Beyond the North, Revisited

I've touched on what's beyond the North before here, and I know Matt's visited Ravar in his tabletop game.  However, as I was recently outwitted by a player and may be forced to flesh out more of the world, I thought I might as well share it here, for the educated players to see.

As previously mentioned, there are established names and identities for both the Merov Duchies and the lands the Kraki have conquered.  The Merov Duchies of Cutane, Naever, and Burgen all have their own identities, and it might trouble some to note that in many ways, they're more Vincian than Vincia.  Additionally, the Hess, Tets, and Thars... all conquered by the Kraki... are somewhat similar to the Kraki (and thus the Heorots and the Guth, who are all cousins), as well as their Lorn neighbors.  To provide a little details on these places, beyond simple names...

• Cutane is the Duchy that borders the Protectorate of Timber, and is thus the most heavily influenced by the Faith (and probably the most advanced, technologically).  They're also the least centralized of the Merov Duchies, with the Duke of Cutane far weaker than his peers.
• If the Duke of Vincia rules through political manipulation, the Duke of Naevar rules through force.  His power is nearly absolute, and his court is a rigidly organized bureaucracy.  However, his power is curbed by the fact that Naevar is the smallest of the the Duchies.
• The largest Merov Duchy is Burgen, which is also the most influenced by their neighbors.  Burgen is, by Merov standards, barbaric (although this still makes them far more refined than the Heorots or Kraki) due to the influence of their Rav and Tet neighbors.  They are the largest and most populated of the Duchies.
• The Hess are a conquered people of the Kraki, and dwelt in a lowland forest close to Guthlund.  They were a very war-like people, with very little central organization, and although they fought fiercely, they were easily defeated in small numbers by Rolf over the course of two years.  
• The Tets were a people much like the Kraki, heavily influenced by their Merov neighbors, who conducted trade (and raids) along the rivers of the continent.  They were the first land to be conquered by Rolf, before he turned his eyes toward the County of Pendrose in Vincia.  After Castus' intervention, Rolf looked at his other neighbors.
• A mountain-folk, the Thars were intensely hard to subjugate, and the area was in a limited rebellion up until the day Rolf died.  Because of it's geography, the trouble Rolf had with the Thars prevented further conquests.
• Protected by narrow mountain passes and high altitude, the Lorn are an isolated and strange people, early converts to the Faith of Arim, and for some time an island in that Faith.  Dedicated to maintaining their homeland, the Lorn have perhaps the strongest cultural identity in the known world.

Having given some detail on these people, I feel a bit more comfortable teasing out the other major peoples of Arimdom... What must be known is that the greatest "nation" (an anachronistic concept used carefully) is certainly the Protectorate of the Patriarch, which is centered around Tiber.  To the West and South of the Protectorate, along the sea that defines the continent, there are a collection of cultures that all speak a dialect of Albers.  The Albersians are not a people but rather a group of people who practice a more advanced sort of feudalism, and are generally continually at war either with each other. Finally, there are the Rav, who control a very large territory but have a relatively small population density... largely as they are on the edge of civilization.  Beyond Rav is the forest primeval, where dark and strange things (perhaps even stranger than in Lloegyr) lie.

Soft Places

To shameless steal a term from Neil Gaiman, soft places are places where the boundaries between the Quick (or mortal realm) are less distinct from those of the Twilight Realm or Underworld.  The most common of these are the menhirs that dot the Seaspur Mountains (and are patrolled by various fraternities of Aelic rangers... but that's another entry) and barrows (which are believed to be gateways to the underworld.  However, there's a few very notable areas where the boundary is very faint, and mortals might be unsure of which world they are in.

So far, the campaign has seen two of these.  The first was the Nameless Bay, where the heroes travelled so that the Seven could descend into the Underworld.  Less well known is the Unroofed Vault, deep in the Seaspur Mountains, where it is said Typhon once dwelt.  

The strange thing is that the Viltem have been "spotted" (for lack of a better word) in or around the soft places.  It is said the Viltem walk the Quick, exiled their by the Death Lord, Wraun... and if this is the case, where else in Lloegyr might you meet one of these ancient beings?

Cities in Lloegyr

I had begun to write about Caerlot, which is the setting for the next series of games and an important setting element.  However, a comment by a player suggested that I need to revisit the idea of "town" and perhaps establish the sort of society that exists in Lleogyr.

One my major struggle when dealing with anachronisms is not actually technological.  It doesn't matter very much to me if you want castles with gatehouses and moats, or stirrups, or heraldry.  You can have all of that.  What I need to maintain is the proper sense of society, and that requires me to maintain a "proto-feudal"society... one that has not yet progressed to manoralism.

At this point in time "feudalism" is little more than a pecking order between very large gangs.  There's a king, and he has lords, but power dynamic is very much determined by individual personalities.  The earls each have a space, and they stay out of each other's territory, and they each obey the king to varying degrees.  However, their influence is primarily martial... how many soldiers can they send to the king.  Likewise, the king's influence is primarily martial... what happens if you disobey him?  Taxes are still in the form of tribute.  There's not a great deal of centralized administration.  Most importantly, Earldoms are not held in the name of the king, and subdivided into regions of smaller administration.

There are Thanes and Reeves, of course, but there's not the sense that every parcel of land is an economic asset, and each parcel has to be used and directly managed.  The Heorots are not that sophisticated (yet... and the Vincian's are, so this will likely happen in a generation or two).  When land is managed in this manner, a noble can only directly manage a relatively small area (about half a day's travel from his manor), and will have to subdivide the land.  When this happens, the lord's manor becomes the center of economic and political life, and has tremendous importance.  This is also when large-scale towns begin to develop.

Lloegyr isn't at this point yet.  Towns do exist, but they are uncommon, because they have yet to become a necessity.  The towns that do exist are generally (with some exceptions in the Heartlands) political and military centers, and have that sort of character.  

This is to say that that there's probably no "tavern" in most towns.  There's a brewer, probably a number of them, and you can go to his home to buy beer, and these are probably social centers.  However, this is still a friend's home.  Similarly, inns are a relatively rare phenomenon, as travelers in small numbers aren't that numerous.  You're not going to have many shops yet.  A town like Caerlot or Senton is a unique thing in that they have a number of establishments, instead of a central market, simply because they have enough trade to support such establishments.  

Now... Caerlot is a large city.  Lothan is larger.  Farpont and Senton are both capable of having these establishments, and Bessex and Kenton are getting there.  Lamark is practically Vincian in this regard.  But apart from these places, there's probably no "Inn of the Prancing Pony," because if there's an inn there, it's just "the Inn."

Beyond the North

The recent post about languages begs the question... what's beyond the North?

Eventually, the Matter of Vincia will likely affect the heroes of Lloegyr, and the Duchies of Cutane, Naever and Burgen will be of note.  Similarly, the Kraki might have to deal with their (incomplete) subjugation of the Hess, Tets and Thars, as well as their unfriendly Lom neighbors.  But this is a tale of the North, and after those barbarian tribes and the Merov duchies, there's going to be little focus on what's beyond.

That's not to say it isn't there.  Obviously, Tiber, with its fallen empire, obviously affects the North.  Your intrepid storyteller would love to run (or play!) in a game, either tabletop or larp, set in the Kingdom of Ravar (this world's homage to the Kingdom of Moravia).  Such a game would be stark contrast to a Northern game, with a focus on a fully Faithful nation frightened of monsters in the woods while try to attain some degree of civilization.  And there has to be something going on in this world's version of Iberia, even if no one has any idea of what is going on there.

But again, those are stories for another time, for this story is the Matter of Lloegyr, and a tale of the North.