Guild of American Magicians

The Guild of American Magicians is an organization for American magicians. Founded in 1785, the Guild is one of the oldest magical organizations in America, predated only by the Scholars of the First Sin. Following the exposure of magic after the Tokyo Incident in 1945, the Guild has cooperated with the United States federal government in promoting peace and cooperation between magicians and non-magicians. The Guild has also helped suppress rogue magicians that pose a threat to either the magical or non-magical communities, most famously during the Grey War at the end of the 20th century.

Founding
The Guild was founded on 23 June 1785 by a number of magical families from the New English states.

Houses of the Guild
The leadership of the Guild stems from the Houses of the Guild. These are powerful families that have managed to gather influence within the Guild. These families tend to be old, with lineages dating at least 300 years, though there are exceptions such as with House Rasputin.

The number of Houses active within the Guild has changed throughout the history of the Guild. The Guild originally had 5 Houses, stemming from the founding families back in 1785, but over time, most of those original families have died out while other families have been elevated to the rank of House. Currently there are 9 Houses active in the Guild in 2019:


 * House Dreyfus
 * House Lindhardt
 * House Neumann
 * House Rasputin
 * House Roche

Prominent Families
The next level of leadership sits with the Prominent Families. Each House has at least 1 Prominent Family, and these families are seen as potential successors to the House should the family that governs the House go extinct. Each House is free to elevate a family to the rank of Prominent Family, though often the Prominent Families are related to the main family.

Sworn Magicians
The majority of a House is the sworn magicians. These are the everyday magicians. The House offers a promise of safety and stability in exchange for the magicians agreeing to follow specific rules and laws. The Guild enables a magician to access a higher level of education and higher qualities of materials for focuses or grimoires, and in exchange the sworn magician helps support the Guild and their fellow magicians.

Ranks of Magicians
Each magician of the Guild is assigned a rank dependent on their education and proficiency in magic. Magicians of the Guild carry an identification card that identifies their rank.

Master Magician
A master magician is a magician who has shown that they are proficient in the use of magic and has created a grimoire. Master magicians are considered fully-fledged magicians and are free of many of the restraints that affect the lower ranks.

For a journeyman magician to ascend to the rank of master, they must either train under a master magician or attain further education through an accredited institute of learning. In the past, magicians would be trained by a master magician under their House, but magicians in the modern day are able to train under any Guild magician, irrelevant of House allegiance, or receive a certification from an accredited institution to receive the rank of master magician.

Journeyman Magician
The journeyman magician is the next level of education. These magicians are those who have received a basic yet comprehensive education in magic, and in the modern day, magicians of the Guild often achieve this rank after they graduate middle school and enter high school. A journeyman magician is able to carry focuses and use some spells in public.

Apprentice Magician
A young magician begins as an apprentice magician. A magician of this rank is unable to use magic for the most part and has not completed their education in magical basics. These magicians are not allowed to carry a focus as it is too dangerous due to the possibility of uncontrolled magic.

Inter-House Relations
Although the Houses of the Guild are nominally allied together, in reality, the Houses are often hostile to each other. The Houses vie for power and influence in their areas, and the more influence that a House wields, the more options for projects and cooperation exist. The older Houses tend to be more influential compared to the newer Houses, and some Houses are especially hostile to newer families.

Inter-House cooperation happens, particularly against a mutual rival, but little information is shared between the Houses. Conflicts often break out between magicians of rival Houses. These conflicts tend to be on a small-scale, involving less than 20 magicians at a time, and the perpetrators has vigorously punished by the Crownsguard. Often the main families are uninvolved in the conflicts.

Two Houses can engage in a war of whispers. A war of whispers is a form of limited warfare overseen by the federal government and the Crownsguard. A war of whispers is restricted to just the main families of the conflicting Houses, and all combatants are bound by a curse to refrain from harming bystanders. Any combatant who harms a bystander, either directly or indirectly through improper use of magic, is punished by death through the curse.

Wars of whispers rarely last more than 2 years, but there are cases of a war lasting multiple generations. The only current war of whispers is between House Dreyfus and House Rasputin and dates to 1984 when House Dreyfus attempted to restrict the growing influence of the new House. Although House Roche suffered a schism in late 2004, the two branches of the family are not considered to be in a war of whispers, and despite a lack of communication between the branches, there is little conflict between them.