Guild (WTO)

In Stygian society, master of the Arcanoi was traditionally controlled by the Stygian Guilds. These organizations promoted the use, study and regulation of each Arcanos.

The Guilds had a contentious history with Charon and the Stygian Empire. While all Stygian wraiths are nominally a member of the Legions, Guild memberships oten trumped loyalty to Stygia as a whole, and the early guilds were often very tight-lipped about the mysteries of their guild. Conversely, the importance of each guild to Stygia varied: some were the very foundations of Stygian society, some antedated Stygian society, and some were little more than glorified criminal fraternities.

The Breaking Of The Guilds
For the guilds, the complicated and often self-destructive political games of Stygia culminated in events between the High Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Mirroring mortal craftsmen of the period, the guilds established a formal compact in 1354 that established them as a unified body - granting the guilds increased power, which they promptly used to launch a coup d'etat in 1598. Charon responded firmly, issuing a dictate dissolving the guilds and passing their former responsibilities to the Legions.

Existing Guilds
Since that time, the guilds have continued to exist, some more openly than others, because certain guilds are absolutely necessary for Stygia to continue. The guilds can be roughly broken into three categories: necessary, tolerated and criminal. A rough breakdown is as follows:

Necessary Guilds
These guilds are required for Stygia and wraithly society to operate. As a result, they operate more or less openly as guilds.


 * Artificers: Less required for their Inhabit arcanos than for their mastery of Soulforging, the Artificers are the oldest guild, and Nhudri is arguably the most respected and well-known wraith after Charon and the Lady of Fate.


 * Harbingers: Masters of the Argos arcanos, the Harbingers are the primary transport and messenger service for the dead. Without the Harbingers, Stygian outposts would be unable to communicate and many wraiths would be lost in the Tempest.


 * Masquers: Along with the artificers, the masters of Moliate are responsible for the majority of Stygia's plastic goods. As a result, the Masquer's guild is well-accepted within Stygia, even though the Masquers often use their abilities to skirt extremely dirty business, particular through operatives such as Slander.


 * Pardoners: Without the Pardoners and Castigation, Stygia would collapse into Oblivion in a fortnight.

Tolerated Guilds
Guilds in this category are illegal, but do not violate the dictum mortuum and are granted a varying degree of tolerance, ranging from nobody in the Hierarchy caring about membership towards not excessively hunting for members. These guilds are often less forthcoming with their arcanoi as well.


 * Chanteurs: The guild of Keening is generally grouped together with the Sandmen as the entertainers of the dead, and as entertainers they are offered a wider berth than afforded to less fun guilds.
 * Monitors: Lifeweb is a critical arcanos for the maintenance of fetters and the Monitors, if they weren't so paranoid and generally unpleasant, would likely have an easier time in Stygian society.
 * Oracles: The Fatalism guild has powerful patrons and a reputation for playing Cassandra to Charon. As a result, the guild occupies a quasi-legal state - well organized, but nobody admits it in public.
 * Sandmen: As with the Chanteurs, the masters of Phantasm are afforded a high degree of independence because eventually, everyone in Stygia visits them for entertainment.
 * Usurers: Like the Monitors, the Usurers' arcanos of Usury is extremely useful, but much like the Monitors, the Userer propensity for intense self-interest makes them unwelcome in Stygian society as a whole. The guild survives through a combination of extremely well-hidden members and flagrant wealth.

Criminal Guilds
These guilds are not only illegal, but they violate the dictum mortuum or are otherwise known for egregiously violating Stygian law. Membership in these guilds may not result in outright soulforging, but too much familiarity with their arcanoi can be unhealthy; not that familiarity is easy, most of these guilds will not let their secrets loose to just anyghost.


 * Alchemists: Flux masters were historically considered something of an appendage to the artificers. With the Breaking and the institution of the Dictum Mortuum, the Alchemists had no place to go but underground.
 * Haunters: Practitioners of Phantasm fled to the shadows because their entire purpose is to violate the Dictum Mortuum. They have spent time cackling like maniacs ever since.
 * Mnemoi: Once the judges of Stygia, the masters of Mnemosynis were found corrupt and banished from Stygia with a vengeance far before the Breaking. The Mnemoi are not just a criminal guild, but a forbidden guild, membership is punished by soulforging, no questions asked.
 * Proctors: Like the Haunters, Spooks and Puppeteers, the entire purpose of Embody is to visit the Skinlands. Unlike these other guilds, the Proctors have always been intensely self-absorbed.  While a criminal guild, they are considered a nonthreatening criminal guild.
 * Puppeteers: The Puppetry arcanos allows control of living bodies, and of the criminal arcanoi is the one that has found the most unofficial use throughout the history of the dead. That said, the guild has always been barely tolerated at best, and these days, they hide out in the Skinlands as much as possible.
 * Solicitors: Never part of the guilds per se, this cabal of Intimation masters always sold their services for a price. They have continued illegally since the Breaking as if nothing had happened.
 * Spooks: The closest thing to a New Jersey Mafia among the dead, the Spooks are a confederation of adoptive families united by their mastery of Outrage, their control of Pathos-running and other quasi-legal enterprises, and their willingness to do head-busting favors as often as possible. They are much like the Mafia of the living; you don't know they exist until you need a favor from them.