The Guild

 <title source="name">
   <default>The Guild</default>
 </title>

<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <header>Information</header> <label>Alignment</label> <label>Leader(s)</label> <label>Leader(s)</label> <label>Allies</label> <label>Allies</label> <label>Status</label> <label>Location</label> <label>First Appearance</label> <header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label> </infobox> The Guild is a Canadian-based superhero team that focuses on international threats. Members of the Guild can also be a part of the Protectorate.<ref name="Cast2.1">‘Guild’, a Canadian superteam that focuses primarily on threats of an international scale - Cast (in depth) Excerpt</ref> Their logo is a spear-pole with a ribbon-like flag flowing from it.<ref name="27.2">Extinction 27.2</ref>

Goals

The Guild acts as an international force enforcing certain standards among the international community, even in areas the Protectorate can't reach. Individual members often pursue their own agendas, which can lead to misconceptions among the public about the Guild's goals. However, there is also a large unpowered staff who work to ensure that the Guild do the maximum amount of good possible, and the Guild is known as a threat for those who might attempt major crimes such as genocide in areas other heroes might not reach.<ref name="R1"/>

The Guild has extremely high standards, and requires - and allows - a high degree of autonomy from its members, as well as a certain philosophy.<ref name="R2">Much more free reign, but higher standards too. Not an easy group to join, since you need something like 10 recommendations and you need to conform to a very specific sort of attitudes and ability to problem solve. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

The guild has a committee that deliberated on what threats the Guild needs to focus on.<ref name="RCfS1">External resources and the like are contacted. New Wave reaches out to The Guild and travels out of town briefly to make their pitch to The Guild's committee, asking for intervention. The PRT is stretched too thin to send a strike team, New Wave isn't strong enough to act on their own, and the Undersiders are argued to be too dangerous and very powerful with Panacea on their side.

[...]

The Guild is mid-deliberation when the newly hired villains start making targeted attacks against the visiting heroes, and they come to a decision - they'll step in for what's later termed a fight for the soul of Brockton Bay. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit about a Counterfactual Scinario</ref>

Members

Name:	Status:
Narwhal<ref name="8.1">Extermination 8.1</ref><ref name="26.2"/>	Alive
Black Kaze<ref name="29.3">Venom 29.3</ref><ref name="27.3">Extinction 27.3</ref>	Alive
Defiant<ref name="27.2">Extinction 27.2</ref>	Alive
Dragon<ref name="E.3">Teneral e.3</ref><ref name="I10.5">Interlude 10.5 (Bonus)</ref>	Alive
Glyph<ref name="26.2">Sting 26.2</ref>	Alive
Masamune<ref name="26.2"/><ref name="27.3"/>	Alive
Poe^{[citation needed]}	Unknown
Dragon's Teeth<ref name="26.5">Sting 26.5</ref><ref name="27.2"/>	Unknown

History

Background

The Guild was created as a Canadian answer to the Protectorate, but effectively failed due to lengthy response times and a lack of high-powered capes. The initiative was revived at around the time Canada established their own Protectorate divisions, this time with stronger parahumans.<ref name="R1">The Guild is something of a failed effort that mutated. Where other groups were founded and then collapsed, the Guild drew in just enough powerful members to have some clout after the group failed to get traction. They changed tacks.

The original goal was to be another Protectorate of sorts, albeit cape-led, with an emphasis on peacekeeping and nonviolent absorption of capes. The problem was that Canada is very spread out, and reaction times are thus slow, when you have 10-30 capes to cover a lot of ground. The initial aims shot too high, higher-ups set expectations and couldn't meet them, and the initial guild (which had none of the Narwhals or Dragons or any of those guys) flopped. It was resurrected around the same time Canada sighed and took on its own Protectorate divisions, when political powers that heavily criticized the PRT wanted certain elements in play, as well as a certain amount of freedom to make certain realities a positive without dealing with PRT bureaucracy (initiatives, acting to help other countries without worrying about the balance of PRT forces). The programs and aims that were pure concept beforehand became the reality. Certain individuals got on board and it worked.

The end result is a group that balances a lot of individual autonomy punctuated by demands from higher up. If you're a villain that's not in Protectorate territory and you're crossing lines, the Guild is still something you might worry about. This might be for those who go way overboard (ie. genocide) or cross the lines with pet issues for various members of the Guild (targeting gays, women, interfering with the political process, etc, etc).

The Guild, at its heart, is about trying to set standards, and it's got just enough prominent members that it can make others stand up and listen.

On the flip side, it draws a lot of criticism due to perceived imbalances in the subjects it focuses on (this goes back to individual autonomy). If one guy gets very active and makes gay rights a huge focus (targeting villains with a propensity for gay bashing) then the Guild gets perceived as having a heavy focus on protecting gays. There's a large-ish non-parahuman staff just trying to enable the capes to do as much good as they can. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

Trivia

Dragon and Narwhal would join the Guild after it was well established as the force it is today.<ref name="R1"/>

References