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

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.

However, the ’life’ professions like alchemy, weaponmaking, toolmaking, and so on were completely different things.

In these cases, using the advantages of the Guild model could still be useful. And since they knew what caused the fall of the model before, they could avoid its pitfalls.

Rather, there could be no such thing as true mass production for aether tools and items.

They could expedite the process by handling materials early on, and some parts could indeed be streamlined. However, the most essential part of the work for true aether-based potions, weapons, magic tools, and the like had to be done by the hand of system-stamped professionals.

These were rare, high-skill, and high-risk professions. The jobs required were so complex that machines would never replace a good portion of it.

Similarly, the practice and the practitioners were also too complex to leave unregulated. This was not something as simple as learning recipes or designs, but also mastering the ethics of the trade as well as its history.

For example, bad alchemy wouldn’t just be a bad product; it could kill people or even hundreds. Maybe thousands.

These professions required long, specialized training paths that often took years, if not decades.

Not to mention, the locals (or humans in general) had a tendency to keep their knowledge to themselves—and naturally so. This inevitably caused losses in valuable potential for innovation. It also required too many people to be stuck at the beginning stages, creating unnecessary parallel research rather than moving past the starting line.

Guilds, in turn, could provide a ’safe’ environment for sharing. They could collate the already existing knowledge and move on from there, like what they had been doing in Alterra, but at a far larger scale.

In terms of management, she was thinking that the Guildmasters would probably be doing rotations to prevent corruption, favoritism, and so on. Of course, that’d be a long time in the future. After all, they were still designing the Guild Hall complex and its buildings!

In guilds, there could be shared research agreements and controlled collaborations that most professionals outside Alterra might be reluctant to take otherwise.

Not everyone could be allowed into the Research Center, after all, but Althea still wanted to create the atmosphere of learning, growth, and experimentation without risking Alterra’s many secrets.

There was simply too much sensitive information in the Research Center, and many things her people hoped would be kept there, whether or not it was for selfish reasons or not.

Anyway, the Guilds would provide a platform meant to create an atmosphere to reach this.

With this, more professionals would be able to interact with like-minded individuals, share ideas, and collaborate in a space where their rights were also protected.

More people would also be able to find masters who could actually help them, and find those who actually fit their own specialties and ideally even personalities.

Everyone knew that there had to be some chemistry even between master and apprentice, otherwise the maximum potential might not be reached.

For example, her own master did not take any apprentices because he didn’t find anyone else’s mind stimulating enough. As such, Althea, whose default attitude was exploration, was the perfect fit for him.

Others probably had the same peeves, and some people, no matter how talented, might just not fit well with certain teachers. That would be a pity for both parties, and maybe even the world.

In time, more and more people would be able to master the basics, and more and more people would start striving to discover more about this magical world.

More and more people would start pushing the limits of the human mind, and whatever the current cap of knowledge they had.

This was another one of her dreams, even if it would take decades in the making.

They had to start somewhere. That would be in her generation. Hopefully, her children, at least, would see the advantages.

To be honest, she felt that this world had grown so stagnant because everyone was so disconnected, keeping their knowledge to themselves, and naturally being hostile to each other.

It was time to change that.

The system might’ve controlled the wars, but the warmongering hearts of many still remained.

The best way to maintain peace was not just to get rid of the bloodthirsty bastards, but also to increase understanding between those who wanted peace. How tragic was it to have wars between places when neither side wanted to?

With guilds, more and more territories would become connected, much more than just the typical alliances or rival relationships.

Further, with the guilds, professionals could also have a proper, overarching guide that would make sure the developments would be for good, rather than for evil.

As for how much the world would actually adjust and accept it, of course, only time could tell.