This is something I have thought about as well.

Their are two lines of thinking that i have found:
-First, In CoE you designate an heir, usually, but not necessarily one of your children. If you are that NPCs guardian you can train them in your guilds skills, and he/she will most likely join your guild before you ever die and start playing them. Back in the day it was expected for children to follow into their parents trade.
-Second, Caspian has stated that originally he did not intend for people to reincarnate as their heirs, and instead go from one life to another more at random (or rather placed by the story engine). You don't have to play your heir. You can reincarnate into someone in an entirely different community or guild and start a whole new adventure. So no you wouldn't be in the same guild.

We aren't like the NPCS of this world lore-wise. We come from the Akashic Records, and our arrival is very significant to the soulless inhabitants of the world. The NPCs know we are being reborn, we (as characters) know we are being reborn, so it's no far stretch that our reincarnated selves would be invited open-armed into our old group/guild.

Since guild communication will likely extend outside the game into services like Discord and Skype, I would bet money that you'd be easily able to reenter your guild by simply telling them who you've reincarnated as.

I thought a lot about this before ever creating my order. As the leader, I wanted to take advantage of CoE's death system and have my members elect a replacement once my character dies and have it so that tradition continues for the following leaders as well. We also plan on having some kind of monument for each leader.

Posted By Desophyr at 11:05 PM - Fri Aug 11 2017

Since guild communication will likely extend outside the game into services like Discord and Skype, I would bet money that you'd be easily able to reenter your guild by simply telling them who you've reincarnated as.

And then travel to your guild halls as your new character, and sign the required documents to join.

Posted By Corin at 01:21 AM - Tue Jul 11 2017

We aren't like the NPCS of this world lore-wise.

I think this is my favorite comment ever. It is sooo incredibly true because we have souls and they don't.

At the same time, I just want to be an NPC. One thing for generations, a constant in the everchanging world.

I can't be the only one thinking of a scenario like:

"Why did you come here? What drives you to join with us?"

"I..I don't know.. I just feel this pull, like I've been here before.. Like I.. Belong here.."

For a reincarnated guild member.

Then again, maybe I am the only one thinking it and I'm just being silly.

(Just now seeing the date of the last post on this topic, so nobody is probably gonna see this, but I also typed it up already so I feel obligated to post it. So.. Yeah. :P)

How do we know NPCs don't have souls? I take the view that NPCs don't have souls that players own, and that is the extent of the knowledge on the subject that I profess, as character or player.

That leads into the topical question on guilds. Guilds are game-world entities that are concerned with members' actual in-game skills, not some propensity for skills they may have inherited. Learn those skills to the requisite proficiency and your soul's new character should be able to gain admittance to its prior character's guild, all other things being equal. Fail to learn those skills, and the guild should not admit you.

I've been reading a lot of VR fantasy books lately. Just finished book 1 of awaken online, and the NPCs call the players travelers, know that they are in a game but players are different from them. Guess it boils down to how much you want to RP it. If you are heavily into it, go with the "I've been drawn here" like Stormious said, or if not, just go up to the guild and be like "hey, I was so and so, this is my next character and I want to rejoin." Some guilds could totally go the RP route while others are just about helping each other out.

We can't be sure of the system they'll implement, though Falendor made an interesting point with the idea of the "heir" system. But it is interesting thinking about the importance of guild "older" lived members who can 're-teach' your new-born character a trade, skills and recipes, and how having this teachings passed to members can turn so important for after your rebirths. Sharing knowledge is going to be super important and finding a trusting community to share, grow, increase and literally raise it is mind boggling. Do not forget the objective of developers is reinventing the systems not just change them so we have to be open minded about the death and rebirth system and how they may affect all other systems of the game and their importance.

in the lore itself says we are different then NPCs. people know we are unique souls that reincarnate. My guess is that if people wanna make it very roleplay friendly instead of just being "oh yeah you died but you're still you" they could have people answer a question only the old them would know or something like that.

sadly we cannot do anything about the use of third party communications, so I guess there will be no way of stopping you from just reentering. I hope the NPCs will balance that out a bit, so they might get cranky if the guild, school whatever gives high positions to a newcomer character, so there is a bit of rotation in positions.

Temporary suspension of disbelief.

Note that a guild is not the same as a guild in most other MMOs and it’s more like a real life guild. Which is an organized group of a certain trade, like a smiths guild or a farmers guild.
They work together to protect their trade basically, and ensure profit for the entire guild and its members.
If you respawn as a character that wants to pursuit the same trade, it makes sense to join the same guild, but if not, you may be better if joining a different guild.

Posted By Galliad at 6:05 PM - Thu Sep 20 2018

I hope the NPCs will balance that out a bit, so they might get cranky if the guild, school whatever gives high positions to a newcomer character, so there is a bit of rotation in positions.

I like this idea to keep the flow moving. It wouldn't make sense for a brand new character to take over as guild master because he is the reincarnation of the previous, as he likely doesn't have the skill yet to fill the position. So maybe the npcs lose sense of trust with the guild based on level of trust they feel with the guild master.

Devils advocate though could be the guild master lets his son inherit the guild master seat, and have a council of elders who do have the skills to run things supporting him, much like how I imagine any heir will inherit lands or titles. The npcs could then place trust in the advisors and the guild masters heir based on the previous guild masters trust.