Colors: White and Black
Current Guild Leader: Gavin Reynolds, The Order of the Valet, Personal Valet of Ozrin Nuloy
Requirements to Join: Must have been employed or apprenticed as a servant for at least 1 year
Requirements of Membership: Must maintain position as a servant, with no more than a three-month period of unemployment
Majority Composition: Household staff, Servants
Minority Composition: Diplomatic Assistants
On the Guild Council?: No

Where the rich and the politically powerful go, servants are bound to follow. Despite its insistence on the use of guilds rather than that of social classes, those who gain a large amount of money and power often need servants to handle their day-to-day affairs. One of the older Guilds of Torodan, the Servant’s Guild follows a structure of power that entirely bases itself on the power one’s master has. A servant to a Guild Leader is considered to be more powerful than the servant of a Order Leader, who is in turn more powerful than the servant of a Provincial, and so on. As such, the Guild Leader of the Servant’s Guild is and always has been the servant to the Guildmaster, who has in turn always been a member of the Mage’s Guild. As such, many believe that the Servant’s Guild is entirely in the pocket of the Mage’s Guild, and indeed, the two guilds agree over 90% of the time on all issues, and have nearly always agreed on issues brought up to the Guild Leader.

The Servant’s Guild is unlike most Guilds in its membership criteria. Whereas most guilds all but require that members of their chosen profession join their guild, and that all members enter immediately after apprenticeship, the Servant’s Guild is quite different. It requires neither that all servants enter its Guild, nor provides any training to servants before their official entering of the Guild. Rather, it opens the profession of being a household servant up to any who wish to take on the job, and provides networking for when one job is no longer available to a member. To keep servants who do not fit the Guild’s standards out of membership, the Guild requires that one maintain a job as a household servant for at least a year before membership in the Guild is even an option. While this has reduced the number of servants in the Guild considerably, the Guild has more than made up for it, as these standards ensure that only experienced and qualified servants are members of the Guild. Therefore, when looking for household staff, all of Torodan turns to the Servant’s Guild before moving to independent contractors.

The Servant’s Guild gets along well with the Mage’s, Merchant’s, and Knight’s Guilds, all of whom it normally gets regular employment. The Farmer’s Guild, the Miner’s Guild, and the Smith’s Guild all disdain the Servant’s Guild. Most of the Guildmembers of these guilds feel that they do not engage in “real” work, and often refer to the members of the Servant’s Guild as “bootlickers,” or those attempting to gain status without work. Other Guilds get along well with the Servant’s Guild, but politically recognize that the Servant’s Guild will normally fall in line with whoever is in charge at the time, usually the Mage’s.

The Order of the Valet

Symbol: A white arm on a black field
Current Order Leader: Allende Majors, Servant to Jakrin Oler
Requirements to Join: Must be employed or have apprenticed as a personal valet for at least 1 year
Requirements of Membership: Must maintain position as a personal valet for at least 11 months out of the year.

The highest Order of the Servant’s Guild, the Order of the Valet is for those employed as the private, personal servants of a household. The head servant of a household is usually a valet, who is a mixture of a coach driver, a butler, and herald for those who they serve. The best paid of the members of the Servant’s Guild, the Order of the Valet has always held the position of Guild Leader, and many members of other Orders in the Servant’s Guild would like their masters to make them valets so that they might move up in prestige and join this Order.

The Butler’s Order

Symbol: A black cap on a white field
Current Order Leader: Dolin Marks, Servant to Sir Joh Duke
Requirements to Join: Must be a male employed or apprenticed as a household servant for at least 1 year
Requirements of Membership: Must maintain position as a household servant with no more than a one-month period of unemployment between jobs

The Maid’s Order

Symbol: A white apron on a black field
Current Order Leader: Alissa Elmond, Servant to Caeli Mystak
Requirements to Join: Must be a female employed or apprenticed as a household servant for at least 1 year
Requirements of Membership: Must maintain position as a household servant with no more than a one-month period of unemployment between jobs

The Butler’s Order and the Maid’s Order in truth act as one Order, and only traditional duties of positions in the household staff keep these two Orders apart. Butlers tend to have an easier time of becoming valets than maids, although this is not universally true, and tends to reverse itself when the members. Dolin Marks and Alissa Elmond are nearly valets themselves, but prefer to keep their positions as Order Leaders. As their employers prefer this as well, each has yet to receive a promotion, although both earn considerably more than their counterparts in their households.

The Order of the Herald

Symbol: A white parchment on a black field
Current Order Leader: Elijah Tormont, Herald to Othor Millen
Requirements to Join: Must be employed or have apprenticed as a crier or herald for at least 1 year
Requirements of Membership: Must maintain position as a herald or crier with no more than a three-month period of unemployment between jobs

While most heralds still serve as personal servants, in recent years the Order of the Herald has seen a shift, as more and more towns employ heralds to deliver information to the populace. This has caused a bit of an uproar among the Order of the Herald, its members employed in the delivering of information to towns claiming that their status is higher than that of those who serve higher ranking members of the guilds. Their claim is that as they give information to more people, and that their abilities find more use than those of personal heralds. Talk of these members splitting off and joining the Bard’s Guild has caused great stress among the higher-ups in the Order of the Herald, who do not want to lose the membership. The Bard’s Guild has refused to publicly comment on the issue.

The Order of the Scissors

Symbol: Silver scissors on a white field with a black border
Current Order Leader: Roan Woods, Owner of the Haresnip Barber Shop
Requirements to Join: Must have completed apprenticeship in a position of professional grooming
Requirements of Membership: Must be employed as a personal assistant or in a barber’s shop for at least 10 months out of the year

The Order of the Scissors made a shift 67 years ago, from personal servants to barber shops. While many personal groomers are still in the Order, the Order now elects its leader, as do many of the trade orders in Torodan. While still technically a part of the Servant’s Guild, the Order of the Scissors has shifted its power base to resemble those of trade orders, a fact that has made it less than popular within the Servant’s Guild itself. Still, the fact that it brings in more profit than the other Orders has secured itself within the Guild, despite its lack of popularity.

The Order of the Shield

Symbol: A black shield on a white field
Current Order Leader: Regina Halberd, Protector of Ozrin Nuloy
Requirements to Join: Must be employed or have apprenticed as a bodyguard for at least one year
Requirements of Membership: Must be employed as a personal bodyguard with no more than a 1 month period of unemployment

The Adventurer’s Guild hires out adventurers who serve to fulfill specific, short-term duties, as defined by contracts with the Guild. The Order of the Gate’s membership serves to protect specific locations for long-term projects. The Order of the Shield, by contrast, serves to provide protection to important people in Torodan. Many of its members originated in the Knight’s Guild, and then moved to the Order of the Shield when it became clear that advancing beyond the rank of a personal bodyguard was impossible without noble blood. Often, the Order of the Shield’s network allows members to quickly find new jobs, as many important people throughout Torodan would not want to lose the chance to pick up a skilled bodyguard or two, especially one that meets the qualities of service to which the Order of the Shield adheres.