the 3 ranks of smith are
Apprentice: one learning of what it is to be a smith
Journeyman: one who can smith and check weapons safely
Master: no different then a journeyman only they are teaching Apprentices.


REQUIRED WEAPONS FOR BECOMING AN APPRENTICE SMITH
a two handed normal weapon
a one handed normal weapon
a throwing weapon
a weapon that uses bent pvc
a shield
a weapon with free standing foam structure
a weighted weapon
well made weapons from at least 4 different weapon classes
(sword, dagger, great sword, axe, pole arm, staff, spear, bludgeon, exotic)
and a weapon that you are proud of


Apprentice:
each apprentice needs to be able to build a legal version of each type of weapon to ensure that they can check each type of weapon for legality. the apprentice unlike the journeyman need only satisfy this entry level of understanding to qualify for the rank. however if we do not match up master with apprentices then we cannot measure progress towards journeyman level. this is what makes the apprentice an apprentice, that they are learning at the hands of a learned individual. without this measure our guild is just a fancy way of claiming power, each member having their own understanding and only the basic rules on weapons creating any conformity between smiths. without the master apprentice paradigm the guild is a joke there to help manipulators to acquire credentials. it is only through the application of training and learning that our guild gains any degree of common ground beyond that we call ourselves more informed then others

Journeyman:
Each journeyman needs to be approved by the smith council otherwise it is just a club for ego and elitism. that each journeyman needs to prove to the council that they have an exceptional understanding of all areas concerned with weapon construction is basic to the concept of building and informed council rather then personality-club. if a smith does not understand more then simply what the rules concerning weapons are and why then they have no business claiming to know more then the average person. it is only through the actual acquisition of proof of understanding by which we can ensure that each smith is truly worth of the position and claims which journeyman status offers

Master:
each of the trainers of apprentices, the masters must be journeyman. if an apprentice is wholly self taught then they most likely are missing many of the understandings gained and passed down by the guild, which relies on the experiences of many rather then settling for personal views on the subjects. if an apprentice is taught by another apprentice then they may both grow from that combination of knowledges, but are still likely not to understand everything that over a decade of experience gained by a great many individual and later experimented with by this guild has to offer. by demanding that someone earn journeyman rank before becoming an instructor we ensure that each new journeyman actually posses the knowledge gathered and passed down by the guild


some side notes on weapon checking

1 thee is no logic for apprentices pulling a veto on a journeyman

2 while any journeyman knows better then an apprentice a lone journeyman cannot veto anything ever. the guild is a group not a bunch of individuals. disqualifying a weapon that passes muster requires the opinion of the guild which is more than any two smiths of any degree.

3 being a group working to support a community offering any single person the power to deny voting perform veto by them selves of make any unilateral decision, is bull.