Guild elder status is bestowed by the Guildmaster or automatically, by Avalon in cases of great longevity within a single guild. Guildmasters are able to give out Elder status once every five Avalon years of their tenure so the choice must be made with care. It is a status that will remain with the Elder for the rest of their time in the profession which, in most cases, means for the rest of their Avalon careers.
The title of Elder can only be revoked by the Guild Patron (under extra-ordinary circumstances) and by the Guildmaster through his or her five-yearly privilege to bestow or remove an Elder. It is very rare to find a Guildmaster using the five-year privilege for the purposes of Elder removal since it means he/she cannot create a new one for the next five Avalon years (or two and a half months real-time).
Elders cannot be ejected from their guild, not even by the Guildmaster. The Elders have full access privileges to the guild forums and all the various guild-related commands delimited by guild-rank. It is the equivalent of a permanent Depty Guildmaster rank in addition to its permanence and the honours due to anyone holding this most illustrious of positions.
