For our Otakon recovery filler, we present:

The Guild is the most influential organization in Alchera. It is a firmly established meritocracy that regulates trade and commerce throughout the land.

Although membership in the Guild is optional, there are numerous benefits that come with membership. The main benefit is the ability to recruit personnel and trade resources using the Guilds information network. Members can also post bounties on the successful retrieval of items or people on the listings. As it stand, over 85% of the Alcheran population are registered members of the Guild. A majority of the individuals who are unregistered are Tacoran who prefer to keep to themselves.

Another benefit of membership is that the Guild will back one's credibility and reputation. The Guild is a meritocracy, so one's "standing" in the Guild is dependant on achievement, competence and skill. There are discreet levels of "standing" within the Guild that denote one's abilities. The known levels are as follows:

1. Basic Standing. All non-sponsored members start off at this standing.
2. Basic Competence. This level denotes that the member has a record of competency in a basic skill level.
3. Independent Standing. Members at this level are expected to take on jobs or missions and require little supervision to accomplish them
4. Independent Competence. This level denotes that a member has a record of competency in independent operation. (this is the average standing of Guild members).
5. Sub-command Standing. Members at this level can be expected to organize and coordinate a small group of subordinates in a larger organization.
6. Sub-command Competence. This level denotes that a member has a record of competency in sub-commanding
7. Command Standing. Members at this level can be expected to head a large organization composed of a number of smaller sub-command groups. (this is the minimum standing required to captain a vessel).
8. Command Competence. This level denotes that a member has a record of competency in command.

All standing levels above 8 are classified.

Advancement in the guild is done by sponsorship. In order to advance in standing, one must find a Guild member of one standing higher than the standing you wish to advance to as a sponsor (i.e. if you wanted to attain standing 4, you would have to find someone of standing 5 to sponsor your advancement), or one must find two or more members of the standing you wish to advance to as sponsors (i.e. if you wanted to attain standing 4, you would need 2 or more members of standing 4 to sponsor your advancement). Sponsorship is a serious matter. If a member attains a standing and they cannot demonstrate that they have that level of ability, they will lose standing, and the incident will show up on the record of the person (or people) who sponsored that member to that level. Since the reputation of the Guild and its members depends on an accurate measure of ability, Guild Standing is taken very seriously.

As stated before, this weeks update is informational filler to give us a chance to recover from Otakon. We should be returning to regular updating for next week (8-9-2004). Thank you for your patience.

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... so very tired ...

I'm still recovering from the con. I don't know if things were just more stressful this year, or if I'm getting older, but I'm pretty drained. I guess I may have stuff to say about the con, but right now I'm still not recovered enough to think straight yet. There is also e-mail sitting in our mailbox that I just haven't had time to respond to yet, along with some fan-art that needs posting. I'll get to that hopefully sometime in the week.

Anyway, I hope the short bit of informational filler tides you all over until we can get back on track. Also, for those of you who picked up our fliers at Otakon and are stopping by for the first time, welcome! FYI, we update weekly (usually around Monday nights), and if for any reason we cannot update for some reason, there will be a notice in the box underneath the comic area.

You know what the lame thing about me writing rants is? A whole month goes by, during which I know I have thought several times to myself, "This would make a good rant topic." And now, here I find myself trying to write a rant, and drawing a blank. The most I can think of is to write about how I can't think of anything to write about 0_o

Well, let's see. I will be having my badly needed vacation this week. My first amount of extended time off from work in like a year ;_; I need to see some movies this week. There's a whole bunch of summer movies I've been wanting to see but haven't. And now I have Spiderman 2 to add to the roster. I must see it! It looks kickass. And Bruce Campbell must have another cameo or I will die!

Also, Otakon is coming up. I'm all excited about that. Mainly about the dealer's room. That's what my big love for cons is all about, buying stuff I don't need. There's a LOT of stuff I don't need. Like mangas. Lately it's seems like there's so much manga out there, I've been having a hard time developing more than a passing interest in anyone title. Kind of like what Joe was saying some time ago, I go to a bookstore to look at manga shelf and it's just like, "Whoa." Kind of the same thing with anime. Years ago, so much of the anime I watched was borrowed fansubs and now that it seems like everything is coming to America, I'm a little overwhelmed and finding it hard to focus. But I've been able to pick up a few titles here and there. I've been reading Fruits Basket and Hellsing, both which I think are pretty enjoyable (though I've been holding off on the latest installments so I can get my 20 percent discount at the con. It's hard ;_;). Joe's also been sending me eps of Samurai Champloo since I am on a lame 56k connection, and probably will be for life since I am cheap. The show looks so awesome. I can't wait for it to come to America.

Well, I guess that's it for me this, week. I have to start compiling thoughts for my next far-off (probably) rant so I have something more compelling to write about next time. ; )