Courtyard, Unified Guild College
The Unified Guild College is the seat for learning and educational advancement open to guild families. Children begin attending the college at age ten and usually graduate from the schooling program around their eighteenth birthday. At any time, though, they may return to refine their schooling or learn newly discovered skills.
Early Education (Ages 10-12)[]
For two years, children are instructed in the basics of guild life and inter-guild business. By the time they enter the college, they have been instructed in basic reading, writing, and arithmetic by their own individual family tutor. They are therefore expected to perform at a certain level, and if this is not accomplished they do not progress to Intermediate and Advanced education.
Intermediate Education (Ages 12-14)[]
Woodcut depicting Intermediate Classroom.
This class grouping is focused on introducing the specifics of the child's individual guild while also ascertaining the child's own individual strengths in regards to the guild. Like the Early classes, the child is expected to perform at a pre-set level, and can only advance if they do so.
Advanced Education (Ages 14-18)[]
By the child's fourteenth birthday, they have entered into advanced training and have begun to learn the secrets of
Typical college book. Notice wide margins for note taking.
their guild. This is when each class begins to focus on preparing the child for life in the guild and for their individual role within the guild. If the child has been showing an affinity for a certain aspect of the guild, these natural gifts are explored and refined.
If, by chance, the child is still struggling, there is a seperate class held to bring them up to speed. While these class sizes are small and by comparison relatively few children fall behind, there is still a healthy group each year that does not attain graduation status.
Graduation[]
The graduation ceremony is held in the large, regal courtyard of the college with all of the guild families looking on. The graduate is presented with a certificate of completion, a signet ring for their individual guild, and the knowledge that they are prepared to take their first steps into the guild hierarchy.