What's in this section?
This section contains details of the Guilds that work across the Empire. The Guilds are not limited to any single House's territory, operating across them all but responsible for very few resources of their own by comparison. The two most important Guilds are the Independent Guilds of Technologists and Chirurgeons, because these groups are between them responsible for all research into Legacy technology. They were formed to keep these great devices from being unfairly distributed between the Houses during the Lystran Revolution and maintain that function to this day, requiring those who rise in their ranks to forswear their House loyalties.
Less independent are the Association of Historicals, Scribes and Explorers. The Historicals often have interests overlapping those of the Technologists when it comes to Archaeological Sites and are riddled with agents of the Houses all pushing their own interests.
Not technically a guild are the United Free Traders. This collection of merchants maintain a sheen of Honour, but are more commonly known as The Cartel and presumed to have varied illegal operations going on behind the scenes. Whether their operations are legal or not is a question constantly pursued by the United Imperial Constabulary, the Empire's cross-border investigative force. The UIC work closely with House police forces when conducting investigations and are obliged to bring cases for trial before the Imperial Magistrate. More details are on the Law page.
There are a vast number of religious groups within the Empire with vastly varying beliefs. As such, it is difficult to group them together into a single, powerful organisation and no one has been able harness religion to achieve major political aims.