During the High Republic Era, out in the far reaches of the galaxy, there existed an organization known as the Byne Guild. Scover Byne was the head of this guild, which possessed a whole fleet of starships. During the Great Hyperspace Disaster, one of the Guild's vessels, the Legacy Run, which was commanded by the seasoned military officer Hedda Casset, met its end. Shortly before the dedication of the Starlight Beacon space station, the Guild was ultimately shut down. This came about after Affie Hollow, Byne's adopted her daughter, turned the Guild in to Galactic Republic authorities upon discovering their illegal exploitation of indentured workers. The guild's dissolution had a negative impact on many of its previous employees, forcing them to fend for themselves and accept employment from new bosses who, according to Captain Dumas Mar'Ti, made Byne seem like a benevolent Jedi in comparison. The increasingly unstable state of the galaxy, due to the Nihil conflict, made life even more difficult for these former employees who no longer had the guild's support.
After the destruction of Starlight Beacon, Hollow suggested that a new version of the Byne Guild be established to fight against the Nihil marauders in the ongoing conflict. Hollow envisioned a guild in which each ship would function as a partner, providing mutual support, exchanging shipments as needed, and sharing information with both the guild as a whole and the Republic. Her hope was to get at least a third of the old guild's ships to join her, as they would all be able to monitor the Nihil and report information that would be helpful in defeating the marauders once and for all. She was aware that not all of the old guild's members would agree with her new organization, but she still believed that a united front would be more effective than any of them acting alone. Hollow presented her idea to Mar'Ti in a bar on the planet Kennerla, where Mar'Ti expressed reservations about allying with every single member of the old guild—at least not without some oversight—but was receptive to the concept.
The Byne Guild was conceived for the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project and made its debut appearance in the novel The High Republic: Light of the Jedi. Before Light of the Jedi was released, all of the excerpts that had been shared used the spelling "Byrne" Guild for the organization, so the correct spelling was not known until the novel was officially released.