The Companions Guild and the Academy

In every large city of the South are to be found several spacious buildings which are generally reckoned among the sights of the place, and are known by foreigners under the name of guilds. Globe-trotters visit them, and admire the maximum of gold-leaf crowded into the minimum of space, their huge idols, and curious carving; of course passing over those relics which the natives themselves prize most highly, namely, sketches and scrolls painted or written by the hand of some departed celebrity. Foreign merchants regard them with a certain amount of awe, for they are often made to feel keenly enough the influence which these institutions exert over every branch of trade. Excerpted from "Sketches of the South" by C. Tawler.

Courte, the Gem of the South, lies at the junction of the Rane River and the sea, built on verdant, if swampy delta. It has long been a center of trade and place of cultural mingling; in Courte’s sweet-smelling alleys and byways, on the docks and parks, a visitor is likely to hear one or all of the thirtysome languages that are spoken there. The climate is warm and wet, and the people of Courte are known for their appetites: for food, for drink and for the flesh.

Courte is notable for and owes its stature largely to the Academy and the Companions Guild, which predate much of the city, and the Southland, for that matter. The history of the Guild and Academy and Courte are inseparable.

The Companions Guild and the Academy: A Brief History

Both the Guild and the Academy were the work of a woman named Han Qing-Jiao, who came to Courte in its days as a sleepy fishing and bartering city-state at the mouth of the Rane. Qing-Jiao had attended the legendary Zhuan Ke Yuàn Xiào, the renowned college of the West, and brought with her to Courte a love of and passion for courtly etiquette and refinement that was largely lacking from Courte’s more plebian streets. Qing-Jiao had been a courtesan and concubine in the civilized West and saw potential in Courte; trade was on the rise and an ascendant merchant class would benefit an organized guild of courtesans. Nor was this simply a commercial decision. Qing-Jiao was a devoted, if casual, worshiper of the goddess Karre and had studied under Si Fei-Tzu, who developed the notion of bai, or worship-through-action, that blended well with Qing-Jiao’s livelihood.

Qing-Jiao was wealthy and invested well in the nascent mercantile society, and she was able to found the Companions Guild only a few years after her arrival in Courte, serving as the matron, or nu shè jian, of only a handful of girls that Qing-Jiao educated in her home. It was this education, and Qing-Jiao’s cunning sense of integrative worship, that elevated the companions of the Guild from common gutter whores to sought-after and respected members of society. The founding of the Academy a dozen years later cemented this reputation.

By this time, many girls had grown up under the existence of the Guild and the life of a companion was thought to be a desirable one. As a result, applicants for Guild inclusion were more than Qing-Jiao herself could handle. Funds were procured from the newly-founded Merchants Guild—soon to become a regional and continental power—and the Academy was founded with Qing-Jiao as its headmistress and many of her Guild members as instructors. It was the first institution of its kind in the South, a school that put much emphasis on history, languages, etiquette, the martial arts, music and art and science. It was immediately swamped with applicants from the exploding merchant class. A child enrolled at the Academy was seen as a major status symbol, and the Academy itself viewed as a symbol of the wealth and prestige of Courte.

During the wars between Southern city-states, the attraction of the Academy of the Guild were assets, as it often drew the richest and most militarily powerful citizens of the South to Courte. When a alliance was struck between Courte and its main rival, Trowe, the foundation was laid for what soon became the Southern Empire, whose vestiges are still visible in each of the Southern cities it encompassed. Trowe became the capital city of the Empire, while Courte was considered its cultural center.

Both the Academy and the Guild profited from this, as the Empire, with its road-building and trading frenzy, brought thousands of new visitors to Courte, their purses bulging. It was a good time to be a companion.

Even later, when the drug trade emerged, bringing, in many peoples’ opinion, the dissolution of the Empire, Courte retained its status.

Rules and Practices: the Academy

Entrance to the Academy is allowed at age 12, if the prospective students performs well on entrance exams. An interview with the Zhu Yào, the headmistress of the Academy, is mandatory and admission is highly selective. Tuition is expensive, but scholarships are given to those who merit them.

The first three years of Academic scholarship are devoted to the study of history, language, arts and science. Each student is required to chose a musical instrument in which to specialize, and receives rigorous instruction in painting, dance and song. The gardens of the Academy are tended by the first-through-third-years, who learn the finer points of viticulture.

At the fourth year, training in combat, martial arts and divinity begin, as does instruction in etiquette. Students receive instruction in fencing, archery, hand-to-hand combat and movement.

It is during the last two years, the sixth and seventh year, that devotional practices to Karre are taught. Students at the Academy are not required to transition from the Academy to the Companions Guild, as the many who attend the Academy go on to lives in politics, scholarship or the mercantile class. But more than half of the Academy’s student do go on to the Guild, as companions are highly regarded and respected members of the community. Entrance to the Guild is possible at age 19. Occasionally, a highly gifted student will be allowed to enter the Guild one or even two years early, and students who perform poorly may be held back.

The Companions Guild

The Guild is a highly structured environment, whose hierarchies were adapted very early by Han Qing-Jiao from a ranking system for courtesans she experienced in the West. The ranks are as follows, and there is no set age for movement among them. Higher ranks are assumed simply on the basis of merit.

Zi (child): At this, the earliest stage, the companion may not take clients but rather devotes her time to the study of proper companion behavior and the companionly arts.

Xué du (acolyte): The xué du can also not take clients. She is bonded to another, more experienced companion, who instructs her in the divine aspects of being a companion. When the xué du is capable of performing minor demonstrations of divine magic, she is allowed to graduate to the next level.

Xué sheng (student): Xué sheng is arguably the most important of the companion rankings, for it is during this stage that she begins to take clients. The xué sheng learns the proper way to select, schedule and service clients. It is at this stage that she begins to learn the art of sheng yù néng lì, or fertility control. When the companion (and she is a full-fledged companion now), demonstrates that she is capable of controlling her own fertility, she may continue to rise through the ranks. Many companions never do continue to rise, and it is not uncommon to choose to stay xué sheng for the duration of their careers.

Dao shi (mentor): It is the dao shi’s responsibility to impart knowledge and experience to the lower ranks. Dao shi, when not with clients, spend much time with the xué du. Their own advancement is, like the xué du, contingent on the demonstration of similar, though more complicated, divine ritual.

Nü zhu rén (hostess): At this, the highest level of companion other than nu shè jian (matron), she has become a highly sought-after and popular member of the Guild, both by clients and lower-ranking companions seeking to better learn the art. Nü zhu rén are bonded with a particular xué du, whom she calls her yü méi, or sister-of-souls. She is skilled in many levels of divine ritual and has a firm grasp of sheng yù néng lì.

Nu shè jian (matron): The nu shè jian is the head of the Companions Guild and wields considerable political, financial and divine power. She sets all boundaries and approves rank mobility for companions, must vett any new clients for xué sheng and provides the instruction and curricula for younger companions.

In addition, it is the nu shè jian who provides the most public face for the Guild. One of the Guild’s services to the public is that of fertility manipulation and family planning, and it is the nu shè jian who oversees all of this personally. In any dealings with the Merchants Guild, it is the nu shè jian who makes all decisions, aided sometimes by trusted nü zhu rén companions.

The appointment to nu shè jian is a lifelong one, and each matron chooses her own successor when she is ready to retire. Only one nu shè jian was ever ousted, Mei Wang-Mu, several hundred years ago, and this required a long and complicated coup aided by the sympathetic Merchants Guild and the rest of the companions who were tired of suffering under Wang-Mu’s reign. Generally, the nu shè jian is revered and beloved by the companions and the community.

Living as a companion

A companion of adequate rank chooses her clients from a portfolio of applicants. A new applicant must include a letter of reference from a client the Guild has dealt with and trusts. Clients will be chosen based on the companion’s personal preference, but criteria often include wealth, personality, appearance and social status. Companions will often have favored clients, and a client who treats a companion poorly is blacklisted, ensuring that no companion worldwide will ever see him again.

The Companion Blacklist is a serious thing and includes those clients who have behaved violently, put a companion in danger, acted aggressively or otherwise made the companion ill at ease. Based on the seriousness of the offense, the Companions Guild may contract with bounty-hunters or even assassins to deal with the offending client. A client who skips out on his companion’s fee will often be chased down and the fee extracted. Any client who rapes a companion will be killed.

There are other Companion Guilds throughout the world, but their model is the Courte Guild, which wields more political influence than any other. In the Courte Guild, most companions live within its halls. Each companion of higher rank has her own quarters, while younger and less experienced girls live in dormitories or shared rooms. There is a common room on each floor for socialization, and a dining room for shared meals (although a companion who is entertaining may also order a private meal, to be delivered to her room from the kitchens). The Guild is a pleasant, airy place to live, with open verandahs, many plants, soft surfaces and excellent views of the city and the ocean beyond.

Companions of appropriate rank set their own price for companionship, and a percentage of this goes to the Guild. The percentage varies on the companion, the client and the nature of the service, but, as most companions have their material needs taken care of by the Guild and will remain there for life, there is little motivation for any of them to accumulate great wealth. Inside, the practice of companionship is viewed as a method of bai, and the fees that accompany companionship a simple way to keep the Guild solvent and the ability to practice bai possible. The life of a companion is, simply put, one in which the practice of bai, in the service of Karre, is foremost.

The South and the City of Courte

All merchants shall have safe and secure exit from Courte, and entry to Courte, with the right to tarry there and to move about as well by land as by water, for buying and selling by the ancient and right customs, quit from all evil tolls. Excerpted from The Courte Civil Code, 14th edition, published 530.

Sitting astride the banks of the Rane River mouth, Courte is one of the oldest and largest cities in the South; Courte is about 600 years old and is home to approximately 500,000 people. The power of Courte is closely associated with the power of the Academy, which resides within Courte's walls.
The Academy is old, dating back to the first days of the city-state. Before the era of the Oligarch-Merchants (often refered to simply as the Oligarchs), the South was dominated by an Empire. The city-states even today retain vestiges and honorifics of the Empire.

The Academy

Before the Empire, the South was composed of warring city-states. Courte was one of the most powerful, partially due to the power of the Academy and the Companion Guild. The Empire emerged as an alliance between Courte and the other most powerful city-state, Trowe. The capitol was vested in Trowe; Courte retained the Academy.

The Companion Guild

In the current era of the Oligarchs, Courte has declined somewhat. It is not one of the largest centers of trade, although there is still much trade in Courte. It retains, however, its influence as the site of the Academy.

The drug trade emerged toward the end of the Empire, and many have said (quietly) that the breakup of the Empire was partially due to the rise of the drug-profiting Oligarchs.

Courte was initially cut out of the drug trade, although some of its merchants have since obtained shares in the market. The elite in Courte have a strong prejudice against the trade, but their criticism of the trade is muted due to the power of the Oligarchs in the South.

The regions now under the Eastern Empire were once colonies of the Southern Empire. Prior to their conquest by the Eastern Empire, many of those areas still professed loyalty to the Southern Empire. The people of the East were, however, greatly exploited by the Southern Empire, and the East was the largest consumer market of the drug trade.

Trowe still is the capitol of the South, although the Empire is largely ceremonial at this point. Very little legal authority is still vested in Trowe. All power has been assumed by the Oligarchs.

The South doesn't have an emperor, but there is a Senate of the Empire in Trowe. It doesn't do much except trumpet the interests of the Oligarchs and occasionally launch a little war against pirates or some small tribe or kingdom in the borderlands.

However, there has been more discussion of late about unified action against the East. Some clamor for a reinvigorated empire, although they are careful to say that such change would not in any way be contrary to the interests of merchants, and that, in all likelihood, a strong empire would provide opportunities to merchants that don't exist within the constraints of the current political arrangement.