"Sir, who exactly are the real ancient trade families?" Lara asked, still unwilling to call Orazio by his first name. "I know the obvious ones, such as the Bingen and Roth families, and there are some like the Sonnenbergs, but those cannot be the only ones, right?"
Orazio smiled slightly at her question. He understood perfectly well why she continued calling him sir, despite his earlier request. "Well, you already know about the fake ones, but they are of no concern to you," he said. "The real families you need to worry about are indeed the ancient ones like the Bingen and Roth families."
"They never truly lost their purpose within their respective trades, even during the period when modernization made many of their traditional skills less valuable," Orazio continued. "Their crafts may have become less important for a time, but the families themselves never stopped preserving their knowledge. Now that craftsmanship and quality have become valuable again, those old families have regained the importance they once possessed."
Orazio's expression became more serious as he leaned back into the couch. "And they certainly have the capacity to keep all that power to themselves if they choose to do so," he said. "If you are not careful, your government employees could become nothing more than decoration within those guilds."
Lara understood exactly what he meant. The government already intended to appoint official employees to manage the guilds once they were established. Those officials were supposed to ensure that the organizations remained connected to the government rather than becoming completely independent institutions controlled by private interests.
Orazio, however, seemed far less concerned about that arrangement than Lara expected. "To be honest, I have been watching your party's officials with some amusement," he admitted. "The great houses create the guidelines and establish everything that needs to be decided at the highest level, while everything within those guidelines, and even slightly outside them, is left for the civil servants to work out."
"That is necessary, of course," Orazio continued. "Otherwise, nobody would actually do their jobs." His tone carried a hint of amusement because he knew that the system was not nearly as clean as the official documents made it appear.
Even Lara knew that political appointments would become a problem. She might be the Minister of Professions, but she was still a member of a political party. Every political faction would want to place its own people into the strongest guilds so that those organizations could eventually support their agendas.
The problem was that Lara could not simply reject every politically motivated appointment. If she did, the political consequences would be enormous. She would have to allow at least some of those appointments to go through, even if she knew that certain politicians were interested in the guilds for reasons that had nothing to do with the professions themselves.
"At the same time, the guilds involving the ancient trade families will probably be the most stable guilds you will ever have," Orazio said with absolute certainty.
"Why do you say that?" Lara asked, her expression becoming confused. Everything she had ever learned about power had taught her the opposite. People who gained power generally wanted more of it, and those who controlled an organization usually looked for ways to expand their influence.
The image Orazio was describing did not sound like that at all. According to him, these ancient families would somehow obtain enormous influence and then simply continue with their lives without trying to seize everything around them. Lara found that difficult to understand.
"It is simple," Orazio explained. "They possess so much knowledge and history within their respective trades that their culture will naturally shape the profession itself. Once that happens, their obsession will shift toward their craft rather than political control."
"Their greatest masters will be raised to care about the profession above everything else," he continued. "Most of them will consider the management of an organization troublesome rather than rewarding." Orazio took another sip of his coffee before adding, "That is why they will not be particularly interested in controlling every administrative decision made within their guilds."
Lara listened carefully as he explained the difference. The ancient families would possess enormous authority, but that authority would be tied directly to their professions. Their interest would not be in collecting political power for its own sake.
Instead, their greatest concern would be maintaining the quality of their craft. Their history and traditions had already given them everything they needed to establish themselves as authorities within their fields. They did not need to control every political decision simply to prove that they were important.
"The rest of the guild will listen to those ancient families whenever they speak about certain issues," Orazio continued. "Everyone will know that those families possess the knowledge and experience necessary to understand their profession better than almost anyone else."
"That means internal fighting over resources will almost never become a serious problem," he said. "And if it does happen, the dispute will most likely be settled through a competition of skill rather than through political maneuvering."
Lara blinked at him. "A competition of skill?"
"Yes," Orazio answered without hesitation. "For them, proving who is better at the craft will often matter more than proving who has the greater political influence." He gave a small shrug. "As for everything else, it will simply happen within the guild."
Orazio's explanation made the situation sound strangely simple. The ancient trade families would establish the standards, preserve the knowledge, and guide their professions, but they would not necessarily care about controlling every administrative decision. Their influence would come from their mastery rather than from their desire to dominate.
"So, in your opinion, I just need to talk to the trade families about establishing their guilds, and they will help?" Lara asked hopefully.
The hope in her voice was almost surprising. She had been nervous about dealing with the ancient trade families because they were frightening in an entirely different way from the great houses. The world had entered a new age where quality mattered more than it had in the past, and those families were among the few organizations capable of consistently producing the highest-quality products.
"It is no longer enough to have the largest number of people producing something," Lara thought. "If the finished product is poor, then quantity does not compensate for it."
That did not mean quantity had stopped mattering. If rare resources became abundant, having both quality and quantity would obviously be preferable. Unfortunately, humanity was nowhere near the point where it understood why certain resources existed where they did or how to reliably produce them.
The ancient trade families therefore possessed something extremely valuable. They understood their crafts at a level that modern organizations were only beginning to rediscover. They also possessed direct connections with the great houses, which made their influence even more significant.
"Yes, they will help," Orazio answered. "But they will certainly have conditions."
Lara's hopeful expression remained as she waited for him to explain. She had expected conditions, but she suspected that the requirements of ancient families would be considerably different from those of ordinary guild members.
"For example, they will want the headquarters of their guild to be located near their ancestral lands," Orazio said. "That makes travel easier for them, and it allows them to remain connected to the places where their traditions originated."
"That sounds reasonable," Lara admitted.
"It is," Orazio replied. "But there is something far more important that you need to understand."
His expression suddenly became extremely serious. "If one of those officials you appoint ever acts against the profession they are supposed to defend and help prosper, especially for personal or political gain, then those ancient families will become the most unreasonable group of humans you have ever encountered."
Lara's expression stiffened.
"In their eyes, such an action will not simply be corruption," Orazio continued. "They will see it as an insult to their ancestors, their traditions, and everything their families have spent generations protecting."
He looked directly at Lara. "To them, you will have effectively spat on their ancestral graves and everything they stand for."
Lara swallowed.
"And they will come for you," Orazio said calmly. "You do not need to worry about that."
Lara slowly exhaled. "Okay. So I will have a lot to warn people about."
"Yes, you will," Orazio replied.
He paused for a moment before continuing. "And do not underestimate what happens the first time someone crosses that line. It will happen eventually. I have no doubt about that."
Lara's expression became increasingly nervous as she realized that Orazio was not exaggerating. "The first incident will be watched very closely," he explained. "Every ancient family will be paying attention to how you respond, and you will have one week to deal with the person responsible."
"One week?" Lara repeated.
"One week," Orazio confirmed. "If that person, and the person behind them, is not executed within that week, the ancient families will begin acting themselves."
Lara stared at him in disbelief.
"And when they begin," Orazio continued, his voice becoming completely devoid of humor, "the only way for your political party to survive will be to come begging to us."
The room became silent.
"And we will not intervene to stop them," Orazio finished. "We have never done that before, and we are not about to start now."
Lara could only gulp nervously. She had not expected the situation to be nearly that serious. Until now, she had viewed the ancient trade families as powerful organizations that preferred to remain focused on their professions.
Now she realized that their lack of political ambition did not mean they were weak. If anything, it seemed to mean that their power was concentrated almost entirely within the things they cared about most.
It also explained why even the ancient great houses treated them carefully. Lara had heard stories about the Assassin family through her connections within the European intelligence agency. Those stories alone had been enough to make her cautious.
Now she was beginning to understand why Orazio had spoken about the ancient families with such certainty. They did not need to control the government because they already possessed something that could make governments hesitate before interfering with them.
"Now, besides that, there are a few other things you need to know," Orazio said.
Lara straightened in her seat and prepared herself for another warning.
"For the Sonnenberg family, there is one particularly important matter," Orazio explained. "They only consider bows to be real weapons."
Lara frowned slightly.
"Crossbows are considered an affront to the name of the bow," he continued. "Do not make the mistake of casually mentioning that you want to include them together. As far as the Sonnenbergs are concerned, doing so is practically an affront to God."
Lara slowly nodded as she committed the information to memory. "So I should separate those professions from the beginning."
"Exactly," Orazio said. "Start that division from the beginning, because the Sonnenbergs will give crossbows no good look whatsoever."
He then raised another finger. "Second, none of the ancient families want some mindless pencil pusher appointed as the president of their guild."
Lara's expression became serious again.
"That person will not last long," Orazio said bluntly. "The ancient families have not had a particularly good relationship with government officials during the last three hundred years."
Lara sighed internally. The list of conditions was becoming longer by the minute.
"And last, but certainly not least," Orazio said, "every appointed guild president must actually possess the profession of the guild they represent."
Lara looked at him carefully.
"They will never respect someone who has no understanding of the craft they are supposed to lead," Orazio explained. "If you appoint an administrator who knows nothing about the profession, the guild will reject that person regardless of how much authority the government gives them."
He leaned back and waited patiently.
Lara stared at him for a few seconds before finally accepting the reality of what she had been told. The guilds were supposed to be government organizations, but the most powerful ones would still belong to the professions themselves.
And apparently, that meant she had just been handed a very long list of rules she absolutely could not afford to break.