Chapter Text
Long Essay Question 1
Using the nine primary sources provided, write about the Adventurer's Guild's decline in the period 1 3E to 250 3E. One point will be assigned for the appropriate use of each source to support your thesis. One point will be granted for a concise and relevant thesis. One bonus point each will be granted for: relevant outside historical context, an analysis of the perspective of any given source, and drawing a connection between history and the modern day.
From the start of the third era to 250 3E, the Adventurer's Guild went from being the most important organization of mages to one of the least important. There are many reasons for the decline, both cultural and economic. 1 Culturally, the rise of the Hero's Church and the Knight Academy at Erdburg made the Guild less important. Economically, the extinction of most monster species and the drop in dungeon revenue made it harder for Guild members to make a living. Additionally, the increase in wars between the four Great Bladebound States punished the Guild for its neutrality. These factors and more were responsible for the Guild nearly vanishing for good.
The cultural impacts of the new era on the Adventurer's Guild contributed to its decline. The first of those cultural impacts is the formation of the Hero's Church. In Source 6, a short passage from the Book of the Bladebound shows that people at the time believed that the Guildmaster was collaborating with the Demon King. While the Guildmaster was expelled, and the heroes were also adventurers, the event lowered trust in the Guild. The reformation of the church into the Hero's Church took place in 62 3E, after the death of the Nameless Hero, meaning these rumors were popular before the end of the first century.2 The second cultural impact on the Guild came from the Knight Academy. Source 1 shows a piece of tapestry depicting the Knight Academy, founded in 101 3E. The creation of one school dedicated to teaching knights led shortly to the discovery that several different "classes" of adventurer were actually one and the same magic. This included Paladins, Dark Knights, Artificers, Black Mages, and White Mages. This disproved old Guild doctrine and decreased their influence.3 The combined classes took on an old name that was sometimes used to describe Paladins - Bladebound.4
Possibly more important than the cultural factors were the economic factors. Dated 210 3E, source 3 is a photo of the horn of an extinct monster, the monocorn, on display in the Natural History Museum in Veranda. The origin of monsters is unknown, but their extinction can be tied directly to Guild quests. Good or bad, the lack of a common threat to humans meant that there was less work for Guild Adventurers.5 Without monsters to hunt, adventurers turned to some of the last challenges in the wild - dungeons. One report shows the casualties in a single month of expeditions into the Millennium Dungeon under Norhold, numbering in the thousands (Source 4). Ancient dungeons are far more dangerous than any challenge on the surface and are far worse for earning money. This skewed adventurers towards a few elite warriors, and put off new adventurers from joining. In order to make ends meet, the Guild slowly reduced its size and influence until most of its income came from selling Rank Plates to knights who graduated from the Academy, or noblemen who were really good at magic.6
Finally, the Guild's policy of neutrality failed to hold up against the wars of conquest starting from the end of the second era. Source 2 is a political map showing the second era nations that make up Euland, Gauss and Erd, the three Great Bladebound Kingdoms. The three dynasties were formed from three Kingswords - powerful Blades formed from the battle against the Demon King. Using the power of the magic they obtained on their quest, the three kings quickly conquered the surrounding continent. This represents the beginning of feudal mageocracy, and the end of an era where Adventurers were allowed to be political outsiders. The wars between these great powers needed mages holding noble titles to command armies, mages would accept noble titles for the wealth they promised, and became more reliant on the King than on the Guild. 7 Source 8 is an excerpt of an ultimatum from Henry I to the fief of one Lord Albert, where the king threatens to send "five in rank Gold and forty-three in rank Silver" into the lord's lands. Either these knights had been given a guild rank, undermining the guild's neutrality, or ranks were being assigned by the King himself, undermining the guild's authority.8 In the modern day, military ranks conferred by the king are used instead of guild ranks often when describing Bladebound - General, Knight, and Squire instead of Gold, Silver, and Copper - even when a mage is not an active member of the military.9
All these factors contributed to the decline of the Adventurer's Guild in the early third era. While it may not have been inevitable, many of the decisions which led to this decline were made well before the fall of the Demon King in 3E 0. Even former adventurers saw it as a relic of the past. In the end, the newer cultural, political, and economic powers forced much of the guild to shut its doors, dooming it to never be taken seriously again.
Sample 1
Final Score: 8
1 This response earned a point for the thesis. The claim that the Adventurer's Guild fell due to a combination of economic, political, and cultural factors is historically defensible, and not merely a restatement of the question. return to text ↩
2 Appropriate use of source 6. Notably, the source in question is referenced as "Book of Kings - Biblia Nova" which would be what they referred to it as the time, rather than the colloquial name "Book of the Bladebound" that the student uses. This suggests they have a strong understanding of the history of its writing and publication for their grade level. "The heroes were also adventurers..." and "...the rumors were popular..." seems to be an attempt to establish perspective or bias, but the author doesn't elaborate, so it does not earn the bonus point. return to text ↩
3 Not the intended angle for source 1, and the historicity of this is tenuous. Whether the people of the second era knew that all magic was an expression of one source of power or not is unknown, but even in the modern era there isn't total consensus about that fact. Guild doctrine was defined by the battle role of the various classes, rather than for edifying adventurers or written for the sake of academic clarity. It's also not clear how much the average person would care about this dispute. A correct use of source 1 involves understanding that the Knight College represents a rival certification institution for mages. This response earns no points.return to text ↩
4 Trivial, not a good attempt at establishing a greater historical context. return to text ↩
5 Textbook use of source 3. No documentation remains on how monsters reproduce, or whether they could at all. Avoiding over-hunting them may have been totally impossible for the guild, but even if it was a concern in their minds, preservation of human life took priority over the preservation of the organization. This response earns one point.return to text ↩
6 This is an interesting angle, not exactly the one students are expected to take. A slight inaccuracy or misstatement is present here - it's not so much that dungeon delving gave poor returns, as much as it is that the loss of life made those returns irrelevant. A common suspicion even now is that dungeon "loot" is merely a time capsule from other, less fortunate looters in the past. Nevertheless, the observation that the returns heavily favor older experienced mages is unique. Referencing the sale of Rank Plates to members of the nobility (a practice which started soon after the 2nd century 3E) is good complementary outside context as well. This response earns two points.return to text ↩
7 A roundabout way to use source 2. The simpler answer is that the fact that the wars happened at all demonstrate Guild neutrality was bad at keeping the peace, especially when no outside threat exists to unify the various world powers. Still, the observation that other Plated Adventurers were drawn into the resulting conflict demonstrates understanding of the forces at play in shaping history. One point.return to text ↩
8 The use of guild ranks to threaten other polities is a clear violation of the previously established order. Whether or not they were legitimate ranks is maybe not the main extrapolation you can draw from source 8, but is within the bounds of an acceptable answer.return to text ↩
9 This earns the point for drawing a relevant connection to the modern day. Guild ranks are not totally forgotten, but they were superseded by military ranks as time went on and the guild became a less relevant political force. The transition was not a smooth one-to-one process as the author implies here - at various points in history either guild ranks or military ranks or both were decided independently of merit, either due to bribes or political necessity. This has left room for other competing systems, like the Miranese system of letter ranks, or the Soulbound system of tiers, both of which purely describe tactical capability and magical prowess respectively.return to text ↩