The Guild of Enginwerk

Motto: By Design, We Endure

The Guild of Enginwerk

Officially subordinate to the Heimveld, the Guild of Enginwerk (Called the Enginwerkers or The Guild) is the empire’s sole authority on technology. They are the keepers, interpreters, and innovators of the ancient machinery that powers the empire’s expansion. While bound by the Heimveld’s hierarchy, their monopoly on technological knowledge grants them immense, shadowy influence.

Origins

  • During the Founding Era, fragmented remnants of human knowledge were consolidated under a coalition of scientists, mechanics, and explorers. These proto-engineers formed the guild to study and recover old technologies.
  • Their work was instrumental in the Expansion Era, decoding alien systems and reverse-engineering human artifacts from the pre-collapse era. They laid the groundwork for the Heimveld’s dominance.

Structure and Role

  • Hierarchical Organization: The guild operates in a rigid, caste-like structure, with ranks ranging from Acolytes (novices) to High Artificers (leaders).
  • Guildmasters: Each major sector has a Guildmaster overseeing technological operations and advising the local directorate.
  • Artificer Clades: Internal factions within the guild specialize in specific fields—starship engines, weapon systems, terraforming, AI suppression, and more.
  • Ritualistic Practices: Their work is steeped in religious reverence to avoid accusations of heresy. They “appease” machines with chants, oils, and rituals while secretly studying their scientific principles.

Tension with the Directorates

The guild walks a fine line between necessity and suspicion:

  • Registry Office: Keeps the guild under constant surveillance, wary of their power and independence.
  • War Council: Relies heavily on the guild for the maintenance and advancement of weaponry but distrusts their secrecy.
  • Temple of the Unfallen: Views the guild’s work with ambivalence. While the Temple relies on their ability to harness old technologies, they keep the guild on a tight leash to prevent heretical tendencies.

Key Philosophies

  • Secret AI: While the guild uses rudimentary artificial systems, they meticulously avoid anything resembling true artificial intelligence, which is considered the ultimate heresy. The existence and knowledge of AI is kept to the highest levels and teh lower techs only know that they need to follow the instructions and patterns as given.
  • Controlled Innovation: Any new development must align with the Heimveld’s ideology and be approved by the Guild. All repairs and creation of tech at any scale is done by a vast network of Guild trained Enginwerkers.

The Guild’s Power

Despite their subordination, the guild holds significant power:

  • Technological Gatekeepers: The Heimveld’s military and infrastructure depend entirely on the guild’s expertise.
  • Knowledge Monopolists: The guild hoards knowledge, revealing only what is necessary to serve the empire’s goals.
  • Shadowy Influence: High-ranking Enginwerkers are skilled political players, often manipulating the directorates to their advantage.

The Guild vs. The Temple: A Silent Struggle

The Guild’s Role

  • The Enginwerkers Guild is publicly seen as a vital but subordinate institution within the Heimveld. They are the builders and maintainers, responsible for the empire’s technological backbone—starships, God Engines, habitats, and weapons.
  • Behind closed doors, they are the custodians of the most dangerous secret in the empire: that the technological marvels credited to the Unfallen’s divine guidance were, in reality, made possible by the Primordial Core.
  • While they outwardly bow to the Temple’s authority, the Guild’s upper echelons know that their knowledge is the true foundation of the Heimveld’s power, and they wield this understanding to maintain their influence.

The Temple’s Authority

  • The Temple of the Unfallen relies on the narrative of the Unfallen as a divine savior who led humanity to the stars and oversees their destiny. This myth is central to the Heimveld’s unity and the people’s devotion.
  • The Unfallen’s “guidance” is interpreted as divine providence, with technological advancements and victories credited to faith rather than the Guild’s ingenuity.
  • The Temple’s priests demand strict orthodoxy, using public ceremonies, indoctrination, and displays of “miracles” to reinforce the people’s belief in the Unfallen’s divine role.

Points of Conflict

  1. Control of Knowledge:

    • The Guild’s monopoly on advanced technology challenges the Temple’s claim of divine guidance.
    • In the rare cases where malfunctioning equipment requires the Guild’s intervention, priests are careful to reframe repairs as “re-sanctifying” machines.

  2. Whispers of Heresy:

    • The Temple’s inquisitors occasionally hear rumors of the Guild’s “heresies” and are ever watchful for signs of dissent.
    • Lower-ranking engineers, unaware of the full truth, sometimes speak too freely about the “ghosts in the machine,” which the Temple punishes harshly to maintain its narrative.

  3. Competing Power Structures:

    • The Guild’s secrecy and self-reliance make them a threat to the Temple’s total control. While the Guild outwardly professes loyalty, the Temple suspects their ambitions.
    • The Guild views the Temple’s dogma as a dangerous constraint, limiting progress and risking collapse if the truth about the Primordial Core ever surfaces.

Narrative Opportunities

Intrigue and Rebellion

  • Guild Dissidents: A splinter group within the Engineers Guild seeks to expose the truth about the Primordial Core, believing humanity deserves to know its true history. This faction could ally with rebel groups or rival factions.
  • Temple Inquisition: The Temple secretly monitors the Guild, planting spies and occasionally arresting engineers for fabricated crimes to keep them in line.

A Crisis of Faith

  • God Engine Malfunctions: A catastrophic failure in a famous God Engine (perhaps Oblivion’s Fist or Hammerfall Ascendant) forces the Guild and the Temple to cooperate. Tensions rise as the Guild attempts repairs while Temple priests insist on performing “rites of re-consecration.”
  • The Core’s Legacy Revealed: A discovery in the ruins of an ancient hulk (or a surviving AGI fragment) threatens to unveil the truth about the Primordial Core. How the Guild and Temple respond could define the Heimveld’s future.

Factional Schisms

  • Guild-Temple War: A direct confrontation between the Guild and Temple erupts after a high-ranking engineer publicly questions the Unfallen’s divinity. The War Council is dragged into the conflict, torn between loyalty to the Temple and reliance on the Guild’s expertise.
  • Civil Unrest: Whispers of the truth leak into the lower classes, sparking riots and rebellions. Citizens question the legitimacy of the Temple’s authority, and factions within the Heimveld vie for control.

Visual and Cultural Details

Guild Practices:

  • Engineers wear heavy, functional uniforms with guild badges denoting rank. Tools are symbols of both practicality and status.
  • Ritualized maintenance practices mix superstition and precision: “blessing” machines with diagnostic codes, using specific phrases to “wake” systems, and painting protective runes (actually diagnostic tags).
  • Engineers rely on cybernetic augments with more advanced AIs - their personal AI is seen by them as an enhancement of their skills as they gain access to knowledge and computational power through their integrated systems.

Temple Displays:

  • Religious ceremonies incorporate dramatic “miracles” tied to technology: lighting a city by activating its energy grid, orchestrating a God Engine’s march through the streets, or using holograms to project the Unfallen’s image.
  • Temples are massive structures, blending gothic and industrial aesthetics, adorned with statues of the Unfallen and murals depicting their victories.