The Argent Tower

This is the guild formed by the priesthoods of Ase and Chastaine in 379 AG (approximately forty years ago). The guild includes specialists of all types, excluding Invokers. Upon first joining the school, and before learning any new magical spells, the student is required to take an oath and participate in a religious ritual involving the student's sponsor, a priestess of Ase, and a Troubadour of Chastaine. The oath, which must be recited before these witnesses on the night of a full moon, looks like this:

I, [applicant's name], do hereby pledge to honor the strictures of the charter of the Order of the Argent Tower, and promise to be loyal to the Grand Matron of the Order of Ase, maintaining my pledge against all obstacles, be they natural or unnatural. I vow to use magic only in the service of mankind, and never for violence. Further, I vow to never learn or use magics of combat, destruction, or harm, and to surrender any such magics to the Order of Ase. I take this pledge freely, without coercion or expectation of reward, sworn by my hand on the sacred charter of the Order of the Argent Tower, under the watchful eye of Holy Ase, Mother of the Night, who has blessed me with this opportunity.

All Argent Tower mages have the following restrictions:

1. They must pay a yearly tithe of 2 gp/level to the Order of Ase.
2. They must always defer to a priestess of Ase.
3. They are not allowed to use their magic for violence, and are forbidden to learn spells which are used for direct combat. This blocks out most invocation/evocation spells, such as Magic Missile and Fireball. It also blocks out some other obvious spells like Melf's Acid Arrow and Power Word: Kill.
4. They live under a different set of laws written down by the Order of Ase. Most punishments are rather harsh -- harming another person via magic is always punishable by death.
5. Argent Tower mages are always required to wear their symbol in plain sight, so people know they're dealing with a potentially dangerous wizard.

Members of the Argent Tower also receive the following benefits:

1. Every time they gain the ability to cast a new spell level, they get to enter a spell of that level into their spell book. For example, at third level, they automatically get one second level spell.
2. Because of their closeness to each other, Argent Tower mages share a very strong bond of brotherhood. This bond has been known in the past to even cross racial lines. It is not uncommon to see Geirlish and Russk Argent Tower mages working beside one another.

Game Information:
Races Available: Geirlish, Russk, Gnome
Ability Scores: Intelligence 9. Intelligence 16 means +10% experience. Specialist wizards need to meet additional requirements, per the Player's Handbook.

The Ganskraad

Nobody knows really who these guys are. They always wear masks concealing part of their faces, and they dress in dark leather robes. People have noted that there will never be less than three Ganskraad seen together. The most curious thing is that the Order of Ase seems to ignore Ganskraad mages, and lets them roam free without the restrictions of the Argent Tower.

Note: This guild is NOT YET AVAILABLE to player character mages.
Game Information:
Races Available: Human, Dwarf, and others. Mostly unknown.
Ability Scores: Unknown.

Rogue Mages

These rare mages are those who have somehow managed to learn the arts of magic and stay free of detection by the people and Ase's priestesses. They are greatly feared by the populace and are usually stoned to death or burned at the stake upon discovery.

Some cultures welcome rogue mages, most notably the elves and Visany.

Note: This type of mage is available for player characters, but don't think you'll be getting off easy.
Game Information:
Races Available: Any
Ability Scores: As per the Player's Handbook

Bardic Colleges

In addition to the blessed Troubadours of Chastaine, there exist several independant and free-minded colleges which teach the bardic tradition. Legends say that in the past such colleges were much more widely known, but the Troubadours' rising fame inadvertantly brought the colleges to their knees as more and more young students turned to Chastaine's chosen instead of the more traditional learning methods.

Magic is an important part of bardic tradition, and for the ancient colleges this was no different. However, with the new widespread fear and prosecution of sorcery the bards have learned that they need to be very careful. Magic-using bards are required to pay dues like a member of the Argent Tower, and refrain from using their spells for harm, as well.

The Tannite College

The Tannite College is the largest of the two major schools. Their bards are trained more as courtly entertainers than anything else, and learn to work in teams when it comes to instruments. The nobles of Tannik take great pride in their hired musicians.

The Cadoshan College

Nearly destroyed in the Siege of Cadosha in 409 AG, this college is currently being rebuilt with the help of the Kvells. The results of this combined effort have yet to be seen.

Merchant Guilds

The idea of a merchant guild is something which has just begun to be explored in Raskia. With the rising levels of trade between the different races and nations coupled with the potentially temultuous political situation in the north, traders have felt a need to band together in order to survive.

The Syndicate

Headed by priests of Yvyx and based in Brell, this widespread network of Yvyxian followers has achieved a large amount of power and support in the last few years. There is a great deal of fear in some circles that the Syndicate, combined with the excellent Holwich navy, will soon control the trade lanes.

The Gnomish Consortium

Across Raskia, gnomes have recently begun to build a network of traders, merchants, and inventors. As the major technological innovators of the land, they control a resource that no other race has been able to provide. By working together, they have been able to insure that individual gnomish engineers and craftsmen aren't cheated or exploited.

In 399 AG, the late Grand General Rashogh II of Gulgard commissioned a group of gnomes to build him a fleet of river boats which would enable him to control the critical junction of three of Raskia's major rivers. After the fleet was finished, Rashogh II had the gnomish engineers executed so the secrets of the ships' construction could not be sold to his enemies. Oddly enough, a week later the majority of the fleet capsized, taking the Grand General to the bottom of the river with it. This was seen as a warning to the rest of the world that the gnomes were sick and tired of being abused and exploited by their contractors.