lesson and only being required to cast a low level spell two times (both of said spells the college basically gives you to learn automatically for essentially free on the spot) during the college's entire questline. And as far as functioning as a hub for magic, in direct contradiction to what you'd assume, they don't actually sell any spell tomes for the player to learn more spells, all of that being outsourced to mainly the random merchants and court mages in each hold throughout the province. The guild design was such a serious misstep in that game, especially compared to previous entries. In Daggerfall not only do you slowly gain reputation, are required to specialize in specific skills related to the guild to advance, and unlock more services from the guild over time, but you can actually _lose_ reputation if you let enough time pass without doing any work for them basically becoming considered inactive.

[@Charvale]

This gave me such an idea for a story: The merchant's guilds are required to protect their journeymen (they have a five year travel requirement where they learn different techniques from the various cultures in order to attain the rank of master) so they hire out guardsmen from the adventurer's guild -- mercenaries with the skills to protect trading caravans, hunt down monsters, etc -- and as such the requirements to joining specific guilds are regulated through trials. You have a young character wanting to become an adventurer (perhaps their parent was one, or the world sees adventurers as a noble profession) but they don't have the skills yet. Eventually, they find a knight, sorcerer, or thief that decides to teach them, and that character surpasses their training after only a few years. They become an adventurer, and wind up being saddled with a journeyman tradesmith for the next five years... which leads to potential angst, romantic feelings, and drama. The problem is, the tradesmith needs to work, so being in a relationship is seen as a detriment to their learning/trade, and can incur hefty fines if their journeyman contract is in violation. ... so many ideas!!!

[@MadNumForce]

The French name of guild is "corporation", or sometimes "jurande" (from "jurer", to swear an oath). One very important thing to mention is that workshop = company, and master = boss. Thus the way an apprentice son of a master could be made master, it's a legal disposition in the case his father dies to not let the workshop/company be headless. Same why widows were sometimes allowed to be masters and run a workshop. About the messer/sword dichotomy, putting the definition first is a mistake. It's not defined by the hilt. It's defined by the skill and experience of the person making it. A knifemaker is comfortable making full tangs and single edge blades. Swordmakers are comfortable making rat tail tangs on which a crossguard, grip and pommel are slipped and peened. None have any reason to entirely change his ways, and try to learn new skills. The knifemaker just makes an already large knife even a bit bigger, and incrementally it becomes of sword length. It is made by the knifemaker, with his skillset, equipment and manufacturing method, therefore it is (and ends up being) a knife. My opinion is that adevnturer's guilds make no sense. Guilds/corporations were sedentary institutions. They are focused on a local activity that can be sustained on the very long term and it makes sense regulating it. But there was a different kind of profesionnal solidarity system, that of the specialized workers required for building cathedrals (carpenters, stonemasons, etc...). Though the construction of a cathedral could last several decades, and local professionnal could take part in the construction, these were basically the rocket science of their time, and a whole category of itinerant specialized workers appeared. Unlike normal guilds masters who had their own house in the city (often the upper floors were the personnal housing while the bottom floors and basements where used for business), these itinerant workers lived in temporary accomodations, called "loge" in French (from which the whole Free-Mason nomenclature derives). Unlike regular guild members, where apprentices and journeymen basically "belong" to their master and must obey him, itinerant workers were free (thus "free mason"), and could come and go basically as they liked. This is much more in line with the itinerant nature of the "adventuring job". Instead of cathedral construction sites where their workforce and expertise is needed, it would be march cities/provinces where their workforce and expertise is needed to get rid of goblins, orcs, dragons, etc, in order to further human expansion. They would be provided lodging and board in a "loge" at no charge by the local citizenry, bishop, monastery or lord (economical power benefiting from the pacification of the area), and be paid when they bring back trophies proving of their activity. They could come and go as they wish, without the hasles of the heavy bureaucraty of sedentary guilds.

[@donz6211]

Thank you for the insight.

[@MadManchou]

"Guilde" very much exists in french as well. It is attested since 1280 (as "gilde"), with close relatives in the century before. Source : cnrtl Adventurers' guilds could make sense if there was enough adventuring to do in any given town's hinterland or banlieue ; regulating prices for specific tasks, obtaining privileges for guild members (e.g. right to hunt on lords' lands, right to bear arms inside the walls, etc.), centralizing demand, and in more religious settings insuring proper rituals would all be very sensible things "adventurers" might want to obtain. On top of that, with adventuring potentially being an actual profession, it only makes sense that a master would take on apprentices to pass on his trade, be it at hunting monsters, solving mysteries, or dealing with the undead. Not to mention enforcing a monopoly on a given region's adventuring.

[@publicminx]

​@@MadManchou 'Gilde' it is also in German. These Germanic words 'Guild/Gilde' means (etymological) 'to pay/contribute'. One has this literal meaning still in 'Geld' - the German word for money ...

[@mikevasquez1103]

To be fair, unions and licensing bureaus often fall into the same moral/ethical traps as guilds. Power tends to have that effect on the unmindful regardless of era.

[@Maddog3060]

I guess that would explain how you'd get a Thieves' Guild, at least in principle. In practice, they'd be too busy stabbing each other in the back. Anyway, fascinating video, Shad. I shall use the information in the future.

[@riptors9777]

Thieves guild aka. the local mafia XD They might call it a thieves guild but basically its a better and stricter organized street gang. Though they might call themselves a guild for the clout and authority that term is associated with

[@TealWolf26]

Ye olde fixers guild.

[@schwarzerritter5724]

A historical example I know is the "Ringverein". They where recent history, the 19th and 20th century and I don't know how much information is available in your language, but they prove there is historic precedent.

[@Evarakeus]

What do you think mafias and cartels are? Protection rackets, bribery, extortion, fencing, trading illicit goods, etc

[@d4n4nable]

@@Evarakeus Less successful governments.

[@edmundr2167]

The tradition of the journeyman still exists in Germany and has been under little change since back then. They are called Wandergesellen in German and can even be found all over the world traveling and working. The tradition of traveling is called Walz

[@LPTetrastigma]

In general the whole system of guilds still exists in Germany, at least as an artisan. I for example went through an apprenticeship as a car-mechanic and at the end got a "Gesellenbrief" (or a certificate that i am a journeyman) from the "Innung des Kraftfahrzeughandwerks" (literally translated "Guild of Car-Craftsmen"). And this "Innung" itself is part of the "Handwerkskammer" (literally translated to "Chamber of Crafts") which unifies a lot of different guilds in the crafts area, like metalworkers, woodworkers, plumbers and the likes.

[@kaelthunderhoof5619]

What is the best term/name that be use in a medieval period? Like how to make a name for date in a medieval setting. I wouldn't want to use January to December. Thanks for any suggestions.

[@oz_jones]

​@@kaelthunderhoof5619 Rulers, gods, seasons, holidays. Not necessarily in that order. What is important to the people in your setting? Are they a farming community or starting to industrialize? Food for thought; months in Finnish, in order: Month of the oak Mont of the pearls (from the light glistening on snow) Month of the Earth - because snow starts to melt and the ground starts to show (etymology of this is dubious) Month of the swidden Month of the sowing Month of Summer Month of hay (hay was cut for the animals for winter) Month of harvest Month of autum Month of mud (autumn rains made the ground muddy) Month of death (everything in nature dies) Month of Yule / Winter solistice

[@kaelthunderhoof5619]

@@oz_jones Thanks that's some good insight. I'm thinking of something like a magical spring that is the center of the founding of a Kingdom like when it changes it's color. Does that sound stupid? I was also considering season but only thought about the 4 main seasons. Hmmmm. Maybe a life cycle of a certain tree.

[@CatholicDragoon]

In the story I'm currently writing the adventurer guilds maintain secret knowledge and training regimens so that their members have abilities no one else do. These guilds also act primarily as contract workers for adventurer companies, essentially the party but more highly organized.

[@theeightbithero]

The college accreditation system that we use now in the states feels like the guild system without any benefits at all.

[@SerunaXI]

Haven't gotten far into the video yet, but just wanna mention: The remnents of the guild systems is still active in the various trades, even in the US. At the least, I know electricians follow aspects of the ranking system.

[@sheridanwilde]

That's nothing! The guild system in the City of London is still in place, with some of the same guilds in constant operation since the 12th century.

[@keepermovin5906]

In the USA most blue collar jobs you can either go to a trade school or apprentice under a master of your perspective trade

[@Golden-us3hj]

France, Netherlands, and London still use the system called Les Compagnons Du Devoir which is an apprenticeship guild I’m pretty sure under the Free Mason’s guild

[@Lightice1]

Although the levels of literacy varied greatly over time and place in the Medieval times, I have to point out that there's reason why scribe was also an important and respected trade. As a regular person you may not have been literare, or only have been able to recognise your own name and a few most common words, but you could always go to a scribe and dictate the document that you wanted, and likewise, if you received a letter or contract, you could go to a professional scribe who could read it for you for a modest fee.

[@toomanyaccounts]

we do have people that function as scribes today. depending upon what they do they can be pretty well. you have people who proofread contracts, translate manuals etc.

[@hughmilner7013]

As you're getting at, we often forget that literacy isn't simply "can you read/write or not," and that we need to consider the varied levels of literacy in societies.

[@ravanpee1325]

@@toomanyaccounts What is a notary other than a scribe today who is authorised to witness signatures or legal documents.

[@brodenmcdougall2698]

It took at least two years of watching his content, but at 16:10 I got to finally hear Shad say the line. I can die happy now.

[@Psychomaniac14]

all of these medieval misconceptions videos and also the pop culture weapons analysed videos are so helpful for the worldbuilding for my novel that I hope to get out before 2030, thank you so much for all of the inspiration, you literally revolutionized my view of the fantasy genre

[@AnotherDuck]

Good luck!

[@Psychomaniac14]

@@AnotherDuck thank you

[@landreaumorel971]

I wanted to write short stories entitled "Adventurers", which was basically exactly as you described. The guild recruits with a fearsome annual competition for applicants to determine their aptitudes and reveal their latent abilities. Applicants who pass the exam are ranked according to their performance and become Apprentices. Sort of a Hunter X Hunter in a fantasy setting, with cultures, nations and technologies influenced by the history of all continents from classical antiquity to renaissance. I had exactly the same problematics you covered and couldn't find anything really helpful about an adventuring guild in a fantasy setting. You just answered my questions and rekindled my interest in this idea. THANK YOU Shad!

[@nailes1745]

If you wanted to deal with a local threat you could go to a local lord who was responsible for security or solve it by hiring mercenaries(rather than adventurers). During the brigandage era in the 14th century in France after the Treaty of Bretigny, there were a few towns and cities that hired mercenaries to defend their walls against the other unemployed mercenaries(or routiers) roaming the countryside and attacking whatever they could. Local towns would even send out forces of their, reinforced with hired men at arms to deal with castles held by these routiers. The mercenaries themselves organized in 'routes'(companies, for example; 'la grande route des anglais') who then formed armies where a group of company captains would take command and decide where to go(the infamous Arnaud 'L'archipretre' De Cervole was killed during such meeting in 1366). And the famous 'white' company(white because it was hired by the church) would then go to Italy where these became condottieri and were hired by whomever could afford them and they absolutely made deals and arrangend fake fights amongst eachother which subsequently led to Italian cities raising their own forces(Venice being the first)

[@ChipitaDraws]

I find the Journeyman years to be one of the coolest German traditions to exist. The Journeymen and -women are prohibited from returning to their hometown for three years and a day. They travel all around Germany to find work, some of them even around the globe. And all of this while wearing traditional gear to be recognizable.

[@telesian5143]

In Lindybeige's recent video there's a Journeyman Carpenter wearing the traditional clothing. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJmlh6mAhMmrhrc

[@Yora21]

While I've seen a couple in my life, I don't think I've seen a single one in the last 10-15 years.

[@j0van87]

In my country guilds still exist, and it's not a joke! For example, there is an engineering chamber (guild). And if you want to have an engineering license you have to be a member of that "engineer chamber" (guild). If you want to be a lawyer you must be a member of the "lawyer chamber" (guild). The "lawyer chamber" functions absolutely the same as the "greater guild" (is very powerful), even the donation to enroll in guild exists! I'm from Serbia :)

[@Yora21]

In Germany, lots of businesses are legally required to be members of the respective Chambers, which among other things still set some industry standards and govern the training of apprentices. When I finished my apprenticeship as a gardener, I was still examined by three Masters.

[@danielmalinen6337]

Interesting to hear about different types of medieval guilds. I'm only familiar with the guilds of the Hanseatic merchants because the Hanseatic trade was an important part of the history of the Baltic Sea, but these were the guilds of the merchants and their function and role was almost the same as the function and role of the modern trade unions (labor unions, unions of skilled workers), industry confederations and commerce federations, for example. And like modern unions, confederations, and federations, also the guilds exercised their right to veto and influence in politics and legislation - - because money has a lot of power and any governments and countries cannot function without it.

[@Marinealver]

Well they were also the trade schools as well. Why unions today don't provide much in training and education, some have education benefits but that is only part of the collective bargaining which is their only function.

[@MonkeyJedi99]

@@Marinealver In service unions, education is less of a concern. but in some trade unions, there still the practice of apprentice-journeyman-master. I am thinking primarily of plumbers, electricians and carpenters. Though I think it may also apply to other building-adjacent trades like architects.

[@darktoranaga]

One aspect that Shad didn't cover here (and I don't know how widespread this was) was the guilds role in city defenses. My city still has some of the old fortification towers. At least some of them were built, maintained and manned by guilds. I'm not an expert, so not familiar with all the details, but it basically means that guilds were responsible to provide the city with manpower, labor, and funds for defenses.

[@silverhand9965]

The way the guilds are formed kinda reminds me of how it works in Dwarf Fortress. Usually you wouldn't have 10 weaponsmiths and 10 armorers for example,but a handful of people working in various metalsmithing jobs,and they'd band together to form a metalsmithing guild. As your fortress grows you're likely to end up with more dwarves working in the same specialisation,and they then are likely to petition to form a dedicated guild for their specific job,such as weaponsmithing. You can end up with a dozen different guilds for one job category that way.

[@andrasbiro3007]

This just remined me of pirates. I know it's a bit different time period, but very interesting and has a lot of connection to guilds. I highly recommend reading "The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates" by Peter T. Leeson. It's about the politics and economics of pirate ships. What blew my mind is that pirate ships were run like a modern democratic country, with constitutions, elections, social programs, and everything. And not because they were morally superior, but because of simple economics.

[@toomanyaccounts]

pirate captains had to do a good job otherwise the crew would kill the captain. the crews of pirate ships to a degree would tolerate abuse.

[@queuedjar4578]

so what you're saying is the founding fathers were a bunch of scallywags inflitrating a rebellion against Great Britain and wearing powdered wigs as disguises.

[@omnitroph1501]

@@queuedjar4578 Bold of you to assume that the entire rebellion didn't consist of such scallywags.

[@queuedjar4578]

@@omnitroph1501 yeah but only some of them came up with the declaration, constitution, Bill of rights, and slightly less of that number actually wore powdered wigs. I'm specializing my selection here.

[@ravanpee1325]

Of course people at all times need institutions and social norms to gouvern themselves

[@shadician]

Assassins' and Thieves' guilds are always interesting to me, they are in so many fantasy settings...love to know if there's any historical basis for these.

[@harambe4267]

Well, there definitely were professional mercenary/assassin organizations, although think less of a merchants guild and more of a Freemasons fraternity that you had to have an in to contract. The Hashashin were a real organization after all, although I think it's more appropriate to think of them as an extremist sect of terrorists rather than hireable assassins.

[@danielantony1882]

Kingdom come Deliverance says there can ve a theif guild cuz of the corruption in the government. Lords are so greedy and selfish that common folk create a guild to fight that off.

[@schwarzerritter5724]

A historical example I know is the "Ringverein". They where recent history, the 19th and 20th century and I don't know how much information is available in your language, but they prove there is historic precedent.

[@MaaZeus]

I think any major organised crime group (think of mafia) could be considered a guild in medieval setting.

[@darrelsteinberg4127]

@@danielantony1882 "this video game says so, so it must be true" I get Kingdom Come Deliverance a bit more on the history accurate side but... it's still just a game.

[@2011multisam]

I'm currently writing a novel that is mainly centered around a city run by a merchants' guild. Watching this video has actually helped affirm some of my decisions which certainly helps reduce the anxiety associated with potentially making your world unrealistic despite your best efforts. Many thanks to you Shad.

[@erinkarp]

I came into this video expecting to have to drastically change the guilds in my fantasy world. I'm pleasantly surprised to find I need to change nothing besides the level of detail.

[@absolutechaos13]

Shad: "Guilds are like a cross between modern labor unions and cartels." *Jimmy Hoffa has entered the chat*

[@uberpinkwarrior]

Good morning Shad. I hope you had a good day/are having a good day. One thing a lot of people really underestimate is how much power and influence commoners could have in medieval times. The guilds were a fantastic example of how even commoners could have fairly substantial political power. Also, random recommendation: can I recommend Ascension of a Bookworm? It is about a girl who dies and is reborn in a medieval-tech-level fantasy world, and it heavily explores stuff like trade guilds and whatnot. It also has a very fleshed out religious system, and an interesting aspect of it is that magic is actually prayers to the gods with specific gods tied to specific magic.

[@SirConto]

"Guilds even issued fines to their members when their work was substandard" Here in Ljubljana, the bakers guild famously had a big wooden cage next to the Ljubljanica river and when a baker made substandard bread, they'd dip him into the the river a few times with it.

[@LadyDoomsinger]

I figure, even if a person couldn't read well enough to verify the authenticity of a Guild letter of approval or certificate, it's very likely that most towns would have some sort of magistrate or official or even a priest or monk able to read, which could then confirm that the guild letter (or whatever) was in fact real. It would even make sense, that the clergy and authorities of the land would use reading and writing as a way to add to their own power, making commoners dependent on their literacy to conduct business. I don't know if this is in fact how it happened; but I think the prevalence of text documents from the medieval era doesn't necessarily imply a universal level of literacy. It could even be a reason to join a guild; to have a guild official able to read documents for you, or a mentor to teach you how to read (and do math).

[@ethanmccormack9561]

Funny enough you are kinda correct, 99.9% of a medieval village couldnt read but the village would be owned by a noble who could read. To be honest most of the times things wouldnt be wrote down as parchment was expensive and paper was extremely rare and even more expensive.

[@silverswordsmith5424]

You know, this reminds me of a setting I was thinking of where basically there were only, like, two major human cities in the world (it was a geographically small world) and one of the cities was significantly bigger than the other. This city, which was named Woodsmoke, was governed almost entirely by the guild, so much so that all of the guilds in the city had a representative in a republic style sort of senate where they would discuss and vote upon the regulations of the city. As a result of this, if you wanted to practice any trade in the city, any trade whatsoever, you had to have an official permit from a respective guild. You didn't necessarily have to be a *member* of the guild, but you did have to purchase a permit and have the proper paperwork done before you could operate. Furthermore, you had to submit to regular inspections to ensure that your business was operating within the acceptable bounds of the law. To some degree the guilds actually kept each other in check because they had an invested interest in maintaining a competitive economy. As a result, Woodsmoke is a very orderly and prosperous city, but also relatively exclusive. Most of the successful businesses in the city are very old and go back several generations in a family. By this point in its history it is incredibly difficult to actually open a new business.

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

How would they deal with black markets? Orwellian law enforcement?

[@silverswordsmith5424]

@@ShadowWolfTJC Well I would imagine they would deal with them as best as they can through the use of enforcers. There probably is a fair amount of black market activity, but if the enforcers track any down they deal with it via incarceration (or banishment, having quite decided how criminals are dealt with yet) and property seizure. Basically, if you're caught selling things over the black market, you forfeit all property rights within the city.

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

@@silverswordsmith5424 And what if the black marketers fight back with hired mercenaries of their own, or attempted to convince their would-be customers to side with and support them instead of the tyrannical guilds? Could private wars break out between the guilds and the black marketers, whom might be a coalition of traders from other cities' guilds, that might attract the attention of the monarch whom's supposed to keep order within their domain, including the cities that these warring guilds are fighting over? (There are probably many issues that might arise as a result of a guild abusing their monopoly power to the detriment of the city's populace I'd imagine, with the rise of a lucrative black market being one such issue.)

[@silverswordsmith5424]

@@ShadowWolfTJC Yeah, I imagine there would be plenty of potential issues. As such, it would actually be in the guild's best interests to operate in a manner that benefits the majority of people enough that they are happy to allow the guild's to continue to operate things. For instance, if the guilds manage quality control and price range in a manner that benefits the majority of the citizens within the city, they will be more likely to support the guild's in power. Governance is always a balancing act of getting away with what you can while still keeping the people on your side.

[@viviengemai9796]

Our German guilds still persist. They evolved into the "IHK" or "Industrie- und Handelskammer" (Chamber of Industry and Trade). Each German circuit of each federal state has its own and it is made up of the local companies. They are all independant and mostly a mirror of the local economic culture, down to being backwards and paper driven in some reason even in the digital age. They are further divided among the sectors inside of each and each sector takes people from their respective trades to oversee legitimate business, export control (quality and legitimate papers), training and certification of new members of the respective qualification and many other things. The government has no control over this aside of legislation and thus of course judication. It is a completely self-sufficient system in modern Germany to ensure a degree of quality and serious business preactices for the regions. It's very much still a guild. You kinda need their support.

[@sleepy_Dragon]

Don't forget the Handwerkskammer (Chamber of Crafts). Also the trade and craft freedom was introduced in the 19th century (following the French revolution). But it got restricted again in the middle of the 20th century.

[@edmundr2167]

The historical guilds still exist apart from the IHK, they are called Zunft and some still train journeymen to go out into the world

[@viviengemai9796]

@@edmundr2167 By function and law, they are not. They operate as non-binding unions and can if they so please set standards among them, but no one has to follow their standards. If you break the regulations of the IHK or the Handwerkskammer you will get in trouble. If you ignore the wishes of a local free people's Zunft you will at worst get social stigmatism and ostracized. Alas, they got no power. The old system of guilds and their function was tansfered to IHK and Handwerkskammer.

[@edmundr2167]

@@viviengemai9796 well sure, but they follow the tradition and I believe some existing ones are quite ancient even if they don't have the same power and laws as back then.

[@viviengemai9796]

@@edmundr2167 Definetly. And since the IHK system and Handwerkskammer are aligned on the same principle - local corporations - in traditional regions they can even overlap and actually wield some power. No one is forced to make a journey though. Some just do it out of tradition and to get some Vitamin B (B for Beziehung - relationship in German). It doesn't hurt, but is mostly common in craftmanship. Modern jobs don't do that at all.

[@mygetawayart]

Shad, you should do a video on medieval music. I feel like people kinda know what it was like but may have so many misconceptions about the main kinds of music at the time. In my country, Italy, there were basically two-three types of music: the religious choirs, the trobadours and the popular tarantella (especially in the south, in other parts there were different traditional dances) but in other countries there were other types, genres and dances.

[@wishuponamonkeyspaw2458]

Come to think, a historically authentic guild system could easily lead to a different kind of purpose for the adventurer's guild in a fantasy setting: corporate espionage. On top of the local do-gooders and monster slayers you would essentially have medieval shadowrunners; deniable assets to throw at a problem posed by a rival member or guild. Bill the knifesmith has the toughest metal in town? Find out why and bring the info back to the guild, who will see it gets to Mr. Johnson under strict confidentiality. Maurice the weaver was commissioned to make a dress for the lord's wife? Be a real shame if something were to happen to it... Also, German knife fights must have been pretty hardcore.

[@josephmunoz2698]

Thank you for this this is a topic I never understood skyrim and Witcher always made me wonder

[@huntcookgame2857]

In Portugal you would call a Day labourer "trabalhador à Jorna", so journeyman might actually be a latin rooted word!

[@RoderickVI]

Jorn (catalan/occitan), Journée (french), Giorno (italian) come from latin diurnus, from latin dia. Diurnus > Jurnus

[@huntcookgame2857]

@@RoderickVI So it is a Latin rooted word, on a side note dia is Day both in Portuguese and Castellano.

[@Dryghtendanitsu]

In a book I am writing, there are some guilds crossing city boundaries to become essentially national guilds. In one instance, the guild is sponsering crime in a city where the guild is barred, and my MC works in the docks stealing products from non-guild merchants

[@mikeforester3963]

Granting the legendary Paul Hogan scene of "That's no' a knoife. Eh hehe. THAT's a Messer!" to Germans by an Aussie warms my iron heart. And the still kept tradition of the journeyman years I can observe first hand in my favourite pub. It's a place were journeymen (Wandergesellen ) can billet and congregate, full attire and stuff -- they look a bit like Amish. It's also a place from whence many a journeyman, mostly carpenters or roofers, started their three- year-one-day journey (the "Walz")... with lots of beer, schnapps and crazy initiatory rites.

[@samcriddle1912]

Never knew there was so much potential for guilds in writing, really interesting to think about :)

[@LukasJampen]

In the series "Ascendance of a bookworm" they go fairly well into Guilds and daily lifes of common citizens. There they have 1 Guild per craft wit the merchants guild being almost an umbrella that regulates the selling of the crafted goods, especially to the nobility. It has very good worldbuilding and is a slow story with little only some bits of action because it focuses very much on the lifes of the people. From commoners to priests to nobility. it starts very small and gradually expands more and more. Also there the nobility is tied to mana and magic because Mana is inherited and excpet for a very limited number of commoners (who usually die as children). Also only people of similar levels of mana can even have children all these things lead to nobility being fairly closed off from the normal commoners. Except for merchants and servants they have almost no contact. Also without the mana of the nobility you can't really fight the creatures in that world and without distributing mana in the ground Harvests can get worse and worse. All this gives fairly solid reasons why nobility exists and is almost unquestionable because even if they are the minority they are so much more powerful than the normal people and they basically make living for the commoners possible to some extent.

[@Tacticslion]

So glad you mentioned this! We’re big fans of the anime (so hype season three’s coming out this year!), and its world building is just superb!

[@LukasJampen]

@@Tacticslion yeah also hyped for the next season. The worldbuilding in the light novels is even better and a few things are handled better. But still the anime is fun. One point I didn't like that much was that they showed early on that Mynes eyes were changing color and her glowing. Because the LNs are all from her perspective (except some Epilogue chapters that show thing from other povs) and we don't get the benno/otto conversation until later so it is kept a mystery for a little longer. But I can understand they wanted to give the viewers a bit more of a hook.

[@Tacticslion]

@@LukasJampen That's more than fair: adaptation change is a bit of a weird experience for those familiar with the original in most cases, and it can be frustrating. I've never read the LN, and I will say that I appreciated the color change just fine - as someone who went in with no world lore, I can say for certain it worked very well for me (and my family), because it it didn't really mean anything in particular. While obviously *something* was going on, it was more a mystery and interesting hook into "huh, that's weird" than any sort of big revelation. It synced nicely with her general "oh, it's the rainbow hair squad" dismissal of the people as being weird from her point of view, and made it seem like something potentially "normal"-ish, in-world: at least normal enough that no one particularly commented on it in-character that we saw. There's a similar adaptation divergence in the Bakarina anime vs. the manga - the latter allowing insight into what's going on in the thoughts of others (dialogue that's missing in the anime). But on reflection, I also feel it works best in the anime without it, while the manga works better with it, simply because the two experiences are different enough that they both represent fun experiences of the same story. Either way - super hype~! :D

[@LukasJampen]

@@Tacticslion i mean it probably wouldn't work in the anime compared to the ln. The ln is completely from mynes pov and we only know or notice what she does in many cases which would be really difficult to pull of in a satysfying way. The only exceptions are some of the prologs and the bonus chapters in the epilogues of every volume. Which are often very fun because we get to see how other people see myne or interpret her actions, all while knowing what actually went threw her head.

[@Tacticslion]

@@LukasJampen We loved the side-stories they did as in-between episodes between seasons 1 and 2 and I wished there were more - they were exactly this sort of "other people in the world, and how they think of Myne" little excerpts. Delightful stuff!

[@DaeStorm7]

Thank you for making this video. This is the exactly what I needed! I have been trying to get a better grasp on governing bodies, societal economics and how they form and develop over time. I've had so many nagging thoughts. Now, I feel like I understand how to accomplish my goals. I just haven't been getting it, but the way you explained it clicked everything into place for me.

[@loke6664]

Another version is when you use a dungeon based economy. Let me explain, in many fantasy games doing dungeons are an important part of being an adventurer. In moat settings once a dungeon is cleared it will be dormant until a new evil villain move in with his entourage of monsters but in others the dungeon itself generate the monsters in such way. That makes the dungeon an important resource which would impact the local economy. Vendors would sell items to adventurers, merchants would buy loot and eventually a city would grow around the dungeon, living off the loot from it and the adventurers visiting it. Kinda like a silver or gold mine did in the real world ("Dollar" was initially the name of a mine which became a city and eventually it became a term that would mean a silver coin in more then a few countries). Anyways, in such a setting an adventurer guild might own a dungeon or have a deal with the lord or city that does which would force our dear heroes to either prove their worth and join the guild or sneak into the dungeon. This setting is of course more like a computer RPG then most pen and paper games but there are examples of cities built above dungeons in popular setting. Waterdeep in Forgotten realms is built above Undermountain for instance and the common way to get in there is through a popular inn. I kinda feel that the lords of Waterdeep are missing an opportunity to tax adventurers to enter (the again, Halister the mad lives somewhere down there so the death rate of adventuring parties might be too high for that). We do also have the stereotypical manga guild like Fairy tail that basically is a bar that also offers members missions or quests depending on their rank. I know Shad likes Goblin slayer and the guild there works similar but it part of a nation spanning guild while Fairy tail is based in a city with rival guilds competing for dominance. Both works fine in a RPG. Neither of those types of guilds is historically correct but that is because such guilds didn't exist in the real world. I think the closest you can get are landsknecht mercenary companies like the Black company and the still existing Swizz guard and while the Swizz guard only consist of 200 members working for the pope others rented out both large and small units to nobles and kings.

[@sirewokthefirstidonthaveal2902]

i thought it was pretty interesting to hear progression in guild rank was based on merrit yet if you were the child of a person already a guild member you still could rise in rank, not because of famillial relationships but probably because it was assumed parents would share their experience also proving your skill was still needed the nuance in that fact is part of why i love shad

[@JarieSuicune]

Not much has really changed for jobs vs the guild setup in that regard if you thing about it. College itself is basically intended to be a variant of those training ranks. Sure, the details of HOW you test/prove yourself has changed a little and/or a lot (depending on occupation, culture, etc.) and, just like those guilds, sometimes family relation is enough to give you a head start (But not guaranteed. Just like with some guilds.)

[@sirewokthefirstidonthaveal2902]

@@JarieSuicune large brain

[@JuaniValmaggia]

Loving the extra art in the videos. It would be great to have the artists linked in the description or something, especially if it's anything from the legit medieval era - maybe a link to a time machine too while you're at it.

[@torwynd3131]

I'm so jealous of all your Sanderson hard covers. I really need to get all the Stormlight ones when they are all done. Not sure if it counts as a guild but the Templars revolutionized banking and trade and travel to the holy land for pilgrims. They basically created the first banking system. The became so powerful and were owed so much debt the King of France had them wiped out.

[@charlesmayberry2825]

Another word worth mentioning, and an example, Leagues, The hanseatic league, was in fact a trade/merchants guild. It's one of the largest, most widespread guilds that I know of, it was massive. Seeing that it spanned from the 1300s to the 1860s it was also one of the longest standing guilds that I'm aware of.

[@ccityplanner1217]

It's interesting that guilds trended towards splitting up into smaller, more specific entities as the economy grew, whereas our businesses today trend towards consolidation.

[@alekssavic1154]

I don't think you can really compare them to businesses though. If anything they're more like unions than companies (in fact many of the early trade unions essentially emerged from the last remnants of the guild system, although by that time the only power guilds had were to qualify tradesmen, and even that wasn't universal). Edit: in North America, where guilds generally had less power to begin with. Not as familiar with the relevant history in Europe, since it's a bit different.

[@serbskaholca]

"in north-east Germany people of Wendish/Slavic origins were not allowed to join some guilds" Me, a descendant of those people, who still speaks Sorbian(Wendish is nowadays not really used anymore) commenting on this video. The world can be so small sometimes I really love your videos. Hope to see the next one soon

[@ostrichlord9097]

Faraway Paladin is an anime that has the protagonist seek the aid of a local lord to help him and his friend clear an area ridden with monsters. At first he hires local adventurers from a tavern to help scout the areas and take out small bands of monsters. However, after a scouting party gets killed and the protagonist ambushed and nearly killed, the protag realises that even though he is OP he still needs organised help. He then goes to the church that bestowed him the title of Paladin to request aid in the form if clerics and healers. The High Priest of that Church also uses his ties to high society to request the help of the local lord to request actual soldiers and troops. On top of all of that, the protag had befriended a merchant who used his knowledge and acquaintances to spread word of the reward available to anyone who helps retake the monster infested territory. It turns into a tiny organised war effort which really demonstrates the power of organised guilds and authoritative powers when taken into consideration. I'd talk more about the detail the creator added but I'd be typing all day :)

[@mattiadallasta1698]

In medieval Italy (i take my city, Treviso, as an example) guilds were expecially powerful and often acted in the role of parties and political factions, particularly thanks to the phenomenum of Liberi Comuni, of which Treviso was a great examples. Guilds were called "Corporazioni delle arti e dei mestieri" or "maestranze" ("corporations of arts and professions") and they constituted the easiest way to access the political career in the Comune (in Treviso we have a quite common surname "Gastaldo", word that indicated the representative of a maestranza) for example Dante Alighieri, before entering the Priorato of Firenze (civic assembly of Florence) had to enter the "arte degli speziali" ("corporation of apothecarists").

[@alex_hound1185]

Pretty interesting, you explained all of that really well and i like when you don`t exaggerate in your videos. I wanted to point 1 thing about medieval people`s ability to write and read - there were some situations when they couldn`t read a spescific sentence. Let`s say, some people couldn`t read texts, that was written by а clergymen, church texts. Most of the people has some knowledge and could read something simple, but if there is some hard and unknown words, villagers probably will be confused

[@toomanyaccounts]

people forget that the educated in medieval times often knew and used multiple languages both written and spoken. gov't and higher stuff may be in Latin while the common language of the area would be German. Even today in a lot of countries the language of gov't, business, science is English while the rest of the populace may speak dozens of different languages.

[@admirekashiri9879]

Very informative my story doesn't take place in a fantasy medieval European setting (I have a spin off idea in the same universe that will however). My story takes place in the period but in an African setting. I can see the medieval European guilds sound very similar to some societies found in some African kingdoms and empires around the same time. The Wangara Merchant class and Mande Blacksmiths come to mind. Along with economic and political influence they also had spiritual influence and also a sort of intelligence secret society network within the various cities and towns. So I'm definitely going to use the information you presented for these guild like societies in my story. You've given me an idea to divide them into sub groups to make them more complicated in my story.

[@stepgamerdad]

My favorite historical novels are about guild intrigue of one flavor or another. Especially the "Fleury Saga" by German author Daniel Wolf.

[@mirkooberfeld3537]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it before, but there is another aspect of the journeyman that is very interesting for story building and game building. They form a system for spreading knowledge and expertise across different cities. They are only allowed to stay for a few months and then have to move on. So they can bring news to guilds with the same profession in other cities. They may provide information about prices, trade routes and other business opportunities. They get to know new inventions and different ways to do things. They know people in other cities who they can trust and who trust them. They are the nervous system of a large guildnetwork. And maybe they come home with a bride or marry in another city, keeping the guild alive and the secrets safe.

[@michielpeeters7438]

I only ever heard of guilds before, really interesting video, I enjoyed it a lot :)

[@robertgronewold3326]

When it comes to the commonality of reading and writing, it was ironically the invention of the printing press that struck a supreme downturn in the number of regular people who could read. This was mainly because members of the clergy and nobility were afraid of regular people getting too much knowledge or unending the social order, and as such tried to eliminate many avenues of education for lower class and working people.

[@robertgronewold3326]

@@Me-yq1fl Not really 1000 years. More about 300, and it was more a slow than anything else. The church didn't mind science until it started to get in the way of their power.

[@---jw8fl]

Shad - love your videos. For those of us who love to research these topics, could you list the sources you use for additional reading? Or maybe do a video discussing some of the common sources? Not questioning your accuracy, I just love reading and learning about these topics.

[@royfolker6856]

Really awesome video, I love it. I have always liked the way that medieval guilds operated and the effects they had on Medieval History and one of the things that I learned was that they played a major part in abolishing Serfdom by buying the Serf contracts from the noble lords and then releasing the serf after they had worked for the guild a while.

[@katharinaschnuulze3709]

There is actually a very interesting anime/manga series ( spice and wolf) that takes place in a slightly fantasy late medieval setting and lays the focus on a merchant in this time. It is in my opinion the best depiction of the market and the conflicts of these times, so I thought it would be nice if you check it out.

[@ianswinford5570]

In my fantasy world/novel, there are various guilds that oversee various trades. There are guilds for mining, trading, fishing/whaling, mercenaries, assassins, and craftsmen. However, the most popular guilds in my world is the Slayer Guilds. As their name should imply, these guilds strictly specialize in hunting monsters. I had this idea that Slayers get paid based on the species and number of monsters they defeat. More dangerous monster species are worth more money. Also, different body parts from monsters are worth a good amount.

[@IvanLozanoGuitar]

Hey man, I've been watching your review videos and I love your medieval breakdowns. I'm from Spain and there's quite some medieval series being produced these last few years around here, I'd love to see you breaking down El Cid or La Catedral del Mar. Although something tells me you'd rage with the first one xD Great video as always!

[@eraphtasofstet8645]

One of the ways I’ve made an adventuring guild in my story is they originally formed as a postal guild that delivered mail between city states, and became an adventuring guild after a conflict started between two. They serve as a neutral presence in the world and deliver packages and letters, as well as protect pilgrims and travelers on the roads, but also have an investment in keeping the conflict going, not to warfare, but as a simmering conflict so they can make money off it.

[@zeekutartheimmortal]

A modern take on the guild system in the US would be the state inspectors. As a tradesman you need to prove your skill to the state inspectors and you obtain a license to practice your craft. They still use Apprentice, Journeyman and Master class licenses to this day. You need a journeyman rank or higher to employ apprentices, and a master rank to employ journeyman. Yearly dues are still in place and the state inspectors must inspect your work for it to be approved by the state for safety and quality purposes.

[@ornu01]

I always liked the concept, good to hear more about them from a reliable source. Thanks, Shad.

[@Flammifleure]

Thanks for the video! ^^ Cool that what I've read about guilds aligns with what Shad says! There was a little game called Majesty the Fantasy Kingdom Sim that featured Wizards', Rogues', Warriors' and Rangers' Guilds, as well as Temples to various gods that fulfilled the same in-game purpose of providing heroes for your city and which I always imagined organised simialrly -- you kind of have a parallel structure to apprentice, journeyman and master in the Christian hierarchy of acolyte, deacon and presbyter The game and my fanon for it has stayed with me and is influencing the fantasy world I'm now developing.

[@darkmerc02]

Gotta say love your channel for giving me much to think about for my own science fiction project and providing many frames of reference to use!!

[@Malkontent1003]

HOLY CRAP KZbin ACTUALLY NOTIFIED ME.

[@civilengineer3349]

I always imagined a guild to be a trade cartel that lobbies the lord of the land or the mayor of a city for an exclusive right over a trade for the purpose of controlling price and quality to end market competition

[@critzibletherainbowknight322]

Shad I love these videos, it helps me learn more enough to put such information and ideas in my own writing and table top gaming.

[@chupacabra304]

This was such a great video, I immediately downloaded your book shadow of the conqueror on Audible! can’t wait to listen 🎧