Ok, you guys have forced me to give a little insight into Phinehas' character... something I rarely do, and don't particularly like to. In this case, however, I'll just have to hope that everyone is a mature enough RPer to not take advantage of the OOC knowledge I'm now supplying them with.
First off, does anyone remember the reason Phinehas didn't like the AO? Of course not, because it was always so vague. Want to know why he hated them? They never invited him to join the guild.
Let it sink in for second... for all his being a well-known magic wielder, and perhaps even more well-known than any individual member of their guild, they never invited him to join. This hurt his pride, as he really had wanted to join. Now, of course there were other reasons he disliked them... He was a young man at the time, and as all young people, thought he knew better than everyone else how everything should be done.
More than one year has passed since then, years spent mostly in study and reflection. Over time his pride healed enough that while he would never say it to anyone out loud, he could admit to himself that the AO had done a lot of things right. This is why you may see some similarities. In designing the guild, Phinehas had no particular intention of copying the AO, but he didn't shy away from the idea of being similar like he might have a few years ago.
Those same years that healed his pride brought him to the realization that while his own studies progressed fairly well, if he was going to have any sort of an impact on magic-wielders in general, he would have to relax his desire for control a little, or at least appear to. He has lost more than one young mage over the years simply because he refused to try even a little bit to keep them as an apprentice. He judged that their thirst for knowledge should overrule their dislike for him, but eventually realized that, in all fairness, even his great desire to learn had never surpassed his pride to the point of letting him study under a master. So he realized that in a guild, he could not appear to have complete power, and indeed that if he had the responsibility of complete power he would never have any time for his own studies.
So, as far as the Brotherhood and the Inner Circle go... Allow me to point out that Phinehas is, at the moment, the only Archwizard... So while he will be fair in promoting people, it will be a good while before anyone else can challenge his power, or even share it. By then he'll have the guild pretty much running the way he wants it, and won't mind someone else taking part of the burden of running it so he can continue his private studies. He's thought it through carefully, let me assure you.
A last consideration: Even Phinehas gets lonely. He doesn't want to give up his studies for the sake of socializing, but it would be nice to have someone to discuss mutually interesting subjects with.
Ok, that all seems a little off-topic, but I said it to allay your fears that I was sacrificing Phinehas' personality for the sake of starting a guild. He's a devious little bugger, he is. I would appreciate if nobody used this knowledge IC as you would have no way of knowing it, since Phinehas keeps his mouth shut about his own feelings, ambitions, and methods. Also, don't think I just made that all up so it would sound good. This isn't something thought through in retrospect, to reconcile his actions with how I want things to be. This is all factual history... Phinehas did go through those changes of feelings as I have spoken them. I'm not about to give up who he is just to start a guild.
That said, for all those who are freaking out wondering who would ever join a guild run by this creepy, little, self-centered jerk, I refer you back to the government to point out that dictatorial power is safely out of his hands, even though he will have great influence, and that there is a player behind the character who, while staying true to Phinehas' character, won't let him ruin the fun of the guild for everyone else.
