[Guild] The Arcane Brotherhood

[Phinehas]

The Arcane Brotherhood

Goals

• We are united by our desire to pursue knowledge in all its forms, and most notably in the area of the arcane.
• We follow a philosophy of magic that focuses on three major areas: Focus, Power, and Knowledge. We believe that all three are necessary to be a True Wizard.
• We work together to combine our knowledge, understanding, and power.

Government:

Inner Circle: the inner circle is made up primarily of the Archwizards, although it is not unheard of for a Wizard to be a member. It is the core of the guild. It alone has the power to grant promotions. It has the ability to change guild structure or rules of the guild. Votes on promotions or other guild-related decisions are majority rules. Votes on demotions, promotions beyond what has been earned, changing of guild structure, or changing of guild rules must be unanimous. Overruling of a decision of the Outer Circle requires unanimity and at least three votes. In this way, if there are not at least three members of the Inner Circle, they cannot control the guild completely, thereby preventing dictatorship.

Outer Circle: The Outer Circle is the general governing and lawmaking body of the guild. It meets once a month or, if necessary, a majority vote of the Inner Circle can call a meeting. It consists of all Archwizards, Wizards, and Mages. It decides major guild policies such as diplomacy, etc. It is also a place for regular reports of general information that is necessary for the entire guild to be aware of.


Hierarchy:
Archwizards: An Archwizard is considered to be of the most powerful and knowledgeable members of the guild, and hence in all of Yliakum. There are few Archwizards and they have a large say in the running of the guild.

Wizards: Wizards are members of the guild who have achieved relative independence. While still members of the guild and under it's authority, their studies and practices are no longer governed or watched over by those higher up. They have achieved a high level of proficiency and knowledge.

Mages: Mages are those members who have achieved a level of proficiency and independence so as to not require constant attention or tutoring. They are still directly under the authority of the Wizards and Archwizards, yet they are allowed to do as they wish for the most part.

Apprentices: Apprentices have made the step from being Initiates into a commitment to study. They are deciding what areas of study they will focus on and are being brought along by members of the higher ranks. They are still learning and depend heavily upon the support and guidance of those with more experience.

Initiates: Initiates are only beginning their studies of magic and their membership in the guild. Often they do not completely comprehend the extent of devotion and the commitment that intense study requires. They are simply testing the waters, deciding whether they have what it takes, and also being observed by the members of the guild.


For prospective members:
There two things we desire you to understand:

• First, you need to understand what a True Wizard is. A True Wizard is not simply someone with the ability to mutter a few words, wave their hands about, and create a spell. That is a spellcaster, and beneath our notice. A True Wizard is one who seeks knowledge and understanding. It is true that usually a True Wizard is proficient in one or more Ways of Magic, however that is not absolutely necessary. It is the pure pursuit of knowledge that makes one a True Wizard, and not the ability to create fire from thin air.
• Secondly, do not expect to rise in the ranks quickly. We have much higher standards than you will find on average. We understand that you are unusually gifted or intelligent. We understand that things may have happened in your past to give you a greater understanding or ability than the average person. Do not expect that since when you were born an old crone prophesied that you would be a great wielder of the arcane arts you will be an Archwizard within weeks. If you were not unique in your abilities, we would not even have considered you. Be content with gaining membership and do not be overcome by ambition. Your abilities will not be overlooked, but they will not be overestimated, either.

OOC Rules:
Phinehas will, at first, be in charge of maintaining the level of RP within the guild, this means that some rules and guidelines will be adhered to, and some understandings must be come to before you become a complete member of the guild.

• Alts are frowned upon, though not prohibited. This is because most people have difficulty creating and maintaining even one good, solid character... let alone trying to have several. Maintaining alts responsibly and with a decent level of RP is difficult. Your desire to experiment with different characters is understandable, but our desire to have only serious, worthwhile characters is also understandable.
• You must tell your guild leader(s) how many alts you have. You do not have to provide any information about them, but we need to know the number. This is not because we are control freaks(though we very well may be, we are wizards after all), it's because we need to keep a closer eye on those who have many alts to maintain and keep track of the quality of their RP and their activity. We don't want to have a member disappear for two weeks only to find out later that he was around but just wasn't playing that character, nor do we want to find out that the alt in our guild ended up only being a spare or used to get information or some other such nonsense. That would be disrespectful to the guild.
• Your RP will be, to one extent or another, monitored until you prove yourself. We don't want to find out that our members are RPing that they've summoned the ghost of Arnold Schwarzenegger who has possessed them and that he “will be back”. We don't even want to find that our members are secretly part of a cult worshiping the little-known god Rabidia, the patron of small, sadistic bunnies... You get the point.
• Lastly and most importantly... The above rules seem strict and a little intimidating. Don't get us wrong, we are not starting an RP regime where we punish the weak and unsuccessful. We understand that it takes time to get the hang of RP, and we have nothing against mistakes. We were newbies once, too. We're not policing you in the hopes of catching you messing up so we can have the joy of punishing you. The atmosphere will be friendly and helpful, but when necessary, strict. It's hard to maintain high quality RP within a guild if there are not standards. We have set some, and we have kept them fairly loose so as to not cramp your style or define your RP. It's simply quality control, and we want you to understand that you will be helped to achieve a certain standard of RP, and held to that standard without being made to conform to a certain set of opinions or style.

A few other OOC notes and what-not:

• Much information has not been revealed here. As wizards we are not a “secret” guild, but we're not particularly fond of handing out information unnecessarily, either. Although much information may not be open to the public eye, the majority of it can be easily obtained by talking to someone within the guild. Again, we are not, for the most part, keeping secrets so much as simply do not feel like spreading the intricacies of our workings out for all to see.
• Some, or much, of this guild may seem unoriginal to you. Sometimes that may be because you don't have all the information, but quite possibly you may be right. We are the only wizard's guild in Planeshift(at least worth mentioning) and can therefore afford to establish ourselves as basic and have no need to go out of our way to come up with semi-plausible concepts or names in the hopes of appearing unique.
• All of the above is susceptible to modifications as the guild develops. This is by no means a completely pre-planned guild. You can't really pre-plan too much where wizards are concerned, they tend to always want to do things their own way anyway. So this is meant to be a solid foundation for a guild that will over time develop it's own culture, eccentricities, style, etc.
  Please feel free to criticize, positively or otherwise. We reserve the right to ignore you, whether because We believe you lack the necessary information to judge correctly, or because you simply have a different opinion that may be valid but isn't how we want things to be done, or even because you're a nincompoop.

[hitancrias]

Looks well thought out, but I wouldn't expect anything less.
Good luck with finding good members!

Oh, and there's a typo, the first guild goal is mentioned twice.

[Phinehas]

Looks well thought out, but I wouldn't expect anything less.
Good luck with finding good members!

Oh, and there's a typo, the first guild goal is mentioned twice.

Thanks for the well-wishing, and thanks for the typo point out... I was mucking around with the formatting and must have missed that.

[Marqsaynt]

Great, another noob starting a guild.

About time there was another good attempt at a wizard guild. Glad you put this together, Phinehas. Under most circumstances I'd think your RP watchdog policy was a bit overkill but, having seen how outlandish some wizard RP can become, especially with newer characters, I'm actually glad to see some sort of system of accountability.

I was wondering about one thing though. I didn't see any real mention of how a member is expected to train magic, is it purely RP or does it also involve standard magic way training, or possibly a mix of both? Obviously, every member is expected to always RP and RP well, just curious what roll, if any, in-game mechanics will play in your vision of the guild. Basically, what standard are you using to say a character is "proficient" in the "Ways of Magic?"

[Phinehas]

It will be mostly RP-oriented. People will be encouraged to use in-game mechanics, but not required to do so by any means. It's just problematic until magic is more powerful. It's unrealistic to level in-game by the use of only magic, so if you're a "pure" magic-wielder you have to go OOC and use a sword just to level up.

So to answer your question more directly, it will be mostly RP. That's also part of the reason for the stricter RP rules... There needs to be a balance between, "I will RP greater power than I actually have according to in-game mechanics," and, "I am god!" People will be encouraged, for instance, to RP their studies, and discouraged from simply having a backstory that conveniently provides them with awesome powers.

It'll take a bit of work to guide people to good RP in this area. Like you say, wizard RP can get weird or absurd quickly. I think I have enough experience to make it work, though. I have been RPing the same wizard for nearly all my four years here. In my mind, it's all about balance, which can be a subjective thing. Let's just say that you can be amazing at RP, but if you don't even own a glyph in-game or know how to cast even the simplest of spells, you'll be strongly discouraged from heightening your power in RP. On the other hand, just because you have a ton of time on your hands and don't mind bashing things with swords to level your magic in-game, doesn't mean that you have the RP quality to match your in-game power.

It's a difficult balance to find, but will definitely lean more towards RP until the game mechanics for magic become a little more realistic. I have no interest in making people spend say, four out the five hours they give to the game a week in leveling up just so that they can RP advancement in their characters. Also, even if they maxed their magic stats, they'd still get trounced by the first person with a sword to walk by, so...

Ooook... apparently you shouldn't get me started on these topics... Note to future posters... questions about magic RP will be answered... and then some.

[Marqsaynt]

Very nice. I agree whole-heartedly and can't wait to see this guild concept put into action. May you succeed where other's have failed.

[Suvok]

Looks like I can't join then. Rabidia isn't going to worship herself.

Good luck with the guild. Sounds like it could work pretty well. I can't see a flaw...yet.

[Zan]

I was going to give some criticism here but Marqsaynt already beat me to it ... Noobs shouldn't start guilds!

That being said, magic desperately needs some attention and love. I'm not certain about the latter but I'm confident that you'll improve the atmosphere, which I feel magic should have but often lacks up until now.

Zan won't be joining due to the 'too many alts' thing but he might become a frequent visitor, hoping that some of the Brotherhood's knowledge rubs off on him.

[Dihenis]

This sounds very nice, but unfortunately for me I don't have a mage character not already engaged, and I don't think you'd appreciate all the alts I have 

and I agree mage magic can get absurd, so I'm sure you, Phineas, will be able to keep the newbies in check

[Jekkar]

Horrible Phinehas, good luck though.

[Leama]

Phinehas

You call your guild “The Arcane Brotherhood.” Are you only considering male members?

I really like the idea of this. Good Luck.

* Leama walks away knowing Phinehas will do a great job.

[ThomPhoenix]

Do not expect that since when you were born an old crone prophesied that you would be a great wielder of the arcane arts you will be an Archwizard within weeks.

This sentence is too long for my taste.

Government:
What exactly is your plan here? Is this supposed to be a cumulative government system or a more separated checks and balances system? It's not too clear now.

Hierarchy:
Reminds me a lot of the Imperial Scholars. The Imperial Scholars are awesome of course, and you led them once, so that isn't necessarily bad.

Claim to be the only Wizard Guild:
The Imperial Scholars are wizards too, but they have departments or "Paths" of knowledge. Your guild would indeed be the only current wizards-only guild. However, what is then meant with this statement:

We are united by our desire to pursue knowledge in all its forms, and most notably in the area of the arcane.

So, are you going for wizards-only, or are you adopting the model so graciously provided by the Empire?

For the rest, it is a very nice guild and we may surely expect great things from it and from it's leader.

[Duraza]

You call your guild “The Arcane Brotherhood.” Are you only considering male members?

Don't think he meant it that way as brotherhood could also simply mean a group of people working together. Like a community or society.

As for the guild can't wait when I see it ingame 

[Phinehas]

You call your guild “The Arcane Brotherhood.” Are you only considering male members?

Yeah, we're really sexist that way... No, we're more than happy to accept female members, it's just that calling it the Sisterhood would have been weird, and that leaves us with the Siblinghood which is just pathetic.

Do not expect that since when you were born an old crone prophesied that you would be a great wielder of the arcane arts you will be an Archwizard within weeks.

This sentence is too long for my taste.

We are wizards... Things tend to get complicated. I was actually careful to not simplify any of the IC information too much for that reason.

Government:
What exactly is your plan here? Is this supposed to be a cumulative government system or a more separated checks and balances system? It's not too clear now.

It's a little more checks and balances-oriented, but has both.

Hierarchy:
Reminds me a lot of the Imperial Scholars. The Imperial Scholars are awesome of course, and you led them once, so that isn't necessarily bad.

Let me assure you that nothing here is even remotely taken from the Scholars. When I was the Archsage of the Empire, the Scholars had yet to form into anything significant, and I haven't really seen them since then. Anyway, even if there are similarities, I expect a lot of things such as ranks to grow and end up having more complexity in time. Like I said, this is just a foundation.

Claim to be the only Wizard Guild:
The Imperial Scholars are wizards too, but they have departments or "Paths" of knowledge. Your guild would indeed be the only current wizards-only guild. However, what is then meant with this statement:

We are united by our desire to pursue knowledge in all its forms, and most notably in the area of the arcane.

So, are you going for wizards-only, or are you adopting the model so graciously provided by the Empire?

Again, nothing here is taken from the Empire or any of it's guilds. I've been around a good deal longer than the current system of the Empire, so even if some of our ideas are similar, you can be sure I thought of them first.
The statement that we are the only wizard's guild is, in my opinion, true. The Scholars are part of the Empire. Dispute it, argue it all you want, but the fact remains that the Scholars exist because the Empire exists. No Empire, certainly no more Scholars. The Scholars can't be separated from the Empire, so in a sense they are more of a sub-guild. I know Sangwa may prefer to word things differently, but unless a great deal has changed in the foundational structure of the Empire since I was a member, that's how things are.

For the rest, the Scholars are just that, scholars. They allow for all forms of study. Sure there are people who study magic there, but the guild(or sub-guild) is not really focused on magic, but in general learning. You might just as well say the Knowledge Seekers are a wizard's guild. It takes far, far more for a guild to be a "wizard's guild" than for it to just have a couple wizards in it.

The Brotherhood focuses strongly on magic, but also encourages other study for a healthy and balanced accumulation of knowledge, and to prevent a skewed outlook on life. Phinehas, for instance, studies magic like it's going out of style, but he has also done a great deal of work in chemistry/alchemy, and dabbled in many other areas of science. Thanks to this he has a fairly balanced perspective on things, though you wouldn't know it to talk to him. Yes, the Brotherhood would accept a member who wishes to study, but does not wish to wield magic, because the pursuit of knowledge in all its forms is the natural passion of a True Wizard.

I know some of that may seem like semantics to some people, but there's not much I can do about that. The reasons that we are the only wizards guild are, to my mind, irrefutable. If it's any consolation, I've even talked to some of the Scholars members, and they did not challenge the claim.

For the rest, it is a very nice guild and we may surely expect great things from it and from it's leader.

Appreciated.

[Sangwa]

Looks very good Phinehas! I'm hoping this guild will provide the competition we, the Imperial Scholars, so much require.

The structure itself is very much of my liking. It's pretty much how I'd put it up too.

However, about the Promotional Thread itself (the topic) I believe you could do some tuning. I'd separate the OOC information into listed points, so people can browse through them in an easier fashion.
Another thing would be to add some type of flavor text: something that'd keep it still sharp, but also decorated. As it is you're showing us a good car without the painting.

I've never perceived Phinehas as a very brotherly dude, hence why I'm not so hot on the name. Despite that, the wording attached to it seems to work.

EDIT: Some changes to wording.