Is guild membership from one town or city to another within the same nation or country recognized, or honored?
Or does a person have to pay a new guild membership for each different town or city he/she visits, even within the same country/nation?
Ex: A member of the Armorer's Guild from Veluna City travels to Mitrik. Does this person receive the same privileges in the Mitrik guild as he received in Veluna City, or must he pay a new membership fee?
Historically speaking, guilds were strictly local organizations within towns. This is due to the simple lack of fast, reliable communication between towns; the wide variety of cultures and climates among which guilds functioned; and the general rivalry between towns, even within the same nation. The whole concept of a 'national' identity among the citizens is a 18th century invention.
Having said that, yes, the various town guilds can and did share information between them, especially regarding the skills of journeymen that travel to other towns, apprentices that never completed their apprenticeship, and that sort of thing. If someone showed up in town Y claiming to be a journeyman smith from town Z, you'd better believe the guildmaster of smiths in town Y will be checking with the guildmaster smith of town Z to verify the claim.
IN general I'd expect guilds in D&D to work much the same way - on a town-by-town basis. I suppose the mages could build a guild of national or even international scope, but that could cause an awful lot of friction between the mage guild and other guilds at the local level.
The point of a guild, apart from guaranteeing quality standards, was to limit the number of master craftsmen in a city in order to prevent a glut that would drive down prices. If you were a master baker, you formed a guild with other master bakers that would set a limit on how many masters could exist in your city. If you were a journeyman or apprentice, you had to find a master to work for. So no, they definitely wouldn't accept masters from baker guilds from other cities to set up shop for free.
Journeymen would be hired from day to day. Apprentices served their masters until their apprenticeship was done, and owed the guild a fee upon graduation.
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