Wizard's Guild

The Wizard's Guild is a remarkably powerful organization, even though they rarely make any kind of political move.

For the most part, they take no sides, instead offering their island, Arcanus, as a neutral location for negotiations. Those visiting the island for such dare not take hostile action for fear of angering the Guild. Entire kingdoms have fallen overnight for such.

Given the drive to do so, the Guild can do amazing damage with the army of golems they've been constructing for the past few decades, some of which are as large as giants. In addition to this, their battle mages are capable of producing some very deadly magical effects.

Most members of the Guild are not stationed on Arcanus, instead having simply been educated in the ways of magic by the Guild and then returned to their own countries. However, all of them have sworn an oath to serve the Guild when called upon. In practice, this is an incredibly rare event, outside of requests to teach a few weeks of classes a year.

There are few non-Guild Wizards living in the Archipelago and most kingdoms require the services of a wizard at one time or another. This leads naturally to the Guild having a healthy level of respect among the rulers of the various islands. The Guild is so well respected that non-Guild wizards will often be passed over in favor of those in the Guild, given the choice.

The primary concern of the Guild is education. This takes two forms. The first is general education of the public, so that practitioners of the art will not be feared and attacked. The second is education of those with the natural talent to wield magic.

Apprentices

Unlike most wizards, the Guild takes on new apprentices readily, some would even say eagerly. However, in all but the cases of truly gifted students, they take just as long to train, often requiring ten years to cover just the rudiments of magic. This never takes less than three years, as this amount of time is required to advance to the rank of Initiate. Most apprentices are taken on near the age of eight to ten years, so that by the time they reach adulthood, their training will be complete. Some stay on after this point for advanced classes.

The Guild does not require payment for the training of new students, instead requiring ten percent of their income after their education is complete. On the other hand, the benefits far out-weigh this. All Guild members have access to very complete libraries for research, various magical secrets known only to the Guild, well equipped and stocked laboratories and apprentices that may be tasked to aid them in their personal studies. Few independent wizards have such available to them.

Initiates

The Initiate of the Arcane Order page has the relevant information.

Guild Wizards

The Guild Wizard of the Arcane Order page has the relevant information.

Regents

The regents are above the Guild Wizards and take care of and/or delegate the daily tasks required to keep the Guild and Mathghamhna running smoothly.

Chancellor

The Chancellor is in charge of the entire Guild and makes all the most important decisions. The current Chancellor is Japheth Arcane.

Adapting College of Wizardry

At the center of the Guild is a school described in a 2nd Edition AD&D book called College of Wizardry. You can use this book pretty much as-is, with a few tweaks here and there:

Japheth Arcane joined the Wizard's Guild in the intervening years between finding Mathghamhna and forming his school. During that time he convinced the Guild to move their headquarters to the island. Over the years, the school has become more and more integrated into the Guild. Guild membership and membership in the Arcane Order of Enchantment and Exposition are now the same thing. The guild has been referred to as the Wizard's Guild by the public for so long that changing it's name would be too confusing, so both names are acceptable.
Japheth is the current head of the Guild.
Golemology is a strongly recommended course for all students and a golem for the Guild's army is the standard magic item donation for the process of moving from the rank of Initiate to Guild Wizard.
Members are not required to spend as much time as listed in the book at Mathghamhna and adventuring is more easily allowed. This spreads their message of education quite broadly.
There is one additional Regent: Liason between the Guild and the League of Adventurers. Melchius Braeton, of the League's Governing Council, is the current Liason.

Restricted Spells

The guild has a few spells that are considered guild secrets.

Membership allows learning the following spells at no cost:

The Ritual of Renewal, on the other hand, is supposed to be researched by each individual before they're allowed to move from the rank of Initiate to Guild Wizard.

Abendroth's Magical Accountant might be learned by members if they can manage to get the attention of Abendroth (the Regent of Financial Concerns) for long enough. This is not an easy task, as he cares little for anything other than finances, numbers and “real world” science.

Military

The guild has a standing army composed of golems of all shapes and sizes, as well as very skilled battle mages. There are a number of Iron Golem Warhorses available to the battle mages. The golems that serve as unit commanders also ride them.

Foot Soldiers

Most of these are stone golems, though their behavior is a bit quirky. They were designed to be honorable soldiers. They will not kill innocents that get in the way. They're also friendly. All of this together tends to put people at ease around them. This is very useful during times of peace, but during wartime, it can occasionally cause difficulty.

All foot soldiers are equipped very well, with plate armor, sword and shield. The combination of armor and stone bodies makes them difficult to damage.

Foot Soldier Commanders

Mostly iron golems, these soldiers are in charge of the foot soldiers. They have some limited tactical and strategic skill, but tend to stick with tried-and-true methods unless ordered to do otherwise. They share the behavioral quirks of the foot soldiers.

They use the same equipment as the foot soldiers.

Cavalry

These are merely Foot Soldiers and their commanders riding Iron Golem Warhorses.

Battle Mages

The battle mages serve as commanders and generals, but they also fill an important role in providing magical support.

They all know the Mending spell, in order to repair the golems.

Special Forces

Siege Weaponry

Autonomous Catapults

These are specialized golems designed to carry and fire siege weaponry of all kinds. Despite the name, they can operate cannons. They're effective for direct-fire attacks on their own, but also have a seat and controls for an operator.

Siege Golems

The largest golems are the Siege Golems, thirty foot tall stone golems with incredible strength. They were designed for destroying castles, but they also serve as mobile command bases, since they can carry a fair number of people inside them.

This set of four were carved out of the side of a mountain and then enchanted by Melchius Braeton, the Guild's liaison to the League of Adventurers. They're mostly intended for sheer fright value, due to their massive size.

One of them is always stationed near Mathghamhna, sitting on a hill, posed with it's head in it's palm, as though thinking. Most folk think it's just a huge statue. The other three are housed in a nearby cave, out of sight.

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