Not that I'm softening my position, but you raise an interesting point, Sliper, and it struck something in my memory:sliper wrote:Of course, you don't have to have skills be the factor tying combined guilds together. You could have a 'darker' guild of Assassins and Warlocks, and a 'lighter' guild of Wizards and Knights.
This is Frostfall's standard. It can be found on the flag in the center of the city, and at the doors to the lodge:
The intricate weaving of threads depicts the Coat of Arms for
the City of Frostfall. A Wand, a Stiletto, an Axe, and a
Runesword cross over a field of snowy white, all bound
together by a thorny stem that opens up into a Winter Rose.
Building a "hub" in the city of Frostfall where the guilds from that city (to include the Assassins, despite them relocating, in my view anyway) could congregate and share resources would be among the least objectionable ideas to me personally. I don't know how tightly bound in lore or in practice the Guilds are in other cities though, so forgive my ignorance.
But maybe that's the proverbial compromisory key. Not so much as a closing or a repurposing of the existing Guilds, but maybe a joining, with a hub "building" (Adventurer's Guild? Hall of Legends? A lodge? Dingy bar?) and shared leadership. One person "in charge" of the "hub" (appointed or voted in) with "lieutenants" (gm's) in charge of their individual Guilds. They could possibly share shouts (hubshouts? Cityshouts repurposed?), resources (gold, tithe, luck) and so on. Still separate, but part of something "bigger" and more centralized given population.