The Old Guilds
Sarnath’s wealth was built by people who cut stone, worked metal and brought the resources of the provinces into trade. Their guilds once governed the city. Today, the surviving guildmasters answer to the Black Keep, but still control the work that keeps its army supplied and its streets standing.
Before the Quinces
Before Sarnath had hereditary lords, its guildmasters and merchants ruled through the Halls of Order. Baleron Quince’s arrival ended that independence. Most guilds were dissolved, their trades absorbed by the two powerful enough to survive: the Hearthstones and the Molten Chalice.
Their privileges now depend on the Black Keep, though neither guild has forgotten when its authority stood on its own. Between them, they control much of the labour, materials and trade across the Southern Provinces. A merchant opening a workshop or a farmer building a new house can find their plans dependent on agreements made in Sarnath’s guildhalls.
The Hearthstones
The Hearthstones oversee timber, quarrying and stonework, with the prized blackstone of Ebstone kept beyond their authority since the guilds’ defeat. From the Beamed Hall, they decide who may cut, build and sell within their trades, defending old rights against interference from soldiers, Brotherhood enforcers and the Black Keep.
Guildmaster Hogarth Ingleskint carries the marks of a lifetime in the yards, including an eye damaged by a stone splinter. A gifted sculptor with a love of Dothloden history, he values workmanship and has little admiration for rule by force. The Molten Chalice’s growing influence threatens the standing he has spent years defending, and he is prepared to seek outside help in disputes he cannot settle through guild authority alone.
The Molten Chalice
Weapons, armour, jewellery and metalwork fall under the Molten Chalice, whose workshops and stores fill the Darkore Ironworks. Its licences reach from prospectors seeking mineral wealth to the smiths and merchants who turn it into goods. Even glass and brick fall within its claims, though rights over Storm Crystals remain reserved to the Black Keep.
Jacken Demund has made himself popular by keeping contracts moving and wages reliable while squeezing competitors out of business. His broad smile and measured voice have done little to soften the name he has earned in trade: the Jackal. He respects Hogarth’s skill but sees his traditionalism as an obstacle, and their rivalry follows them from the workshops into the Halls of Order.
The Ordermen
The Ordermen still wear the silver key-and-chain brooch that recalls their former custody of Sarnath. Their halls now stand within the Black Keep, where guildmasters and prominent citizens debate laws their lord can choose to ignore. The title remains prized, even among those who admit how little it can restrain Quince rule.
For people caught in disputes over property, contracts or guild rights, their decisions still matter. Old customs, religious law and centuries of precedent make proceedings slow and expensive, encouraging private settlements between people who can afford them. Around the Paper Buildings, advocates build careers on these arguments, and a contested claim can threaten a livelihood as surely as a soldier at the door.
Business and Old Grudges
Darion’s brewing laws made Rivengate Stout the only commercially brewed beer permitted across most of the Southern Provinces. The Crimson Star kept an exception, but lost the right to sell beyond Sarnath. Its master brewer Frayoc Sterren marked the humiliation by throwing his Orderman’s brooch down before Darion and his advisers. He still wants the monopoly broken, while independent brewers face the Brotherhood’s attention. At Rivengate itself, the people making the stout must contend with soldiers demanding tribute and thugs intruding on the brewery floor.
Other grievances have survived long after the businesses involved disappeared. The Bormouse Bakery fire left unanswered questions and Lisbet Coggin without the inheritance that could have given her an independent life. Advocate Barda Tilden believes the case was never properly settled. Now working under a harsh master on High Street, Lisbet has little freedom to pursue it herself, while Barda is willing to reopen a matter that others have had years to put behind them.
The Sterren Name