Lion.College · The Guild for Sovereign Men

Apprentice.
Journeyman.
Master.

A modern craft guild — formation in the lion archetype, real ventures, mutual capital, and the brotherhood of men who have walked the path before you. Companion order to LionMind.

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
— Proverbs 27:17
Walk the 7-Day Path →Apply for the founding twelveWhat this is

The 7-Day Path is the gentle precondition. Free. Twenty minutes a day. Walk it before you apply. On the seventh day, you'll know whether the longer work is for you.

The three-part topology

LionMind teaches who you are. Lion.College builds what you do. Brotherhood is who you do it with.

Chapel · Library
LionMind

Free, public. The archetype, the canon, the formation teaching.

Guild Hall · Forge
Lion.College

Apprenticeship, capital syndicate, member ventures, mentorship.

Commons
Brotherhood

Persistent social fabric. Pods, accountability, daily life together.

The three ranks

Real ranks. Real obligations. Real rights. Peer-elected, never bought.

I · Apprentice
Year 1

You have walked the LionMind 7-day path and committed to the formation work. Paired with a Journeyman. Working on a first venture or learning a trade.

Obligations
  • Practice the daily disciplines
  • Attend the weekly pod
  • Ship a first thing
Dues · A$0 – A$49 / month · scholarship default
II · Journeyman
Years 2–4

You have shipped at least one venture. You operate it. You mentor at least one Apprentice. You are eligible for the capital syndicate.

Obligations
  • Mentor an Apprentice
  • Ship and operate
  • Report quarterly to the Guild
Dues · A$200 / month
III · Master
5+ years · peer-elected

Built, sold, or sustained a venture profitably 3+ years. Elected by the Guild. Sits on the capital syndicate, teaches workshops, votes on standards.

Obligations
  • Teach
  • Underwrite syndicate decisions
  • Hold the Standards Code
Dues · A$500 / month
The value flywheel

What the guild actually does — beyond articles and Discord.

  1. 01

    Member venture registry

    Every member's business public to other members. Skills, capacity, hiring.

  2. 02

    Internal-first procurement

    Members are first call for design, dev, accounting, legal. Capital stays inside.

  3. 03

    Capital syndicate

    Members collectively back member ventures. Masters underwrite. Apprentices observe.

  4. 04

    Apprenticeship rotations

    Junior members rotate through established member businesses for 3–6 months.

  5. 05

    Standards enforcement

    A code, due process, expulsion for bad actors. The credibility moat.

  6. 06

    Patronage cycle

    Masters back Journeymen back Apprentices. Mastery returns to apprentice.

  7. 07

    Annual Conclave

    Yearly in-person Pride Day. New Masters announced. Ventures pitched. Memorials.

The 888

The founding roadmap is written as 888 specific actions in 8 phases. From the day the chapel opens to the day the first apprentices return as Masters.

We don't mistake intention for substance. 888 steps, each one concrete, across roughly 5–10 years. Read it on the way in — it is the map of the work.

Phase I
Foundation
Steps 1 – 111
Phase II
First Apprentices
Steps 112 – 222
Phase III
The Forge
Steps 223 – 333
Phase IV
Treasury & Syndicate
Steps 334 – 444
Phase V
Masters Elected
Steps 445 – 555
Phase VI
The Pillars Spread
Steps 556 – 666
Phase VII
The Canon
Steps 667 – 777
Phase VIII
Regeneration
Steps 778 – 888
Where to start

If you only have an hour to look at this, read these four first.

The 7-Day Path
The gentle precondition. Twenty minutes a day for seven days. Free to walk.
READ →
About — the long version
What this is, what it isn't, how it differs from other things, what success and failure look like.
READ →
FAQ
The hard questions, answered honestly. Religion, cost, cult-risk, dropouts, exits.
READ →
The Founder
A first-person account by Liam Tormey — who is doing this, and why.
READ →
The charters

The signed and signable documents that govern the guild.

Constitution
Article I–XII · ranks, governance, treasury, election, expulsion, dissolution.
READ →
Code of Conduct
Ten articles with teeth · customers, peers, capital, speech, sex, substance, duty of care.
READ →
Apprentice Compact
Signed at investiture · what each Apprentice commits to in his first year.
READ →
Master Compact
Signed at Master Investiture · the rights, obligations, and inheritance line of a Master.
READ →
Founder's Invitation
The personal letter template for inviting each of the founding twelve.
READ →
The Octava
Eight pillars of formation, twelve weeks each. Pillars I and II are published in full.
READ →
The institution

The standing bodies of work that hold the guild together over decades.

The Standards Process
How the Code is enforced · filing, triage, investigation, expulsion, appeal. Article VII in plain language.
READ →
Patronage
Quiet, structural, one-way. How you fund an Apprentice without becoming one.
READ →
The Canon · Lion Library
The publishing imprint. The living body of guild teaching across generations.
READ →
The Annual Conclave
The guild gathers in Melbourne, third weekend of October. Three days. The institution's heartbeat.
READ →
Reading List
Recommended reading keyed to the eight pillars. Old before new. Curated and reviewed at Conclave.
READ →
Founding cohort — twelve men

The first cohort is twelve. Hand-picked. Founding membership is free.

The first twelve Apprentices won't pay a cent. They'll receive Pillar 1 of the curriculum, a paired mentor, a pod of three other founders, and full access to the Riverun stack. In exchange they show up, do the work, and let us learn from them. When they graduate, the rest of the gate opens.

Apply for the founding twelve →