THE
MILKEN
BROWNIE
GUILDS |
Although the
Milken Brownies are loyal
to the houses of the Helcrani in
Milkengrad, they have held on to some of
their Browniin heritage. They have
established various Guilds in which a Brownie
may learn a craft or trade. These trades are, for the most part, to the benefit
of the Helcrani and the
Milkens as a whole. They
are also crucial to the culture of the
Milkens, allowing them to
hold on to something that can define them as
Brownies, rather that the servants of the
Helcrani as they previously had
been before an idealist named Aohooindou changed that.
Description.
The Milkens have developed
a guild-based system, that has kept them busy and in prosperity. The Guilds
allow them to have an organized way to run their society, and to coexist
efficiently with the Helcrani by
doing more than just tidying up the house at night.
The Guilds are based on an Apprentice and Master system. A prospective
Brownie who wishes to join a Guild is
apprenticed to a more experienced member who has already gone through the
apprentice stage. All members assigned to be a master must answer to the
Guildmaster. The Guildmaster is the one who has either established the
respective Guild, or has succeeded the latter. They are usually the most
proficient with their chosen trade, and offer wisdom, help, and advice to the
younger members.
One important factor about the guilds is that they are very different from the
clans of the Llaoihrr.
Each Brownie is not required to join a
Guild, but are rather inclined to do so out of loyalty to the houses of the
Helcrani that have taken them in.
The Milkens feel that they
must repay the masters of their house, so they do so by becoming productive
members of the Brownie community, helping
the tribes as a whole to prosper.
Joining a
Guild. A Brownie may choose
to join a Guild as soon as he or she is deemed old enough to make their own
decisions, at ten years old. Brownies of
any age after that may ask for an apprenticeship if they feel that they are not
ready at this time. They may then be placed under a Master. There is no set
amount of time that they must train for, but the average time is around five to
seven years. When they feel that they are skilled enough, they may ask for the
Test of Membership. This is a test that encompasses all of the skills that the
Brownie should have learned in their time
spent as an apprentice. There is no pressure to pass this test, and the Brownie
may take it as many times as they need to.
If a Brownie wishes to leave a Guild, they
may do so and become apprenticed to a different Guild. They may only leave
their apprenticeship after they have had their first test. After a
Brownie has left their first Guild for
another, they must stay in their second Guild for a minimum of five years until
they are allowed to change again.
Basic Overview of the Guilds.
There exist approximately a dozen different Guilds in the
Milken society:
Beadmasters
The Beadmasters specialize in the
Brownie Bead Industry, a profession of creating various beads, buttons and
decorations for various items of clothing and other miscellaneous items. Their
small hands allow them unrivalled detail in making these items, making them in
high demand by clothing stores, and various officials and royalty looking for
bragging rights of owning specialized clothing made by
Brownies. The Beadmasters also have a
close, mutually dependent relationship with the Weavers of the
Milkens.
Crafters
The Crafters of Milken
society create items of wood, gems, precious metals, and the like. They use
these resources to create things such as furniture, jewelery, items of
convenience, etc. They are greatly valued by the
Milken Society. While their
services of furniture are more or less limited to that of making them for
Brownies and making ornate patterns on walls, quilts, and furniture, they can
make jewelery for the Helcrani.
Their ability to finely craft jewelery such as earrings, rings, and necklaces
is valued greatly among the Helcrani
men and women.
Gardeners
The Milkens being famous
for their gardening, this profession is greatly valued. The
Milken Gardeners specialize
in creating beautiful gardens for the
Helcrani homes, and for the areas in and around
Milkengrad. They are said to have a very
profound eye for colour, and have created some of the most beautiful gardens in
Sarvonia. Many officials and royalty have
hired them to create gardens for their houses, or even sometimes a palace
garden. They also have the esteemed honour of tending to the
artapherana trees, a symbol of the
peaceful cooperation between the races of
Sarvonia. The Gardeners also grow a small amount of crops. They leave most
farming to the Helcrani, but a
small few like to help them out in the fields.
Healers
The Healers of the Milken
society are greatly valued by
Milkens and Helcrani alike.
These Brownies specialize in creating
mixtures, potions, and identifying herbs and plants that help the healing
process. While they carry a basic understanding of this, they are also esteemed
clerics of Nehtor. Using prayers and
chants, this is their most powerful form of healing. They are also mildly
knowledgeable in setting bones and similar procedures. They tend to the ill and
the sick, keeping the Milken
Society more or less healthy. Members may aid the humans with illnesses by
giving them medicine, being to small to do anything else for them.
Metalworkers
The Metalworkers are like the smiths of the
Milkens. They create
weapons, horse shoes with light metals,
and other items of convenience that can be made with metal. They have learned
some techniques from the dwarven smiths of the
Helcrani. This has greatly
influenced their creation of weapons. If
there is war, they are usually the first to jump into a fight, especially if
any Rat Brownies are involved.
Rat
Catchers
The Rat Catchers are perhaps the most valued of the Guilds by farmers, and food
storers. They specialize in hunting, catching, and killing all forms of vermin
in Milkengrad. They utilize many
specialized weapons made by the Metalworkers, and also have become adept in
creating potent poison. They are masters of the art of stealth, and are good at
making themselves appear gentle and friendly. These are necessary things to
have in their line of professions.
Slingers
The Slingers specialize in cooking, creating delicacies and meals for the
Milken Brownies. Most
Brownies that join this Guild are usually
slightly plumper that the rest of the
Milken society, due to the
taste for food they acquire if not already having it upon joining. The Slingers
are masters of spices and methods of cooking. If you've never tried one of
their meals, they say you've never eaten. Being too small to use the ranges
that the humans,
elves and dwarves may provide for them,
they have learned techniques to build their own cooking devices. The help of
the metalworkers is enlisted in doing this. They also create large feasts for
festivals, such as their own festival to Avá,
the Festival of Dreams. The other members of the
Helcrani do not usually take attend
this festival, though if some of them do decide to attend, they assign teams of
ten to twelve Brownies to work the ranges
and create meals for the larger people. Some also may help the mistresses of
their house to prepare meals. Needless to say, the
Helcrani women appreciate the help.
Spearers
These Brownies specialize in fishing. As a
result of the thriving port of Milkengrad,
the Spearers have found a perfect niche in the
Milken society. They have a
shared partnership with the fishermen of the
Helcrani, and profit greatly from
this thriving industry. The Spearers also reserve a good amount of their fish
for the Slingers. They have found many ways of turning this excess of into some
of the most delicious delicacies many have ever tasted.
Because of their fear of water and small
stature, the Milkens have
devised an ingenious way to catch fish without the aid of the other
Helcrani. In order to fish, they
attach an intricate web of ropes to poles high over the
water, and stand on them. It takes great
courage and balance to do this job, but at least there are ropes attached to
the courageous Milken.
Then, they will take small crossbows, courtesy of the Metalworkers, and tie
string to the arrows. Next, they will fire
the arrow, hopefully hitting the fish. The arrows are designed havving a pinted
metal tip, and two curved times curved the opposite direction so as to hook the
fish. They will then pull the fish up from the
water, using their great strength(for their height), and toss them to a
team of six Brownies holding a net. They
will proceed to kill the fish and send it off to be stored in a cold room
underground.
Sweepers
The Sweepers are the Brownies that
generally assure the cleanliness of all of the houses. They go through the
houses, making sure to tidy up anything that the half-hearted efforts of the
Helcrani women might have missed.
Both the Helcrani women and men
appreciate this. The Brownies who join this
Guild are usually the one that feel extremely loyal to the houses. They are
firm believers that Brownies should clean
houses, and make up for the Brownies who
have decided to abandon the task.
Weavers
The Weavers are the Brownies that make
clothing. They generally make all of the clothing for the
Brownies, and make some clothing for the
Helcrani. They utilize all forms of
fabric that they can find, and also use the beads from the Beadmasters to adorn
their clothing. Weaver clothing is valued greatly by royalty because of the
intricate patterns, stitches, and exotic fabrics that the
Milkens can create. It is a
great bragging right.
River
Runners (unofficial)
The River Runners are a group of pirates that travel the rivers surrounding
Milkengrad. Their mounts, the Dominoore
Fish, allow them to swiftly travel the rivers, robbing and looting travelers
that wish to navigate the river in a small boat. They will also attempt to
attack travelers walking beside the rivers. Some go to other cities, rooting
themselves in and stealing anything they can get their tiny hands on. Some of
the Metalworkers make weapons for them in a secret underground network. These
Milkens are rogue
Brownies, discontent with the flow of life
in Milkengrad. Many of them are
believers that things should go back to the old ways, with
Brownies living in the
Helcrani homes, doing work at
night. Some are just greedy Brownies
looking for an easy san.
Being a large, organized group, they are considered an unofficial Guild by some
Brownies.
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