Editing Reference:DRC research notebooks/Guild descriptions

''This section is found on each Guild description, preceded by the description of the Guild itself.''

If you attempted to describe the whole of D'ni society in a single word, one of the words which would immediately come to mind would be "guilds." The 18 Major Guilds were the backbone of D'ni: their foundation, their decision making, and their legacy. The structure the guilds provided - making sure that skills and traditions were consistently passed down from generation to generation - is one of the main factors that allowed the D'ni culture to exist, largely unchanged, for nearly 10,000 years in the Cavern.

With the opening of Kirel, the DRC hopes to take the first step toward honoring that legacy. The five Guilds represented in Kirel have been carefully chosen by the DRC to represent five areas which will be important for future restoration. The five Guilds represented here will be the first Guilds to be fully implemented when that day comes. Until then, read about the Guilds, wear a shirt that represents a Guild, and learn what it means to be part of the Guilds. Find those who are interested in the same Guilds, and discuss and imagine what a full Guild system would look like.

We realize that T-shirts and balloons are not anywhere close to the Guild systems of the D'ni. We do not pretend that they are. However, they are a step toward the majestic institutions that once ruled D'ni.

 

Cartographers were expected to initially map new Ages as well as maintain those maps on a consistent basis. Most evidence points to the "maps" done by the Cartographers as being extremely comprehensive often including ocean floors, underground water sources, geography, etc...

In the future, we hope that the new Guild of Cartographers will create detailed maps and analyses of new Ages before they are released to the public. These maps will include geographical areas, machinery, instrumentation and the like.

The Guild of Greeters was not a Guild in D'ni's history, but because of the tremendous popularity of the Guild and its dedication for many years to the restoration effort, the DRC is going to make the Guild of Greeters the fifth initial Guild.

 

In the future, we hope that the Guild of Greeters will be the first to meet visitors and new explorers and will have the tools to make those experiences as good as they can possibly be. Greeters will be responsible for making the transition from rookie visitor to seasoned explorer as smooth as possible.

The Maintainers were the police for anything that dealt with the writing of or the use of Books. A Book could not be used before approval from the Maintainers. No one considered a link safe until it had received Maintainer approval.

In the future, we hope that the new Guild of Maintainers will be the first people into every Age. The Maintainers will test all new areas for stability and functionality and any Age released to the public will require Maintainer approval.

The Messengers managed all communication, both government and civilian, specific to the city and to other Ages. All evidence points to the task as being a huge responsibility and one not easily accomplished.

In the future, we hope that the new Guild of Messengers will be able to organize communications for explorers and the DRC. We hope to create a system whereby the Guild can carry out announcements, news events, important messages, and the like for all of those who visit the cavern.

The members of the Guild of Writers were the only individuals who were recognized by the D'ni society as being qualified to write Descriptive Books. It was the Writer's Guild that wrote all official Ages for private enterprise, the government, and any other Guild that required Ages.

In the future, we hope that the new Guild of Writers continues the tradition of making new Ages available. Though often considered the most elite of the Guilds, the Writers' tasks were also considered the most arduous and intense. We assume that the new tasks will be just as intense - Writing a Descriptive Book is not something to be taken lightly.