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The Sage's Guild

Members of this guild call themselves Sages, or seekers of wisdom. In their Wold-view, there are the deities who are already wise, the senseless who 'think' they are wise, and sages who know they are not wise, but pursue knowledge and wisdom as their life's work. They are dedicated to uncovering the deepest mysteries of knowledge, retaining that knowledge in perpetuity, and educating people of the the Noble (and Ignoble) Races, be they peasant or prince. The Sage’s Guild is relentless in the pursuit of the truth behind the facade, the technique to improve the yield, and are implacable in the defense of education over ignorance!

Membership Requirements

• Class: Any
• Level: Minimum 1st Level. May be any PC or NPC class.
• Race: Any
• Alignment: Any, although providing free education to all is difficult for anyone not good-aligned.
• Deity: Any. The Sage’s Guild is less concerned with spiritual matters than pure research and knowledge.
• Deed: None.
• Oath: Members take an oath to 'Seek, Store, and Share.'
• Fee: None, but there are prerequisites (see table below)

Background

Sphere of Influence: Wold-wide. The sages are widely respected and distributed.

Theme: Education. Sages spread knowledge of current skills and ancient lore to the Noble and Ignoble Races of the Wold.

The Sage’s Guild's headquarters and its great repository of knowledge has its physical location in the Gold Level of the Big Float (location No. 24., formerly Kerracles Temple of Unity). However, any city of note has at least a small Branch Library to facilitate research and the sharing of knowledge. In addition to these permanent establishments, there are Sages who manage traveling book-wagons and lead expeditions that gather yet more knowledge. These travelling sages can be found nearly anywhere in the Wold!

Ethos: “Seek, Store, and Share.” The Sage’s Guild is dedicated to learning and teaching, from the most esoteric and arcane to the most commonplace and mundane. This ethos gives rise to the three main chambers of the Sage’s Guild: Acquisition (Hunters); Records (Librarians); and Instruction (Teachers). Information is freely given to others to better the lives of the community. Dangerous knowledge is carefully preserved and kept secret, with the understanding that even the blackest treachery or darkest discoveries is knowledge that may one day turn to the benefit of the Noble Races.

Organization Features

The Sage’s Guild accepts any being who is interested in collecting, preserving, or teaching knowledge. An applicant becomes an Apprentice when they meet the minimum requirements and present themselves to their chosen chamber in the Sage’s Guild. Some few dedicated persons have pursued ranks in more than one chamber, and it is even possible to become a Master Sage in all three chambers!

Min Lvl (Minimum Level). A Sage must acquire the minimum class level listed in the table before attempting to gain the Title and Benefits of that level of Sage. (The actual requirements are shrouded in secret ritual, but include tests on knowledge and a demonstration of professional excellence.)

Requirements. At some levels, the sage must meet certain prerequisites to achieve a title and benefits.

• Profession. A Sage must have maximum skill ranks equal to class level in a chamber’s profession before attempting to gain the Title and Benefits of that level of Sage. Each chamber has a specific associated profession.
  • chamber of Acquisition; Profession (Hunter)
  • chamber of Records; Profession (Librarian)
  • chamber of Instruction; Profession (Teacher)
• Profession for multiple chambers. A Sage who wishes to rise in multiple chambers must have max ranks in the required professions of those chambers. A PC who wants to be in all three chambers must have max ranks in all three professions. It is possible for a sage to have different titles in different chambers at the same time. (A Professor Sage of Acquisition and an Adjunct Sage of Records.)
• Skill Focus. At Adjunct, the Sage must have the Skill Focus Feat in her chosen profession for that chamber. At Professor, the sage must have the Skill Focus feat in one Knowledge skill.

Benefits.

• Field Manual. Each sage is responsible to constantly update a personal field manual with observations, anecdotes, and good advice about a particular subject. At the end of the sage's career, the field manual is stored in the Vault; the best ones are published and distributed through the Sage’s Guild’s Library system! While working on the Field Manual, the Sage can gain insight to their subject. An Apprentice Sage must choose one Knowledge Skill for their Field Manual, and, with one minute of study, will gain +1 bonus to that Knowledge Skill for a single check. (There is no limit to the number of times a Sage can review his Field Manual for additional checks.) As the sage increases in rank, so too does the quality of their Field Manual -- Adjunct +2, Associate +3, Professor +4, and Master +5. Sages who join additional chambers have one Field Manual for each chamber.
• Training. An Apprentice Sage gains +2 Skill Points that can be used for any skill ranks. These bonus ranks are subject to the maximum ranks by level. (example: An 8th level sage with 8 ranks in perception can’t use these bonus skills to increase perception) At each sage rank, the sage gains +2 more skill ranks. Sages who advance to apprentice in additional chambers get this benefit for each chamber.
• Research. With one day of research, a sage can answer one DC 30 Knowledge Check using a Branch Library (see below). A sage can only research one question per day.
• Enhanced Training. Due to the sage's training, the sage may select any one skill and add it to the character's list of class skills. The sage also gains the Field Manual benefit for this skill (ie, 1 minute of study, and gain +1 bonus per Sage Rank on this skill’s next check.)
• Bardic Knowledge. The Sage gains Bardic Knowledge as the Bard Ability, specifically, the sage adds half his class level (minimum 1) on all Knowledge skill checks and may make all Knowledge skill checks untrained. If already a Bard, the sage gains +2 on all Knowledge Checks above the Bardic Knowledge ability. Sages who advance to Professor in additional chambers do not get this benefit again.
• Flawless Knowledge. The sage may re-roll any skill check three times per day. Only one reroll per skill check can be made. The results of the second roll must be used, even if it is a lower roll than the original roll. Master Sages in two chambers increase to four per day, and three chambers to five per day.
• Prestige. The sage that can Master two chambers is in very high regard by other sages and gains a +2 on all Charisma-based skill checks with other Sages. A Master of three chambers gains a +4 on all Charisma based skill checks with other sages. A DM may rule that other NPCs may hold Master Sages in high regard as well.

Hierarchy

A sage's place in the guild is marked with a Sage’s Guild Badge. A symbol of metal with three interlocking rings. The symbolism is the 3 chambers of the Sage’s Guild. Each grade has a different type of metal: Apprentice, Tin; Adjunct, bronze; Associate, silver; Professor, gold; and Master, a multi-colored scintillating crystal. Deans, and the Chancellor also have magically enhanced robes, that shimmer and pulsate with an almost hypnotic lustre. The few Emeritus Sages do not have the enhanced robes, but do add a halo around the Badge. (The badge is not magical and provides no benefits.)

The Sage’s Guild has three other titles unavailable to Player Characters, which correspond with increased administrative and policy positions in the Sage’s Guild. These positions take up the full concentration of the persons in the office, which requires them to be NPCs.

• Dean. Each chamber has a leader who controls the personnel, operations, and administration of the chamber. The chamber elects a Dean on a 2/3 majority with every Associate Sage or higher that is present casting a ballot. In a rare case of removing a Dean, the chamber again must pass a removal with a 2/3 vote. The Dean herself must be at least a Professor, and serves until death, retirement, or removal.
• Chancellor. The head of the Symposium is the Chancellor. The election of a Chancellor is identical to that of Dean, save all three chambers are part of the voting, and that the eligible candidates must at least be a full Professor Sage of all three chambers.
• Emeritus. A Dean or Chancellor may voluntarily step down from active service to the Sage’s Guild due to age, illness, or simply worn out. When this occurs, they become an Emeritus Dean or Emeritus Chancellor. The title is purely honorary, though an emeritus may act to be a shadowy puppet master or completely withdrawn from active Sage’s Guild life.

History

Founded by the great wizard Maruthian Sungh after the great Cataclysm, the Sage’s Guild has become one of the foremost education organizations in the Wold. Reputedly, its repositories hold nearly every kind of esoteric, magical, and mundane knowledge in the Wold. Lamenting the loss of all the knowledge from the civilizations now known as the Blasted Lands, Sungh made it his life's work to begin gathering and preserving knowledge, no matter how trivial. His esoteric habits have rubbed off, and the Sage’s Guild is interested in any knowledge from any source. It is said everything in history is in the Vault of the chamber of Records somewhere!

To support the preservation of knowledge, Sungh sponsored many expeditions to explore and find unique items and old tomes. These expeditions were extremely competitive, racing for the next find and even stealing treasures from each other to claim the finder's fee. By the end of Sungh's life, the expeditions codified their practices and became the chamber of Hunters, the second arm of the Symposium.

A generation later, the Sage’s Guild's reputation for the Gathering and Preserving Knowledge was well established, and people of many races sought the knowledge and advice of the Sage’s Guild. This, in turn, created two big problems: the first was the isolation of Floating City in the middle of Turtle Lake and the second was Sages having to take time out of their job to assist petitioners. The Chancellor at the time was the elven bard, Meliphi d Quillian, who established the new chamber of Instruction. These new Sages would run branch offices connected by a magical transportation system and solve both problems at once! Hunters and Librarians often tease and admire Teachers at the same time. On the one hand, the third chamber was not founded by Maruthian Sungh, but on the other, its existence enables the others to do their job better. Either way, they are un-Sungh heroes!

Now, Hunter expeditions comb the Wold for forgotten lore, Librarians catalog and store knowledge in the Vault in the UnderCity of the Big Float, and Teachers freely educate from Branch Libraries or traveling Book Wagons across the Wold.

Locations

1. Headquarters. The Headquarters of the Sage’s Guild is in the Floating City, on the Gold Level [at location No. 24], at the former site of Kerracle's Temple of Unity. The public entrance is an unassuming gateway leading onto a grand circular courtyard bordered by the three domed buildings of the Symposium chambers. In the center of the courtyard is the small but elegant Chancellor's Tower. Each chamber has workrooms, studies, and living quarters in the upper levels and a network of rooms and tunnels beneath that connects to the other buildings and to the Vault of Records below. The Vault is a vast warehouse in a magical space that is much larger inside than out. This Vault, controlled by the Librarians, holds everything ever collected by the Sage’s Guild.

Chancellor's Tower. The Chancellor and her assistants conduct the administrative workings of the Sage’s Guild. They manage the health of the Sage’s Guild through policies, politics, funding, operations, and logistics matters. Most requests for assistance from governments or major organizations is handled by the Tower.

The chamber of Acquisition. The Hunters like to get their hands dirty, the fun is in the finding, not keeping, and the great majority of Hunters operate in the field, unearthing archaeological finds or seeking out every sort of mundane, magical, or esoteric knowledge. Friendly competition and one-ups-manship is the name of the game with these hardened and free-wheeling treasure hunters!

The chamber of Records concerns itself with cataloguing and storing each and every find the Sage’s Guild makes. Deep below the Sage’s Guild itself, there exists the Vault, a vast space filled with a seemingly endless expanse of documents and boxed items of rarity and power. Were the Wold to know of the full extent of the destructive power that lies beneath the feet of the citizens of Floating City, there would surely be an invasion of the Sage’s Guild! It is best for all concerned that very few know the possibilities that await their day. LIbrarians tend to be unimaginative but terribly precise.

The chamber of Instruction has the mission to educate and teach, believing that education is the most powerful weapon to change the Wold. To a Teacher, education is not preparation for life; it is life itself, and it doesn't really matter who they are teaching or what subject!

2. Branch Libraries. Any city worthy of the name has a Branch Library. These can be as large as the Great Library in Plateau City or as small as a crafter's shop, as in Dirt City or the City of Rum. Despite the size and personnel differences, every Branch Library has the following:

• A Sage in Charge. This Sage can be from any chamber, and is in charge of the administrative functioning of that Branch Library and supporting local and wandering Sage activities as needed.
• chamber Specialists. Each Branch Library has at least one member from each chamber within the Sage’s Guild. These staff members can help with specific requests for gathering, preserving, or teaching. The smaller the branch, the lower level the specialist. In a very small branch, the Sage in Charge may double as a Specialist and may not be higher than an Adjunct Sage.
• Book Deposit. Every Branch Library has a magical Fate Item that connects the Branch with the Vault at Floating City. This Book Deposit works similar to Ring Gates, but only transfers non-living objects and only works for sages (see Benefits). A sage can send a request for information through the Book Deposit, where a research team will look for and provide an answer within one day. To read an original manuscript or see any of the magical artifacts, a sage would have to travel directly to the Vault in the Floating City.

3. Book-Wagons and Expeditions. Many Sages constantly travel, usually Hunters looking for the next find, or Teachers seeking more education opportunities. The ability for these wandering Sages to assist others is much more limited, based more on the individual Sages knowledge and abilities than the reach-back capabilities of a Branch Library. (ie, these can be used by DMs for adventure hooks!)

Politics

While non-political, the Sage’s Guild often has to deal with governments and organizations, both in the receiving and providing of knowledge. The Chancellor's Tower smooths the way for the Hunters and Teachers to ply their professions in civilized lands across the Wold, and Sages that receive requests of a sensitive or powerful nature forward those to the Tower as well. The Chancellor strives to ensure the knowledge they provide are only used for good purposes, but there have been mistakes in the past.

Important NPCs

Chancellor. The current leader of the Sage’s Guild is Abigail Quillian, a half-elf distantly related to Meliphi d Quillian. She is a tall, hawkishly thin figure; her gleaming straight black hair spills to her knees and is elaborately braided. Originally of the chamber of Instructors, Meliphi has achieved Master Sage in all three chambers, and is well respected among the Sages for that rare achievement. She projects an air of intense focus for whatever job is at hand. Her etiquette is impeccable, but when angered her quiet, measured manner can become unnerving.

Dean of Acquisition. Arcan Shath is now old and growing frail, but in his day he was the legendary ranger/wizard, seeking out the rarest of items with only his wit, charm, and bullwhip to aid him. He misses those days greatly, and can often be found gazing wistfully at his old adventuring whip and hat, kept in a glass trophy case in his office. Listeners can always get him off-subject by asking about his feats in the recovery of the Eye of Lem, the Speaking Stone, or the Bones of Bassruba.

Dean of Records. Osto Winkmann is a neat and fastidious man with a neat and fastidious moustache. His photographic memory is legendary, as is his unfailing ability to bore people senseless every time he opens his mouth. He has been Dean for over 35 years, and shows no sign of stopping. It is hard to imagine Council meetings without his dreary and monotonous tone.

Dean of Instruction. Adnan Rai is an energetic gnome who is happy to expound about any subject on the face of the Wold. Her shock of bright blue hair and huge gold glasses frames large gray eyes that sparkle with eagerness. Chosen as Dean the year of the establishment of Rum, she manages the Branch Libraries and Book-Wagons with humor and excellent management skills.

Emeritus Dean of Instruction. Although retired, Malfus Al'Garik is still the leader of the High Woldian project, and is credited for personally breaking the code to read the ancient script. He also takes credit for any work still carried out which inspires resentment among others working on the project. That, plus rumors that his position owes as much to favoritism as talent, have made Al’Garik a controversial figure in the Sages Guild. Malfus’s personal tendency towards both arrogance and cowardice have also not endeared him to others. He is brilliant, however, after his fashion, and his work is respected, even if his personal characteristics are not. Malfus is a prim, neatly dressed man, often carrying a staff, and trailed by a magical animated quill and parchment set that takes his dictation. To read an adventure that included this NPC, see here.