Trade Guilds

Trade guilds represent the intersection of politics, economics and social policy and operations providing hosts with extensive opportunities to leverage them for plot hooks.

As industrial regulators, the trade guilds influence spans all aspects of colony life, making them powerful tools for hosts to drive plots, create conflict, and engage players. As the backbone of each colony’s economy, guilds shape policy, manage lucrative contracts, and impact day-to-day survival. With their immense authority, opportunities for corruption, power struggles, and intrigue are plentiful.

TRADE FACTIONS

Is a Trade Guild just a union? The short answer is no! Trade Guilds provide governance and oversight across an entire industrial sector. They are lobbied by hundreds or thousands of members made up of corporations, small business or independent service providers, labor unions and other advocacy groups operating in the sector. In many cases, the factions that participate in one Trade Guild may participate in several if they operate across multiple industrial sectors. It is the responsibility of the game host to fill the world with the specific factions and non-player characters that support a campaign or adventure.

Industrial Sectors

In general, trade guilds are needed to regulate key industrial sectors. The following is a list of default trade guilds for use in the setting. Hosts are free to create additional Trade Guild entities as necessary to support a particular campaign or adventure.

AEROSPACE: Manages the construction, maintenance, and innovation of spacecraft, space stations, and aerospace technologies. This guild ensures the safety, regulation, and efficiency of aerospace activities, from commercial travel to space exploration missions.

AGRICULTURE: Manages food production through traditional farming, synthetic agriculture, and hydroponics. The guild ensures food security for colonies and addresses agricultural innovations.

COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA: Maintains communications infrastructure, including data networks, inter-colony messaging, broadcasting, and media production. This guild ensures the flow of information and news across the colonies.

CONSTRUCTION: Manages all construction and infrastructure projects, from spaceports to urban development. The guild ensures sustainable building practices and regulatory compliance.

ENERGY: Handles energy production and distribution, including nuclear fusion and renewable energy sources like solar and geothermal, to power colonies and spacecraft.

EXPLORATION AND SURVEY: Leads expeditions to explore new star systems and planets, conducting scientific surveys, and identifying opportunities for colonization and resource acquisition.

FINANCIAL SERVICES: Oversees the financial systems of the colonies, including banking, investments, insurance, and financial regulation. This guild manages the flow of capital, ensuring stable economic operations across industries and facilitating inter-colony trade.

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: Manages healthcare services and a wide array of human services, including mental health care, bioengineering, and public health infrastructure. It also oversees social services such as housing assistance, employment support, substance abuse treatment, elderly and disability care, child and family services, and crisis intervention programs. The guild is responsible for the well-being and social stability of colony populations.

LEGAL: Administers outsourced legal services across the colonies, supporting the World Court by managing arbitration, regulatory compliance, and legal documentation. It provides non-criminal dispute resolution, ensures corporate and civic adherence to legal standards, and maintains public access to legal records. This guild’s streamlined approach enhances transparency and legal efficiency, allowing the World Court to focus on core judicial decisions and human rights protection within the New World Order framework.

MANUFACTURING: Responsible for producing goods and materials, from spacecraft components to consumer products. This guild manages manufacturing processes and supply chains.

MINING: Oversees the extraction of minerals, metals, and geological resources from planetary and space environments. Ensures sustainable practices and coordinates with industrial operations.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Oversees research, development, and implementation of cutting-edge technologies, including AI, robotics, and digital systems that support colony life and space operations.

SECURITY: Coordinates security operations on planets and in space, managing law enforcement, anti-piracy efforts, and private security contractors.

SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT: Oversees the development and regulation of sports leagues, entertainment industries, and cultural events. It also manages Virtual Reality (VR) instances, providing immersive experiences for entertainment, sports, education, and social engagement. The guild ensures that entertainment fosters social cohesion and creative expression.

TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS: Manages the transportation of goods and people, coordinating spacecraft operations and supply chain logistics across colonies and trade routes.

WATER MANAGEMENT: Handles water resource management, including extraction, desalination, recycling, and distribution of potable water for human, industrial, and agricultural needs.

Plot Devices

In their combined role as political entities, bureaucratic organizations, and economic engines, they are ripe for creating dynamic plot hooks involving corruption, rivalry, and intrigue. Hosts can use Trade Guilds to introduce conflicts, drive narratives, and offer players opportunities for both moral choices and personal gain.

POWER PLAYS: Trade Guilds wield immense political influence, often lobbying for laws or manipulating leadership elections. Players may be drawn into political schemes where guilds aim to secure favorable legislation or gain power. For example, a guild may hire players to sway a key vote or support their candidate in a political race. Alternatively, the sudden rise of a new guild leader might cause instability, forcing players to intervene before the colony’s governance unravels.

CORRUPTION AND SCANDALS: With their control over resources and industries, guilds are often plagued by corruption. Players might uncover evidence of bribery, embezzlement, or backroom deals, leading them to confront or expose corrupt officials. For instance, they may discover a high-ranking guild member skimming profits and be tasked with either covering up the crime or bringing it to light. Such corruption could also be the basis for deeper conspiracies, offering players a chance to unravel a guild-wide scandal.

GUILD RIVALRIES: Trade Guilds frequently compete for contracts, influence, and resources, leading to intense rivalries. Players might be hired to engage in corporate espionage, such as stealing trade secrets from a rival guild or sabotaging their operations. In more extreme cases, rival guilds may go to war over valuable assets, with players caught in the middle—perhaps smuggling goods across contested territories or protecting critical shipments from sabotage.

INTERNAL POWER STRUGGLES: Guilds are complex organizations with internal politics, and power struggles between factions are common. Players could be hired to support one faction in its bid for leadership, ensuring their chosen candidate takes control of the guild. Alternatively, players may be recruited to stop a coup or help install a new leader in a guild riddled with dissent. These internal conflicts offer opportunities for players to shape the balance of power within key institutions.

ECONOMIC CRISES: Guild decisions can trigger colony-wide economic crises, such as energy shortages, job layoffs, or strikes. Players may find themselves mediating conflicts between guilds and workers or tasked with resolving shortages caused by a guild’s poor management. For example, if the Energy Guild cuts off power to certain regions, the resulting chaos might require the players to step in and restore order. Similarly, a failure in the Water Management Guild’s infrastructure could lead to desperate situations, with players responsible for maintaining peace as unrest brews.

SOCIAL INEQUALITY AND RESISTANCE: Trade Guilds often prioritize profit, which can lead to social inequality and resistance movements. Marginalized groups may rise up against guilds, creating opportunities for players to either support the resistance or defend the guild’s interests. For example, players might be hired to quell protests against a guild’s exploitative practices or, conversely, help organize a strike against unfair labor conditions. The resulting conflicts will force players to make difficult choices about loyalty and justice.

MONOPOLISTIC CONTROL: Trade Guilds control valuable contracts and business opportunities, making them key players in the colony economy. Players might compete to secure a lucrative contract, only to discover that the bidding process is rigged, forcing them to either play along or expose the corruption. Alternatively, the guild’s monopolistic control over certain resources could create a thriving black market, offering players the chance to exploit illicit trade or disrupt the supply chain for personal gain.