The Guilds

 Nowadays there are guilds for just about everything. A farmer's guild, a carpenter's guild- and you can bet the guilds will come down hard on those who perform a trade without a license. There are plenty of organizations you can go work for. 

You get bigger than the guilds, and you get the governments- the city watch, local royalty. They make the laws, and they have the armies. 

Then you have the big guilds. The AAA guilds. These guilds have branches in every country, every major city (and a few minors ones!). They have membership to rival some nations, and some have coinage to match the most wealthy kings!

And these guys defend their lands! Sure they got to follow local laws, but it's hard for your regular badge to show up in the Mage's Guild and demand to look around. If he gets back out at all he might be a newt, or a turnip. Best case is he just comes out with no memory of the incident. 

The Mage's Guild

Might as well start at the top, huh? These guys have dedicated themselves to unravelling the secrets of the universe, and not everyone wants to see what's behind THAT curtain. They have such a monopoly on magical materials they basically set the prices (which is handy when you need an onyx worth a specific amount!) Inside the mage's guild is various factions based on certain school specialties, such as the Conjurers or  the Illusionists. With all this power, you'd think they'd run the world, but once you've unlocked the multiverse, ruling one dimension hardly seems worth the trouble. 

While your everyday muggle doesn't necessarily trust the mage's guild- and rightly so- last thing you need is a stray demon appearing in your backyard! Then again, it's nice to know you got a bunch of guys who can launch siege style artillery if the orcs decide to attack!

The Merchant's Guild

Give me control of a nation's money supply and I care not who makes its laws. The Merchant's guild sums that up. Barely a union or labor guild exists that doesn't pay some form of taxes to the merchant's guild. Their coffers are deep, and they finance many a new business- if they feel it's worth their while. If there's one thing they care about it's maintaining profitability. While the adventurers plunder an ancient tomb worth thousands of gold, they're content to take a small piece out of every grain of rice, every sword, and every tunic made. Turns out, that's the more lucrative business.

The Pantheon

What holds more power than any church in Golarion? All the churches combined! Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of in-fighting amongst the different religions, but that's out in the country where they're sacrificing virgins to devils. Here in the city, the Pantheon keeps the peace- they've discovered that if they work together in big cities, they can set prices for healing services and rake in the money. All those temples, candles, and oils have to get paid for somewhere, and it's odd what a church of Asmodeus down the street does for the church of Erastil! Both seem to magically have more attendance (and tithes) than either would have if they were the only game in town! And here we have the pantheon- the agreement between churches to gather money in small towns, and kill each other out in the countryside. 

The Alchemists Guild

It's not magic, it's alchemy! While the churches focus on magical healing (for the faithful- or rich- only of course) someone has to be out there making plain old antiplagues for the peasants. And a mage might be able to lob a fireball at a horde of charging goblins, but ANYONE can throw an alchemists' fire! With magic dead zones in some areas of the world, and strange wild magic zones popping up, some good old fashioned alchemy can be just the ticket for someone who wants consistency!

The Artificer's Guild

Headquartered in Numeria, this guild is about finding the ancient lost technology and capitalizing on it. Whether it's supplying gunslingers, or trying to clean up radiation links, these guys have become mysteriously right. What have they discovered from the ancient civilizations that they haven't shared? I guess it doesn't matter- as long as they keep supplying the flintlocks! 

The College of Art

Also known as the "Bard's College" this is a multi-national university dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, culture, and art. They seek to categorize the history of the world, create masterpieces, and put on plays for both commons and nobles. Perform is the most profitable of the labor skills, and these guys know it! It doesn't hurt that archeological digs tend to turn up as much treasure as they do historical research! While the mage's guild studies magic and the churches teach the gods, these guys learn about everything else there is to know. And as they say, knowledge is power! What lengths do they go to in order to obtain that knowledge?

The Thieves Guild

Ever see this symbol painted somewhere? It's the mark of The Hand. Maybe it's like the watch says- that this is just an urban legend that vandals are propagating as a joke. But then, it's all over the world. The very concept of a thief's guild seems counter-intuitive at first. A group of scoundrels that cant be trusted and are after stealing things? But then, stolen things need to be sold, someone's crafting lock pics- and it's not all locksmiths, and someone's passing on the skills to the next generation. They say "The Hand" is the name of the master thief that got everyone together. Of course, it's all just rumors. 

The Assassin's Guild

While some thing it's silly to say there's a thieves guild, everyone seems to agree that there's a shadowy organization that supports killers for hire. It makes sense. People want to get rid of other people, and there's a definite need for skilled workers to meet that need. And unlike the thieves- who are most successful if they are never discovered, the assassins regularly leave calling cards so everyone knows that this was a hit job. Some people report seeing bodies dried up and shriveled, as if the very soul of the target was taken away. But in a world with resurrection, if you want something done permanently, I guess you need it done right! Not to say that there aren't plenty of killers out there that aren't aligned with a guild- but if you've got the money, you might want to pay extra for quality.