Anyways, some people thought the "College of Whispers" as the new mages guild name (from the novels) was something other than a complete steaming pile. Glad they went with College of Winterhold instead.
these are only three of the numerous factions that will be in the game.
In addition to the Companions, College of Winterhold and Thieves Guild, Todd also mentioned
- Dark Brotherhood
- a racist Nord faction
- Necromancers (not confirmed whether they will be joinable or not)
And there will almost certainly be some kind of Loyalist vs. Rebel factions, since the game is taking place against the backdrop of the civil war.
In addition to that, each of the nine holds will have separate bounties - it's possible this means that each hold is ruled by different clans that are also joinable factions similar to the Great Houses of Morrowind.
This is shaping up to have a very different type of guild/training/faction system from Oblivion.
For all we know, there might still be a separate College of Whispers, Synod and joinable Necromancer factions, or maybe even the College of Whispers has separate branches called "College of Winterhold" College of Falkreath, College of Solitude, etc. maybe all of these are different entirely different factions