The concept of Knights, Church/Religion, Merchants, Bards and Thieves as guilds is pretty standard fare for fantasy MUDs. I've RPed characters for all those sorts of things in the past (except for merchants, I hate doing business) in various games. Not only do they have a comfortable familiarly with RPGs across the board, but they are based on historical medieval roles and groups.
What the Reeves are is a concept somewhat unique to Urth, or a concept so wholly modern in idea that they may seem a bit out of place in the fantasy MUD genre. The idea of a "Cityguard" is pretty common. Those are the NPCs you kill relentlessly when walking through Midgaard with your Killer flag on other games. On TI the Cityguard is people, and more! Think of the Reeves as the Cityguard, police inspectors, the DA's office, the County Courthouse, jail and IRS all rolled into one big ball of... Gosh, lawyers and cops. No wonder nobody loves us!
Okay, it's true, it may be hard to look at the Reeves with any sort of love given our own experiences with the law and bureaucracy in real life. In fact, this may be the absolute last thing you want invading your fantasy world. In an exciting world where people are being persecuted and oppressed for having magical powers, and a trip up the social ladder may be a backstab (or magical spell) away, it can be really hard to care about what the Reeves do.
Why do the Reeves matter? What possibly positive contribution do they bring the people of Lithmore and the culture of the game? The Reeves represent humanity's desperate grasp at order and control over their own lives. In a world where you can be ruined when your wife is dragged out of your house and burned at the stake for being a witch on any day of the week by the church, people need and want the comfort of knowing that they can take charge of some aspect of their lives. The law and order the Reeves provide is a means to achieve some form of basic human dignity to life in the dire world of Urth.
In game, Reeves come in many flavors and we have many varied jobs to do:
For the role of law enforcement we have cityguards, detectives, judges, jailers and executioners. We provide legal advice by way of clerks, lawyers, judges and diplomats who resolve disputes, write and witness contracts, wills (if your char dies intestate in game, the staff eats your stuff... I may or may not be joking), and charters (if you want to make your own guild or group in game, the Reeves seriously have a system to make it real).
All this provides a lot of different, and rather unique opportunities for characters as well as some familiar character types, too. The hard-bitten detective, a haplessly daft, good natured, bumbling and likely doomed red-shirt of a cityguard, a noble knight-type all courtesy, protocol and good manners in service to Justice (seriously, since when has the Order been lawful good for a proper paladin?) , a bitter judge, or a not so bitter one like Harry T. Stone from Night Court (just don't do magic openly in the court room). I've roleplayed a lot of character classes, but I've never, ever, played a Lawyer before.
TI's playerbase is small enough that we don't need a lot of Reeves to police it. However, every guild needs a base of a few active players that regularly do the work that needs done to make sure the guild is filling its niche. We have a zillion unsolved cases, paperwork to file, criminals to catch, witnesses to interview, wills to write, jail birds to harass, and beats that need patrolled. There has to be something you'd enjoy doing here!
In conclusion, if you have a secret love of paperwork and justice, or.. a weird not so secret love of those things, my adorable little noble lawyer would really love to have you in the Reeves as a playmate! If you have any questions about the Reeves, I'd be happy to answer them. If your character has any questions about the Reeves, Lady Bryn will be happy to extol their virtues in game to them till my carpal tunnel syndrome sets in, and you go blind. If you are a new player, I love newbies, and am very patient. Come play, we are like the Night Watch from a Terry Pratchett book and Night Court all rolled into one. In spite of being a pack of lawyers and cops, we really are a loveable guild.
For Great Justice!
Look for Lady Brynieve de Versin in game at ti-legacy.com (66.85.147.90) port: 5050
PS: There are donuts in game you can eat if that would help you to get into Reeve character.
* Note: just because I'm clearly desperate for a few Reeve friends does not mean my character's sponsorship of your character in the seeker process is a given. We still have to play it out, and well.. If your character is a jerk or complete idiot at their interview, or causes trouble around town, I can't help you get in!