The Venerable Society of Cartographers

The Venerable Society of Cartographers, also known as the Guild of Mapmakers, is a non-governmental organization with something of a storied past. Founded by Wren Felsdottor two hundred years before the Disputatious Assembly of Sovereigns, the Venerable Cartographers did pretty much what you would expect from the name. The Guild filled a pressing and necessary function, as it was a time of ambiguity and conflict which thankfully de-escalated after the invention of national borders six years after the Guild was established.

Guilds were both influential and plentiful in those days, which meant individuals were incentivized to try and corner some niche section of the job market by founding their own Guild. This resulted in, for example, a Guild of Blacksmithing While Reciting Edifying Poetry and a Guild of Stealing Other Guilds' Signs. You may think I am exaggerating here, but I am not. Both of these organizations are mentioned in historical records. Needless to say that none of these Guilds persisted, with the notable exceptions of the Guild of Florists and, of course, the Mapmakers' Guild.

But the historical import of the Venerable Society of Cartographers lies, not in the maps they drew of the world—though these were certainly important, and many have survived into the present day—but in the ways they began altering the world to fit their maps. If memory serves, the initial precedent for this surprising course of action originated with Guildmaster Yithros the Exact, who modern scholars think likely suffered from some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder. As the story goes, Yithros was commissioned by the king of Thegul to produce a map of his country for their centennial, which Yithros did with characteristic exactitude. However, someone jostled his writing arm while he was finishing the curve of the coast. Such an error was unacceptable to him, so he journeyed out to Thegul and began shoveling away at the coast in order to make it fit his map. Thegul, however, was entirely below sea level, relying on a complicated system of dykes to keep the ocean out. Yithros's a posteriori correction flooded the entire country. And so, the Guild histories tell us, Yithros travelled back to the Guild and changed his map to read "Thegulf of Tan."

Yithros's successors took increasing liberties with their maps. Where before the Guild's mission had been purely descriptive, prescriptivist mapmaking began, inch by inch, to creep into their business model. Naturally this was a concern for many Sovereigns, such as when Lepazzia ordered a map of the Fractured Cities with most of the territory covered by a compass rose. To keep up with the increasingly geopolitical nature of their duties, the Venerable Cartographers began militarizing themselves to a level that would allow them to challenge nation-states. The training and materiel required are, of course, a tremendous expenditure, and thus the Venerable Cartographers have abandoned mapmaking over the past few centuries, essentially becoming a top-tier paramilitary organization.

Very fine work, M. Hon. Milton. I think in the final draft you should consider mentioning the Mapmakers' role in the Roerbach Incident, given that we wouldn't have seen such tremendous uproar in the Assembly if not for the fake maps. But please don't take that suggestion as a criticism of your excellent scholarship here.

Citations: The Roerbach Incident

A proper scholar doesn't cite himself, Dr. Jones. Any memetosociologist could tell you that.