Guildmasters of member guilds hold the same rank as archmagi, although archmagi are exempt from election. In fact few want the posts, and the guilds sometimes pressure senior members into serving a term. The presidency of the federation is hotly contested, however, because the guild which supplies the president rises in status, and the president technically outranks an archmage. (Whether he can enforce his will on them is another matter.) Politics within the guild are strange indeed, as lower ranks in the member guilds agitate against the dominance of the enchanters, while their most capable members show no concern, having so much individual power that they are literally above any politics short of continental warfare.
Magical talent represents money to the guild, and unlike guilds in the Empire of the Shards, they will not decline talent just because it comes in female or non-human form. According to the culture of the guild, intelligent mages are nature’s aristocracy, and scholars and less intelligent mages are its bourgeoisie. Orcs and anthropomorphic animal races are unlikely to be genius wizards, but where they exist they are seen as equals. Given initial prejudices, they must work harder as apprentices to prove themselves, but it can be done.
The people of Terraport are relatively well educated about magic, in that they know that most wizards are working professionals who specialize in commercial applications and have no inclination to turn people into frogs. Because the guild recruits every talent it can find, regardless of social position, almost everyone has a friend or family member in the guild. However, people also understand the fundamental difference between the Guild of Wizardry and all others: Most apprentices develop a skill, but apprentice wizards develop power. A weather witch spends her time summoning a fair breeze for her ship, but if pirates attack, she can also throw lightning from her hands.
In the Empire of the Shards, wizards are the victims of a social stigma, but in Terraport, they are recipients of social regard, compounded of respect and a little fear. The Guild of Wizardry is not only the wealthiest guild in Terraport, it contributes mightily to the wealth and security of the city. Many people, especially members of the Church of Man, are uneasy around magicians, but they know that magic can do things that can be done by no other means. Non-wizards can buy magical tools to produce goods more cheaply than those made elsewhere, and common merchants can buy enchantments from the guild and sell them abroad for a profit. City authorities step lightly around wizards and allow them academic freedom rare in the world. That’s all the wizards want, besides the material comfort that they can provide for themselves, and they exert their magical power to gain political power only to ensure that they will be left alone, and in turn they allow the weaker guilds to run the city as they will.
The headquarters of the Guild of Wizardry is the largest structure in Terraport, and it looks like nothing so much as a huge black box. Outside it is impressive only for its solidity, but wonders lie within: Magical lighting, animated stairways, mirrors that peer into other places, hypnotic illusions, and golem servants. It houses mundane offices, laboratories, and classrooms, but also the famous library, vaults full of enchanted objects, and the ritual room – the basement of the building is one giant room with a modest pentagram inlaid in the middle, surrounded by empty space to minimize the possibility of outside interference. Wizards wear formal robes here, white for apprentices, red for journeymen, blue for masters, and black for archmagi and guild officers. Security is as varied as the artwork, with magical barriers and traps defeated by passcodes, tokens of office, or individual attunement to authorized personnel, backed up by golems and hired muscle from the Guild Martial. The guildhall has many common spaces, with others restricted according to rank, guild affiliation, or specific individuals who rent space convenient to resources the hall provides.
The Guild of Wizardry has the same goals as any other guild, looking after the interests of its professional community, certifying their competence and monopolizing their services, but one goal in particular rises above all others. More than any other group of wizards, with the possible exception of the Imperial Society, the guild exalts research. As noted above, apprentices and journeymen get short shrift. Other guilds sell goods, demand exceeds supply, and the more people who can make goods, the more profit the guilds earn. The Terraport Guild of Wizardry is not concerned with developing every wizard to his full potential, but with finding those wizards with the most potential to advance the state of the art. Their system of instruction is designed to sift the talent pool, and its casualties can still prosper as journeymen by deploying the guild’s advances in the field. The benefit to an apprentice or immigrant journeyman is a few lessons in the school of hard knocks and a chance, if he proves himself, to work with some of the most eminent master wizards. In spite of the barriers to mastery, the Terraport guild is top-heavy, for its environment of academic freedom attracts the best and brightest wizards from around the world.
Terraport’s guild-and-contract government does a fair job of protecting individual liberty, and in particular all the guilds object to competition from slaves. It is however subject to its own particular abuses, as the wealthy can purchase freedoms which the poor cannot afford and manipulate contract law to their own advantage, but none of those abuses impinge upon the Guild of Wizardry.
See also
Lucien Ghostwright: posts 14 and 15 of
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?p=1348898
Blood company (founded by Eclipse):
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=186741