#Guild Artisan

[niuttuc]

Ah sure. Been tinkering with this one and I'm not yet sure I want a red background but the gist of it is to make a party and get lots of treasures to cast flashy spells.

Mmmmh, well, I ended up thinking of a red card, but might see if I can find something in the same vein in black. Obviously, your deck will have some synergy with artifacts and most if not all of your creatures will fit in your party. So why not steal some tech from Modern and Pioneer?

Have some spare treasures? Why not turn them into outright real cards! Four mana to polymorph a single treasure is ok, but it gets crazy the more you can pump into it. It's random, but all the creatures and artifacts in your deck will likely be more valuable than a single treasure, no? And it even destroys them so any Marionette Master or Apprentice will trigger off that! Plus, this Burakos is a Guild Artisan, might as well show some Creativity.

[detectivejuliuspepperwood]

Bastien | The Crimson Knight

he/him • Zariel Tiefling • Guild Artisan • Eldritch Knight Fighter • Abjuration Wizard • Elemental Adept: Fire

[racefortheironthrone]

Please tell me more about neighbourhood PMCs in renaissance Italy

It would be my pleasure! (My research into this owes a lot to the excellent Power and Imagination: City-States in Renaissance Italy by Lauro Martines.)

The first thing to note that, unlike the condottieri, these were not private military companies. Rather, the neighborhood military companies (in the sense of a military unit, rather than a profit-making entity) were self-defense organizations formed as part of a centuries-long political struggle for control over the urban commune between the signorile (the urban chivalry)/nobilita (the urban nobility) and the populo (the guilded middle class, who claimed to speak on behalf of "the people").

This conflict followed much the same logic that had given rise to the medieval commune in the first place. Legally, the communes had started as mutual defense pacts between the signorile and the cives (the free citizens of the city) against the rural feudal nobility, which had given these groups the military and political muscle to push out the marquises and viscounts and barons and claim exclusive authority over the tax system, the judicial system, and the military.

So it made sense that, once they had vanquished their enemies and established the commune as the sovereign, both sides would use the same tactic in their struggle over which of them would rule the commune that ruled the city. The signorile and nobilita formed themselves into consorteria or "tower societies," by which ancient families allied with one another (complete with dynastic marriage alliances!) to build and garrison the towers with the knights, squires, men-at-arms, and bravi of their households. These phallic castle substitutes were incredibly formidable within the context of urban warfare, as relatively small numbers of men with crossbows could rain down hell on besiegers from the upper windows and bridges between towers, even as the poor bastards on the ground tried to force the heavy doors down below.

To combat noble domination of communal government, achieve direct representation on the political councils, establish equity of taxation and regulate interest rates, and enforce legal equality between nobility and citizenry, the populo formed themselves into guilds to build alliances between merchants and artisans in the same industries. However, these amateur soldiers struggled to fight on even footing with fully-trained and well-equipped professional soldiers, and the guild militias were frequently defeated.

To solve their military dilemma, the populo engaged in political coalition-building with the oldest units of the urban commune: the neighborhoods. When the cities of medieval Italy were originally founded, they had been rather decentralized transplantations of the rural villages, where before people had any conception of a city-wide collective their primary allegiance was to their neighborhood. As can still be seen in the Palio di Siena to this day, these contrade built a strong identity based on local street gangs, the parish church, their traditional heraldry, and their traditional rivalries with the stronzi in the next contrade over. And whether they were maggiori, minori, or unguilded laborers, everyone in the city was a member of their contrade.

As Martines describes, the populo both recruited from (and borrowed the traditions of) the contrade to form their armed neighborhood companies into a force that would have the manpower, the discipline, and the morale to take on the consorteria:

"Every company had its distinctive banner and every house in the city was administratively under the sign of a company. A dragon, a whip, a serpent, a bull, a bounding horse, a lion, a ladder: these, in different colors and on contrasting fields, were some of the leitmotifs of the twenty different banners. They were emblazoned on individual shields and helmets. Rigorous regulations required guildsmen to keep their arms near at hand, above all in troubled times. The call to arms for the twenty companies was the ringing of a special bell, posted near the main public square. A standard-bearer, flanked by four lieutenants, was in command of each company."

To knit these companies organized by neighborhood into a single cohesive force, the lawyers' guilds within the populo created a state within a state, complete with written constitutions, guild charters, legal codes, legislative and executive councils. Under these constitutions, the populo's councils would elect a capitano del popolo, a professional soldier from outside the city who would serve as a politically-neutral commander, with a direct chain of command over the gonfaloniere and lieutenants of the neighborhood companies, to lead the populo against their noble would-be overlords.

And in commune after commune, the neighborhood companies made war against the consorteria, taking the towers one by one and turning them into fortresses of the populo. The victorious guilds turned their newly-won military might into political hegemony over the commune, stripping the nobilita of their power and privilege and forcing them either into submission or exile. Then they directed their veteran neighborhood companies outward to seize control of the rural hinterland from the feudal aristocracy, until the city had become city-state.

(Ironically, in the process, the populo gave birth to the condottieri, as the nobility who had lost their landed wealth and political power took their one remaining asset - their military training and equipment - and became professional mercenaries. But that's a story for another time...)

[namarikonda]

❤️‍🔥 Dante Glassheart (he/they)

Your local fire genasi artificer & prosthetics maker! He lost his arm, and is now improvng accessibility in the world with his inventions.

[salted-seaz]

lock + key

[foandgeld]

Arcanist Guild — Cornelius Greathat

There were no hands, and the staff was missing.

[tinygiantplasticmonsters]

Painted up an Slann Mage Priest/Great Lizard King Gurunda to lead my lizardman army for warmaster revolutions. Stl by artisans guild, print by MGS miniatures. Not my best work, but he's probably being usurped by the Forest Dragon designs one eventually anyways.

[ira-scargeear]

For the time being, people tried to preserve and multiply two things: status and money. This led to division of societies into castes like priests, warriors, etc., and each caste guarded their circle closely, keeping their secrets and preventing people from the outside to join their caste.

With rise of numerous crafts and arts in Medieval Europe various guilds were formed. Many of them kept monopoly on their techniques for decades. One of the famous examples was a guild of glassmakers on Murano island (modern Italy). The artisans even were forbidden to leave the island, to preserve the secrets further.

If you was born in a proper family, or chosen by a guild, you could become an apprentice. There was a strict hierarchy: you mopped the floor, pounded minerals in a mortar, did all the heavy and dirty jobs. After several years you were allowed to do something more complicate. After another couple of years you could do a simple items all by yourself. So you moved up step by step, mastering the craft.

It was also a well known practice when a skilled apprentices painted parts of a huge painting, and the famous artist painted the central figures, taking all the fame to himself (yeah, it was always a male). It was a common practice in other arts as well.

Do you remember my post about Eastern vs. Western mindset? Basically, you're nobody until an outside authority approves you, and you have to climb a ladder of your craft for years to be approved. That's an "Eastern" mindset.

A "Western" mindset is: you post your craft on social media - and voila, you're the artist!

What?! Those who climbed the ladder for years, immediately feel offended. Oopsie.

Have you seen this behavior within art people, especially painters? I suddenly discovered it's a thing while researching some stuff on modern art.

Well. The art is not a result. The art is an act. Your art can be absolutely hideous aesthetically wise, have weird stylization and be poorly made. It's still art. So go and do more of it, if you enjoy the process. You know, practice makes perfect. Post it online. We already have enough controversy with rising AI issue to care about some outdated practices.

If I cared that much about authorities validation, I wouldn't reach my current destination. What I wanted to make is a BJD doll that is aesthetically pleasing, brings a message and has a great usability. I did just that. So push your goals and don't listen to anyone.

[moradinsforge]

The Forest King and his rider, Endelshar Oakrage! One of the most majestic miniatures we have looks even more elegant with white primer. This miniature features a 2 inch base size for a standard 1 inch grid system.

Beautifully sculpted by @/andreatarabella.ag of @/artisan_guild_p over on instagram. Give the accounts a follow and check out their other miniatures you won't be disappointed, I promise!

This model, along with all other Artisan Guild sculpts, are available on our Etsy store as a published listing or by request. The Forest King comes in this version (variant B) as well as a "wild variant" without a saddle and rider (variant A).

Product listing here: moradinsforge.etsy.com/listing/808335507

[handmadehazefromtheheart]

Okay, now I've got the spoons to make a post about the Artisans Cooperative 1 Year Anniversary Membership Drive. 🎉

(Using two promo images cuz I couldn't decide which I liked best.)

I joined Artisans Coop during the first membership drive, in 2023. Even before setting up a storefront there, the Coop has in some way facilitated almost every sale I've made so far. The fact that it's a cooperative, combined with quite a few members also being with the @indiesellersguild, is really exciting to me as someone who really isn't a fan of the exploitative nature of how platforms like Etsy or Amazon work.

I also feel strongly about the platform itself because I share in equal ownership of it -- something I got to do by paying $10 and then spending time helping in small ways to keep it functioning. I haven't had the spoons to do a whole lot through most of the year, but I recently joined the marketing team and the verification team, so I'll be writing blog posts and helping to keep the marketplace free of dropshippers and resellers.

I already wrote a blog post about the membership drive, but that hasn't gone up yet. I'll definitely share it when it does.

If you decide to join, tell them I sent you! And feel free to find me to give you a follow on Tumblr, Mastodon, and/or Bluesky.

[hyakunana]

Better late than never, here's my #artrecap2023 ✨ testing a different design because... yeah, felt like doing something new. Hope it still works well 👀💦

Happy 2k24!!! 🌠

[dentpx]

btw here's my guyyyyy

[indiesellersguild]

Convention Schedule

Hey y'all, we'll be posting a small flood of things later on today, and we're starting with the convention schedule! (ID in alt text.)

You can also participate on your own time (videos will be available on-demand) but the schedule shows the times we'll actually be live. Book a ticket for as little as $1 at indiesellersguild.org/convention.

[jb-nonsense]

@commander-krios wants me to make Raphael Durante's genetic daddy, since Durante uses a fake name and doesn't like talking about his family

Images for comparison

[soylent-robot]

Red Oni Blue Oni

more minis from Artisan Guild!

[kudzucataclysm]

currently losing it