Scholars

GERC: Mnemonic Division and Division of Geographic and Fexoanatomical Surveys and Research

Posted on by robinmcentire

by Dorromee Ado, Grand Scholar, the Central Guilds, Tarnath

Dorromee Ado, Grand Scholar, the Central Guilds, Tarnath

Kalkix 53, SP~5,021

The Guild Energetic Research Coalition is commonly referred to as the GERC – that’s GURK, not JERK – and is the largest research organization on Tamarra by a long sight. In the coming months of blog entries we’ll be giving some details of its various and sundry departments. Find below the Mnemonic Division, a Mentarch-heavy group that is the memory of the GERC, and the DGFSR, a rather heftily named group that researches the natural phenomena of the planet.

Mnemonic Division

The Mnemonic Division (“Mnems,” pronounced “nems,” for short) comprises Mentarchs who specialize in memory. Depending on the individual member, this can serve different purposes: some mnems memorize vast libraries of books so that the information therein cannot be easily lost. Others remember and catalogue languages, or song, or any number of other anthropological bodies of knowledge. Many mnems focus on remembering the world around them; skilled mnems could repeat to you, verbatim, a conversation they heard offhand three months ago. They could tell you what color eyes the fourth fish merchant in the market had on the first Tuesday of last year. Truly exceptional members in this group can remember quite literally everything that happens to them, with no gaps in memory even while they’re sleeping – they have a continuous, completely unbroken mnemonic narrative of their lives from the time they achieved this state. A very select few mnems can remember not just what happens to them, but what happens in the area around them – they tap continuously into the consciousnesses of others near them to gain a picture of the world from many perspectives.

Members of the Mnemonic Division also study Powers that allow them to transfer memories to others, so that their collections will not be lost; some members called Vessels act solely as a kind of storage units for the order. They don’t make any effort to remember their own lives, instead absorbing the memories given to them by every other member of the division. Because of this knowledge transfer, mnems who specialize in own-life memory are valuable assets to many GERC divisions, most notably to the Sojourners, a division that deals with exploration of unexplored territories. They can act as living records of everything that expeditions discover while in the field, and transmit this to researchers who weren’t in the field for later analysis.

The current head of the Mnems is Torwwal Vvok, a Naldrin-born dwarf Mentarch. Vvok is intimately involved with both the Sojourners and Acquisitions and Archival; he has spent the past several years working to train expedition-ready journalers, and record the most important works in the Vault in the memories of his division.

Division of Geographic and Fexoanatomical Surveys and Research

The DGFSR – other GERC members usually just call them “Geo” instead of the alphabet soup that is their name – is a group that focuses on mapping and characterizing the so-called anatomy of our planet. Ethem is not just a hunk of dirt and water that we happen to live on; It is a hibernating being from one of the first ages of the universe. It has what Geo has coined “Hearts,” or areas where Energies seem to ebb and surge in regular pulses over the year. A “Lung” has recently been discovered under the Kellith Sea – a pocket of air that somehow stays intact despite being under the pressure of thousands of feet of water. Everyone on Tamarra has heard of the “Spines” that cross the oceans on either side of the continent, creating Energetic turbulence and violent weather that renders them near impassable to ships.

The current division head of Geo is Tesch Hooper, a human Charismatic who had been working in the Energetic Experimental Group – the GERC’s most pointedly pure research group – for years before being promoted directly into the position of Geo division head. While he’s only been there a few years, many Geo researchers resent him for jumping the ranks like that; he is a fairly competent administrator, and is trying to learn about their area of research, but his promotion smacks of internal politicking.

How the Guilds are Organized

Posted on by robinmcentire

Mekreen Dronnaal, Professor, Naldrin’s First University

How it All is Organized

By Mekreen Dronnaal, Professor, Naldrin’s First University

The Guilds are one of the most powerful forces on the Tamarran continent. They may not have the large armies or lands of a kingdom, or claims to any throne, but they do have exceptionally talented, powerful people, and a scientific method that is continually making them more so.

Even though the Guilds officially stay out of Tamarran politics, they are still a massive organization, and require some serious structure just to run.  Perhaps most importantly, they have a very important place in the lives of most folk on the Tamarran Continent, whether you are a member of the Guilds or not. They especially have an effect on your life if you are a Sorcerer, which is, of course, strictly forbidden (by the Guilds)!

The Guilds organize themselves in two main way: internally (within a particular Guild), and externally (interactions between the different Guilds). This very short treatise will focus only on their internal organization.  

There are three levels of each of the six Guildhouses; namely, Central, Regional, and Local.

The Central Guildhouses, which are the headquarters for all of the Guilds of that type (e.g. Charismatics belong to the Charismatics Guild, Mentarchs belong to the Mentarch’s Guild, and so on), are located in Tarnath. From here, policy decisions that affect Guildhouses and members across the continent are made. These Guildhouses are the most elaborate on the continent, having been built by the great Samron himself during the height of his power. They are also home to some of Tamarra’s most powerful channels, including The Guild Council, composed of six Channels (one from each Guild) who form the primary governing body of the Guilds.

There are Regional Guildhouses for each Guild.  They oversee the local Guildhouses in their region of the continent:

  • The Inner Sea Guildhouse has jurisdiction over the very southern edge of Tamarra — the Plains of Lochuum, the region of Jowea, and the southern islands. It is located in the city of Riverbend. Since the Stillness War, it has been relatively isolated from the rest of the Guild structure — it is not cut off completely, but it is now considered by many to be something of a “frontier,” and it has been unable to contain an outbreak of sorcery.
  • The Naldrin Guildhouse in Naldrin City has jurisdiction over the western/northwestern part of the continent. Because Naldrin City is the largest and most cosmopolitan city on Tamarra, this Guildhouse has recently argued that the Central Guildhouses should be relocated here, rather than in Tarnath (which they consider a minor city, especially since it is no longer the grand center that it was during Emperor Samron’s time).
  • The Northern Guildhouse is located in the capital of the Kingdom of the Szaskar Crawn. It has jurisdiction over the northern parts of the continent, including the Crawn Empire, and the Icy Wastes. This Guildhouse is perhaps the most politically involved of any on the continent, as it has come to a “mutual understanding” with the Crawn government. In exchange for turning a blind eye to sorcerers (frowned on by the Guilds but surreptitiously employed by the Szaskar Crawn Emperor), this Guildhouse receives political and military support in its endeavors. This is a cause of friction between this Guildhouse and the others on the continent.
  • The Eastern Guildhouse, formerly the Quay Guildhouse, has jurisdiction over the center of the continent, including the Plains of Frestehal and the Bay of Perrin. It used to have jurisdiction over the Quay Empire as well, but since that Empire’s de facto destruction in The Stillness War, the territory overseen by this Guildhouse has shrunk considerably. Its influence has shrunk along with it — a definite sore point.

The Regional Guildhouses are all well-equipped. It is not uncommon to find powerful Channels here who have overcome the 12th barrier in their Energy and are considered to be amongst the top of their Guilds. The structures themselves contain laboratories, training facilities, and ample security.

The third, and last, level of the Guild organization’s hierarchy are the local Guildhouses. Depending on the size of the town or city in which they are located, these may be relatively large (6-10 powerful channels from each Guild) or quite small (one or two low-barrier channels from only a few of the Six Guilds). Each local Guildhouse has a great deal of autonomy. They have the freedom to decide on their own rules and their own leadership structure (if one is even necessary). The only rule that is strictly enforced from the top down is the decidedly fierce opposition to Sorcery and anything that might be related to it. There are, however, suspicions that some of the local Guildhouses have bent the rules and either tolerate or even go so far as to cooperate with local Sorcerers. As stated before, this is strictly forbidden!

We will discuss the interactions between the different Guilds (external organization) in another message.