Will Wight, New York Times Best-Selling Author of 'Cradle'
  • Home
  • Books
  • A Blog of Dubious Intent
  • Podcast
  • Merch
  • Say Hello
  • Hidden Gnome Publishing
  • Press

In which we ramble on.
And by we, I mean me.

OSAS Guild Guide (01/10) - Consultants

8/1/2014

12 Comments

 
What you see before you is my attempt to get back on a regular schedule, now that I have my semi-predictable life back on track. I therefore plan to put up a blog post every Friday afternoon, at least until my schedule shifts again.

So, for now, let me explain what I'll be doing.

A handful of you have asked for a summary of my new series (coming later this year!), Of Sea and Shadow. I'm not quite ready to divulge that yet, as an accurate summary of the book contains a sort of twist that I don't think you're prepared to handle.

I won't be giving you a summary, exactly, but I'm giving you more information. That's half of what we're doing here.

Here's the other half: if a handful of you asked for a summary of OSAS, hundreds of you asked for a definitive guide to the Territories. I never wrote one. I have a Territory glossary for myself, of course, but it's in such a personalized, messy format that getting it organized to the point that you'd be able to recognize it as human speech would be harder than writing it from scratch. So, for this next series, I'm writing a guide from scratch.

I call it the Guild Guide, because alliteration amuses me.

The world of Of Sea and Shadow takes place in the lands of the Aurelian Empire, a kingdom that ruled the entire world for the thousand-year lifetime of its Emperor. Five years ago, the Emperor mysteriously died, and now the Empire itself is falling apart.

How did the Empire rule for a thousand years, you ask? On the backs of ten magical orders, known (very accurately) as the Ten Imperial Guilds.

So each week, I'll be providing an in-universe summary of one of the Ten Guilds. It's arranged alphabetically, so the first Guild is The Am'haranai: the Guild of Consultants.

I hope you enjoy the free information, and remember that the picture isn't yet complete. If there's a name you don't recognize or something you don't understand, be patient! Each entry in the Guild Guide is a piece in a puzzle that won't be complete until this winter, with the release of Of Sea and Shadow.

Hit the jump to read more!
Guild Guide
A brief guide to the Ten Imperial Guilds of the Aurelian Empire, written by a licensed Witness for your edification and betterment!

The Am’haranai: Also known as Consultants, the members of this mysterious brotherhood work behind the scenes for the good of the Empire…or for anyone with enough gold to pay them. Consultants are more than willing to provide strategic advice, tactical support, and information to the Empire’s rich and elite, so long as it doesn't destabilize the government they've worked so hard to build.            Believe it or not, the Am'haranai were the first Imperial Guild, having existed in one form or another since long before the birth of the Empire. The next time you walk by the local chapter house of the Consultants, know that you're in the presence of true Imperial History.

            The Consultants' local Guild Representative would not give us a definitive response to the less savory rumors surrounding this particular Guild. Juicy speculation suggests that—for the right price—the Consultants will provide a number of darker services, including espionage, sabotage, and even assassination. We can neither confirm nor refute such rumors at this time.

            Consultants in the field are known to refer to each other by code names, to conceal their true identities.

Shepherds are their expert scouts, trained to watch, remember, and report.

Architects are the leaders of the Am’haranai, and typically do not leave their island fortress. They’re the strategists, alchemists, tacticians, and Readers that make the work of the Consultants possible.

Masons are a truly terrifying order, though once again the Guild Representative put off most of my questions. They go undercover as everyday folk like you or me, living ordinary lives for months or years, and then providing information to their Architect leaders. Your best friend, your neighbor, that street alchemist across from your house…any of them could be a Mason secretly watching you!

Other, less credible reports suggest the existence of a fourth brand of Consultant: the Gardeners. The job of a Gardener is to “remove weeds.” They are the black operatives, the pure assassins, the knives in the dark.

The Guild Representative had this to say on the matter: “There is not now, and never has been, an order of the Am’haranai known as the Gardeners. That’s simple speculation based on our Guild symbol, which is actually derived from our origin as humble farmers. Having said that, if you do have someone interfering with your business, it is possible that we could help you bring the situation to a satisfactory conclusion…for an appropriate level of compensation, of course.”

Since the Emperor’s death (may his soul fly free), I have no doubt that business has been very good indeed for this particular Guild.

Guild Head: The Council of Architects. No one knows much about the leadership of the Consultants, but it seems that the Architects collectively vote on Guild policy, coming to decisions through careful deliberation and long experience.

Symbol: Gardening Shears

12 Comments
Mesmerizing Suggestion
8/1/2014 05:51:55 am

A bit bland, but cool.

Reply
Will Wight link
8/1/2014 06:21:47 am

Oh yeah, these are pure facts. This is the sort of thing that would go in an appendix or glossary at the end of the book, so that you could look up the different aspects of the Guilds when it all got too confusing.

But I thought I could share it beforehand, as a sort of teaser.

Reply
Mesmerizing Suggestion
8/1/2014 05:52:55 am

Also, this is very promising.

Reply
Ashton
8/2/2014 01:02:13 pm

I like it, it gives us stuff to nerd about, and that's definitely important.

Reply
Mesmerizing Suggestion
8/3/2014 09:12:48 am

Each entry in the Guild Guide is a piece in a puzzle that won't be complete until this winter, with the release of Of Sea and Shadow.
this winter
winter
Release tentatively in winter?

Reply
Will Wight link
8/4/2014 04:01:55 am

Before the end of the year, yeah. I'm saying "Winter" to give me room to maneuver.

As we get closer, I'll get a little more specific.

Reply
Alo
8/6/2014 10:28:16 am

This is awesome! I did want one of these for each of the Territories, but I figured that was going to end up in the Prequel book about how the House of Blades got started.

Speaking of which, are we going to have mulitple character viewpoints again, or will this be from a singular point of view? Not that I disliked seeing things from others perspectives and circumstances, but I was thinking recently I could have just read all the Simon chapters and been almost happy enough.

Reply
Will Wight link
8/7/2014 12:45:29 am

It's hard for me to limit myself to one POV, actually. Not that it can't be done, or even that it's difficult to do--people do it all the time.

It just makes me nervous, for two reasons.

First, I don't know how people are going to react to this character until the book comes out. What if I think the character's great, and everyone else finds him annoying? As far as I knew, that could have happened with Simon.

Second, I sometimes think of a great scene that requires a POV other than the protagonist's. In a series like The Dresden Files, you can't show those scenes. Jim Butcher has said in interviews that there are a lot of really cool scenes he can't show us because Dresden isn't there.

I'm scared to limit myself like that.

That said, there won't be multiple main characters per book, like there were in Traveler's Gate. There will be ONE main character in the book, and they will get the vast majority of the time in the spotlight. More, even, than Simon.

There will be other points of view, but they will be brief and spread out. So if you like the protagonist, like you enjoyed Simon, then I think you'll be even happier with this approach.

Reply
Alo
8/7/2014 05:08:05 pm

Hooray! Now if you could just write faster that'd be great.

Or if I could just fix my stupid time machine that's stuck in forward at 1x speed....

Eric Mijangos
10/18/2014 06:00:07 am

I can't wait for your new series! I absolutely loved your previous one! I'll pre order it for sure!

Reply
Will Wight link
10/19/2014 09:35:31 am

Thanks, Eric! When the pre-order's available, I promise to shout about it as loud as I can.

And I'll announce it on the site as well, but that's not quite as much fun.

Reply
ggez link
9/26/2022 05:26:30 am

This is true time traveling.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    ​Waybound Progress:
    Three-Star Hound.

    Last Written:

    "Then he felt a reaction from his cores."

    Amount Complete:
    100% Alpha

    Archives

    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013

    Categories

    All
    100 Review Extravaganza
    April First
    Audiobooks
    Blog Matters
    Chronicles
    City Of Light
    Conventions
    Fan Stuff
    Guild Guide
    House Of Blades
    My Epic Adventures
    Of Darkness And Dawn
    Of Dawn And Darkness
    Of Sea And Shadow
    Of Shadow And Sea
    Original Fiction
    Polls
    Preview
    Release Date
    Sales Update
    The Crimson Vault
    Weekly Post

    RSS Feed

    Want to get short stories and book releases before anyone else? Sign up below!
    Hey, what about those short stories you claim to have already written?

    Apparently they're kept here!
Copyright © 2022 Will Wight
  • Home
  • Books
  • A Blog of Dubious Intent
  • Podcast
  • Merch
  • Say Hello
  • Hidden Gnome Publishing
  • Press