The Tyrant King Syrokis is dead. After three years of civil war, beginning with the revolt in Eaglecrest and cascading across the kingdom of Halrun, Syrokis Halrun, grandson of the founder of the Kingdom, is dead. With no clear heir, and no ability to agree on a conventional candidate, the reassembled Estates-General, dominated by nobles and wealthy commoners who sided with the rebellion, has picked an unconventional candidate - a woman of no real noble blood, but who, during the civil war, rose to prominence and popularity among the military and leadership of the rebellion, and even the common people.
A compromise candidate, who no one really wanted, but everyone wants to be the real power behind the throne of, who must now navigate a kingdom ravaged by civil war, bankrupt beyond belief and riven by distrust and fresh hatreds - and the treacherous waters of international diplomacy. For, wounded as Halrun is, it is still a mighty Kingdom, and the new Queen represents a chance for other kingdoms and nations to get that might in their corner. One way, or another.
"So, they finally have a pick then?" Cyril asked, looking up from his book - Rykall couldn't read the title, the lettering and the language were nothing like Tamildan. Knowing the archmage, it could be an old book from some ancient time before modernity, or it could be some tome from a distant land. It was said mages all over the world, even ones who had never heard of the Kingdom of Halrun, had heard of Cyril.
Then again, a lot of things were said about Cyril.
"Not quite, but nearly so. They've finally managed to agree that trying to find an acceptable candidate from the extended Halrun family is pointless. If only they could make that extra step and accept we don't need a monarch at all..." Rykall added that last part as a sullen mutter, his complete failure to convince the Estates - even close ideological allies of his - that it was time to abandon the monarchy smarting at him.
"That was never going to happen," Cyril snorted. "Even Zedarsh keeps their King around, for all that they only trot him out for formal ceremonies and leave him to drink, eat and whore himself into an early grave like his forebears." Cyril closed the book with a heavy thud, the table actually shaking a little under the weight of the impact.
"So they tried Syrokis's cousin Menchere, but he's a sterile loon since the accident with that horse," Cyril ticked off. "There was that distant cousin of Teran's father, but she's seventy years old, has no children, and nobody actually likes her. Syrokis's other uncle had a bastard daughter, but she ran off to Gods know where." Cyril raised an eyebrow. "Who else did they go through?"
"About a half dozen other nobles with claims to the throne, most of which connect back to the Halrun family before they were anything more than dukes with a jumped-up sense of primacy," Rykall answered. "Count Valefour tried to float himself, but even most of the nobility couldn't stand the insufferable git, and none of the others would even consider it. Lady Balmain got her name floated by one of her relatives, but she's far too progressive-minded for most of the nobles and the churches don't like her because she's an open Alatrist."
"So what's the direction they're moving in then? I can't imagine any of the nobles that enough of the other nobles could accept. I've watched these people and their fathers and grandfathers. There's more petty rivalries and hatreds between them than there are between wizards," Cyril noted, "so who could they actually agree on?"
"They're looking further afield. During the war, a number of skilled individuals from many places came to Halrun to fight, either for glory or money, or because they agreed that a man like Syrokis needed to die." And almost none of the ones the Estates were seriously considering had noble blood, really, beyond the loosest of senses, in the case of a few of them.
"You can't mean... adventurers?" Cyril laughed, incredulously, then stopped as Rykall's expression didn't change. "You're serious."
"Lady Balmain called it the Talcraft Solution. Find someone who proved their merits on the battlefield in the war, and just make them King. Keeps absolutely everyone and no one happy."
"And of course, by picking an adventurer, everyone's hoping to be the one who gets to guide the novice ruler." Cyril snorted a laugh. "The nobility remains about as predictable as gravity acting on a falling stone, then." He leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers. "You said they're nearly there, so who have they narrowed it down to?"
"Last I heard, six names had floated to the top. You even know one of them quite well..." Welcome to "You're the Queen. Now What?" A CK2-ish quest character-focused-ish quest that raises the question:
Okay, so you've overthrown the evil tyrant monarch with your grand coalition of commoners and knights and nobles, but now what? The Kingdom is bankrupt, the roads are ruined, the army is split between surviving supporters of the last king that surrendered in time to accept the new order and former rebels who often have legitimate reasons to not like them. The new monarch is a compromise candidate no one really likes, she's unmarried without a kid so if she dies prematurely, we're doing this all over again, and three years of civil war has ravaged the fields and mines and wrecked internal trade.
In other words - sure, you're the Queen. But now what?
Now, this sort of 'now what' story isn't exactly innovative, but I still don't see enough of it out there, and I've toyed with this concept several times, as pbp roleplays, a novel idea, a Pathfinder campaign, et cetera. For a while, I've been wanting to run it as a Quest, but just didn't really seem to find the time to set it all up, so I've been working on it piecemeal for a year and change.
The Main Character of the quest here is an adventurer, a freelance troubleshooter, possibly from outside the borders of Halrun, who, for reasons of greed, personal interest or sympathetic agreement with the rebels, joined the rebellion at some point, made a name for herself, and found herself elected Queen by the Four Estates of the Realm, meeting in the aftermath of the overthrow of the tyrant King Syrokis Halrun, third king of Halrun, and third and last king of the Halrun Dynasty, which gave the Kingdom its name.
But, the Kingdom faces problems, and there's no guarantee that the new Queen can navigate all of them safely. That, of course, is where you come in.
I say this is CK2-ish, because I'm not copying the entire system of CK2-style quests, though I've seen enough variation in how they get run that there is perhaps more breach than observance. I say also character-focused because one, I like character-centric writing, and two, one of the big things the new Queen is going to have to concern herself with fairly early on in the Quest is getting married. With no clear heir, banks are hesitant to lend the Kingdom money, since loaning money to Kings is a long-term game, and there's just no way the Kingdom can manage itself right now without loans, at least not for long.
Fortunately, for all that it is weak now, Halrun is a large nation with a lot of potential - so the hand of the new Queen in marriage is a hot commodity, with many neighboring powers looking for a marriage alliance. You'll want to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the candidates on a political level, but personal level is not without its merits. If you hate your new spouse, it can be harder to get the kids.
Of course, the marriage isn't all you'll have to deal with, as the Kingdom itself still needs to be run, and while the new Queen has advisors and a Royal Council, she has to balance the interests of the coalition that overthrew Syrokis and the needs of the Kingdom.
I don't intend for this to be a quest that is easy to lose, but equally, a series of bad decisions and very bad rolls could end up leading to rebellions, coups or even invasions, and they could be successful.
Mechanically, my intention is to run this with percentile dice - every task or thing you try to do will have a base % chance to succeed, and whoever actually does/oversees the task will add their relevant CK2-ish stat to the roll, as well as any other situational factors they bring to the table. Sometimes, multiple stats will be applied, or half of one stat and half of another, in the case of more complex edge-cases. The stats are mostly derived from CK2, but for the sake of completeness, I'll list how they'll be used here.
Diplomacy: How good a character is at convincing people to see things their way, how charming they are, how they can manage the tasks of swaying crowds, winning arguments, et cetera. Martial: Represents only the ability to organize, command and lead large groups of soldiers, rather than personal combat skill. Strategy, logistics and the ability to inspire and keep loyalty among troops is baked into this. Stewardship: Not just one's ability to handle money, but just in general - paperwork related stuff. The ability to understand old legal precedents, dig up old exceptions, and so forth. But it also covers things like the ability to manage infrastructure projects, hold court and make judgements, et cetera. Intrigue: Manipulation, lying, scheming. Diplomacy is about convincing people through reason, logic and open appeals to emotion. Intrigue is about hitting subtle sensitive spots, lying, blackmail, sneaking around and making a more covert appeal to emotion. Learning: How educated a character is, both in depth and breadth. Unlike in Ck2, where it's mostly focused on religious matters in day-to-day use, here, Learning applies to all sorts of things where a more formal education might be relevant - which obviously means it may apply in addition to other stats at times, where appropriate. Magic: A measure of how potent a character's skill with magic is, if they have it. Characters who can't use magic have a lack of a value here, rather than a 0. Combat Skill: How good a character is in physical - mainly hand to hand- combat. Not likely to come up most of the time, but certainly could in some situations. Squishier characters may have a low number, but they'll have a number here.
Characters may also have traits, some loosely inspired by CK2 in concept, some not at all, that will create specific bonuses or maluses to specific types of rolls. Not all rolls involving a specific stat, but rather, depending on the situation of the roll (i.e. maybe a +5 to rolls involving say, legal rulings, but not a blanket +5 to all rolls involving stewardship, etc). Trait bonuses are higher, if they are more situational, and thus would apply to less circumstances.
Addendum for Clarity 10/2/23: What this means is that every task has a base chance succeed. The relevant stat (or stats) and any trait modifiers or other applicable modifiers will be applied, and then we'll have a final % chance for the task. The idea is to roll under that number, which will count as a success. So you want the chance to be as high as possible. Unless for some reason you want to fail the task (I'm sure there's one scenario where failing a task could be the preferred outcome)
The way things will go, you'll be able to assign the Queen and various members of her Council/Advisors to various tasks, and then we'll roll to see if the tasks succeed, or progress is made (in the case of tasks that may take multiple moves), et cetera. In those cases, of course, voting will have to be by plan, so that we don't have the same advisor assigned to three different tasks, etc. In some cases, it will be blindingly obvious only one advisor is a good fit for a given task, in others, it will be more complex, and oftentimes, each advisor will have several tasks their suited for available at any time.
There will also be parts where we zoom in on the Queen and her advisors more as people, and there will be votes focusing as much on just... what she does in various circumstances (such as when it comes to dealing with potential spouses, or certain court events, et cetera). There will be some rolling involved there as needed, but less. The Queen's stats will matter most in these cases, rather than those of her advisors.
As a final note: We'll be using a mechanic borrowed from Ironsworn, an RPG I quite like, where when I roll the percentile dice to determine if a task succeeds or not, I'll actually roll twice. If the roll is under whatever the percent is (say, 65 after all modifiers) on both, the task succeeds with zero complications. If the roll is over on both, the task just completely fails. If the roll is over on one and under on the other, it succeeds but there is some kind of complication - a new problem arises, a new matter must be dealt with, the cost is higher than intended, et cetera.
To start things off, the first vote will be for picking which of the six adventurers whose names have floated to the top end up getting picked by the Estates. Who Does the Estates-General End Up Selecting?
[ ] Zelirna Sorlkaeus
[ ] Vanessa Kolmain
[ ] Girra Bladewit
[ ] Rienne Novash
[ ] Maria Durnova
[ ] Sasha of the Surovyza The Details of these six candidates are below. (As a note, all these characters are bisexual, and this setting has sufficient, albeit somewhat expensive - for a commoner anyway - magic to allow two women to conceive. Or two men, but that's not relevant. The various suitors available for the new Queen include men and women)
Name: Zelirna Sorlkaeus Age: 31 Nation/Region of Origin: League of Sorcastrai, Hollow Bay Stats: Diplomacy - 8 Martial - 4 Stewardship - 6 Intrigue - 8 Learning - 5 Magic - 13 Combat Skill - 4 Background: Zelirna is, to the eyes of the people of Halrun, quite exotic. A sorceress from the distant lands of the Hollow Bay, a vast windswept bay full of islands home to cyclopean cities built by nonhuman hands, the Hollow Bay is the focus of stories of strange and mysterious magics, impossible creatures and bizarre cultures. Much of this is nonsense, but some stories hold true. Zelirna is a private woman, who has shared little of her past, save to say that her magical talent was identified early, but she was give little formal education in it's use, and that she was born to common parents. At the age of 24, she left the Hollow Bay, and traveled across the Eltaric Empire, selling her services as a mage, destroying wild animals, monsters or small groups of bandits, as well as seeking out magical lore, with no real goal other than putting distance between herself and Hollow Bay - she has said nothing, even to those friendly with her, as to why she left, merely that she has no intention of returning home. She made a name for herself as a mysterious, powerful, and somewhat aloof and distant woman, but one who showed a surprising charitable streak, as she rarely held onto much money beyond her basic needs.
She had somehow managed to wrangle herself access to the Black Librarium, the foremost collection of necromantic tomes, located in, predictably, the Kingdom of the Necromancers, when the rebellion against Syrokis broke out, but she did not join until several months later, when a close friend from Eaglecrest, the skilled tomb and ruin-delver Feydris, was killed by Syrokis's forces during their brief capture of the city, despite them not being involved in the conflict at all. Zelirna, upon receiving word of Freydis's death, immediately traveled to where the surviving soldiers of the Eaglecrest militia and other regional rebel forces were gathering in the Tarkos Hills, and offered her services. She was critical in ending the six-week occupation of Eaglecrest, and the city would remain free for the rest of the civil war, and she would serve the rebellion as a magic, proving to be especially useful in sieges. During the final battle of the war, she was able to hold off Countess Gramaire, Syrokis's mistress and a skilled fire mage, preventing her from escaping with the Crown Jewels, though she did escape with Syrokis's illegitimate child, Brunn. Her plans after the rebellion include traveling east, to visit and plunder ruins associated with either the Iredan Empire or the Tamilkirk Imperium. Traits: Aloof: -5 to all rolls involving personal one-to-one interactions. Zelirna holds herself distant and can be stand-offish, and that does have a tendency to bother people. She becomes friends with people despite this tendency, rather than by not being aloof. Raw Power: +7 to all rolls where pure magical power, rather than finesse or skill come into play, either in using it, or pointing to its existence (or demonstrating it) to impress others, etc. Zelirna is hardly the most powerful sorceress, but she is of a rare caliber, and definitely capable of wielding more power than she usually throws about, due to concerns about losing control of it. Exoticized: Whether she likes it or not, Zelirna's foreign appearance and culture are quite striking, and do much to make people take her seriously on matters of magic, as Hollow Bay is said to have all kinds of strange and powerful magics. It makes her seem interesting, rare and exciting. She's also from a very difficult culture, with slightly different facial expressions and turns of phrase, which can make it harder to gauge what she's thinking. In situations where that can be turned to her benefit, she receives +5 to the roll.
Name: Vanessa Kolmain Age: 27 Nation/Region of Origin: Veldros, the Riverlands Stats: Diplomacy - 9 Martial - 3 Stewardship - 8 Intrigue - 5 Learning - 8 Magic - 11 Combat Skill - 5 Backstory: The bastard daughter of a Veldran noble family, she was handed off to the Academ Arcanum, Veldros's school of wizardry at a very young age once her talent was identified. At the age of 13, she impressed the Archmage Cyril, who was visiting a friend at the Academ, and since he was currently without an apprentice (he's had many) he took her on. Not only does being an apprentice to the most powerful and well-known Archmage in the region come with getting an excellent education in magic, but it also comes with connections, and by the time she was finished with her education at the age of 20, she was sought by numerous nobles in and out of Halrun to be their court wizard. She chose to remain a free agent instead, but did work for numerous nobles in that capacity. Her talents lent themselves more to divinations and illusions and other subtler magics, but she was capable of defending herself with magic too.
When the civil war broke out, Vanessa was in the employ of Lord Hargave, a wealthy but minor noble with lands near the Duchy of Raida. Lord Hargrave was a conservative-minded noble with little regard for the rabble-rousers who started the war, but he had little patience for Syrokis's overreach either, and quickly joined the rebellion, paying Vanessa to continue to serve under his leadership. But even after Lord Hargrave's death (and the death of his family and the confiscation of his lands), Vanessa continued to serve with the rebellion, both because if Syrokis won he'd want her head, and because the tyrant's cruelties had crossed beyond any level of tolerability. The prospect of reward at the end was hardly minor either.
Vanessa played a critical role in the capture of the capital, as her skill with illusions provided cover to a small, elite team scaling the walls at night and capturing one of the gatehouses - the street fighting would continue for several more days, during which she saved the life of many soldiers, predicting ambushes and providing more illusions. Her plans for after the war, such as she had any, were to leave Halrun (given the state of the economy) and seek patrons in points east. Traits: Greedy: Vanessa wouldn't call it greedy, so much as frugal and money-conscious, but regardless, Vanessa likes money, perhaps in part from being cast out with little support to the Academ at a young age. She likes having money, and she likes hoarding money. Apart from her fondness for finely tailored clothes, Vanessa will skimp and save and haggle to reduce how much she pays for anything, and it's hard to turn down a chance to get more money, though she does have moral lines. Regardless, on any task that involves large expenditures of money, Vanessa's habit of trying to find savings where none exist leads to -5 on those tasks. Farsight: Vanessa's skill with divination is significant, and she has used it to great extent to see things far away, make minor predictions of the future, look into the recent past and find people and objects. During the civil war she was able to use it to spy on troop movements, command tents and predict ambushes. Any task where she can put this to use gets +5 to the roll. Illusionist: Vanessa put her skill with illusions to work helping prevent attempts on the lives of the nobles she worked for (creating illusions of the noble sleeping in their bed, projecting illusions of them standing out in the open, et cetera), as well as a few times to pacify unruly peasants or the like, by creating the illusion of much larger forces arrayed against them. She also used this to great effect on the battlefield. On tasks when an illusion can protect, overawe or provide some form of cover for a person or a group, she gets +5 to the task.
Name: Girra Bladewit Age: 29 Nation/Region of Origin: Port Lest, Halrun Stats: Diplomacy - 7 Martial - 6 Stewardship - 8 Intrigue - 10 Learning - 4 Combat Skill - 9 Background: Girra doesn't know who her parents were, though she suspects her mother was a whore. She grew up picking pockets, begging for scraps, and serving as a lookout for older street rats and criminals. A scrappy kid that grew into a scrappy teen, Girra became very skilled with knives, but after a robbery that went wrong, resulting in the death of a prominent merchant, 17-year old Girra fled the city to avoid being blamed for the murder (she has maintained her innocence ever since). She eventually wound up in Varyos, the capital of Selissa, where she joined the local thieves guild and made a name for herself in the underground fight pits for her skill with a knife and her sharp tongue - earning the nickname-turned-surname "Bladewit" - not particularly creative, but so it goes. She eventually graduated from freelance theft to 'retrieval' and contract jobs - either helping rich people recover stolen property, or just stealing stuff they wanted.
She returned to Port Lest 8 years later, and remained there, doing much the same thing, though eventually serving solely as a retrieval specialist (she never recovered the stolen goods from the thieves, but rather whoever bought them from a fence, avoiding making enemies of the local thieves guild in Port Lest), and was there when the civil war broke out. Her life on the streets and as a criminal had given her a fiercely anti-authority streak, so the idea of overthrowing a King just appealed to her on a very visceral level. She convinced the Thieves Guild that helping the rebel-minded merchants of the city overthrow the Loyalist merchants who presently dominated the city's government would be better for business, and after several months of preparation, they pulled it off - Girra personally killing two of the merchants in question as part of the little coup. She served in the rebellion thereafter as a scout, assassin and thief, stealing supplies, killing enemy commanders and the like. She has developed quite the following among the urban poor of the Kingdom with her backstory, and the "Legend of Bladewit" has grown quite a bit in the telling over the years. It's likely she intends to go back to Port Lest and make a play for dominance of the local thieves guild, though she remained in the capital in the immediate aftermath of the war - she was one of those who scaled the wall and seized the critical gatehouse that allowed entry into the capital. Traits: Guttersnipe: Celebrated by the urban poor, with a lot of friends and allies among the rebels or not, Girra is still an orphan who grew up on the streets of Port Lest. Nobles and other well-to-do types, even ones who might see the value in making her Queen, are going to look down on that. When it comes to convincing nobles and other wealthy elites - individual persons or groups - to do things, she suffers -5 to the roll, unless they are already close friends/allies, or very progressive-minded. Second-Story Woman: Years of sneaking into and out of places means that she knows all the best tricks for getting into and out of a place - and thus, how to protect one. Anyone who might want to assassinate her, or trap her, quickly finds she has covered most of the secret ways in, and is a slippery eel when it comes to escape. +6 to any task involving protecting/securing a person or place (including herself) or escaping a bad situation. Or even just ducking out of a gala unseen. Beloved by the Rabble: She wouldn't put it like this, but the popularity of her legend, and her background as a poor orphan, means that she has great rapport with the common people - especially the urban poor, though even some from beyond the cities love her. Convincing them to work harder, or to calm down when rioting (or wanting to) or the like receives a +5 to the task.
Name: Rienne Novash Age: 32 Stats: Diplomacy - 7 Martial - 10 Stewardship - 5 Intrigue - 3 Learning - 6 Combat Skill - 13 Nation/Region of Origin: The Pocket Kingdoms Background: Born to officers who had served in the army of one of the latest warlords to form a pocket kingdom, Rienne was trained to be a soldier basically from birth, and a professional one at that, including the rough honor of a soldier of the pocket kingdoms. Unfortunately for her career prospects, the warlord her parents served was overthrown when she was eleven, and her family ended up serving in a smaller statlet's kingdom, but at a lower status and lower chance of rising to high rank. On reaching adulthood, Rienne joined a mercenary company, moving from company to company, but making a name for herself as a skilled fighter, an inspiring commander, and a loyal mercenary, honoring the contract to the letter, even in the face of circumstances that other mercenaries might defect. Good natured, charming, attractive and highly skilled, Rienne eventually took command of a small band of highly skilled mercenaries, and took them out of the Pocket Kingdoms, serving in border skirmishes in Zarsim, between Nerithar and Morvak and taking contracts to deal with bandits and beasts.
She was on her way to Halrun to take a job working for Syrokis, since at the time he was rumored to be gearing up to invade the goblin lands to the north, but by the time they reached the Kingdom, the civil war had broken out. She ended up taking a contract from Lady Balmain, one of the wealthiest rebel nobles to join the rebellion early to fight for them. She was able to use her force as a solid core, gathering nobles' men at arms, defecting members of the royal army and other mercenaries to form one of the most effective fighting units in the rebellion, serving with distinction in battles all over the easter half of the Kingdom. She made friends with many other rebel commanders and was even able to convince one royalist general to defect rather than fight her when she outnumbered him 3 to 2. During the final battle, she personally took down the Captain of Syrokis's personal guard, a brute of a man named Dorgast. A born soldier and mercenary, it was likely she would have gone to seek employment in the Zarsim Civil War, as the call for mercenaries there was growing louder, again. Traits: Soldier's Honor: It's not that Rienne is above an ambush on the battlefield, or underhanded tactics, but off the battlefield, Rienne is not good with anything underhanded or manipulative. She can't lie that well, she can't really manipulate people in anything but direct ways (but she is pretty good at those direct appeals to emotion) and subtlety is usually lost on her. She suffers a -5 to anything involving lying, underhanded tactics or understanding or using subtlety. Inspiring Commander: Numerous times during her career as a mercenary, even before taking a major command role, Rienne has been able to convince soldiers to stand and fight, hold their ground against intense odds, or to at least hold together to retreat in good order. She was especially able to put this to use in the civil war, appealing to her sometimes ramshackle forces to fight for the cause they believed in, for their own honor, for their brothers and sisters in arms. In any situation where she can appeal to people's higher instincts and get them to rally together, she gets +5 to the roll. Professionals Study Logistics: You can't be a successful leader of masses of soldiers, or even smaller bands of elite mercenaries, without being good at managing logistics. When it comes to organizing the means to feed and organize large groups of people, or gather materials for a project, Rienne gets +5 to the task. Whether it's feeding armies or gathering materials for a construction project, Rienne knows what she's doing. She may not be good at getting money or handling lawbooks, but there are administrative tasks she excels at.
Name: Maria Durnova Age: 27 Stats: Diplomacy - 9 Martial - 5 Stewardship - 5 Intrigue - 8 Learning - 6 Combat Skill - 9 Nation/Region of Origin: Varyos, Selissa Background: Born as the seventh daughter in a family of wealthy bankers and merchants, Maria wasn't nobility, but in Selissa, that was no real problem. Classically trained in music and poetry, dance and art, Maria Durnova was expected to marry a poor, but well-connected noble of some sort, to help burnish the family's business empire. Instead, Maria was a problem child, as interested in dueling as she was music, and far more interested in gambling, drinking and flirting than she was in being appealing to a potential future spouse. Even as young as 16, she started carving a swath through the young men and women of her age range and social circle (and those well below), breaking hearts, seducing virgins and the married or betrothed alike, and dueling upset spouses and suitors. In an effort to get rid of her before she created more headaches for her, her family forced her to join the service of the temple of Zepheron shortly before she turned 19, since the family did have financial interest in a number of gambling houses, and merchants who rely on ships to carry their goods can always use a bit of luck. Maria remained irrepressible, but was able to rise high in the ranks of the lay agents of Zepheron quickly - she was lucky, but also knew when not to press her luck (a vital skill for those in service to a deity as fickle as the Two-Faced Gambler. Along the way, she was taught the arts of bardic magic. When she was 23, she did end up having a falling out with the local high priest of Zepheron, something about sleeping with his husband, and departed the service of Zepheron, leaving Selissa along with it.
To support herself in her drinking, gambling and dueling, Maria sold her blade and her skill with fast-talk to help people resolve problems, deal with criminal enterprises and duel in their stead. She also had a fondness for helping young nobility and other wealthy elites escape arranged marriages or - more socially acceptably - dissuade unwanted, persistent suitors.
She was in Westcrown when the civil war broke out, and while no fan of Syrokis's behavior, she had little interest in signing up to fight until one of her friends and latest paramours, a cousin of Count Vallefor, was put to death by royal agents (without trial) for supplying funds and resources to the rebellion. This event, which also brought Count Vallefor into the war a year into it, brought Maria as well. She didn't serve on the front lines, but instead proved to be an excellent saboteur of the enemy, between her bardic magic, her ability to fast-talk and a deft hand with disguise. She seduced officers into spilling details, tricked guards away from their posts before infiltrations or night attacks, or shortened sieges by dealing with defenders through... irregular means. During the final battle in and around the capital, Maria was able to pretend to be a member of the royal army and trick several hundred hundred soldiers into retreating from a fortified position along a key street leading deeper into the city, making the final attack on the palace possible with far fewer casualties than forcing the issue had been. Her plans for after the war were likely to go back to her previous pattern - flirting with anything attractive that moves, drinking, gambling and selling her services as a problem-solver. Traits: Irrepressible Gambler: Maria loves to push her luck, and to be fair, she is usually pretty good at it, and even when luck turns against her, she's historically been able to bounce back, but this habit of hers can cost her dearly, regardless. When she's doing well, she tends to push her luck even harder. When performing a task that (before this trait applies) has a 75% chance of success or higher, she suffers -5 to the roll. Fast Talk: Maria rarely finds herself in awkward or dangerous situations that she can't bluff, jabber or otherwise con her way out of. She gains +10 on tasks involving trying to convince a group or person to do a thing that is at least somewhat against their interests, but the next time she tries to convince that person or group of anything, even something that should benefit them, she suffers -6 to the roll. Hit the Weak Spot: Whether it's with blades, or words, Maria is very good at finding people's weaknesses and exploiting them. She's quite good at picking up people's secrets, or at least guessing in that direction. And she knows just what to say to obliquely make it clear she knows those secrets and will use them. She receives +4 to any task that involves finding out someone's secrets, and +4 to any task that involves using said secrets to her advantage in a personal interaction.
Name: Sasha of the Surovyza Age: 30 Nation/Region of Birth: The Bleak Lands Stats: Diplomacy - 5 Martial - 10 Stewardship - 4 Intrigue - 7 Learning - 4 Combat Skill - 15 Background: The term "The Bleak Lands'' is a term applied by southerners to the region Sasha calls home. In Sasha's native tongue, Gorgese, her homeland is called Vorasko Niphos, which translates roughly to "The Land of the Many Goats", as herding hardy goats is the primary source of food and wealth in the rough, hilly country. Some small farming communities exist, but most are in semi-nomadic tribes that move seasonally across the region. Though known for their hardy warriors, the Gorgese people spend most of their time trying to survive, either in the harsh environment or the regular raids of goblins coming up from the south, and populations are low. Still, the Gorgese do tend to look down on 'soft' and 'civilized' people... but when luxury goods do make it up from the south, they do often end up in the tents and huts of the chieftains and their inner circles. Sasha was just another warrior in the Surovyza tribe when she committed a grave sin - she killed her tribe's shaman. Only the fact that the shaman was indeed trafficking with the tribe's enemies spared her death, but she was still exiled, at the age of 16. Cast out of her tribe, and with her crime branded on her lower back, she traveled south, the Bleak Lands now closed to her. In the 13 years since she reached the lands south of the goblin lands, further south than almost any of her people have ever been, she has come to see that her people were wrong about them being 'soft' or 'weak', though she still thinks southerners still make things too complicated when they don't have to. With fighting all she really knows, and possessed of a rough sense of justice, she made her living selling her axe and sword to solve problems for small villages and towns, even individual farmers - from bandits, to beasts, to oppressive taxmen, to knights who take a fancy to a farmer's child or spouse and refuse to take no for an answer.
When the civil war in Halrun broke out, Sasha was in the Riverlands hunting bandits for the bounty, but when reports of Syrokis's increased brutalities reached her, as did the stories of the rebellion's slowly building skill on the battlefield. This drew her interest, and about a year into the civil war, she joined up with the rebels operating in the Southmarch, based out of the Korrid Hills. Even years out from her homeland, there was little Sasha didn't know about fighting in hill country, and she quickly rose to leadership in the local rebel circles, eventually driving the royal forces from the Southmarch - for the rest of the war, she led and organized bands of skirmishers that cut supply lines, raided camps at night and harried troops on the march, as well as serving in pitched battles to charge weak points in the line. As skilled in personal combat as she was at leading skirmishers, Sasha put that to use especially during the street fighting in the last days of the war at the capital, single handedly killing two of Syrokis's top remaining generals along the way. A wanderer by nature, Sasha was considering traveling to the lands on the far end of the Andelerian Sea that border the Hyena Kingdoms, as gnolls are poor neighbors and fierce combatants. Traits: Impatient: While Sasha has been in 'civilized' lands for over a decade now, and has learned her way around many of the strange rules and complexities of the people of the south, she still finds so many of the (to her) pointlessly abstruse ways southerners make things like justice and diplomacy, among others, overlong, complicated and at a minimum, silly. She is impatient with these things, and as a result, when in situations that deal with such 'needless' complexity for prolonged periods of time, administering justice, dealing with complicated legal codes or flowery, obtuse and prolonged diplomacy, her desire to just cut through the knot and be done with it can make her agitated, frustrated or even lead to the occasional outburst. As a result, -5 to all such rolls. Fearsome Berzerker: In truth, Sasha and her people were not and are not prone to berzerk rages in battle, but the myth of such is a powerful one, and Sasha used it to great skill in her career as a warrior for hire, which only enhanced her own reputation as fearsome and deadly. If the other side knows she's leading from the front, then the reputation she has built for her will result in a +6 to the roll, both from the moral advantage to her side, and the morale disadvantage that brings to the other side. Unfortunately, this can lead to a higher risk of being injured in a mass battle. Unsophisticated, Not Unintelligent: Sasha is used to people thinking she's an idiot, and she has used that to her advantage. As a result of her background and her origin, she is not exactly the most educated or sophisticated woman, but she is far, far from an idiot - and so in arguments debates or contests where she can play to people's stereotypes and seem far less aware of the complexity of a situation, or pretend she knows less than she does about law, or finance or art or magic or whatever, she receives +5 to the task - playing to their stereotypes and making people underestimate her just long enough to make a mistake.
The Tamildan Pantheon
The Tamildan-speaking peoples of Central Pangar share a common pantheon of 22 gods, but the exact nature of and details of those gods vary from nation to nation, and even within those nations, and even more so the way they're supposed to be worshipped and honored. But, there are some commonalities in terms of appellations, portfolios and basic understandings.
The gods grant power to their clerics, who pray to them, intercede between them and mortals, and advance whatever principles and portfolio the gods represent. The gods embody their portfolios and areas of concern - which cannot easily be put into simple terms, but mortals try regardless - and as such, exist beyond such things as good and evil. Adun, The God of Justice represents Justice in an abstract sense, the principle of Justice being a thing, rather than any specific prescription as to what that Justice is. Ser-Tornath, the Goddess of Death is perhaps to be avoided by many, as long as possible, but she does not create death, merely oversees it as it happens, and so forth.
The clergy of the gods usually hold meaningful positions in the governments of the nations of the world, but generally do not run the show, as the temples and churches of various deities are, to varrying degrees, in competition with one another. Churches and temples collectively can be major landowners, but rarely do they hold enough land to rival major nobility, in most realms, at most times.
Selras: "The Knight of Shadows". Goddess of Necromancy, Immortality and Darkness Ordedus: "The Greedfather" "The Lord of Gold". God of Trade, Wealth and Cities Maedon: "The Hungry Wolf". God of the Hunt, Hunting and Nature's Destructive Power Tallend: "The Great Reaver" "The Bloody Warmonger". God of War, Aggression and Battle Alior: "The Warden of Innocence." God of Protection, Defense and Walls Serissa: "The Silent Death." Goddess of Murder, Lies and Betrayal Luciana: "The First Whore" "The Mother of Thieves." Goddess of Music, Thieves and Lust Valkaris: "The Nightfather" "The Pastkeeper". God of Winter, Ice and Tradition/Stasis Helias: "The Fires of Creation". Goddess of Summer, Fire and Creativity/Creation Victriana: "The Rotmother." "Mistress of Transformation." Goddess of Autumn, Acid and Decay/Transition/Transformation Traven: "The Rejuvenating Lord." God of Spring, Lightning and Rebirth/Renewal Tyria: "The Great Mother" "The Vowkeeper". Goddess of Fertility, Agriculture, Love, Family and Marriage Undana: "The Stormcaster" "The Wavemistress." Goddess of Oceans/Seas, Sailing and Storms Zepheron: "The Two-Faced Gambler." God and Goddess of Luck, Chance and Gambling Adun: "The Golden Light". God of the Sun, Justice and Purification Ser-Tornath: "The Unmoved". Goddess of Death, Fate and Endings Celiesta: "The Archmagister". Goddess of Magic, Knowledge and Wisdom Drendar: "The Worldcrafter". God of Industry, Crafting, Labor Rontaris: "The Treeminder." "The Endless Wood." God of Forests, Nature and Cycles. Askiran: "The Crowned Scepter". God of Rulership, Law and Order Hendari: "Lifegiver, Lifetaker". Goddess of Pestilence, Medicine and Alchemy Khirhea: "The Stonemother." "The Immovable" Goddess of Mountains, Resilience and Refusal
The World Beyond Halrun
The continent of Pangar is the primary one in the known world, ranging from the Soverian Ocean to the Tellior Ocean. It ranges from the frigid northlands, to the Balfour Desert, to the windswept islands of Hollow Bay. It holds mountains and forests, inland seas and rivers, great and small. It was once home to ancient and mighty empires with magical might beyond that of mortal ken today, before the Dawning Wars, before such magics were largely lost to the world, and the legendary archmagi who could destroy cities with a finger, the warriors who could slaughter dozens or hundreds with a single swing of their swords, the thieves who could steal the very moon from the sky, vanished into legend and tale - many a Kingdom, many a noble family, tries to trace themselves back in some way, to one of these great figures. The centuries after the final end to the Dawning Wars to the Age of the Three Empires - the Tamilkirk Imperium, the Iredan Empire and the Necrotic Empire, all tracing themselves to one of the great hero-figures of the Dawning Wars. And as these Empires expanded and warred, they rebuilt the shattered civilization left behind.
In time, of course, those three empires too fell - and the resulting waves of refugees and migrations amidst that latest generation of chaos several hundred years ago led finally to the modern Tamildan-speaking peoples, who range from the Soverian Ocean to the midpoint of the continent - the Kragg Plains, on the far side of the Andelerian Sea. They sit between the Balfour Desert, and the Goblin Lands, and they now are a series of many squabbling kingdoms and states. It is a new world -
And yet, the Dwaning Wars and the Three Empires left wreckage and ruin behind, and even today, centuries later, there can sometimes be great value found in ruins yet untouched - artifacts of magic, or merely of history. And always, the world's past continues to loom large - for without our history, who are we? What does it mean to exist with no past? Click through for the chance to see full sized image by right clicking and opening in a new tab
The Queendom of Aigosa: On the surface, Aigosa is not particularly remarkable - a highly decentralized monarchy with powerful regional nobles who spend most of their time waging small-scale wars with each other or maybe raiding the Pocket Kingdoms. The weak Monarchy is at best a first among equals. Aigosa is notable, however, as being one of the few realms in the known world to have the monarchy and the ruling nobility be gender exclusive - specifically exclusively female. The Aigosans, since well before they were conquered by Iredos, traced themselves back to the legendary Warrior-Queen Aigana, who may have fought in the Dawning Wars. Aigana is herself notable for most legends of her agreeing she hated pretty much all men. While the Aigosans are less extreme than the stories say Aigana was, men are not allowed to rule in Aigosa, in any sense, with inheritance laws bypassing them entirely. Aigosa's greatest concern is the increase in ogre and troll populations in the Torobid Mountains over the last few decades, and the increased raids from the highlands.
The Duchy of Balpes: Balpes is a duchy much concerned with mining and logging. The hardwoods of Veshtar Forest, in the hands of the carpenters of Balpes, make products in demand all over the region, and the Trison and Zati Hills are home to reserves of iron, tin and zinc in demand all over as well. Power in Balpes rests in the Carpenter's Guild and the major mine-owning nobles. Balpes has a higher than usual dwarven population, as a percentage of the population, and they are unique in having many dwarves in the nobility - the current Duke's second wife is a dwarf born to a local noble family, something of a first in the ruling families of this part of the world. Balpes has an increasing problem with refugees fleeing the Zar Civil War.
The Dominion of Dreshdan: The first conquest by the Iredan Empire, and the first province to overthrow the Iredan governors when the Empire collapsed. The cabal that led the effort claimed to be rebuilding the original ancient heritage and culture of Dreshdan, from the language (which remains the language of government today) to the culture, patterns of worship and the complicated semi-republican form of government. Non-Dreshdan historians don't always agree that the current Dominion is a faithful recreation of the original rival to Iredos. Regardless, the Dominion today is a mildly elective state dominated by about five hundred wealthy and aristocratic families who trade power amongst themselves come elections, with periodic new men and women entering the system (and usually assimilating by marrying into one of the leading families). Their armies of pikemen and shieldbearers are rooted in the original 'Turtle Formation' legions of Dreshdan of old, updated for modern needs. They are implacable on the defensive in war, and use this to their advantage on the offensive, staking out positions and forcing the enemy to come to them. Directly or indirectly dominates the northern shores of the Andelerian Sea.
The Eltaric Empire: A rising, expansionist empire that has spread like Kudzu over the southern reaches of Pangar. Its administration is somewhat ramshackle as the military outpaces the ability of the government to establish new regimes, creating a series of patchwork 'provinces', client states, subject regions and poorly integrated territories. The Empire's size has begun to work against it, as logistics begins to break down. Dominated by a class of nobles descended from semi-barbaric warriors who took over a settled kingdom a century and a half ago and then expanded readily ever since, the Eltaric Empire's armies are organized around seasonal campaigns and using regular raids to seek out weaknesses in their neighbors. Most forms of magic are severely restricted in the Empire, outside of the temples.
The League of Free Towns: A loose association of independent towns and villages that essentially free-ride on Syleria and Iltea for their independence. Hardy and resilient, the Free Towners grow a variety of crops and export them, but their fruit and fruit-based spirits are their most famous, with some kinds prized in royal courts all over the world. Teran Halrun was known to swear by their pear brandy, and it remains popular among the Halrunian nobility. The League is organized for common patrolling of the roads against banditry and for the maintenance of roads and bridges and the like. They have little need for the common defense in most cases, as Syleria and Iltea have made it known to would be conquers - such Morvak a century and a half ago, and even Hengri 30 years ago - that they would look quite dimly on any attacks on the League. The league doesn't pay a formal tribute for this, but by long standing custom, any elf is entitled to three days and nights of free hospitality from any Free Towner if they but request it, and many (though far from all) elves in both nations swear by the spirits the Free Towners make, finding them second only to the finest of elven wines.
Gyrphan Alliance: Once part of Selissa, the nobility of the uplands of the Kingdom broke away in the aftermath of Selissa's independence from Morvak. While Selissa proper was dominated by merchants and mercantile interests, the uplands were dominated by landowning nobles who still kept their peasants bound to the land to varying degrees. The nobles of this region actually benefited mightily from the Morvakian puppet regime, and while remaining subject to Morvak was impractical, they refused to serve the Monarchy based out of Varyos. The Alliance is now dominated by a council of nobles who elect leaders from among themselves for 8 year terms, and the Kingdom has suffered a number of large-scale peasant revolts in the last few decades, put down with increasingly bloody force. There are rumors that the nobles may even be seeking to buy labor (slaves, or indentures, or both) from markets on the far end of the Andelerian Sea, or from Licdeor, to make up for their increasingly restive peasantry.
The Hakemite League: A collection of city-states that dominate the carrying trade in the southern Soverian Ocean, from the windswept, cyclopean cities of Hollow Bay to the pepper and nutmeg producing islands off the coast of Vortigar. The Hakemites, especially those in the League, while prizing wealth, also prize charity - the leading elites of a city give lavishly to the common people. The most charitable families in a given decade will be elevated to rulership over the city in the next years. Selfish families will not only lose out on political power, but find themselves pushed to the edges of economic life as well. The Hakemite League also is a ready market for mercenaries as the Eltaric Empire presses against their borders in regular raids to test their defenses.
The Duchy of Hengri: As famous for their light cavalry as Morvak is for their heavy cavalry, Hengri has had a long and troubled relationship with Morvak, having been ruled by them more than once, and continuously invaded by them when independent. The border between Morvak and Hengri is more an advisory opinion than anything else, and the two nations haven't actually had anything more than a truce for the last ninety-two years. Hengri is very similar to Morvak in the power of the central government, but the reigning Dukes, while not subject to their Estates-General in any way, do at least prefer to be more consultative about their autocracy.
The Haunted Lands: The original heartland of the Iredan Empire, where the 12 apprentices of Iredan founded the city in his name, and the Empire that later arose from it. When the last 12 Wizard-Dukes and their chosen heirs all died in the mysterious conflagration that destroyed the city, magic in the entire region of Old Iredos began to run wild. Today, from the trees that weep literal blood to the forest that screams in incoherent terror and fear, to the animals that age backwards and have more eyes than limbs and the rain that turns brackish before it hits the ground, the Haunted Lands are a place where reality is, essentially, broken. Adventurers or especially brave scholars will still sometimes explore the region and come back with reports of the impossibilities, or with lost treasures and artifacts from Iredos. Usually, though, they never come back.
Iltea: Before the flooding of Hycantos's follow by the Iredan Wizard-Duke Hycantos, Iltea and Syleria were part of the unified elven realm of Ahlenna, which arose after the Dawning Wars to unify most of the elven peoples, scattered across Pangar. The destruction of the capital and the death of Ahlenna's old ruling family saw the kingdom separate into two, relatively peacefully. The aristocracy of Ahlenna largely gathered in Ina Thressina and chose not to elect a new monarch, instead governing through a Convocation of the Noble Houses. Iltea is a conservative, stodgy and inward looking realm, preferring to focus on art, culture and refining the very essence of what it is to be an elf to higher and higher levels. The nation loves elaborate rituals that seem to take longer and be more involved with every generation. Poets and artists compete to develop ever more arcane and inaccessible (to outsiders) creations. Iltea barely sends out embassies to other lands, and restricts the access non-elven traders and ambassadors have to the Kingdom outside certain parts of the capital. Even elves that have been born in or live in primarily human lands may find themselves not free to move around Iltea, though they do serve as an essential bridge between Iltea and the outside world.
The Principality of Illegorst: Like its neighbor Hengri, Illegorst has a long and fraught history with Morvak. Butting up against Syleria as it does, Illegorst was once subject to that elven nation long ago, and the entire nobility is elf-blooded to one extent or another. Illegorst is, perhaps predictably, known for their archers and skirmisher-based military. This is, however, as much an adaptation to Morvak as a borrowing from their elven neighbors. As with Hengri, Illegorst's border with Morvak is more an advisory opinion, though the two nations have actually managed to work out formal peace treaties between themselves far more often. Rumors of late persist that Illegorst's reigning Princess is a vampire, which are not improved by the fact she has not appeared outside in public in over a year.
Licdeor: Licdeor was once just another successor state rising up after the fall of the Tamilkirk Imperium, the furthest extent east of the Tamilkirk's territory proper (Nerinthar and Selissa were only ever client kingdoms). Two hundred-odd years ago, Magnus Galerius and his followers lost a civil war to establish magocratic rule in the Dreshdan Dominion, and were expelled. They traveled to Licdeor, across the Andelerian Sea, and took over, creating a class of mages ruling over commoner serfs. Any serf that shows a slight magical talent (children are tested at a young age) is taken from their family and either forced into a second-class citizen status between serf and elite, or adopted into one of the ruling families. The serfs are almost entirely rural and Licdeor's once thriving middle class has atrophied into nothing, with all the cities of the nation now empty shells of themselves outside of the capital of Jurex. Licdeor is an advocate for magocratic rule all over the world, producing a great deal of philosophical and political works on the subject, but they have shown little inclination to introduce it by force outside their borders.
The Kingdom of Marnicia: Populated by Hakemite and Balfour peoples, Marnicia has long been culturally torn in two directions. Marnicia is most known for their fondness for duels, ritual combat and the splendid gardens, growing hardy but beautiful flowers that do well despite the near-desert climate. Marnicia is currently hard pressed by subversion from cults following the White Torrent.
The Kingdom of Menthura: After the fall of Iredos, Menthura was ruled by loyalist Spell-Generals who were dedicated to holding on to the legacy of the Wizard-Dukes and rebuilding the old Empire at all costs. They managed to hold Menthura in an increasingly iron grip for about a century until the Tamilkirk Imperium, in one of its last major military successes before its collapse, led a naval assault joined by forces coming overland from their client states in Nerinthar and Selissa. Menthura today has a longstanding hatred of wizardry dating back to this, and while mages that aren't wizards exist just fine, Wizardry is illegal, and the common peasants are even more illiterate than is common in other kingdoms, as the hatred of Wizardry has extended to suspicion around books, to an extent. Menthura's monarchy is extremely decentralized, with power largely remaining in the hands of regional nobles.
The Kingdom of Morvak: A militant, densely populated nation with a massive chip on it's shoulder, Morvak once ruled, directly or through client rulers, modern Hengri, most of Illegorst, Nerinthar, Selissa, North and South Zarsim, Balpes and the Gryphan Alliance, as well as parts of southeastern Halrun. Though they lost most of the Empire over a century ago, and Syrokis took their land in Halrun during the first years of his reign, Morvak has never given up on taking it all back. They are almost always at war with one of their neighbors, and their borders shift quite regularly as a result. Had Morvak not been at war with Nerinthar when the rebellion against Syrokis broke out, they would almost certainly have taken the opportunity to invade. Domestically, Morvak proper is a land where the nobility have been broadly broken to the royal will, and their soldiers - especially their nearly legendary Cataphracts - are among the most capable and disciplined in the region. Morvak's great weakness is their general unwillingness to use diplomacy for much more than saber-rattling and their tendency towards strategic rigidity, despite regular efforts to correct for it.
The Kingdom of the Necromancers: The last remnant of the ancient Necrotic Empire. Despite repeated attempts by the Knights of the Golden Throne and others, the dark magic permeating Darkmoon Forest is too strong, and the necromancers' armies of the undead, far easier to command within the confines of the forest itself, too numerous to defeat on the offense. The living population of the Kingdom is broadly loyal to the traditions of High Necromancy and the scheming, backstabbing necromancer-nobility of the Kingdom spare their evil for eachother or periodic attempts at conquest, at least historically. 76 years ago, the current Archnecromancer, Lyrus Serriados came to power and issued the Sunset Proclamation, formally ceding any claims to the lands once ruled by the Necrotic Empire, and Lyrus has opened the Kingdom up to trade and travel, doing much to reduce their pariah status in the world. This is not a popular decision with some of the nobles, and the risk of a more militant Archnecromancer overthrowing him keeps the Kingdom's neighbors wary. Lyrus is also now known to have (quietly) provided money and intelligence to the rebellion against Syrokis during the first year of the war.
The Kingdom of Nerinthar: Nerithar overthrew its Morvak-backed puppet-king 134 years ago, ushering in the rule of Olden the Great, first ruler of the reigning Talcraft Dynasty. Olden the Great was of commoner stock, but elevated to the monarchy for his leadership of the anti-Morvak rebellion, at least at the point when it was successful. Nerinthar is a prosperous kingdom, but the threat of Morvak looms constantly, and the two kingdoms have fought a number of wars since Nerinthar's independence, including one that ended four months ago. The border between the two nations has shifted, but rarely more than a few dozen miles at a time. Nerinthar does have an increasingly vocal militant segment of the nobility that wants to push harder against Morvak and start carving vassal states out of its territory. The Talcraft Dynasty has preferred to hold or regain Nerinthar's 'traditional territory' and improve the prosperity of the realm and the common people instead.
The Nourvois Bandit Clans: Before the Necrotic Empire conquered the region, the western half of what is now Halrun was dominated by a culture of nomadic, ancestor-worshiping horse-riders known as the Nourvois. During the Golden Age of the Necrotic Empire, they were driven into Ashdan Forest and resisted the Empire to varying degrees of success, until the Empire's fall. When Teran Halrun established Halrun he claimed authority over Ashdan Forest. The Nourvois do not hold to this at all, and raids, already common, increased. While derided as mere bandits and brigands, the Nourvois Clans are a people with a rich history and culture, holdovers of the distant past of Halrun. The Crown's authority within Ashdan Forest does not exist, despite the efforts of the Knights of Ashdan Keep. The clans are a loose coalition that use ritualized warfare with minimal casualties to hack out a pecking order and resist Halrun via guerilla war.
The Confederacy of Osorien: Until recently, Osorien was ruled by an ancient dynasty that ebbed and flowed in how much power the cities had over the desert tribes around them, but the extinction of that dynasty saw the Kingdom devolve into a loose confederacy, with the tribes of humans (Balfour) and elves (Talaria) nominally co-equal to the cities. Osorien has a storied history of making use of djinni and their wishes, for good and ill, and legend says that the original kingdom was created as the result of maliciously interpreted wish granted by a djinn.
The Phocan Coast: Known for their expert alchemy, the Phocan peoples of the Phocan Coast export medicines, poisons, makeup, perfumes and all manner of other concoctions. The names of the dominant cities of the region can change quite regularly, but at present seven are wealthiest and most powerful. The Phocan city-states almost never wage conventional warfare, saving their resources on that front for aiding T'arg. Instead, they prefer assassination, theft and sabotage - more than one city on the Phocan Coast has experienced conflagration after a poorly managed fire set in a warehouse district has gone too far.
The Pocket Kingdoms: Historically, the term 'pocket kingdom' has been used to describe a small, ephemeral state that doesn't last more than two generations before falling apart or being conquered. They were especially common during the days when the Necrotic, Iredan and Tamilkirk Empires were establishing themselves and conquering their way to their greatest extents. They also arose after the fall of all three states as the world started to stabilize. The region known now as The Pocket Kingdoms has never managed to get past that stage since the fall of Iredos. Frequent invasions by goblin hordes has made this worse, as have periodic efforts by would-be warlords, megalomaniacal mages and ambitious ex-Adventurers to build kingdoms for themselves - even if they succeed, they rarely prove to be effective rulers and their heirs rarely hold onto power. The people of the Pocket Kingdoms are resilient and tend to keep their heads down, ignoring their ruler of the month (whatever grandiose title he or she uses) as much as possible.
The Kingdom of the Red Spear: One of a handful of large, established Goblin realms. Extending further north than is marked on the map, the Kingdom of the Red Spear, ruled by King Baragad Rak-Tilgak, has ambitions to bring all goblins in the north under their rule. To keep more rivals to this from establishing, they regularly play smaller tribes and towns against each other. Until recently, the Red Spear were regarded as poorly as most goblins, but of late they have found their ambassadors and merchants accepted in the capitals of other nations.
The Riverlands: A region that, as the name suggests, is full of rivers. The Riverlands are dominated by 5 city states that play games of economic warfare, political influence and occasional military clashes to control trade and the allegiance of smaller towns and settlements, resulting in often shifting borders. The 5 city states are Blerren and Gyptar (fairly conventional merchant oligarchies), Rokrin (a city of gnomish inventors and construct makers. They export golems all over the world), Restid (a city ruled by a dynasty descended from a succubus that served as the concubine of the warlord who founded it. Restid worships demons openly and embraces most vices gladly) and Veldros, a city founded by the Necrotic Empire that, despite no longer practicing necromancy, retains many cultural traditions from said empire, ruled by a complex quilt of noble houses, institutional temples and fraternal orders. Orcguard is a joint effort financed by all five-city states (and sometimes even Halrun has been known to provide men and money) to protect the region from the orcs of the Ruined Lands.
The Kingdom of Selissa: Like Nerinthar, Selissa was once a Morvakian puppet-kingdom. Selissa has not been directly attacked by Morvak since Morvak's empire fell apart, but in the interests keeping it that way, they regularly provide military and financial aid to Nerinthar and Velermarch during conflicts with Morvak, and are essentially carrying the entire North Zarsim side of the Zar Civil War since Zedarsh withdrew from the conflict. Selissa has a powerful merchant class and a parliament akin to Zedarsh's, though the Selissan Monarchy retains real power. Selissan-flagged ships make a common sight in ports all over the Andelerian Sea, as the Kingdom has invested heavily in its navy.
Syleria: After the death of Ahlenna's royal family in the flooding of Hycantos's Folly, the surviving members of the Avesiyan Seers, who had long guided and advised the royal family, gathered in Ina Hirandel and after much deliberation, rejected the creation of the Convocation in Ina Thressina. Instead, they let their visions guide them into naming a prominent elven General into the Lord Regent Protector, of a throne that would remain empty until such time as the seers were granted visions of a new monarch. Syleria remains ruled by Lord Regent Protectors selected by the Avesiyan Seers - each such Protector serves for fifty years, before being replaced. Syleria is much more involved in the world than Iltea, and they have been known to dispatch warriors, mages and others at the direction of the Seers, often with a junior member of the seers in tow, to act on their visions. Syleria trades extensively with the outside world, and often serves, de facto, as Iltea's ambassador to the rest of the world as well, due to Iltea's detachment. Sylerian elves are (broadly) known to find Iltea's increasingly obsessive 'pursuit of the essence of elvenkind' to be laughable at best, insane at worst. While outsiders aren't always well received in all parts of Syleria, as long as they are respectful, they are allowed almost everywhere save for certain sacred spaces, or of course, other secure areas.
Unorganized Balfour Territory: "Balfour" is a somewhat sloppily applied term that describes a group of ethnicities and tribes that live in and near the Sunscorch Sea, with sometimes similar and sometimes wildly divergent practices. This region is without central authority and parts have been part of Osorien or Marnicia at times, as well as sometimes having other central authorities. The great trading center of Halalakos is the economic heart of the region.
Unorganized Goblin Territory: Regions of small goblin tribes, towns and villages, with no lasting central authority. This state of affairs exists in large part due to the meddling of the Kingdom of the Red Spear and also because adventurers regularly go north to kill Goblins and loot the ruins they often live in or near, with chieftains, leaders and warriors dying and breaking down central order. Periodically a warlord manages to get a large force together to avenge themselves on the southerners and take their stuff, but few such Hordes last for more than a few years.
Unorganized Orc Territory: Unlike with the goblins, calling orcs unorganized is something of a redundancy. The product of magical breeding experiments during the Dawning Wars (or so the legends say) orcs are barely sentient, ravenously hungry monsters (despite not actually needing much food to survive) that attack and eat anyone they can, whenever they can. The Ruined Lands are one of the largest concentrations of orcs, and they have proven resistant to even the Necrotic Empire driving them out root and branch. Today, Orcguard and T'arg hold the line against their regular attacks and periodic massed boiling forths.
Velermarch: For reasons either never known by mortals, or long since lost to history, the lands that make up Velermarch have held much interest to the Spring Court of the Sidhe that rule in the deep Velerwood. They sparked the rebellions that brought down Morvak's empire by making a deal with anti-Morvak groups in Velermarch 150 years ago, giving them aid and resources, which led to Morvak putting more resources in Velermarch... which opened space in the rest of Morvak's holdings and one thing led to another. Today. Velermarch remains heavily influenced by the Spring Court, and the Spring Court nobles of the Velerwood dictate which of a sitting Margrave/Marchioness's children rise to the rule in Veler Keep. Velermarch deals with regular attacks by Morvak to reassert their control over the region, but Sidhe magic has prevented their footholds from lasting longer than a year at most.
The Domain of the White Torrent: Since at least the end of the Dawning Wars and possibly before, the Grave of the Unknown God has been there. A vast, fifty-two mile long skeleton that vaguely resembles a dragon crossed with a horse, but not really. Cults dedicated to this supposed dead god have cropped up many times, but none more successfully than the Order of the White Torrent, which rose twenty years ago, first taking the city of Baghan and quickly expanding. Led by a charismatic apparent Prophet, Vren Hular, the White Torrent has spread far promising enlightenment, and paradise, blaming the imperfections of this world on the living gods that killed the god the White Torrent worships. When all the followers of those gods have been purged from this world... paradise will come. The White Torrent's rule when they take power is brutal, restricting and exploitative, and they are rumored to use torture and hallucinogenic drugs to convince the unconverted, breaking their will to the Order's. They have made extensive use of subversive cults to pave the way for their military actions in territories they hope to invade.
Lands of the Wolf Lords: The Wolf Lords are semi-nomadic wolf-riding tribes that live on the Yuarones Plains, raiding and trading with their neighbors as they herd sheep, goats, shaggy cows and other animals. Wolf Lords have mystical bonds with their mounts, and the leaders of their tribes are werewolves. The Wolf Lords look down on city-building peoples, but have strong principles about protecting innocents or the weak, as well as a fondness for worthy opponents - they raid regularly, but they only kill those who can put up something resembling a fair fight, and even if they win, those communities who put up a challenge will often find themselves stolen from less than those brushed aside easily, or who flee. The Wolf Lords also have a long history of being hired as mercenaries by the elves of Syleria and Iltea (and the unified kingdom of Ahlenna before them). Legend says that it was the elves who taught the Wolf Lords how to bond with the oversized, more intelligent wolves of the Yuarones Plains in the days after the Dawning Wars.
Zarsim: Once, before the rise of Morvak, the Kingdom of Great Zar was a major power in the region. Morvak conquered Zar, annexing what is now Velermarch, and the southern half of Zarsim proper, as well as putting puppets on the throne in the rest of Zarsim, and Balpes (not to mention Selissa and Nerinthar). The century and more that southern Zarsim was under Morvakian direct control changed the region, culturally and economically, and while many were happy to be independent of Morvak due to the latter's exploitative and oppressive rule... they found that northern Zarsim's attempts to roll back the clock culturally increasingly intolerable. Generation after generation, the north would erode the agreements they originally made to bring the people of the south back into the fold, and seven years ago, it broke out into open civil war. Morvak quickly provided men and money to the south, and they picked Morvak as the lesser evil. Selissa and Zedarsh provided aid to the North, but as the war dragged on into a seeming stalemate, Zedarsh withdrew. South Zarsim and North Zarsim have engaged in a back and forth conflict that is little more than a Morvak-Selissa proxy war at this point.
The Kingdom of Zedarsh: A large, mostly peaceful Kingdom that is more concerned with making money than anything else. After a series of profligate kings drove the country deep into debt over a century ago, a palace coup and a series of agreements saw most power get handed over to a Parliament elected by major guilds, wealthy merchants and the nobility. The Crown exists as a purely symbolic rubber stamp for the Parliament at this point. Generally friendly to Halrun, and several prominent figures in Zedarsh provided aid to the rebellion once it proved it had staying power.
The Kingdom of Halrun Click through and then right-click to see full sized image in a new tab.
The Kingdom of Halrun is the largest kingdom of the Tamildan speaking peoples, and indeed, one of the largest kingdoms in the known world. Within it's borders are fertile soil, forests with quality timber and rich deposits of useful metals. But even before it's recent civil war, Halrun was a kingdom that lacked population - sparesely populated, save for a handful of areas, especially around Lake Raida, Halrun's greatest weakness was getting manpower to the places the resources were, and then getting the resources spread throughout the Kingdom and beyond. The civil war has only made that worse, destroying the Kingdom's once proud network of roads and trader-towns and villages along those roads, and of course, killing many, and dislocating even more.
In the aftermath of the fall of the Necrotic Empire to internal civil war and the Crusade of the Golden Throne 351 years ago, the region became a target for refugees fleeing the lands of the recently collapsed Iredan Empire, and when the Tamilkirk Imperium soon fell after that, the wave of refugees became a flood. Conflict among them was common for a few decades, before things started to calm down and shake out. Eventually population started to center around areas of dense settlement - the cities of Lake Raida, the great Port Lest, Westcrown, Eaglecrest and so forth. In between you had a myriad of small holdfasts, petty fiefdoms, semi-independent towns and villages and plenty of nominally claimed but unexploited wilderness. There were many would be kings, all nobles with pretensions and warlords in this era, but by the time Teran Halrun was born some hundred years ago, the latest in a line of so-called "Grand Dukes of Raida", things had largely settled down.
70 years ago, after years of preparation, and building on the foundation left by his forefathers, Teran set out to claim for himself a Kingdom, from the borders of Darkmoon Forest to the Soverian Ocean, from the Lortan Mountains to the Goblin Lands. It was a process that saw as much negotiation, bribery and threats as conquest, but after five years, the Kingdom of Halrun was born. Ruling from the city of Eridia, Teran presided over a Kingdom with a crazy quilt of treaties, laws, contracts, exemptions, special privileges and unique statuses. Some attempt to rationalize this was made, cutting through a sea of nobles with whatever title they or their forefathers had slapped themselves with with the nobles with the largest consolidated holdings being given the title of Count, and all others merely Lords. Counties were given additional privileges, and while Teran handed conquered land out to his loyal supporters and allies, and to those who could pay for it, he held much back for the Crown, which today make up the Crown Lands of the Kingdom.
In addition to the Crownlands and the Counties, the two Free Cities - Port Lest and Eaglecrest - too possess great local autonomy, ruled by mercantile interests and wealthy commoners, and then below that, nobles with estates big and small, diffuse and concentrated. Some towns and villages lacked any noble at all, and even today are ruled diectly by the Crown, while still not technically being part of the Crown Lands. And especially after the civil war, many estates, farms, and villages lie empty or mostly so, and certainly fallow and in ruins.
Teran was succeeded by his son Brunn, who ruled wisely and well, but without much innovation or creativity, stewarding the Kingdom ably. His son, Syrokis, who came to power at the age of 21 twenty-two years ago, however, was much more creative.
Unfortunately for Halrun, that creativity was paired with an ambitious and paranoid mind. Picking a fight with the Kingdom of Morvak, Syrokis pushed Morvak over the Thorn River, claiming the 'natural' southeastern border for Halrun. With this glory and with a now blooded and loyal army, Syrokis began to slowly - oh so slowly at first - eat away at the edges of the rights and privileges that Teran had granted so many, especially the least of the nobles, and the least of the free villages. Penalties for crimes were increased, but at first, it seemed to be effective, and many were willing to let Syrokis push at the limits - he was a dynamic, likeable, and initially persuasive man. But in time, as he pushed at the limits harder and harder, he started to elicit backlash, and from higher and higher quarters. Sometimes he might even seem to back down, but more and more, those who spoke out would find themselves in violation of laws new and old, and old conventions about appeal and redress were ignored or cast aside. People began to see Syrokis for what he was - a tyrant. Taxes were raised, to grow the army and to finance that army's use as enforcers against any who would say no, to bribe allies and reward able servants.
For a some years, things stood at this point. No one wanted to move alone - whispers were had, but Syrokis did have many agents and spies and farseeing mages on his payroll, and so those whispers were all there were. But three years ago, Eaglcrest took advantage of their unique rights to force a redress of grievances on Syrokis - under the terms of their submission to Teran, they had the right to demand certain changes to Syrokis's latest regime of taxes and trade regulations, and technically, if Syrokis refused, Eaglecrest could legally leave the Kingdom.
Syrokis killed the emissaries and dispatched his armies to the city. Eaglecrest revolted and the civil war began. Eaglecrest was soon joined by progressive-minded nobles across the kingdom, who opposed the King for his cruelties and were less attached to their noble titles for their own sake, looking to nations like Zedarsh and Selissa, where merit and wealthy mattered as much as your blood. But soon, even more conservative nobles, whose belief in the importance of blood and heritage, of the rights and privileges of the Nobility was paramount, were increasingly unhappy with Syrokis, especially as the war began to make him more paranoid and controlling - by the end, some three quarters of the nobility and other elites of the Kingdom had sworn to the banner of the rebellion, though it wasn't until after the second year that such a swell happened - many saw the way things seemed to be moving, and jumped to the seemingly winning ship. But even in the final battle in the streets of Eridia, there was a risk loyalist soldiers from elsewhere on the warfronts reaching the capital in time to change the course of the war - the rebels had gambled everything on that final attack.
It worked, the Palace fell, and Syrokis was captured and executed for his crimes... and the loyalists were left with no one to stand for. Syrokis was childless, save for a bastard child born a few months before the fall of the palace, but even if the bastard could be found, and he had vanished along with his mother, Syrokis's mistress, not every loyalist to Syrokis was willing to fight on for that son, bastard as he was, and the war now seemingly lost for sure. And so, peace was made, all but the worst of Syrokis's loyalists were accepted back into the fold and the rebels called the first Estates-General in seventeen years, gathering the nobility, the urban elite, the rural gentry and the greatest spellcasters of the realm into one place to debate the future of the Kingdom, and select a new monarch.
(For the sake of simplicity, all values will be listed in "Dureks", a gold coin minted by the dwarves of the Lortan Mountains, and made popular by dwarven banks. A Durek is a Half-oz solid gold coin. In practice, most transactions, even by states are done by smaller gold coins, less pure coins, silver coins, etc, but in many cases, coins are still valued in terms of how many Dureks they're worth).
Treasury: 60 Dureks
Income Per Month: 250.5 Dureks From the Crown's Personal Holdings: 124 Dureks
Grand Duchy of Raida Direct Revenues: 30 Dureks (Modifier: Ravaged Cities) (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Ruined Roads) Grand Duchy of Raida Docking & Trade Fees: 47 Dureks (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Economic Dislocation, Currency Contraction) Thornmarch Direct Revenues: 12 Dureks Thornmarch Tariff Fees: 15 Dureks (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Economic Dislocation, Currency Contraction, Ruined Roads) (Modifier: Morvakian Saber-Rattling) Coastal March Direct Revenues: 11 Dureks (Modifiers: Sacked Villages & Towns) Coastal March Tariff, Docking & Trade Fees: 5 Dureks (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Economic Dislocation, Currency Contraction, Ruined Roads) Ashdan March Direct Revenue: 1 Durek (Modifiers: Nourvois Raids, Undeveloped, Underpopulated) Southmarch Direct Revenue: 1 Dureks (Modifiers: Undeveloped, Underpopulated, War Ravaged) (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Ruined Roads) Striking Miners (-1) Southmarch Mining Tax: 0 Dureks (Modifiers: Underpopulated, War Ravaged) (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Ruined Roads) Striking Miners (-5) Southeastern Crown Reserve Direct Revenue: 1 Durek (Modifiers: Undeveloped, Underpopulated, War Ravaged) (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Ruined Roads) Northeastern Crown Reserve Direct Revenue: 1 Durek (Modifiers: Undeveloped, Underpopulated, War Ravaged) (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Ruined Roads)
Halrun is not in a good place, with everything in some form of damaged or affected by the civil war and associated events. As such, even existing sources of revenue are not as high as they should be. The Entire Kingdom is affected by certain modifiers, and individual revenue sources may have additional modifiers). Removing those modifiers will be a way to help increase revenues, though some will of course be easier to deal with than others, and of course, everything costs money these days.
From the Free Cities: 42.5 Dureks
Eaglecrest 3% Wealth Tax: 7 Dureks (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Economic Dislocation, Currency Contraction, Ruined Roads) Eaglecrest Land Tax: 3 Dureks (Modifier: Outdated Tax Assessments) Eaglecrest Trade Fees: 10 Dureks (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Economic Dislocation, Currency Contraction, Ruined Roads) Port Lest 4% Wealth Tax: 7.5 Dureks (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Economic Dislocation, Currency Contraction) Port Lest Land Tax: 3 Dureks (Modifier: Outdated Tax Assessments) Port Lest Trade Fees: 12 Dureks (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Economic Dislocation, Currency Contraction, Ruined Roads)
Technically all taxes in Halrun are actually collected yearly, but for the sake of the game, this is the 'monthly' income.
The Wealth taxes on Eaglecrest/Port Lest are an assessment on the overall wealth of the free city. The Taxes aren't called by percent in-universe - Eaglecrest's is called the One Thirty-Third tax (1/33) and Port Lest's is called the One Twenty-Fifth Tax (1/25). It's up to the local city government to turn up the money required. The Land Tax is a tax on the hinterland of the free cities assessed based on the agricultural value of said land, assessed on the owners of said land by royal officials. The hinterlands of both free cities tend to be owned by small farmers or by gentry (usually related to the urban merchants) with large estates and tenants. The Trade Fees are an assortment of tariffs, dues, fees, charges and the like on trade. I'm making taxes complicated enough as it is, I think I can afford to not get nittier-grittier 😅.
From the Counties: 43 Dureks
Vannecht County Land Tax & Feudal Dues: 6 Dureks (Modifiers: Extensive Exemptions) County of Vaspiri Land Tax & Feudal Dues: 3 Dureks (Modifiers: Outdated Tax Assessments, War Ravaged) Befost County Land Tax & Feudal Dues: 2 Dureks (Modifiers: Outdated Tax Assessments, War Ravaged) Kadeck County Land Tax & Feudal Dues: 6 Dureks (Modifier: War Ravaged) South Eyrist County Land Tax & Feudal Dues: 7 Dureks (Modifiers: Outdated Tax Assessments, War Ravaged) Saphet County Land Tax & Feudal Dues: 3 Dureks (Modifier: Outdated Tax Assessments) County of Aloce Land Tax & Feudal Dues: 3 Dureks (Modifiers: Outdated Tax Assessments, War Ravaged) South Tarkos Thanedom Land Tax, Mining Tax & Feudal Dues: 13 Dureks (Modifiers: War Ravaged) (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Ruined Roads)
From the Lordships & Independent Towns: 39 Dureks
Lordships Land Tax and Feudal Dues: 22 Dureks (Modifiers: War Ravaged, Assorted Exemptions, Banditry, Rationalized Resource Extraction [Expires after turn 8] +1 Durek) Town Trade Fee Revenue: 17 Dureks (Affected by Kingdom-Wide Modifiers: Economic Dislocation, Currency Contraction, Ruined Roads) (Modifiers: Banditry, Rationalized Resource Extraction [Expires after turn 8] +1 Durek)
Other Revenue Sources: 2
Trade Deal With Veldros [Expires after Turn 17] +2 Dureks
Expenses Per Month: 122 Dureks Royal Administration: 44 Dureks
Tax Assessors, Collectors and Customs Agents: 12 Dureks Sheriffs and Reeves of the Crown Reserves: 6 Dureks Sheriffs and Reeves of the Thornmarch: 5 Dureks Sheriffs and Reeves of the Coastal March: 4 Dureks Sheriffs and Reeves of the Grand Duchy of Raida: 12 Dureks Assorted Other Legal and Court Functionaries and Officials: 5 Dureks
Wages & Supply of Royal Army: 68 Dureks
692 Heavy Cavalry: 14 Dureks (1 Durek/50 Units) (Rounded up to the nearest quarter) 1991 Light Cavalry: 20 Dureks (1 Durek/100 Units) (Rounded up to the nearest quarter) 2389 Men-At-Arms: 12 Dureks (1 Durek/200 Units) (Rounded up to the nearest quarter) 1848 Crossbowmen: 9.25 Dureks (1 Durek/200 Units) (Rounded up to the nearest quarter) 1150 Skirmishers: 4 Dureks (1 Durek/300 Units) 1285 Pikemen: 8.75 Dureks (1 Durek/150 Units) (Rounded up to the nearest quarter)
Basic Maintinence of the Crown & Palace: 10 Dureks
This is stuff like the servants in the palace, maintenance of said palace, the Royal Guard, feeding the monarch, clothing them, and other stuff like that. Right now, it is expected - and priced accordingly - that the Queen will be living relatively frugally, so there's less servants than normal, the feasts and meals in general will be smaller and less extravagant, etc. There is a certain amount of opulence expected of a monarch, and while emissaries and such will understand a lack of it now, there could be a loss of prestige if you never increase this number or never hold a more typical-sized feast, etc)
Standing Royal Army: 9473 Soldiers Based Out of Ashdan Keep: 170 Heavy Cavalry, 450 Light Cavalry, 402 Men-At-Arms, 291 Crossbowmen Based in the Thornmarch: 1000 Crossbowmen, 200 Heavy Cavalry, 500 Light Cavalry, 1000 Pikemen, 1000 Men-At-Arms Based in the Coastal March: 116 Light Cavalry, 225 Skirmishers Based in The Southmarch: 200 Light Cavalry, 300 Skirmishers Based in the Northeastern Crown Reserve: 70 Light Cavalry Based in the Southeastern Crown Reserve: 50 Light Cavalry Based in the Grand Duchy of Raida (Mobile Reserve): 322 Heavy Cavalry, 605 Light Cavalry, 987 Men-At-Arms, 557 Crossbowmen, 285 Pikemen, 625 Skirmishers
Is this a lot of soldiers in a standing army for a Quasi-Late Middle Ages State? Probably. This isn't medieval Europe, it's a fictional world with it's own history and a version of quasi-feudalism that only somewhat resembles reality and Halrun is quite large, but especially the forces based in the Grand Duchy are arguably overlarge - but you did just have a civil war, so even with many people going home or disbanding or whatever, you've got a lot of guys eager to stay soldiers. Approximately 2/3s of the army are people who served in the rebellion at some point - personal soldiers of various nobles transferred to the Royal Army now that the war is over, professionals staying on, defecting former soldiers of the army, etc, etc. The other approximately 1/3 are soldiers who fought for Syrokis to the end and accepted the offer given at the end of the war to stand down to spare their lives/property/etc and then also chose to stay on in the Royal Army. Their loyalty - and the loyalty of any ex-rebels, frankly - is certainly potentially tbd. Overall, there are more ex-rebels in the forces stationed in the Grand Duchy, with the loyalists as much as possible put to the frontiers, to keep them busy fighting the Nourvois Clans and keeping an eye on Morvak,etc.
During times of war, additional levies can be called on, and levy soldiers cost significantly less, at least at first (keeping them on for months and months on end can cause issues otherwise). If you feel you have too many soldiers, you can reduce the number, but you certainly do need to be careful about that. Unhappy soldiers are not a good thing.
(This doesn't represent all the money loaned to Syrokis or his predecessors yet unpaid - Rucdorn Relcred Axecavern, the dwarf who ended up being the main financier of the rebellion and is your Keeper of the Royal Vaults (Tax Minister) at the start, was able to use his connections in the international banking community, as it were, to negotiate Syrokis's creditors down, but refusing to pay any of the debts previously incurred and unpaid was - at least then - deemed too risky to the Kingdom's credit and the health of the economy, especially given the fact that more loans to get ahead of existing loans, etc, could be necessary. Unlike with the debts incurred by the rebellion, this debt isn't going to be itemized by who lent it out, both for simplicity's sake, and because Syrokis's creditors of choice were two closely aligned banks in the Varaday Republic (not located on the map, on the far end of the Andelerian Sea) so they have the vast majority of this debt anyway.
Debts Incurred by Rebels Assumed By The Crown: 647 Dureks (Assorted Interest) ( 65.5 Dureks)
The Estates-General agreed, in addition to voting on a New Queen, dropping taxes to the levels before Syrokis took the throne and a number of other tidying-things up (like pardoning some people, executing some of Syrokis's most diehard loyalists, confiscating the property of others etc) that the Crown would assume much of the debt the rebels incurred in the fighting. Because why not fob your debt off on someone else? Owed to the Axecavern Bank (Lortan Dwarves): 241.75 Dureks (10% Interest) (24.25 Dureks)* Owed to the Redhammer Bank (Lortan Dwarves): 126.5 Dureks (11% Interest) (14 Dureks) Owed to Assorted Individual Wealthy Merchants/Etc based in Eaglecrest, Port Lest and Westcrown: 110.25 Dureks (8% Interest) (8.75 Dureks) Owed to Assorted Individual Weathy Merchants Based in Zedarsh or Selissa: 168.5 Dureks (11% Interest) (18.5 Dureks)
Debts Incurred By the Crown: 100 Dureks (9.5% Interest) Owed To The Goldaxe Bank: 109.5 Dureks (9.5% Interest) (10.5 Dureks)
*Rucdorn Relcred Axecavern may be a distant relative of the people who run the Axecavern Bank, and he used that to his - and the rebellion's - advantage, but he's not actually involved in the running of it or making money off of it. The Axecavern Clan is probably the most spread out of the major Noble Dwarven Clans, but the bank the clan is most famous for remains based in the Lortan Mountains)
Ongoing Projects:
Repairs to the Roads around The Capital: Begun Turn 4. Will complete at the end of Turn 9.
Name: Vanessa Kolmain Race: Human Age: 27 Nation/Region of Origin: Veldros, the Riverlands Stats: Diplomacy - 9 Martial - 3 Stewardship - 8 Intrigue - 5 Learning - 8 Magic - 11 Combat Skill - 5 Backstory: The bastard daughter of a Veldran noble family, she was handed off to the Academ Arcanum, Veldros's school of wizardry at a very young age once her talent was identified. At the age of 13, she impressed the Archmage Cyril, who was visiting a friend at the Academ, and since he was currently without an apprentice (he's had many) he took her on. Not only does being an apprentice to the most powerful and well-known Archmage in the region come with getting an excellent education in magic, but it also comes with connections, and by the time she was finished with her education at the age of 20, she was sought by numerous nobles in and out of Halrun to be their court wizard. She chose to remain a free agent instead, but did work for numerous nobles in that capacity. Her talents lent themselves more to divinations and illusions and other subtler magics, but she was capable of defending herself with magic too.
When the civil war broke out, Vanessa was in the employ of Lord Hargave, a wealthy but minor noble with lands near the Duchy of Raida. Lord Hargrave was a conservative-minded noble with little regard for the rabble-rousers who started the war, but he had little patience for Syrokis's overreach either, and quickly joined the rebellion, paying Vanessa to continue to serve under his leadership. But even after Lord Hargrave's death (and the death of his family and the confiscation of his lands), Vanessa continued to serve with the rebellion, both because if Syrokis won he'd want her head, and because the tyrant's cruelties had crossed beyond any level of tolerability. The prospect of reward at the end was hardly minor either.
Vanessa played a critical role in the capture of the capital, as her skill with illusions provided cover to a small, elite team scaling the walls at night and capturing one of the gatehouses - the street fighting would continue for several more days, during which she saved the life of many soldiers, predicting ambushes and providing more illusions. Her plans for after the war, before the Estates voted her Queen, were to leave Halrun (given the state of the economy) and seek patrons in points east. Traits:Greedy: Vanessa wouldn't call it greedy, so much as frugal and money-conscious, but regardless, Vanessa likes money, perhaps in part from being cast out with little support to the Academ at a young age. She likes having money, and she likes hoarding money. Apart from her fondness for finely tailored clothes, Vanessa will skimp and save and haggle to reduce how much she pays for anything, and it's hard to turn down a chance to get more money, though she does have moral lines. Regardless, on any task that involves large expenditures of money, Vanessa's habit of trying to find savings where none exist leads to -5 on those tasks. Farsight: Vanessa's skill with divination is significant, and she has used it to great extent to see things far away, make minor predictions of the future, look into the recent past and find people and objects. During the civil war she was able to use it to spy on troop movements, command tents and predict ambushes. Any task where she can put this to use gets +5 to the roll. Illusionist: Vanessa put her skill with illusions to work helping prevent attempts on the lives of the nobles she worked for (creating illusions of the noble sleeping in their bed, projecting illusions of them standing out in the open, et cetera), as well as a few times to pacify unruly peasants or the like, by creating the illusion of much larger forces arrayed against them. She also used this to great effect on the battlefield. On tasks when an illusion can protect, overawe or provide some form of cover for a person or a group, she gets +5 to the task.
Members of the Inner Council of Royal Advisors
Name: Rykall Morn Race/Age/Birthplace: Human, 27, Eridia Stats: Diplomacy - 4 Martial - 2 Stewardship - 6 Intrigue - 5 Learning - 8 Combat Skill - 2 Trait:Master of the Paperwork - A true virtuoso of parchment and Ink, Rykall knows where all the bodies are buried, metaphorically, in the paperwork and archives of the Kingdom and even many of the local merchant concerns, and he also knows how pointless a lot of it is, and who to talk to to bypass a lot of it, in and out of the government. When it comes anything related to paperwork - hiding stuff within it, finding stuff out from it, bypassing it, etc, Rykall is your man, and he gets +4 to the Task. Brief Background: Born to a moderately prosperous family of merchants in Eridia, Rykall was a third son, and so was 'destined' for either a temple or government work. Lacking the mentality for a priestly life, Rykall became an apprentice accounts clerk to a family friend at 12, and then joined the Kingdom's bureaucracy as a minor interoffice clerk at the age of 17. Young and idealistic, Rykall reads the latest in philosophical thought and has correspondents in many cities in the region. When the rebellion broke out, Rykall spent the first year fudging paperwork to try and sabotage the war effort - preventing supplies from getting where they were supposed to, hiding old tax assessments, misplacing decrees and reports, etc. He was eventually caught, but managed to get out of his basement office bare minutes before the King's men came to arrest him. During the rest of the rebellion, he made himself indispensable as secretary and aide-de-camp to General Kaptel, leader of the Eaglecrest Militia, coordinating supplies, reports, messages and more. With the civil war over, and many of the upper ranks of the bureaucracy purged by Syrokis, quitting to save their lives/freedom or getting kicked out by the successful rebels, Rykall was selected (at the urging of General Kaptel and other figures in or aligned with Eaglecrest) to serve as the Keeper of Correspondence (Chief of Staff/Chief Secretary) to whoever the next monarch would be.
Name: Rucdorn Relcred Axecavern Race/Age/Birthplace: Dwarf/68/Eaglecrest Stats: Diplomacy - 5 Martial - 4 Stewardship - 10 Intrigue - 5 Learning - 5 Combat Skill - 6 Trait:Friends in Rich Places: Before settling down in Port Lest, Rucdorn did business from Halrun to the Varaday Republic and back for 35 years, representing the interests of his family business. He's made friends and contacts with merchants and bankers and middlemen and more across the Tamildan-speaking world and beyond. As a result, raising capital, either as investment or loans, is usually a matter of talking to the right person. +5 to any task involving loan negotiation. Brief Background: The Relcred branch of the Axecavern Clan has been in Halrun since before there was a Halrun, since the fall of the Necrotic Empire. Merchants and middlemen professionally, their primary deal is in selling dwarven-made goods sourced from dwarven expat communities, or from the Lortan Mountains, and shipping goods and resources the Lortan Dwarves can't easily source at home back. Born in Eaglecrest, Rucdorn quickly got involved in the family business at a young age, spend 35 years representing their interests region-wide. Six years ago he settled down in Port Lest and got married. He has one son - Vardek - and another child on the way. When Port Lest joined the rebellion, the city asked him to take charge of financing their war effort, and by the end of the war, he'd somewhat accidentally found himself de-facto treasury minister for the entire rebellion, or most of it. Thus, the move into serving as Keeper of the Royal Vaults (Treasury Minister) was a natural one.
Name: Jarras Darach Race/Age/Birthplace: Human/41/The Citadel of the Golden Throne Stats: Diplomacy - 5 Martial - 10 Stewardship - 4 Intrigue - 4 Learning - 5 Magic - 6 Combat Skill - 13 Trait:Shield of Adun: The Knights of the Golden Throne, being warrior-priests, have a number of unique ways to use their Adun-granted magic on the battlefield. Jarras can call upon Adun to help protect soldiers from harm, strengthening their armor, their shield arms. If she is commanding in a battle, she will (before the battle) attempt a +Magic Task (base difficulty, 70%, can be forced lower under unusual circumstances, can also be raised under certain circumstances). If the test succeeds, regardless of win or loss of the battle, forces under her command suffer 10% (one success) or 20% (two successes) less casualties than normal. Brief Background: Like many of the Knights of the Golden Throne, Jarras was born into it, both of her parents were Knights, and she traces herself back to the original Crusaders of the Golden Throne that pushed the Necrotic Empire into Darkmoon Forest. Of course, born after the Sunset Proclamation as she was, she's only fought undead but rarely, when rogues from the Kingdom of the Necromancers try their luck, or when lesser necromancers elsewhere come to the attention of the Citadel. Instead, she's served with distinction in dozens of lesser fights, protecting communities from bandits, from beasts, orcs, goblins, et cetera, as the Knights have expanded their remit (while still watching the border with Darkmoon Forest, just in case). The Knights of the Golden Throne stayed out of the civil war in Halrun, considering it a purely political matter, and many were divided on who they supported. During the War, one of the 5 commanding Knight-Generals retired due to age and she was selected by the other four to join them. With the civil war over, Jarras has come to the capital to represent the interests of the Knights at court. As someone who didn't fight in the war (though her sympathies die lie towards the rebellion) some in the Estates thought she might be an excellent choice - for now anyway - to serve as the High Marshall of the Armies (to bridge the gap between ex-rebels and ex-loyalists), but as of now, she's just an advisor, emissary and general available for use as needed. Probably the least virulently anti-Kingdom of the Necromancers Knight-General in the Citadel's history, but that doesn't say much.
Name: Count Vallefor Grentir Filonde Trovus, Count of Vannecht Race/Age/Birthplace: Human/37/Trovus Estate, Halrun Stats: Diplomacy - 5 Martial - 6 Stewardship - 5 Intrigue - 7 Learning - 6 Combat Skill - 7 Trait:Blue Blood, Black Secrets The Trovus Family predates Halrun, it even pre-dates the fall of the Necrotic Empire. And while they abandoned Necromancy when they defected to the Crusaders of the Golden Throne (keeping their domain and even expanding it a good bit,) they keep to certain old habits, including amassing secrets. The Trovus family knows a little something about nearly every other noble in Halrun and surrounding lands, or so they are rumored, anyway. If Vallefor can be convinced to dig into this trove of secrets, either to use it, or to trade it with others for information, any task he undertakes about discovering information about another noble, or blackmail another noble receives +5 to the roll. Brief Background: A very, very, very well-heeled noble, from a family that can claim descent from the nobility of all three great empires of the recent past - the Necrotic Empire, the Iredan Empire, and the Tamilkirk Imperium. Vallefor has some of the bluest blood of anyone, or at least he claims, and most would agree. And he acts like it - snobby, arrogant, entitled, demanding and rich, Vallefor thinks the vast majority of the world needs to just bow down to him and obey. With Vannecht County given numerous legal rights and tax exemptions, his family has long been influential in Halrun as well. Conservative and not remotely interested in reforms that could hurt his wealth and power, Vallefor only joined the rebellion against Syrokis when Syrokis's overreach saw a member of his own family killed without trial. And unfortunately, his wealth and the resources of his county allowed him to field a capable and potent force that meant the rest of the rebellion had to take him quite seriously. Already an influential (if disliked by many) noble, Vallefor quickly rose to dominate the conservative faction of the nobility in the Estates once they reconvened. He leveraged this position to force the new Queen to accept him onto the Inner Council as part of the requirement for her to formally approved as Queen by the Estates. Syrokis locked him out of the halls of power from the moment Vallefor ascended to lead his county 12 years ago, and Vallefor is not letting that happen again. Vallefor is married and has two young children - his wife, Jenassa, and his two children (5 and 6) have come to the capital with him. He has been appointed as Keeper of Secrets (Spymaster).
Name: Lady Balmain Honoria Clessara Rescon Race/Age/Birthplace: Human/35/Tairos Stats: Diplomacy - 6 Martial - 4 Stewardship - 6 Intrigue - 4 Learning - 8 Combat Skill - 8 Trait:Aris Means Best: Lady Balmain is a very well educated woman, indeed, possibly one of the best educated in Halrun, especially in matters related to the traditional duties of nobles to their subjects - administering justice, protecting their domains, maintaining the infrastructure, that sort of thing. Balmain's tutors were believers in the idea that Aristocrats were not better by their blood, but by their personal excellence and the education their wealth and status afforded. If the task is one that falls under the rubric of the 'traditional functions of nobility' Balmain receives a +3 to the task. (QM Note: The bonus may seem small, but it can be applied to virtually anything she's likely to be assigned to do) Background: Lady Balmain is the personification of noblesse oblige, and the result of what happens when you have a bunch of families tie each other by marriage and then die without direct heirs over the course of a decade. Born to a family of very minor, but well connected and wealthy nobles in the city of Tairos, Balmain was given a first rate education, and was sent to University in Varyos from the ages of 18-22. While there, her great-aunt died, and her lands passed through Balmain's mother to Balmain, and that was the first of several inheritances from distant relatives - she would end up inheriting lands all over the Kingdom, in smaller chunks, a rather disparate set of holdings, but take together, making her quite rich, and with real power behind her. At the age of 31, on the eve of the rebellion, Balmain certainly knew how to keep quiet under Syrokis's regime, she still hosted intellectural salons discussing safe topics of culture, art, history, and philosophy... and in secret sessions, hosted more treasonous talk. Balmain thinks the nobles should provide for the health, education and moral guidance of the common people, and even the meanest commoner that shows true merit should be assimilated into the nobility. Her social circle were among the forerunners of the rebellion, and when Eaglecrest raised the standard of revolt, Balmain retreated with her allies to her estates near the Eyrist Woods, and did the same, freely using her wealth to hire more soldiers and mercenaries than her own lands and resources could muster. While no general herself, she knew how to pick a good one, and she was a deft hand with a rapier - a few times in the early rebellion she did have to help fight off Royal forces while forces were gathered. Charming, cultured, educated and connected, Balmain was able to command leadership of the more progressive nobles at the Estates, and when her name was rejected for the throne (though she maintains she didn't put her cousin up to putting her name forward), she was an early and enthusiastic supporter of the 'Talcraft Solution' once it was proposed. Balmain is an outspoken Alatrist, meaning she accepts the existence of the gods (who couldn't) but actively does not worship them, considering them more trouble than they're worth. She has been appointed Keeper of the Sheriffs and Reeves (Interior Minister)
Name: Rienne Novash Age: 32 Stats: Diplomacy - 7 Martial - 10 Stewardship - 5 Intrigue - 3 Learning - 6 Combat Skill - 13 Nation/Region of Origin: The Pocket Kingdoms Background: Born to officers who had served in the army of one of the latest warlords to form a pocket kingdom, Rienne was trained to be a soldier basically from birth, and a professional one at that, including the rough honor of a soldier of the pocket kingdoms. Unfortunately for her career prospects, the warlord her parents served was overthrown when she was eleven, and her family ended up serving in a smaller statlet's kingdom, but at a lower status and lower chance of rising to high rank. On reaching adulthood, Rienne joined a mercenary company, moving from company to company, but making a name for herself as a skilled fighter, an inspiring commander, and a loyal mercenary, honoring the contract to the letter, even in the face of circumstances that other mercenaries might defect. Good natured, charming, attractive and highly skilled, Rienne eventually took command of a small band of highly skilled mercenaries, and took them out of the Pocket Kingdoms, serving in border skirmishes in Zarsim, between Nerithar and Morvak and taking contracts to deal with bandits and beasts.
She was on her way to Halrun to take a job working for Syrokis, since at the time he was rumored to be gearing up to invade the goblin lands to the north, but by the time they reached the Kingdom, the civil war had broken out. She ended up taking a contract from Lady Balmain, one of the wealthiest rebel nobles to join the rebellion early to fight for them. She was able to use her force as a solid core, gathering nobles' men at arms, defecting members of the royal army and other mercenaries to form one of the most effective fighting units in the rebellion, serving with distinction in battles all over the easter half of the Kingdom. She made friends with many other rebel commanders and was even able to convince one royalist general to defect rather than fight her when she outnumbered him 3 to 2. During the final battle, she personally took down the Captain of Syrokis's personal guard, a brute of a man named Dorgast. A born soldier and mercenary, it was likely she would have gone to seek employment in the Zarsim Civil War, as the call for mercenaries there was growing louder, again. However, she was held back from this by being asked by Queen Vanessa to serve as High Marshall of the Armies, after being offered a noble title and the estates to go with it, something she'd long secretly hoped for. Traits: Soldier's Honor: It's not that Rienne is above an ambush on the battlefield, or underhanded tactics, but off the battlefield, Rienne is not good with anything underhanded or manipulative. She can't lie that well, she can't really manipulate people in anything but direct ways (but she is pretty good at those direct appeals to emotion) and subtlety is usually lost on her. She suffers a -5 to anything involving lying, underhanded tactics or understanding or using subtlety. Inspiring Commander: Numerous times during her career as a mercenary, even before taking a major command role, Rienne has been able to convince soldiers to stand and fight, hold their ground against intense odds, or to at least hold together to retreat in good order. She was especially able to put this to use in the civil war, appealing to her sometimes ramshackle forces to fight for the cause they believed in, for their own honor, for their brothers and sisters in arms. In any situation where she can appeal to people's higher instincts and get them to rally together, she gets +5 to the roll. Professionals Study Logistics: You can't be a successful leader of masses of soldiers, or even smaller bands of elite mercenaries, without being good at managing logistics. When it comes to organizing the means to feed and organize large groups of people, or gather materials for a project, Rienne gets +5 to the task. Whether it's feeding armies or gathering materials for a construction project, Rienne knows what she's doing. She may not be good at getting money or handling lawbooks, but there are administrative tasks she excels at.
Name: Lord Lucas Trelbir Blyth Trins Race/Age/Birthplace: Human/61/Trins Estate, Halrun Stats: Diplomacy - 4 Martial - 9 Stewardship - 6 Intrigue - 3 Learning - 5 Combat Skill - 10 Trait:Dispersed Command Years of experience fighting the Nourvois, goblin raiders and suppressing banditry has given General Trins a great deal of experience at commanding decentralized operations where large numbers of soldiers are dispersed across a large area to protect against decentralized raids and guerilla attacks. When fighting bandits, raiders or other types of many groups of small forces over large areas, General Trins gets +5 to the Task. Brief Background: The Trins are a relatively new blood noble family - Lucas's grandfather was ennobled by Teran Halrun for services rendered during the creation of the Kingdom - and they've always been military men. Lucas distinguished himself during the war with Morvak and as a reward, was risen to be the Commandant of Ashdan Keep, and effectively general of all northern frontiers in the Kingdom. He served in this capacity well - with one of the best track records against the Nourvois (though that doesn't say much). A gruff, but dedicated soldier, Trins firmly believed in the role of soldiers as protectors, especially when set against those who would loot them. When the civil war broke out, Lucas tried to stay loyal, and was critical in the capture of Eaglecrest (and thus forcing the rebels to retreat to the Tarkos hills), but as Syrokis began ordering increased reprisals against the civilian population, and his most 'elite' soldiers started enriching themselves at the populace's expense, he couldn't stay loyal, and defected to the rebels, playing a key role in the recapture of Eaglecrest. Though old, he is a veteran commander and with banditry facing the Kingdom in many corners, is likely to have much to do.
Name: Arandel Synvara Race/Age/Birthplace Elf/397/Ina Hirandel, Syleria Stats: Diplomacy - 7 Martial - 2 Stewardship - 5 Intrigue - 3 Learning - 8 Magic - 10 Combat Skill - 4 Trait:Forwarned is Forearmed: Divination in all its forms has long held a great interest for Arandel, and for most of his life, he's used it as a way to figure out the best course of action, as an adventurer, as a mediator, as a researcher, and just... in general. He's wise enough to see the limits of divination and foresight, but equally, he's scryed and seen his way to many successes. As a mediator, he used his abilities to dig deeper into people's motivations and find out what they really want. Before a negotiation, Arandel will make a +Magic roll with a Base Chance that will (usually) be 55%. On A Weak Success he gets +3 to the roll of the negotiation, on a Strong Success he gets +6 to the roll. Brief Background: Born in Syleria, Arandel first left the 'kingdom' at the age of 125 as part of the guard/company of one of the Avesiyan Seers, on a mission he speaks little of today, even to his friends. It's known that he traveled to several Deserethian sites (Desereth, a quasi-legendary city, featured significantly in the last days of the Dawning Wars, and some sources suggest it's destruction was ultimately the cause of the end of those wars, though as with all sources from that period, much is lost or confused) in what is now the Kingdom of the Red Spear, and after that, he settled in small village of Eaglecrest, already starting to become a hub for adventurers seeking to loost abandoned Necrotic sites not purged by the Knights, and explore Deserethian ruins that the Necrotic Empire had for a very long time forbidden exploitation of. He continued to be an adventurer and ruin delver on and off for a century, before retiring to a quiet life of research and enchantment-for-hire (more than one noble house in what would become Halrun has a sword, armor or other weapon that was enchanted by Arandel for a princely sum of money). Over the last fifty years, the high regard mages all over the Tamildan-speaking world had for him saw him called upon to be a mediator, which he was only reluctant to do at first, not wanting to be withdrawn from his studies, though he has come around at this point. He sat out the rebellion, spending most of the war in other countries mediating there. He was no fan of Syrokis, but he saw it as a human affair that would pass soon enough either way.
Name: Itrick Grosdan Race/Age/Birthplace: Human/76/Rural Halrun Stats: Diplomacy - 5 Martial - 4 Stewardship - 5 Intrigue 6 Learning - 8 Magic - 9 Trait:Justice Requires Truth Grosdan's services as a freelance prosecutor across Halrun were fueled in part by his command of truth-binding magic, which forces all who testify before him to speak truth, even if they don't want to. Resisting his magic is possible, and people can only report truth as they know it, but still. Before he tries a case, he will make a + Magic roll with a Base Chance of 65% (can be raised or lowered in some cases). Weak Success means no one can lie by anything but omission while under the effect of his truth-binding, a Strong Success means people will be compelled to speak the truth no matter what, when asked. Depending on the case and the nature thereof, this can render any rolls related to judgement entirely unnecessary, or provide a bonus to the roll of 3, 4 or 5. Brief Background: Born to a family of hunters and woodsmen in Eyrist Woods, born before Halrun even existed, Itrick proved to be a smart, studious and gifted young man. His extended family pooled their resources to send him to the nearest town to get an education at the age of 10. While there, he caught the eye of the clergy of Askiran, and at the age of 12, he entered the service of the Crowned Scepter as an acolyte - at the time, a pecking order within the church in Halrun was still being sorted out, as each temple in each nation tends to have one High Priest. Young Itrick proved to have little interest in temple politics, but proved to be an expert study of both laws and magic. By the time he was 25, he'd become a full-fledged priest, and could have been appointed to lead a local shrine, or even serve as a judge within the Kingdom, but he decided he'd rather be more itinerant, seeking out places in need of law and order, and offering his services. He traveled around Halrun and beyond, serving as prosecutor or judge or even defense advocate, in a few cases, in places where order had broken down, or law was being ignored flagrantly, or in particularly difficult and prolonged cases. He cared more about seeing cases resolved in a manner that allowed victims and communities to heal and resolve to return to order, rather than according to an abstract notion of Justice and Punishment. During the rebellion, he lent his magic to the rebellion, interrogating prisoners and suspected spies.
Other Prominent Characters
Name: Cyril Race/Age/Birthplace: Human/133/??? Stats: Diplomacy - 7 Martial - 3 Stewardship - 4 Intrigue - 4 Learning - 13 Magic - 17 Combat Skill - 3 Trait:Dawning Heir: Cyril, through his mentor (and her mentor, etc) can trace a line of learning back to the legendary hero-wizard Narper Venn, who is said to have used his magic to shield entire cities from attackers during the Dawning Wars, defeat Dragons in single combat and so forth. This gives him a great deal of prestige among fellow mages especially. +6 to any task involving negotiating with other mages unless that make specifically dislikes Cyril. Brief Background: Cyril's exact origins before his mentor, the Archmage Eliris Zoll, made him her apprentice and ultimately successor as Master of Narper's Tower (Cyril's home in the Exarchel Mountains, said to be built by Narper Venn himself and also said to be housing lore lost since the Dawning Wars) are unknown. Cyril has had a habit of visiting people in power, offering sage advice (that is ignored at people's peril) and otherwise keeping to himself, besides his various apprentices. Which one, of the twelve he's had that remain alive today, will be given his tower remains unknown, and he could always get another apprentice. When not hiding in his tower or offering sage advice to rulers, Cyril put his efforts to defense of the region from common threats - he destroyed a large chunk of the greatest Goblin Horde to threaten the south in a millennia some 61 years ago, and 43 years ago he defeated a powerful cult of fringe worshippers of Ser-Tornath trying to conduct rituals via mass sacrifice to achieve some nefarious end. He is most famous, however, for his rivalry with Irino, a powerful fire mage and fellow former apprentice to Eliris Zoll, and for his duel 27 years ago with the wife of the Archnecromancer, Katrya Serriados, which resulted in her death. There's nothing but rumor as to why he did that, but the most accepted theory (since the Archnecromancer seems to have not tried to intervene in the duel) is that Katrya wanted to reverse the Sunset Proclamation and thought killing Cyril would make future conquests easier. Cyril tried to caution Syrokis against his tyranny several times in the years leading up to the revolt, but to no avail. Cyril spent the war in his tower, only returning to the capital to lend his advice to the Estates-General in the aftermath, and aid with the recovery.
Roster of Minor Characters of Note: King Basil VIII: King of Morvak. Married. King Olden III: King of Nerinthar. Married. Crown Prince Jarok: Crown Prince & Heir of Nerinthar. Married. Princess Janera: Second Child of Olden III. Unmarried. Lady Yarelle Varto: Bastard-child of House Varto, awarded the family's estates. Likely a Vanessa loyalist as a result. Lord Reyndar Froywell: Progressive noble, cousin of the main Blosk line. Awarded Orgus Blosk's Estate King Teran: Founder and First King of Halrun. Dead. King Brunn: Son and Heir of Teran. Dead. Syrokis: Former Deposed King of Halrun. Dead. Countess Gramaire: Syrokis's former mistress, a skilled fire mage, and mother of his bastard son. At-large, but attainted. Former Countess of Aloce Brunn Jr: Syrokis's bastard son. Any coup coming from ex-loyalists would ultimately be in his name. At large, less than 1 year old. Presumably with his mother. Couris Maskt: Port Lest's main representative at Court. Sir Marteen Salces Rescon: Lady Balmain's second cousin and (among other things) her headsman. Accused of murder during the rebellion. Count Xandar Fredero: Count of Vaspiri. Widely respected expert on inheritance law. Lady Aster Corex: Lesser judge serving under Keeper of Justice Itrick Grosdan. Conservative noble, but famously incorruptible and dedicated to the letter of the law. Lady Carissa Floren: Well connected and charming noblewoman, with family in several neighboring realms. Hates Morvak. Lady Lyra Bandasi: Minor (and progressive) noblewoman within the Grand Duchy of Raida. Heavily invested in trade. Shrewd bargainer. Archnecromancer Lyrus Serriados: Archnecromancer of the Kingdom of The Necromancers, King of Darkmoon Forest, King In the Deathwood. Issued the Sunset Proclamation 76 years ago that formally renounced conquest and all claims to lands beyond Darkmoon Forest & The Deathwood. Countess Verenna Relund: A cousin of Count Vallefor. A conservative, but one that takes much more seriously than most the idea of noblesse oblige and the needs of a noble to care for and protect the peasants and commoners in their charge. Recently named Countess of Aloce. King Gaius Rodela: King of South Zarsim. Unmarried. Essinya Serriados: Daughter of Lyrus Serriados. A powerful necromancer in her own right. Unmarried. Technically Princess/Heir to Darkmoon Forest, but KoTN succession is a mite more complicated than that. Unmarried. Princess Regara Rezan: Princess of Morvak. Twin to Priscilla. Appears to be a supporter of peaceful relations with at least some of Morvak's neighbors. Unmarried. Princess Priscilla Rezan: Princess of Morvak. Twin to Regara. Apparently has had a long string of lovers and partners. No interest in women. Unmarried. Revanchist and bloodthirsty even by Morvakian standards. Princess Allara Taygraf: Ruling Princess of Illegorst. Like all the nobility of that realm, elf-blooded. Rumored to be a vampire, and has not been seen out in the sunlight for over a year. Was married, now widowed, has a six year old son and a three year old daughter. Prince Loran Taygraf: Princess Allara's younger brother. Unmarried. Spends more time in the forests than at court. King Elaric II Aldogun: King of Selissa. Widower. Crown Princess Brunhilde Aldogun: Heir to the Selissan Throne. Married. Prince Lothar Aldogun: Eldest son and 2nd child of King Elaric II. Very skilled with a rapier, said to be a bit of a dandy.
Rienne : Be a just queen and have the support of the people in these trying times
Sasha: be an intimidating queen who knows how to get down to business, and let others hang themselves
Okay, so you've overthrown the evil tyrant monarch with your grand coalition of commoners and knights and nobles, but now what? The Kingdom is bankrupt, the roads are ruined, the army is split between surviving supporters of the last king that surrendered in time to accept the new order and former rebels who often have legitimate reasons to not like them.
Well, I never played much CK2, but I'm not too shabby at EU4! Leaning on that experience, I'd say we should restructure our loans by leaning on wealthy merchants, and then raid our neighbors for cash to bail ourselves out. Perhaps the Riverlands? To that end, we're gonna need some martial skill. [X] Rienne Novash
I also kind of want to see you write the exotic and powerful foreign woman, though, so... [X] Zelirna Sorlkaeus
The next time Silent War updated I was going to thank you for recommending me the Warcraft movie, I ended up really enjoying it. I kinda burned myself out on that setting, though, so my project there is dead for now.
The next time Silent War updated I was going to thank you for recommending me the Warcraft movie, I ended up really enjoying it. I kinda burned myself out on that setting, though, so my project there is dead for now.
