Construction Guild

Urgent demands for new buildings mark the short history of Etonia. When the Council of Etonia arrived from the South the quiet fishing village had a collection of small homes and a few large, ancient buildings, mostly in ruins, from a lost civilization.   The five members of the Council didn't arrive alone. They brought veterans, skilled craftsmen, and artisans with them. Havier de Piedra represented a mason's guild in Heliopedia. He accepted the invitation to the North when war loomed outside Heliopedia's walls. A few guild members accompanied him but he has recruited locals non-stop during his decade as the guildmaster.   Construction in the region had to rely on stone as much as wood due to the nearly unrelenting rainy season in the spring. New methods had to be developed but benefited from study of the ruins. Ancient methods of construction were slowly recovered and put to use.   New guild members joined as apprentices, working directly with a journeyman member. Master level members were expected to manage projects and develop training events and challenges for apprentices and journeymen. The training had a spotty record over the years as the urgent need for construction often outweighed other concerns and provided on-the-job training or as some member would say trial by fire.   As forest villages were established, members of the guild were sent to handle both stoneworking and carpentry needs of the communities. When the indigenous people of the forest began to immigrate in mass to Etonia building crews of five or six apprentice members and one journeyman managed to build three hundred homes in one season.   Concerns over threats deep in the forest lead to the constuction of a wall around Etonia. Special teams lead by Master members completed the construction in three years and lead to the creation of the mining guild to supply enough stone for projects.   Guild members are directly compensated by the Council for most projects. Work from individuals and business interests has become more available over time as the city has grown. Ten percent of all earnings are kept by the guild. Recruiting, accounting, and a quartermaster are paid for from the membership fees.   Current rolls show 42 master, 192 journeyman, and 516 apprentice guild members. The guild heeded calls from the Council to recruit members from the indigenous population. Five percent of masters, thirty-five percent of journeyman, and fifty percent of apprentice members are from those immigrants.   With the size of the guild, a sparingly few all-hands meetings are held in the outside courtyard in the guild grounds. The grounds includes several warehouses full of materials and a dozen workshops. Additional workshops are scattered across the city and in the forest villages. Only a third of members work out of the guild grounds. Most of the workshops have a few masters that coordinate with the guild master's office for work and training. A member of the guild sits on the Council, elected by the full membership. The full membership plus families represent around twenty percent of Etonia's population.