ASoIaF Career: Maester

As the order of scholars, healers, messengers, and natural philosophers, maesters educate new students at the Citadel of in Oldtown, a city in the Reach. House Hightower was integral in the Citadel's foundation, and continues to patronize the order. The Citadel is also financed by the lords who pay for having a maester in their service, and from certain taxes that it collects at Oldtown. As advisers to the Westerosi nobility, the maesters have largely supplanted the Alchemists' Guild. They are sometimes called "the knights of the mind." Some may never become an official maester or even an acolyte! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Levels "Novice": You are a new students and have begun your education at the Citadel. Most acolytes will treat you as if you have little mindpower, and if you violate the rules of the Citadel, a maester order you to be confined to your rooms by the maesters. You may receive a more physical punishment, such as if you steal from the kitchens, a rector might put you in stocks at the Seneschal's Court, where acolytes may throw rotten vegetables at you. Act smart! To officially become an acolyte, you must earn a link for your chain by going before an archmaester to demonstrate your knowledge. If the archmaester judges your knowledge to be proficient, they will award you with a link of a metal reflecting the subject. Acolyte : You have earned your first link for your chain! You can train at letters at the Scribe's Hearth, and an Oldtowner may hire you to read their letters or write their wills. When you complete your training and are prepared to take your vows to become a maester, you will put in a black-dark room with one of the Citadel's glass candles made of razor-sharp dragonglass. You must stay in that room for the entire night in darkness, unless he is able to light the candle. Branches Maesters : Scholars and healers who have completed their training at the Citadel. They can be sent by the Citadel to serve at the holding of a lord throughout the Seven Kingdoms. A lord has to pay the Citadel for a maester's service, and smallfolk believe that maesters are unwilling to help them. Maesters are only found in castles; if a lord does not have a maester in his service, he is seen as unimportant. They have vowed to hold no lands or lordships, and to be celibate. Maesters wear a collar, which is supposed to remind him of the realm they serve. When they complete their education and take their vows, a maester puts aside their House name. Although they are supposed to be loyal to the seat to which they are assigned, regardless of the changes in control of that holding, old allegiances or loyalties might continue linger. Base Level-- "Maester": You've completed your training, taken your vows and are now a specific noble family's personal maester. You also have put aside your original House name if you had one and to be celibate. Archmaesters : Maesters who have demonstrated mastery