Ok, Cherek, thank you for your response and consider yourself blamed.
First of all, let's adress the evil vs good melee-issue.
Evil: BDA/RDA, AA
Good: Neidar, Knights, Calia, Rangers
Neutral: SU, DO, Mercs, Glads, Ogres (Yes, while ogres are maybe inherently evil, the guild is technically neutral).
Which two evil guilds am I missing? (Yes, two, I view BDA/RDA to be two factions of the same guild - albeit one is superior to the other, but that's topic of a different discussion).
The way I see it, the "goodies" are the majority, and guild-by-guild-balance there's definitely a real need for the Death Knight branch of the Khiraa. The need for a Lichpriest branch, however, is debatable. Magic guilds have always been inherently difficult to balance in Genesis, and I feel as if there's always been an understanding here.
Firstly, the caster guilds can always off any one player or npc with a few nukes or poison. The trade off is that it drains so much resources that there's no chance a caster can "nuke for progress", making it (really) difficult to grind.
Secondly, (truly sorry guys, I invoke a cliche) great power comes with great responsibility. Many victims of the morgul mages might disagree, but I'm convinced the Tower does not go out on a killing spree "for fun". Players who've been murdered by a mage deserved it, somehow.
So why this rambling? Well, first of all the Khiraa cannot exist without the Lichpriests, and vice versa. This "synergy" is not only the trademark of the guild, it is perfect for balancing against the elemental force that's building on the good side, where several guilds complement each other perfectly. The means may differ, the end remains the same. I simply don't agree with the fact that there's no room for the Khiraa in Genesis. I would go so far as to claim it desperately needs it! It makes perfect sense!
The wizard community always claimed "you can't force a wizard to work on something he or she doesn't want to do". Now, you said two wizards came to you and asked to work on an a previously (and might I add - epic) guild and you said the game didn't need it. I am appalled. Truly.
While I agree there definitely are guilds and/or other aspects of the game that require attention, I simply abhor that other guilds are held hostage (see conflict of interest in ME, and how AA is completely useless and everybody knows it) for this reason. It is, after all, free work that needs internal motivation for it to be done.
As for popularity of current guilds - what about the neutral ones? Do we really need both gladiators AND mercenaries? While ogres are fun, their mechanics promote grinding at a certain speed to maintain/gain power - do we really need a guild that promotes the very opposite of what everyone agrees is the one of the main problems in genesis? - Would closing down one or more of the neutral ones force more players to "pick a side"? Just a thought.
Lastly, the biggest "problem", good aligned casters/magic users. Yes, I totally agree they need options. There was once a "Wizards of High Sorcery" which catered to all alignments. Do they have to cater to evil? Maybe good and neutral is enough? I don't know enough about the guilds' concept to have an opinion though.
Could, let's say, the two developers who volunteered to reboot Khiraa enter an agreement to work on WoHS first, then Khiraa?