After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World novel Chapter 1743

Chapter 1743: More on Xenoan Guilds

One had to understand what the medieval guilds existed for and what they did, how long they lasted, and how they became obsolete in the first place.

The industries involved in these new Xenoan guilds would be very different from what was seen in the Terran medieval period.

For example, back in that period of history, guilds existed as a professional organization of blacksmiths, masons, carpenters, merchants, weavers, and so on.

It had to be noted that—for most cases—their power was localized, limited only in the markets that the guild specifically operated. Most big settlements of the time seemed to have their own versions of each guild, and their influence rarely went beyond their immediate regions.

Their function was to regulate standards, protect the quality of the work, protect the profession’s and the professional’s name and reputation, set prices, control competition between members, and so on.

For example, the Goldsmiths’ Guild tested precious metals and approved items with official marks, which prevented fraud in the gold and silver trade.

The Weavers’ Guilds controlled cloth quality, thread counts, and dye standards. They rejected poorly made fabrics.

The Masons’ Guilds controlled apprentices’ skills and their tests, and prevented untrained workers from taking large construction jobs.

The Bakers’ Guilds controlled bread sizes, weight, and prices. They punished bakers who cheated on flour or loaf weight.

At the time, this reduced fraud and ensured the quality of the products that were released to the public.

The guilds aimed to train and develop skills through apprenticeships and allowed the skills to be passed down in a structured way.

Medieval guilds also controlled how many people could practice in a place, which managed oversaturation and kept the practices stable.

The good ones provided economic protection for their members. They could even provide loans and funds, especially if there were specific projects involved.

Some also had support systems for the families, and they often offered help to members during deaths, illnesses, and so on.

To summarize, back then, to climb up the ladder in those trades often required participation in a guild.

It was not a surprise, then, that medieval guilds were naturally quite powerful that they could even affect the governance of cities.

Now, the reason why they never built something exactly like this in Alterra earlier was the same reason why the practice died down in the olden times in the first place.

It could be summarized into two words: Free Trade

The rise of capitalism and free markets encouraged open competition rather than controlled trade.

For regulating standards and work quality, there were government safety and quality agencies for that in modern times. Time-tested and time-improved codes and product standards were established.

For protecting professional reputation, there were now professional licenses and trade associations. For setting prices, competition lowered the possibility of a monopoly. There were also open job markets now.

For skills training, there were trade schools, colleges, and so on. Even social media and the internet were enough for some.

For the benefits, like loans and health benefits, there were banks and modern governments already had agencies for those.

And so on...

Not to mention, through time, such power corrupted. It was basically a monopoly in their local regions, after all, and the guilds were so powerful they could influence local laws and pressure town leaders. Humans were greedy creatures, and it was only a matter of time before that was taken advantage of.

By the end of their operational lives, many guilds ended up causing a lot of harm.

The industrial revolution also allowed mass production at a lower cost, lowering the need for people and expertise. Much like how knights lost their place when guns were mass-produced, the artisans also lost their advantage—one they had trained for years or decades—to the machines.

Building and crafting using the guild model simply became too slow and expensive.

Even the ’good’ Guilds were eventually seen as very restrictive and rigid, and some would outwardly limit innovation and member profits in the name of ’balance’ but it ended up being left behind the times.

Alterra came to this world, started with innovation and free trade, so it was useless to make those types of guilds for the aforementioned practices. Many Terrans were also experts in their respective crafts even before coming here, and a lot of basic craft knowledge was already available to a lot of people beforehand.

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