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Old 08-18-2004, 05:00 PM   #36
Cyre
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Join Date: Jul 2004
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Enola: There is a single Guildmaster, whose title is specific to the guild but can generally be known informally as just the "Guildmaster of GuildXYZ" who in turn appoints what are known as Secretaries, who act in different roles according to each guild. My experiences as a GM and as a Secretary and my observations of others in those roles leads me to the opinion that Secretaries generally act as their name implies: They do a lot of busywork.

Secretaries are often responsible for handling administrative work within the guild, monitoring behavior amongst members, and generally keeping order, as well as acting as leaders in lieu of the presence of the Guildmaster. Along with this role, they also serve as advisors, helping the Guildmaster to decide on and enact policies for the guild as a whole.

Now, certainly, due to their beaurocratic nature, Secretaries aren't always in a position to have any real power beyond what the Guildmaster grants them. Certainly they have privileges that extend to inguilding and outguilding members, as well as a variety of other things, but ultimately they are merely at the beck and call of the Guildmaster, and far too often he or she will simply appoint friends as Secretaries to avoid having to deal with any overzealous pencil pushers trying to vie for power.

Of course, people are often smart enough to realize when this is going on, and the Guildmaster can, at any time, be voted out of office by members of the guild. Unfortunately this process is also open to abuse, given that only members of a certain guildrank have the ability to vote at all, but this abuse is rare as it usually causes the Divine to step in so as to allow the guild to move on where otherwise it would fall into stagnation.
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