All legal trade and industry on the homeworld is controlled by one of the many official crafters’ unions, mercantile associations, and other professional interest groups known generally and collective as ‘the guilds’. Most people are employed in some sort of industry, most people belong to some sort of guild.

Being part of a guild comes with many benefits - not least of which is freedom from the sanctions they tend to impose on non-guild practitioners of their craft. Guildmembers have access to the wider stock of knowledge of the craft, the ability to develop their professional skills, and all of the connections that the guild as a whole has developed. Guilds will also provide funds for those suffering from sickness and old age, and will ensure that any dependents are looked after in case of early death.

More than that though, for more people being part of a guild is being part of a wider community. The loyalty between members of a guild tends to be fierce, lower-ranked members looking up to higher-ranked members in the way that one imagines peasant might have looked up to the nobility in days of old. Most guilds have regular social events and competitions, allowing members to relax and spend time together and strengthen group bonds.

However, some see membership of a guild as something that stifles their freedom. The guilds tend to impose heavy restrictions on the ways a given craft can be practiced, enforcing standards and preventing the individual from cutting corners. In addition, the guild structure prevents an individual from privately selling their work: generally, all trade is done through the guild,¹⁾ who then provide the individual with a stipend, rather than a direct trade economy. The size of the stipend may vary between guilds as well: some provide their members with a smaller stipend, but goods such as housing, clothing and food instead.

Crafters' guild hierarchy typically follows these four levels:

• Apprentice: A student of the craft, apprentices have food and board provided, along with their tuition, but are expected to provide work in exchange for this and only have limited freedom.
• Journeyist: A qualified craftsperson, entitled to work and receive a stipend (and the other benefits of guild life), but have no political power and do not have significant control over their craft. May spend a period of some years 'journeying' to perfect their craft in order to submit a masterpiece.
• Master: Typically in charge of a small workshop or senior in a large one, masters have created a masterpiece at some point which shows them to excel in their chosen field of work. They are allowed the capacity to develop their own work and have some political say in the workings of the guild.

In addition, most guilds will have a council of mastercrafters who make the important decisions for their guild. Some larger guilds may even have regional sub-councils. Their council is generally elected by members of the guild itself. Journeyists and masters may also occupy specific roles within the guild - for example, a librarian of the guild's archives, or the authority on a specific area of the craft.

Some guilds, such as the Prudential Secretarial Fellowship function more like teaching colleges: clerks trained by the PSF will typically spend their lives working in administrative roles for other guilds or organisations. The same may be true for guards, cooks, and other staff needed to run an organisation. It is possible in cases to have membership of two guilds, though some have expressed concern that this system leads to conflicting loyalties.

Many guilds have sent representatives on the Curiosity mission, either because the mission itself has direct relevance to their own ends or because they saw a chance for prestige or profit in sending people along. This is a list of some of the guilds who have a major presence on the ship, though it is by no means a complete list of all guilds who are present.

Also known as ISMC (said ‘ismek’), the Illustrious Stonebreakers’ and Mineralworkers’ Conclave have risen to prominence with the advent of industrialisation and the massive increase in demand for metal, stone and fuel. Despite their important, however, IMSC are not well-liked: those at the top are known for valuing maximum mineral extraction, sometimes at the cost of their journeyists’ health and often at the cost of the natural environment.

One of the largest guilds in existence, the Most Worshipful Company of Agriculturalists is a catch-all guild for farmers, animal rearers, loggers, and others who make their living selling the fruits of the land. Given that most agriculturalists live outside of cities on homesteads etc., the structure of the MWCAOL is rather looser than many other guilds, serving mostly to provide protection.

When humanity looked to sail across the stars, it seemed that shipwrights would be the obvious people to build the vessels needed. And so the Union of Shipwrights became the Union of Shipwrights and Starship Builders. A number of members of this guild are onboard to oversee the smooth running of the ship.

The Silver Company are one of the many mercenary companies that exist in uneasy peace with each other on the homeworld. They are known for discipline and skill, and as a result are more pricey than other groups. They have been commissioned as the primary form of law enforcement onboard the C.S.S. Curiosity.

The Limited Association of Elemental Metalsmiths is not actually a guild per se, but rather an overarching structure that unites the small, individual guilds of Platinum-, Mercury-, Silver-, Steel- and Goldsmiths. These smaller guilds tend to focus on specific metals, but collaboration to include multiple elements is not uncommon.

The Weaponsmiths are an old guild, but not one that is afraid to move with the times. They are behind a number of the more innovative developments on weapons technology, and have historically been the original home of a number of inventors in areas other than weaponry specifically.

Although they have historically had a quite violent rivalry with all the guilds of elemental metalsmiths, recently the two groups have reached an uneasy agreement concerning the use of elemental metals in weaponry.

The Voidstar Navigation Corps are the group who are, broadly, in charge on the mission: while assorted other guilds have been contracted to fulfill different roles, it is the Voidstars who are ultimately in charge and who fulfill the most important roles of running, sailing and, of course, navigating the ship. The majority of Voidstars are those who have an intuitive understanding of the ebb and flow of the universe, commonly known as Starfarers.

While shipwrights and starshipwrights may have formed a single union, the same is not true for sailors and those who travel space. The Voidstar Navigation Corps have a longstanding and bitter rivalry with the Oceanic Union of Sailors, as a result of which there are no sailors who have knowingly been allowed on the Curiosity mission.