Fantasy Medieval Style Law. Part 2

The Arrest
As Sigurt and Thil enter Lado's shop, the one of the two Greene men following them runs to tell Aldus and Marcus where Sigurt is. Unfortunately for Sigurt, the Greene has gathered everybody and ready to move. Several minutes later everybody arrives at Lado's shop.

Lado was successful at covering his discomfort at the arrival of Sigurt and Thil and managed not to tip them off that something was amiss. Their conversation about provision was interrupted by a loud insistent knock at the door. When Lado answered he see Marcus with his posse backed by a City Guard patrol standing nearby.

Marcus presents his writ and then turns to Sigurt and Thil announcing he is here to arrest Sigurt for the murder of his brother. Sigurt puts his hand on his weapon but Thil noticing the posse and the guards stops the Northeron. Thil examine the writ and finds it in good order. Sigurt and Thil get in to a heated argument until Thil pointed out the dozen or so armed individuals outside in the street. Thil will take Sigurt's gear and get back to Corbin to see what can be done. But for now they are out numbered.

To everybody's relief, Sigurt surrenders after giving his gear to Thil. Marcus, the city guard, and his posse take Sigurt to the nearest Jails and has Sigurt locked up. The writ is signed by the Jailor indicating that the arrest has been made.

The Trial
Aldus and Marcus Green return to Alderman Mallory and present him with the signed writ. Aldus requests that Sigurt be tried at the next assizes for the murder of his son. Alderman Mallory agrees and issues a Writ to compel Sigurt to appear before the commission of oyer and terminer when it assembled in 18 days at the monthly assize to answer for his crimes. Aldus pays the Alderman another two shilling for this writ.

---

Rob's Notes: Eastgate as a freetown is not allow to try capital crimes. The king holds monthly assize in where felonies can be heard and adjudicated. In this fantasy kingdom, the Grand Jury is a group at the assize that issues indictments requiring the named individuals to appear at the next assize. Indictments can be presented to the Sheriff or Aldermans to secure a writ to arrest the named individual to force them to appear.

The Commission of Oyer and Terminer, actually hears the case and renders a verdict. To have the commission hear a case the plantiff has to secure a writ in order to be put on the schedule or docket.

It is quite possible that the indictment step is skipped as in the case of Sigurt. In which case, if a suitable authority, like an Alderman or a Sheriff, issues a writ to put the case on the docket.

---

In the 18 days that follows these things happen.

Both the Greenes, and the Adventuring Party gather witnesses who would swear an account of the events that led to the death of Micheal. The Adventuring Party has a hard time of it due to the Greenes better connections. However they manage to find a merchant who was present during the incident who happened to be a rival to the Greenes.

Sigurt sits in jail and one of the adventuring party makes sure that he has food, water, and clothing each day. Medieval Jails provide minimal food and water. The expectation is that the family will keep the prisoner supplied. Luckily none of the jailers wants to mess with the Adventuring Party after the first visit so Sigurt is able to get everything that the party delivers until the assize.

When the day of the assizes arrives, Sigurt and the other prisoners to be tried are escorted by the city guard to the commons where the tents and the commission's benches are set up. It is cloudy day with rain drizzling off and on so everybody is in a foul mood and ready to get this over with.

At first the trial goes badly for Sigurt as the Greene line up an array of witnesses swearing that Sigurt instigated the fight with no provocation. And other testifying to Micheal's good character. However prior to the trial Thil managed to find out that one of the commissioners was a knight whose son got in trouble because of Micheal's rowdy ways. Thil's investigation and persuasion abilities (along with a few quiet Charm Persons) allows him to highlight Micheal's rowdiness.

At the conclusion of the trails, the commission finds Sigurt guilty of manslaughter not murder and fines him double weregild (400 shilling or 4,800 sp) for Micheal's death. The Greene family wanted death is not happy with the verdict. The party pays Sigurt's fine and quickly leaves Eastgate on their long delayed expedition to the Barradine Ruins. It unlikely the Greenes will be able to exact any type of vengeance unless the party returns to Eastgate.

Wrapping it up
I deliberately made the resolution more peaceful than would likely be the case. Odds are that Thil and Sigurt would have made a scene at Lado's shop. Either fleeing through the back of Lado's shop or attempting to take on the posse and the guard. Each with their own negative consequences.

But the scenario path I opted for allowed me to illustrate each part of how medieval style justice would work in a fantasy RPG campaign. The key to Sigurt paying a fine and not hanging from a noose is Thil clever work in discovering that others were negatively by Micheal. Thus painting the incident as one where a crime has been committed, manslaughter, but caused by Micheal's history of drunkenness. However because the Adventuring Party had no local ties it was a uphill battle at every step.

Fantasy Medieval Style Law. Part 1

Recently I created an example of how fantasy medieval legal system would work. I talked about this in a series of posts about building a feudal setting called Of Overlords, Kings, and  Barons. Of course there is a Harn Article on the subject called simply Law.

The Incident
The PCs are sitting in the Rusty Keg tavern in the City of Eastgate enjoying a meal and a drink after concluding a deal for a map that will lead them to the Barradine Ruins, their current focus. From two tables over, Michael Greene and his friends start mocking one of the party's member, Sigurt the Bold a Northeron. He is a member of the Greene family a local merchant family who works the northern trade routes. Northeron raider are one of the more serious threats that the family has to prepare on their trading voyages. As a result there is little love for Northerons from Micheal or his family.

Michael is drunk and starts making loud comments about SIgurt. His friends join in as well. Finally Sigurt had enough and walks over and just clocks Micheal after deciding that he can take on the whole lot if need be. Micheal jumps on top of Sigurt and the fight is on. Micheal's friend are about to jump but stops when the whole adventuring party stands up. The fight is between Micheal and Sigurt.

A few blows are traded by Sigurt has the upper hand being a veteran warrior. Unfortunately a few rounds in, Sigurt's player rolls a critical hit. Not only Sigurts puts Micheal down but also kills him.

The Aftermath
The tavern goes silent. Corbin, the leader of the party, decides that it is best not to stick around. He gives the barkeep 50 gp for the trouble caused. Then the party leaves and returns to the Wyvern Inn where they have rooms.

The barkeep, who also the owner of the Rusty Keg, goes over to Micheal Greene's friends and tell them to pick up Micheal's body and bring him to a back room. Then the barkeep start questioning Micheal's friend who are they and who is Micheal. Eastgate is large enough that not everybody is recognized on sight. However the Barkeep has heard of the Greene family and is well aware of their status as a merchant family. So the barkeep grabs his son and tell one of Micheal's friends to take his son to the Greene house.

A 1/2 hour later, Aldus Green and his eldest son and heir Marcus Greene arrive at the Rusty Keg. Sad and angered at the death of his younger son, Aldus tells Marcus to start questioning people as to what happened. While a lot of the patrons have left a few remained who saw everything. Between them and Micheal's friends, Aldus and Marcus gets a general description of the party, and along with the name of the person who they met, Lado Thorne a chandler local to the ward.

The Investigation
Aldus and Marcus secure a cart from the Barkeep and transport Micheal's body back to their house. It is almost midnight when this is done. Because it is night time Marcus gather a guard wakes up a handful that work for the family. Picking those who have brawled or can fight. They march through the street towards Lado's shop.

Along the way, a City Guard patrol stops them and asks their business., Marcus explains that his brother was killed and they were on their way to Lado's shop to question him about the identity of the killers. That they intend no violence. The guard corporal in charge of the patrol knows from experience that tempers are high. So he tells Marcus that he may go but only if one of the guard accompany to act as a witness.

Marcus agrees knowing that his family hasn't done anything formal yet. So the guards are well within their authority to order Micheal and his posse to turn back. But the guard corporal knows about the Green family and their status. Since the purpose of the posse is to question Lado it fine as long as it doesn't get out of hand. After Marcus leaves with his posse and the assigned guard.. The corporal sends a runner back to the ward's barrack to let the Sergeant and Lieutenant know that a murder took place and that the Greene family has sent out a posse.

Marcus, the guard, and the posse arrived at Lado's house. After pounding on the door for a few minutes, Lado open a window and ask their business. He becomes a little frightened at the posse below, he calms down a little when he see a guardsman with them. He lets Micheal and the guardsman into his shop and they begin to talk.

As a rule most proprietors including Lado keep quiet about their customer's business. However when Lado learned that Micheal Green was killed in a bar fight after he left. He quickly identifies the adventuring party to Micheal and to the guardsman as a witness. He also happen to know through the dinner conversation with the party that they are staying at the Wyvern Inn.

He doesn't tell Marcus what his business with the group was about. Telling Marcus that his father can talk to Tomas, the guildmaster of the Chandlers if the Greenes want to know. However that discretion doesn't extend to protecting his customer from a murder investigation.

The Writ
It been a long night so far with no end in sight, Marcus leaves Lado's shop. He tells the city guardmen that the Greens are going to keep watch on the Wyvern. The guardsmen acknowledges and asks for an escort back to the barrack. Marcus does this as well as send his own guard and one of other employee to watch on the Inn for the remainder of the night. Afterwards Micheal returns home and spends the remainder of the night comforting his mother.

---

Rob's Note: Aldus doesn't authorize Marcus or any of those who work for them to go into the Inn and grab the party as the Inn is the property of a innkeeper who in good standing with the innkeeper's guild. Innkeeper are expected to protect their guests and safeguard their property as one of their responsibilities. With a writ from a Alderman, the Greenes have no recourse to wait until they secure one. However if Sigurt or the party steps out of the Inn then they are fair game.

---

In the morning the party wakes up and has breakfast and plans the day's shopping in order to prepare to leave for the Barradine Ruins the following day.

At the earliest possible hour, Aldus Greene and his son Marcus head over to Alderman Angus Mallory's house. The Mallory family have long been friends of the Greens. The Mallorys own one of the largest weaving establishments in Eastgate and the Greenes often ship their linen and wool to distant ports.

Aldus reports the murder and has his son Marcus swear to the particulars. Alderman Mallory is more than willing to accept their sworn oaths and issues a writ authorizing the Greene to seize Sigurt's person and transport him to the nearest jail to await a hearing. The writ further allows the Greene to call on the CIty Guard as the accused is reputed to be a member of an adventuring party. Aldus pays the Alderman two shillings (24 sp) for the writ.

While the party is eating breakfast and planning their day. Aldus and his son Marcus are gathering every guard and employee they have along with sending a runner to the ward barracks to ask for a patrol to be on hand.

This takes time so the party conclude breakfast and break up to go shopping and prepare for the expedition. The two men that the Greene station see this and start to follow Sigurt. Sigurt is in the company of Thil the Cowled, a mage, and their job is purchase rations and other consumables for the expedition. Ironically they head over to Lado's shop.

Of Overlords, Kings and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part 15

Continuing a series of posts detailing how I developed the feudal system of the City-State in my Majestic Wilderlands campaign.

The Royal Guard

The head of the Royal Guard is the MARSHAL OF THE ROYAL GUARDS. The Marshal is responsible for the personal protection of the Overlord.

The personal bodyguards of the Overlord. The spiritual descendants of the original Tharian housecarls who were men personally loyal to the chief of the clan.

The Royal Guards also organize the Overlord's Hunts, and his personal herd of horses.

The most important division of the Royal Guard are the Regulators. They are in essence a group of high level adventurers personally loyal to the Overlord and his family. They were established by Lucius the Great in his war against the Tyrant mage Salm-Lorin. Since then the Regulators have hand-picked their successor to maintain their tradition of personal loyalty.

They are headquartered in the dungeon levels underneath the Cryptic Citadel. There they maintain the true magical treasures of the Overlord and undertake missions that no other group can deal with.

This of course leads the question, why if the Overlord has such a powerful group they don't just literally blow up all the enemies of the Overlord. They do deal with some threats in that way, the reality is that other sovereigns have similar groups of their own. These disparate high level groups of adventurer types are basically the nuclear option of the Majestic Wilderlands except that because of the personal nature of most magic they can't wipe out whole realms. Groups of individuals and small area, sure thing.

For all their power, these groups are not particularly effective against the divine powers and are vulnerable to corruption by demons. It is known that extensive use of magic and supernatural powers seems to give the deities more leeway for intervention including liberal use of miraculous resurrection from the dead.

One Regulator after she was initiated remarked, "You mean we have all this and we can't use it to win?! Sometimes I feel I did more when I was just starting out and smashing up skeletons just inside the entrance of the dungeon."

One useful tool to handle this as a referee is to look at how things are handled in the world of comic book superheroes. Writers of Superhero stories have come up with a number of clever ways of integrating super powered being into otherwise normal world.

Under the Marshal of the Royal Guard are:
Captain of the High Guard
5 Companies
Captain of the Low Guard
20 Companies
Master of the Squires
Master of the Hunt
Falconer Royal
Master of the Hounds
Royal Weaponcrafter
Weaponcrafters
Royal Ostler
Ostlers
Captain of the Regulators
Regulators

With this post we conclude this series of posts. I am working on integrating all of this into a PDF that I will release. There will be two releases, the first a 'as is' compilation of all the posts. The second a Bat in the Attic Product that will have a similar setup but in a more polished form with some extras.

Of Overlords, Kings and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part 14

Continuing a series of posts detailing how I developed the feudal system of the City-State in my Majestic Wilderlands campaign.

The Chamber of the Overlord

The Head of the Chamber of the Overlord is the LORD HIGH CHAMBERLAIN. The Lord High Chamberlain's responsibilities are to ensure the personal health and well-being of the Overlord and maintain the Overlord's quarters and dwellings.

Under the Chamberlain is the Lord Master Herald known as the Moonlight King of Arms due the fact their main offices are housed in the Silverlight Palace in City-State. The heralds act as diplomats and official messengers especially to foreign realms. They also keep track of social hierarchy of Overlord's territories by recording Coats of Arms and other insignia in their record books. The wearing of a Coat of Arm isn't as rigorously regulated as in our own history. In-game, I justify this by using the fact that has to deal with three separate traditions, Tharian, Elessarian, and Ghinorians. Out of game it is because of the legacy of starting with 1st Edition ADnD. So I came up with something that supported the tendency of PCs to come up with group names and insignias.

The Astrology Royal is the official diviner of the Overlord. In all of the RPGs I used to run the Majestic Wilderlands there are divination spells. Nobles would hire as part of their household a mage capable of casting these spell.

The Master of the Esoteric Arts is the position granted to the court wizard. Who advises the Overlord on all things magical and maintains the magic items owned by the Overlord and his family.

At the time of the MW Supplement, the Master of the Esoteric Arts held by Lewellyn the Blue who is an independent wizard and not a member of the dominant Order of Thoth. As of 4436, Lewellyn has been in the position for nearly five decades and is granted the Wizards Keep in the Southeast corner of City-State as his personal residence.

The Astrologer Royal as of 4436 BCCC, is Parnswarn the Red who also the Guildmaster of the Guild of Arcane Lore the local conclave of the Order of Thoth. As part of his office he was granted the use of the Southern Keep as his residence.

Parnswarn and the Guild of Arcane Lore are not very happy with Lewellyn as Master of the Esoteric Arts. However the Overlord's family consider Lewellyn to be a personal friend so his position unassailable. This is helped by Lewellyn's disinterest in politics.

In my campaign present of 4460 BCCC, Lewellyn is still the Master of Esoteric Arts leading some to speculate that he is a Half-Elf. Lewellyn doesn't talk about his upbringing much and seems to enjoy the mystery he creates. It is rumored that he had a chat with Duke Divolic making it clear that the new Overlord and his family are under his personal protection.

The 4460 BCCC Astrologer Royal is Master Crassius of the Guild of Arcane Lore. He is not the guildmaster but an experienced mage in the arts of divination.

The Overlord's Fool and the Chief Harper are collectively in charge of the entertainment of the Overlord's court.

The Overlord has three palaces he resides in. Castle Bulwark which is the traditional home of his clan, the Silverlight Palace in City-State, and the Summer Palace in the foothills of the Majestic Mountains near the dwarves of Thunderhold. Each has a Chamberlain in charge of a large staff.


Under the Lord High Chamberlain are:
Chief Clerk of the Chambers
Chamber Clerks
Lord Master Herald "Moonlight King of Arms"
Royal Heralds
Enclave of the Silver Orb
Clerks of the Heralds
Astrologer Royal
Master of the Esoteric Arts
Alchemist Royal
The Overlord's Fool
Chief Harper of the Chamber
Chamber Harpers
Chamberlain of the Palaces
Seneschal of the Silverlight Palace
Royal Chef
The Overlord's Food Taster
Master of the Palace's Cellar
Ostler of the Palace's Stables
Chief Metalcrafter
Chamber Servants
Seneschal of the Summer Palace
Royal Chef
The Overlord's Food Taster
Master of the Palace's Cellar
Ostler of the Palace's Stables
Chief Metalcrafter
Chamber Servants
Seneschal of Castle Bulwark
Royal Chef
The Overlord's Food Taster
Master of the Palace's Cellar
Ostler of the Palace's Stables
Chief Metalcrafter
Chamber Servants


Clan Bulwark

The Head of Clan Bulwark is the OVERLORD. Since the Overlord has many other responsibilities, he grants the HIGH BAILIFF OF CLAN BERNOST the authority to oversee Clan Bernost's affairs and lands. Clan Bernost is the Overlord's family and it's holdings.

Large Tharian clans are divided into septs each governed by a chief. Septs roughly correspond to a manorial estate with a focus on livestock, and horse raising. Each Sept is governed by a Chief with the entire clans ruled by a High Chief.

The old titles of High Chief and Chief are now only used in certain ceremonies. Most of the Bulwark Chief have granted titles of knighthood or baronies to use as well.

The clan has grown so wealthy and powerful is there is little opposition to the Overlord immediate family. This is one of the main factor behind the accession of Overlord's underage grandson. In 4460 BCCC, the ongoing civil war may change this.

Under the High Bailiff of Clan Bernost are:
Treasurer of Bernost
Chiefs of Bernost Septs.
Marshal of Bernost
Captains of Bernost

Next up is the last post in the series and concluding thoughts.

Of Overlords, Kings and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part 13

Continuing a series of posts detailing how I developed the feudal system of the City-State in my Majestic Wilderlands campaign.

Ministry of War
The GRAND MARSHAL OF THE CITY-STATE heads the Ministry of War. The Grand Marshal is responsible for the high level command and maintenance of the Overlord's Troops. Usually the Grand Marshal position is unfilled except in war time due to the powerful nature of the office.

The Legion is main standing army of the Overlord. It is comprised of 5000 men divided into 8 VastThrongs (infantry) and 2 EquiThrongs (cavalry).  The individual VastThrongs and EquiThrongs are distributed across the various provinces and marches ruled by the Overlords and only brought together in times of war. The Legion is augmented by the noble levies who owe service to the Overlord as part of their obligations as members of the Confederation. In all out out war the Overlord can muster anywhere between 10,000 to 20,000 troops depending on how much of the peasant militia he wishes to call out.

The core Legion is a standing army and serves year around. The remaining forces can serve only one or two season before they have to be dismissed in order attend to planting or the harvest. Typically the Overlord staggers the levies over the years so to have additional troops ready all year long. Fifty percent of the levies serve during the summer season, twenty percent during the spring and fall, and remaining ten percent during the winter season. In times of invasion or all-out war everybody is called up. When this happens the Overlord has at best a season or maybe two to win the campaign before famine is certain.

Wars and conflicts are normally fought with hired troops, either a standing army or mercenaries. Exhaustion in these wars results usually from being unable to borrow any more money to pay troops. In our own history, the expense of fighting wars is what led to the centralization of power by the European Kings and their government. This same process is at work in the City-State and is one of the main source of political tension between the clans/noble houses and the Overlord.

Under the Grand Marshal are:
Lord Marshal of the Legion
(in peacetime only 1 is active)
(see Military)
Lord Marshal of the Troops
Marshal of the Provincial/Marcher Troops
Chief Ostler
Royal Ostlers
Chief Weaponcrafter
Royal Weaponcrafters
Chief Provisioners
Royal Provisioners.
Marshal of the Overlord's Stores
Lord Marshal of the Castles
Marshal of the Province/March Castles
Royal Masons
Inspector General of the Overlord
Inspector General of the Province/March
Royal Inspectors
Lord Marshals commanding the VastThrongs(8)
Lord Marshals commanding the EquiThrongs(2)

The Exchequer

The head of the Exchequer is EXCHEQUER ROYAL OF THE CITY-STATE. The Exchequer Royal is responsible for collecting and accounting for all the revenues of the Overlord. The Overlord has two main sources of revenue. Income from the Shield Dues, and income from his personal holdings.

The Shield Dues are a fee levied against each noble house and clan that are members of the Confederation. It is a result of an agreement between the Senate and the Overlord every five years. The levy is traditionally called a Shield Due and it is apportioned on the basis of the census. This is why there is a separate Ministry of the Census and why reports both to the Overlord and the Senate.

The personal income of the Overlord consists of revenue generated by the estates he personally owns, the feudal dues owned by the subordinated barons and knights for the fiefs they have been granted, and the traditional incomes granted to a Tharian Clan Chief as the Overlord is also the High Chief of Clan Bulwark.

Lucius the Great always made sure that the Shield Dues were set to be little less than the cost of running his government. He would make it publicly known that he would cover the deficit from his own personal income. In the reign of Lucius' successors this continued. However the revenus generated from the City-State itself and later the Marches proved so lucrative that the Senate never had the leverage to use their power over the Shield Dues to keep the Overlord in check. In this respect the political development of the City-State and the Confederation is more like medieval France than medieval England.

The Exchequer Royal is also in charge of minting of the Overlord coins. The Overlord mints a silver penny at 250 coins to a pound of silver. Nominally a pound of pure silver would yield 240 pure silver pennies however the need to improve wear and to stretch the supply of silver, the Overlord has traditionally added enough impurities to strike 250 coins out of a pound of silver. The Overlord also mints a gold crown at 16 coins to a pound of gold. As silver trades 20 to 1 to gold this makes each gold crown worth 320 silver pennies. Since gold needs very little impurities to use it as a coin, a pound of gold yields 16 coins. It is also used as a unit of accounting for large sums.

The Royal Mason under the Lord Architect are the responsibility of teh Exchequer Royal. Since castles, keeps, and public works are among the most expensive projects undertaken by the Overlord it was felt that direct supervision by the Exchequer was necessary.

Last is the Inspector General of the Tolls. There are several important roads in the Overlord's territory, the Rorystone Road northward to Thunderhold, and the South Road to Zothay and Halkmenan. Both are maintained by tolls paid by the people using the roads.

Under the Exchequer Royal are:
Treasurer of the Exchequer
Governor of the Royal Mint
Royal Engravers
Royal Assayists
Collector General of the Exchequer
Collectors of the Exchequer
Chief Clerk of the Exchequer
Clerks of the Exchequer
Lord Architect
Royal Masons
Inspector General of the Tolls
Tolls Clerks

Of Overlords, Kings and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part 12

The continuing a series of posts detailing how I developed the feudal system of the City-State in my Majestic Wilderlands campaign.

To recap I laid out the purpose and hierarchy of the Archives, Census, along with the Provincial and March hierarchies.

Bureau of Order

The MINISTER OF ORDER heads the Bureau of Order. The purpose of the Bureau is to maintain the Royal Prison, the Debtors Prison, and the Royal Constables. The Royal Constables are charged with appending any outlaws and with transferring of prisoners.

The first thing is that the Prison is only temporary in the City-State and the rest of the Majestic Wilderlands. Either one of two things will happen the prisoner gets his trial and either is acquitted or found guilty and punished. Or the prisoner is too poor or is low of status to get a trial. Within a couple of months he will be taken out of the prison and sold into slavery. A feudal society cannot afford to feed prisoners for years on end.

Historically a debtor's prison dealt with people unable to pay their debt (or fines). They would be taken prisoner and held until the family is able to repay the debt. In the meantime they would be put to work as slaves and paid a nominal wage that would go towards repaying their debt. Needless to say this system was highly corrupt and often drove low status families into abject poverty.

Under the Minister of Order are:
Lord Warden of the Royal Prison
The Gaolers of the Royal Prison
Lord Warden of the Debtor's Prison
   The Gaolers of the Debtor's Prison
Commander of the Royal Constables.
Captains of the Royal Constables.
Royal Constables

The Chancery

The CHANCELLOR OF THE OVERLORD heads the Chancery. The Chancellor is responsible for the general government and judiciary of the City-State. All officials of the Overlord are held accountable to the Chancellor. The Chancellor is also head of the Privy Council, which includes all Ministers of the Overlord. The Chancellor sits with the four Royal Magistrates as the Court of Appeals which hears any appeals from the judgments of the Sheriffs of the Provinces and Marches.

The Lord Advocate is the Overlord's representative to the Senate and is entitled to speak during debates. The Chancery Advocates do the same at the various Shield Courts setup by the Senate.

The Inquisitor of the City-State has the authority to examine the records of any ministry and report to the Chancellor. He has no staff or regular duties and only used by the Chancellor as needed.

The Chief Prosecutor is charged with seeking out any who violate the Overlord's peace or the Overlord's privileges. Any violators are brought to the proper official's attention. Usually the region's High Baliff or Sheriff. The Royal Agent are the overt arm of this office. And the notorious Black Lotus are the secret police acting as spies and informers.

Under the Chancellor are:
Royal Magistrates(4);
Chief Clerk of the City-State;
Clerks of the City-State
Lord Advocate of the City-State;
Chancery Advocates
Inquisitor of the City-State;
Chief prosecutor.
Royal Agents
Captain of the Black Lotus;
Black Lotus Agents

Of Overlords, Kings and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part 11

The continuing a series of posts detailing how I developed the feudal system of the City-State in my Majestic Wilderlands campaign.

To recap I laid out the background how the feudal realm ruled by the Invincible Overlord of City-State is two parallel hierarchies. The first is the Confederation of Tharian Clans along with Ghinorian and Elessarian noble houses, the second hierarchy governs the personal territories owned by the Overlord. That as of the present of the Majestic Wilderlands Supplement, 4436 BCCC, the personal power of the Overlord equals the combined might of the clans and noble houses.

Earlier in this series, I explained the various feudal offices, Chamberlain, Chancellor, Exchequer, etc. Why they existed and what function they served. That explanation was a general one, the reality is that each feudal sovereign adapted it to their circumstance and to accommodate their personal quirks. And this is what I did for the goverment of the Invincible Overlord. Some of it was to continue the original elements of Judges Guild's version of the City-State, other were my own creation. Mostly largely derived from Harn, Ars Magica, along with the Life in a Medieval X series of books.

To stress the ultimate goal of laying this out is to generate NPCs for the PCs to interact with and to come up with goals and movitations for the NPC's actions. It is elaborate partly because of personal perferences but also due to the fact that I been running the Majestic Wilderlands for 30 years. The only way to keep a campaign fresh for that long of a time is to come up with details on the various nooks and corners of the setting. This allows me to come up with novel situations for the next campaign.

What are the goals of the Overlord's government?

• To maintain his personal household
• To maintain the judicial system to adjudicate between clans and their members. 
• To maintain an army to defend the Confederation and to protect the Overlord's peace.
• To collect the dues, men, and supplies owed to the Overlord.
• To administer the marches which are the personal territories of the Overlord
• To administer the City-State 

Bureau of the Archives
The MINISTER OF THE ARCHIVES heads the Bureau of the Archives. The purpose of the Archives is to store all of the records complied by the Overlord. Normally this would be a subordinate minister to the Chancellor or sometimes the Chamberlain. However Lucius III understood the need for good record keeper so made it separate office answerable only to him. The Bureau also serves a watchdog function to make sure everybody is dotting their i's and crossing their t's. The Archive is meant to be very visible and noisy in acting as watchdogs. This covers the covert activities of the Black Lotus and the Regulators.

Under the Minister of the Archives are:
    Chief Clerk of the Clans; All records of people and their clans are kept here
        Chief Clerk of Revenue; All records of the Exchequer are here
   Clerks of Revenue
        Chief Clerk of the Record; All records of the Overlord personal library and misc. docs.
   Clerks of the Record
        Chief Clerk of the Edicts; All records of the Overlord's Edicts
   Clerks of the Edicts
        Chief Clerk of the Senate; All records of the proceedings of the Senate
   Clerks of the Senate
        Chief Clerk of Chancery; All records of the Chancery.
   Clerks of the Chancery

Bureau of the Census
The MINISTER OF THE CENSUS heads the Bureau of the Census. The purpose of the Census is to enumerate all the inhabitants of the Overlord's lands, their property, and their clan. Typically the Census is taken every 20 years. Again this would normally be under the one of the major officers (Chancellor, Exchequer, or Chamberlain) if it was done at all. However because the various taxes, aids, and levieis need to apportioned among the clans and nobles. And because those apportions are determined on the basis of the census, Lucius the Great setup a separate bureau. And it is one of the few bureaus of the Overlord's government that reports to the Senate as well as to the Overlord.

Under the Minister of the Census are:
    Chief Clerk of the Provinces
        Clerks of the Provinces
           Royal Census Gatherers
    Chief Clerk of the Marches
        Clerks of the Marches
           Royal Census Gatherers
    Chief Clerk of Administration
        Clerks of Census Administration

Bureau of the Provinces and Marches
The OVERLORD heads the Bureau of the Provinces. This is the hierarchy of officials that execute the law, decrees, and writs that the Overlord and the bureaus enact. It is not a formal bureau like the others it each Province, March, and the City-State has it own their own hierarchy. And the head of each, the Sheriffs, answers directly to the Overlord.

For +Tim Shorts, +Chris C., +Joshua Macy, +Douglas Cole, +Rhandom A, +Ken H, and +Daniel McEntee This is the section that explains the importance of the guy you just killed.

The role of the Sheriffs in the Provinces is mostly administrative as the territory of a province is dominated by sovereign clans and nobles houses who are members of the Confederation. The Provincial Sheriffs have strict limits to their authority. In contrast the Sheriffs of the Marches rule as if the Overlord was personally there. The Barons and Knights of the Marches are expected to treat the Sheriff as if he was the Overlord himself They do retain the right to petition the Overlord directly if they are unhappy or unwilling to go along with a Sheriff's decision. Note that Overlord has deliberately not appointed any nobles of higher rank than Baron. Instead reserves that authority to appointed positions like the Sheriff and High Bailiffs.

As the largest urban settlement by far, the City-State has it own administration based on its pre-conquest bureaucracy. Instead of a sheriff the Overlord appoints a Warden. The Lords of the City-State are basically a town council with the merchants, and temples dominating the membership.

As of the time of the MW supplement, 4436 BCCC, there are five provinces, Laknost, Bernost, Gaenost, Halnar, and Dearthmead. There are five Marches, the Northern March, the Eastern March, the Southern March, the Prydon March, and the Dearthmead March. At the time of my campaign present day, 4460 BCCC, two provinces has been added, New Caelam and Halkmenan. New Caelam is dominated by Duke Draco-lindus, and Halkmenan is dominated by Duke Divolic. A new march has been added the Southern Reaches March just south of the Pyrdon March.

In addition Duke Draco-lindus allied with several of the clan and nobles houses of the City-State and they independently conquered Tiethior on the other side of the Trident Gulf around 4450 BCCC. Working together they created the Tiethoir march independent of the Overlord and the Confederation. This group includes Duke Draco-lindus, the Elessarian Duke of Halnar, and the Tharian Duke of Laknost and various minor clans and noble houses. In the civil war currently being fought they form the core of Draco-lindus' faction.

Tiethoir hierarchy is setup similarly to the Overlord's hierarchy for the Provinces and Marches. Except appointments of high offices (the Sheriff, Treasurer, etc) are made by a collective decision of the council of the nobles originally involved in the conquest. The various districts are dominated by a single clan or noble house and it has become custom to let the dominate clan or noble house appoint the High Bailiff and other officials of that district.

Under the Overlord are:
    Sheriffs of the Province or March (Castle)
        High Bailiffs of the District (Keeps)
            Tax Collectors
            Toll Collectors
            District Justice
            Clerk of the Districts
            Bailiffs of the Manors
        Treasurer of the Province
        Inspector of Public Works
        Inspector of Markets
        Constables of the Castle/Keep
            Garrison Troops
        Lord Magistrates (3)
        Steward of the Sheriff
            Clerks of the Sheriff
    Warden of the City-State
        Lords of the City-State
        Captain of the City Guards
            City Guards
        Harbormaster of the City-State
        Treasurer of the City-State
        Inspector of Public Works
        Inspector of Markets
        Lord Magistrates (3)
            City Justices
        High Clerk of the City-State

Next Post will continue the detailing of the hierarchy.

Of Overlords, Kings and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part 10

 The continuing a series of posts detailing how I developed the feudal system of the City-State in my Majestic Wilderlands campaign.

After the formation of the Confederation, The Overlord Lucius's power relative to the combined might of the clans and Dearthmead was at a low. Even the holdings of his own clan, Bulwark, has split with the newly formed Gaenost clan. Lucius did get the right to build a handful of keeps in the territories of the clans and Dearthmead. The keeps allowed Lucius to house his officials during peacetime and to serve as strongpoints in the time of war. Because of their recent rebellions, the Tharian Clans united against Dearthmead and allowed Lucius to build a castle on the shores of the Estuary of the Rogalaroon. However these new lands, what remained of Clan Bulwark's holdings, and City-State barely  provided Lucius with  enough revenue and men to fulfill his obligations as Overlord.

At first, the Overlord Lucius seemed content with the situation. After the formation of the Confederation, Lucus focused on compiling and writing the Codex Tharia, a code listing all the laws and customs to be used in adjudicating disputes and crimes between the clans along with Dearthmead. There was a section that laid out how the law code was to apply to City-State and the other territories personally controlled by Lucius. An observant scholars wondered at some of the provisions. As they would only make sense if Lucius ruled the confederation as he ruled is own personal territories. However Lucius pointed out they were only needed for the special case of City-State. Because that was the only territory where individuals from different clans, noble houses, and commoners met regularly to do business. For the most part the Codex Tharia was well received. The Tharian nobles saw that tradition was respected in the Overlord's courts. The Ghinorians now understood what to expect and were relieved that Lucius intended to continue the Rule of Law. The Codex provided only the foundation of Lucius grand plan. His next step occurred late in his reign when the dwarves of Thunderhold needed his help.

Thunderhold and City-State had a long history together. It was a dwarf named Atrabilorin who was the first Invincible Overlord. He was popular enough to have City-State help him estabilsh the Kingdom of Thunderhold as a refuge for his people after the fall of the Majestic Fastness caused by the Black Dragon Pan Caulderax. Later during the reign of the Tyrant Salm-Lorin, they allied with Lucius to liberate City-State from the mad mage. And afterward Lucius continued to deal with the dwarves honorably and even convinced the clans to allow an ambassador from Thunderhold to sit as a member of the Senate.

With the Confederation established, Lucius could focus on other projects. One of which is to revive trade between City-State and Thunderhold. To do that the Rorystone Road needed to be rebuilt and the Moonraker Moorlands swept clear of Orcs. Lucius cleverly got the Senate to refuse to help as it would only "benefit" his personal holdings over City-State. The Senate told the Overlord, that if he wanted the Road rebuilt he would have to do it himself.

And that is exactly what Lucius wanted. His personal forces and dwarven allies were more than enough to sweep the Orcs from Moonraker Moorlands. And his understanding of moneylending allow him to raise the money needed to rebuild the Rorystone Road. But most valuable was the fact that since the Senate told him to go at it alone. All the land and territory he won was his to do with as he saw fit.

Lucius divided the territory with Thunderhold and created the Northern March out of his half. He rebuild old castles and keeps and established new settlements. He handpicked men across the Confederation and had them personally swear fealty to him and his immediate family. Lucius was careful not to create any noble with a rank higher than of Baron. Higher positions were made into offices including the Sheriff of the Northern March and various bailiffs.

Northern March 4368 BCCC (Lucius the Great)

Eastern March 4386 BCCC (Varius)

Pyrdon March 4390 BCCC (Varius)

Halnar 4392 BCCC (Varius)

Southern March 4423 BCCC (Tomius)

March of Dearthwood 4430 BCCC (Lucius III)

The settlement of the Northern March served as a model for Lucius' son Varius and his successors. Over the next hundred years, the Overlords used their personal resources to conquer the Eastern March, the Southern March, and then the Prydon March. Each additional conquered territory provided more resources to undertake the next conquest. By 4436 BCCC, the present day of the Majestic Wilderlands Supplement, the Overlord's power was far greater than any one clan or noble house. And now slightly exceeds the combined power of the clans and noble houses. The Overlords skillfully used land and titles in the conquered territories to divide the Senate opposition following the blueprint laid out by Lucius the Great.

A notable exception occurred during the wars with the Kingdom of Antil that lead to the conquest of the Pyrdon March. The resources of the Kingdom of Antil rivaled that of the Overlord. However Elessarians of Antil had deep divisions of their own centered around a rivalry between the House of Talsha and the House of Merovech. At the time of the war the House of Merovech suffered several reversed including the loss of the throne of the Kingdom. The Duke of Halnar felt that the Overlord Varius would be a better sovereign than the King of Antil. So in the middle of the war between City-State and Antil, he switch sides and swore fealty.

The Duke of Halnar and his allied noble houses were welcomed into Confederation as full members. The Senate welcomed the duke and his allies as they would bolster their power in respect to the Overlord. The remaining territory conquered from Antil was divided by the Overlord Various among his supporter and he created the Prydon March.

Among other things the original Judges Guild City-State had a lot of factions and there were numerous hooks for intrigue. Along with this the Overlord was not presented as a weak ruler. After reading the original, you left with the impression that the City-State was a wild place but the Overlord was the biggest baddest of all the inhabitants of the city. He was not weak and not one to cross.

As the Wilderlands of High Fantasy morphed into the Majestic Wilderlands, I kept the idea of a strong Overlord. To combine that with the stuff I developed about the Ghinorians, Tharians, Elessarians, and the Confederation, I came up with the idea of the marches being the personal territories of the Overlord. When I tallied up the number of all the settlement I assigned to everybody I found that the territory personally controlled by the Overlord slightly exceeded that of those controlled by the nobles. Which was great because that supported another detail of the original where half of the Overlord's army are his personal forces and the other half consist of his nobles.

I hope by going into this detail, it helps you as an example for when you want this type of detail for your campaign.

Wrapping up this post, remember that even as Lucius grand plan was working masterfully it could not paper over deepening fissures in Tharian culture. But before we get into that, I am going to layout the details of how the Overlord governs City-State and the Confederation in the next post. A lot of this should be stuff you can cut and paste with a few changes into your campaign.

Of Overlords, Kings and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part 9

Continuing a series of posts detailing how I developed the feudal system of the City-State in my Majestic Wilderlands campaign.

There was a limit to even what Lucius could do in making a realm. The Tharian clans were fiercely protective of their independence. The belief as the chosen people of Mitra lead the Ghinorians of Dearthmead to attempt a rebellion for their independence and liberation of City-State against Lucius. Finally, the economy was only just beginning to rebuild from the fall of the Dragon Empire hit when the wars with Viridstan broke out. During the wars the economy collapsed and now only land had any value.

The Overlord Lucius hammered out a new agreement with the Tharian clan chiefs, and the Duke of Dearthmead. Together they would form a confederation where each member responsible for it own laws, religion, and military. Lucius would be granted the right to call up and maintain a military force to defend the realm. Lucius also would establish a judiciary where disputes between the clans along with the Duchy of Dearthmead would be resolved. And the clans and the Duchy of Dearthmead (the duchy only reluctantly) agreed to recognize City-State as the personal property of Overlord Lucius.

However the clans and the Duchy of Dearthmead imposed conditions of their own. First Lucius had to split off a new clan from Clan Bulwark and relinquish all the conquered territories (Haghill, Darkfield, Gaehill, etc) of City-State (but not the City-State itself) to the new clan. Second, Lucius had to recognize the right for the clan chiefs and the Duke of Dearthmead to organize a Senate. The Senate being a court in which any dispute between the clans or the Duke of Dearthmead would be resolved.

Before the Virdians wars, Tharian titles revolved around the hierarchy of the clan. You had the Chief, his heir the Tanist, along with his personal men the Housecarls. If the clan had subordinate clans, the chief of the leading clan would be known as the High Chief. The Tharians viewed titles like baron, duke, count, etc as foreign affections and not worthy of a Horse Lord.

But now after the war and the formation of the confederation, the Tharians were dazzled by the wealth of City-State and of the Ghinorians. Halius and then Lucius made sure the loot won during the war was liberally split among all the allied clans. There were a few conservative holdouts that disdain the appearance of foreign luxuries however within a generation most of the elite Tharians developed a taste for the latest from City-State.

A more serious issue was the pre-existing system of Ghinorian nobility found in City-State and the Duchy of Dearthmead. At first it looked simple. The conquered territories outside of City-State were treated as original Tharian conquests. The pre-existing nobles were killed or exiled, the Ghinorians reduced to peasantry and the land distributed among the members of the new clan, the Gaenosts.

However that option was not viable for City-State or the Duchy of Dearthmead. Lucius saw that the Ghinorian nobility had trouble relating to the clan hierarchy of the Tharians. So Lucius started creating titles for the various clans and their members. High Chiefs were given titles of Duke or Counts. Chiefs were given titles as barons. The housecarls were recognized as a knights. By the end of Lucius' reign, there were five dukes. The Duke of Bulwark which was given to Lucius' heir, his son Varius. The Duke of the Laknost and the Duke of the Bernost which were given to the two most powerful Tharian clans. The Duke of Gaenost which was given to Lucius' brother when he was forced to relinquish the territories of the City-State as the price for the creation of the Confederation. Finally the Ghinorian Duke of Dearthmead.

Circa 4370 BCCC

It took a generation for the noble titles to sink in among the Tharian clans, but in the end it was one of Lucius more successful policies. It allowed the elites of the two cultures, Ghinorian and Tharian, to relate to each other. But it was also first crack in Tharian Society that led to the civil war of the present campaign.

The newest major clan, the Gaenost, were the first Tharians to really experience the full sophistication of Ghinorian culture. As the Tharian swept into the Dragon Empire, four hundred years ago, the lands they conquered were totally revamped in favor of the Tharian traditional focus on the raising of horses and livestock. In this they were aided by the fact that the lands were devastated by a generation of civil war.

With the Gaenost, the land was conquered in a brief war. While the conquest was devastating for the old Ghinorian nobility, for the common folk it was the same situation but with new masters. The Gaenost took over manors and estates along with the titles that were associated with them. The Bondbuyers learned the more sophisticated practices of Ghinorian merchants. These changes started to drastically alter the original Tharian culture of the Gaenost. And over the next hundred years the changes would spread westward until even the most conservative Tharian clan was affected.

If you play my campaign, your first impression of the Tharians would be that they are barbarians who ride horses with feudal titles along with a bit of a temper. As you interact with them you will find that they I play Tharian NPCs off of several different stereotypes. The stereotypes centered around the above, that Tharian culture in the midst of a great change, and they are struggling badly with the change.

This conflict is central driver of the events behind City-State civil war. Around 1990, I developed this in part to explain why there was a Temple of Set, the Hellbridge Temple, in the middle of City-State when the majority were Ghinorians worshiping Mitra.

There is a large faction of Tharians who believe that the Lars of their ancestors have failed them, and that only by following Set and his Laws of Maat that the Tharian people can be restored to the glory days of clan and horse.

I have not mentioned the Elessarians aside from those who have been conquered and are peasants of the Tharians. They joined later during the reigns of Lucius' successors. You may have noticed that the final arrangement of Lucius with the clans and the Duchy of Dearthmead meant that Lucius' personal power can not compare to the combined might of the clans and the Duchy of Dearthmead.

Lucius has a plan to deal with this. And that plan is what confirmed his title of 'the Great'. We will cover this along with form of City-State's feudal structure took after the reign of his successors.

Of Overlords, Kings and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part 8

Continuing a series of posts detailing how I developed the feudal system of the City-State in my Majestic Wilderlands campaign.

Some background items.

The Overlords of All Tharians and of the City-State to date are

4436 BCCC The present date of the Majestic Wilderlands Supplement.
4460 BCCC The present date of my campaign.

4349-4354   Halius II
4354-4379   Lucius the Great
4379-4397   Varius
4397-4427   Tomius
4427-4458   Lucius III
            Halius  born: 4413 died: 4446 "Duke of Bernost" heir
4458-       Halius III born 4445 Age: 15


Note: The Tharian Overlords derive their regnal numbers from the founder of the clan. So the first Overlord of All Tharians is the second leader of the clan named Halius since the clan's founding, hence he is Halius II not Halius I.

Dragon Empire
Ruled by the Prince of Caelam (present day City-State) as Overlord of the Dragon Empire. It was union of Elessarian and Ghinorian culture united to fight the demonic Viridians to the west and spread the ideals shared by the Church of Mitra and the Trehaen. It collapsed into civil war four hundred ago due to an age old conflict over who was considered an Ghinorian. Did one had to be born a Ghinorian? Or was a profession of faith in Mitra enough? The civil war opened the way for the Tharians to invade take over much of the realms. Caelam, now City-State of the Invincible Overlord, to the west remained independent as well as the southernmost Elessarians.

Circa 4330 BCCC

Three hundred years after their invasion, a hundred years ago, the situation for the Tharians was bad. To the south the surviving independent Elessarians organized the Kingdom of Antil and were poised to expand. Likewise the City-State of the Invincible Overlord was expansionist under the leadership of the Tyrant Mage Salm-Lorin. The most serious threat was from the west, the demon haunted Empire of Viridistan.

---

Background Continued... 
After the conquest, the Tharians remained divided as numerous clans. Their territories the equivalent of petty kingdoms some large as a duchy with a castle and multiple keeps, and some as small as a single keep barony. By the 4330s, a hundred year ago, the Viridians mastered the art of combating horse nomads and started to absorb bordering clans one by one.

Clan Chief Halius II of Clan Bulwark, was at the height of his fame and was widely considered the quintessential Tharian of his generation. By 4338, even the most stubborn clan chief had to admit it was time to unite under a single leader. And that leader was Halius the Second who was proclaimed as Overlord of All Tharians.

What the clan chiefs didn't know was that Halius' son, Lucius was a true genius. That father and son deeply respected one another abilities. Halius realized how smart his son was early on. While he did not always understand why his son advice worked, he grew to trust it and acted on it. Lucius in turn respected Halius athletic prowess and like many others was taken by his father's natural charisma. While Lucius had his own charisma, he was wise enough to see that it was his father who captured the imagination of the Horse Lords. Father and son proved to be potent team and laid the foundation of an empire.

Halius was able to stalemate the Viridians with what we would call Fabian tactics by using the mobility of the horse. When Salm-Lorin of City-State allied with the Viridians, he sent Lucius to deal with the Tyrant. Lucius genius came into full flower during this campaign. At its conclusion City-State fell, and Salm-Lorin was dead. A grateful city, freed of the tyrant mage, proclaimed Lucius as the new Invincible Overlord of City-State.

In addition to conquering the City-State, Lucius defeated the Ghinorian Duchy of Dearthmead to the south of City-State. Lucius had neither the time or resources to fully conquered the duchy. So he accepted their surrender, installed the old duke's son as ruler, and had the new Duke of Dearthmead swear personal fealty to him.

Now with the resources of City-State behind him, Halius was able push back the Viridians and force the Empire of Viridistan to make a peace treaty respecting the independence of the Tharian Clans.

Halius ruled as Overlord of All Tharians much as he did as when he was just a clan chief. Using his wealth and charisma to either charm or threaten the other clan chiefs into supporting his reign. When he died, Lucius used the threat of the Empire of Viridstan to manipulate the Tharian clans into agreeing to make the position of Overlord of All Tharians a permanent one.

I freely admit this is all background was written because it interests me. It is important only that it serves as the foundation for the details that do come up in play. Has any of this ever come up during campaign? A handful of times. It generally when the players realize that the NPCs they meet are not just a bunch of stereotypes. That there is a reason for the power they hold and why they act as they do. When they start asking questions, answer often involves what I wrote above.

Is any of this absolutely required to run a campaign? Yes and no. In one sense it is required because as a referee you have to have a foundation on which to base your roleplaying of your NPCs. Now this foundation can be explicit as when you write out detailed notes on a setting, or it can be implicit which means you are drawing on what you learned about your genre's tropes and stereotypes.

Relying on implicit tropes and stereotypes works because thanks to the work of Gygax, Arenson, Miller, Heinlien, Asimov, Lucas, Spielberg, Tolkien, Leiber, Howard, and dozens of other authors and gamers they have become widespread. To the point where a referee can rely on people "getting" what they are trying to roleplay. So in that respect all that background detail I laid out is not required.

For me, I rather spell out for myself what I will be relying on. That means making notes and background info, much of which the players will never see. Because I ran the Majestic Wilderlands for so long over so many campaigns the notes started to pile up. Enough to... well.. to write a supplement.

Next time we will get into what Lucius setup to rule over the unruly Tharian Clans and the rebellious Duchy of Dearthmead.

Of Overlords, Kings and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part 7

Continuing a series of posts detailing how I developed the feudal system of the City-State in my Majestic Wilderlands campaign.

In the last six posts we covered the general ideas of incorporating feudalism into your campaign. Looked at the nobles, the peasants, the military, the towns, and the religions. Now on too how I implemented these ideas for my Majestic Wilderlands specifically the City-State of the Invincible Overlord.

The City-State is ruled by the Overlord. His full title is Overlord of All Tharians and of the City-State. This popular title is the Invincible Overlord of the City-State. For the past hundred years the Overlords of All Tharians have involved an unbroken string of military successes. This is partly due to the genius of Lucius the Great and party due to the fact that all of the larger realms in the region have broken up into successor states. For much of that time the only serious rival to the Overlords was the Empire of Viridstan. It was the threat of conquest by the Viridians that led the to the Tharian Confederation and the crowning of Lucius' father, Halius, as the first Overlord of All Tharians. The father-son team of Halius and Lucius the Great were so effective at stalemating the Viridian that the Emperors of Viridstan gave up on expanding to the east for two generation. And by the time they were ready again the empire was in the midst of the conflicts that would lead it own descent into civil war.

The Overlord's power rest on his being the Overlord of All Tharians. The Tharians are horse nomads who invaded the region 400 years ago. They are a clan based culture with the clans being on the large size with hundreds of members all related to a founder or a group of related founders. They have a strict honor code and the ownership of horses is the defining mark of status. They believe in a god of the skies called the High Lord and the Lady of Plenty they call Dannu. However their worship is focused on the Lars. The Tharians believe that High Lord and the Lady of Plenty gathers all of the clan's ancestors into a senate to advise the living members of the clans and to aid them with supernatural powers. That senate is called the Lars. The clerics in charge of proper veneration of the Lars are known as mystics.

There are two other prominent characteristics of Tharian society. They have a thriving merchant class that originated in the buying and selling of horses. They are known as Bondbuyers. Last there are the Beggars. Those who have dishonored themselves, committed crimes that made them outlaws, or lost all of their horses. Over the last 400 years they have developed into a underclass that wanders from place to place in the region. They engage in a lot of smuggling, and trade in information including blackmail.

The Tharians swept into the region taking advantage of the collapse of the Dragon Empire 400 years ago. The heart of the Dragon Empire was an alliance between the Ghinorians, the chosen people of the goddess Mitra and the Elessarians whose religion was centered around the druids of the Trehaen.  Some of the Ghinorians and the Elessarians were able to retain their independence and establish independent realms but the rest were conquered and enslaved as peasants for the Tharians.

The Ghinorians believe themselves to be the chosen people of Mitra the goddess of Honor and Justice. In their early history this belief strengthened their identity as a nation separate from the surrounding tribes of their homeland. Later this was altered into that they were to serve as heralds and example so all people can learn of Mitra and follow her ways. This crusading ideal propelled the formation of a Ghinorian Empire and expanded it into the largest empire in the history of the Wilderlands. This expansion led to the Ghinorian to plant colonies throughout the Wilderlands included Caelam which will be known as the City-State of the Invincible Overlord a thousand years later.

The Elessarians are the original human inhabitants of the region. Before them, the region was dominated by Orcs with a enclave of demi-human realms in the northeast. The Elessarians swept in and drove out the Orcs. Within several generations they established petty kingdoms. Like the Tharians, the Elessarians are a clan based society. However their clans were much smallered and centered around an extended family. Later the clans incorporated the idea of businesses, military companies, and served the origin of the traditional structure of a D&D adventuring party.

After driving out the Orcs, the Elessarian developed friendly contact with the demi-human cultures. So friendly that the outside of the clan, they adopted elements of Elven culture wholesale. This led to the rise of the Trehaen and their druids. And led to the strict separation of military, religious, and judicial responsibilities.

This background is important for me because in actual play the realm ruled by the Invincible Overlord of All Tharians and of the City-State is fusion of these three cultures. And the fusion is not yet complete and has resulted in a complex clash of cultures which serves as an excellent source of adventures.

So why three cultures and why these three cultures?

You have to remember that the Majestic Wilderlands was developed over thirty years. And is still being developed even in the campaign I am running right now on Mondays. There are only a few times in this where I start with a blank piece of paper and develop a complete background from scratch. Instead what usually happens is that the players do something or ask about something I don't have notes for. The first stop is to look at the original Judges Guild material to see what it has to say. Usually is it is not much and what there is a bunch of names and their personalities. So then I look at anything I written that is related. With that in hand I draft the new bit of background and incorporate it into the campaign.

Tharian came out of Judges Guild from a series of articles in the last issues of Pegasus. I misspelled the name, in the articles they were the Tharbrians. In the articles the Tharbrians occupied the same regions the Tharians dominate in the Majestic Wilderlands. The idea of the Tharians conquering City-State, their clan structure, Lucius the Great, all came from Mayfair's version of City-State. About the only thing I liked about that not City-State product. (Note: the Mayfair CSIO adventures were very good).

The Tharians are there because they are an original element of the Wilderlands of High Fantasy. Fleshed out over the years with various details that I liked. Some details original some are adapted.

The Ghinorians came about because I really like Jenell Jaquay's Dark Tower. I like the conflict between Mitra vs. Set, and I like the details like Lions of Mitra and Sons of Set. I also like Harn products from Columbia Games for their quality, consistency, and attention to detail. This led to an appreciation for real medieval culture.

With the Ghinorians I killed two birds with one stone. They were the means that I introduced the Mitra vs. Set conflict to my campaigns, and they also are the most medieval of all the cultures I created for my campaign. The major difference being that they don't have true serfdom rather tenant farmers tied to the land through debt peonage. Because of the Ghinorian's faith in Mitra they abhor slavery although some would say the debt peonage system of tenant farmers amounts to the same thing.

The Elessarian in contrast were developed keep the default culture of D&D fantasy within my setting. Like most referees I started out with the core books, in my case ADnD 1st edition, and just went along with the default. And DnD default is not the highly class-conscious socially stratified medieval culture of our own history that Harn depicts. There is social status but wealth and accomplishments (in terms of levels) play a bigger role in determining it. There also the multi-cultural all the default races get along aspect as well. Elvish dominated Elessarian Culture reflects that default with a few twists like the Trehaen, the small clans, and separation of authority.

Within the Majestic Wilderlands, this was the situation that Lucius the Great faced when he became Overlord after his father, Halius died. He had to weld a realm together out of a land dominated by three very different cultures. Do it in a way that he and his successor could continue to rule. Next we will dive in what Lucius the Great, the Invincible Overlord of All Tharians and of the City-State did to achieve this.

Of Overlords, Kings and Barons, Building a Feudal Setting Part 6

Continuing a series of posts detailing how I developed the feudal system of the City-State in my Majestic Wilderlands campaign.

The last topic to cover before getting into the specifics of the Majestic Wilderlands is religion. When I work on settings I define religion as the culture that surrounds the worship of a deity or deities. This keeps my focus on things that are useful for roleplaying NPCs and creating locations rather than just coming up with magic items, artifacts, and monsters. And above helps me avoid treating the deity as nothing more than a powerful monster.

In our history feudal Europe was dominated by the Abrahamic regions, (Christianity, Judaism and Islam). For a short while in the very early middle ages just before the rise of Islam you had Zoroastrianism centered in modern Iran. Christianity had two main divisions the western or Catholic, and the eastern or Orthodox. Islam had it own division between the Sunni and Shiites. Understand I am simplifying a complex subject. What I am going to focus on is the role of religious culture within a feudal society.

Religion played a dominant role in the various feudal societies. And that role was handled in three main ways.

Theocracy - this is where the religious hierarchy is also the ruling hierarchy of society. In our history the Sunni Caliphate of Islam came the closest to a theocratic state during the Middle Ages. In practice, theocracies split secular and religious authority at each level of authority. For example the bishop ruling a region would have separate individual handing religious, military , administrative, and judicial duties. With people involved in the military, administration and judiciary are ordinary lay adherents of the religion. However the person in charge, in the case the bishop, would be a full priest/minister of the dominant religion. Also the judiciary may be split between ordinary courts to hear criminal and commercial cases, and a separate court run by the clergy to hear crimes against the moral order. The specifics of which differs based on the religion involved.

Caesaropapism - society has a separate secular and religious hierarchy however the head of state is also the head of the dominant religion. The Byzantine Empire and the Orthodox church is a good example of this. Later during the Reformation some of the protestant denominations fall under this category particularly the Kings of England after Henry VIII and the Church of England. The type of relationship between religion and society as a whole is characterized by a strong central government. A skilled ruler would use both his religious authority and his secular authority to keep both heirarchies in check.

Church and State - this is the situation of western Europe during most of the Middle Age. You have the state, the various kingdoms and other sovereign realms. Each with their own hierarchy, customs, and laws. Then you have the dominant religion in the form of the Church with its own hierarchy and its own leaders. In this setup, the church has a lot of moral influence but not a lot of actual power. However in many cases the nobles would have agreed to allow clergy to only subject to religious law. And for much of the Middle Ages the religious courts were much more fair than the secular courts. Also note that "clergy" in this case is far more expansive than what we are used to today. It covers just about anybody who is actively employed by the dominant church. They don't have to be anointed or ordained priests.

Specific to the DnD/fantasy style campaigns most of us run is the fact we use polytheistic pantheons. A legacy of Howard's Conan, Greek Myths, and other sources used by Gygax, Arneson, and other early RPG authors, campaign settings with Monotheistic religions are the exception not the rule. Obviously this is going to make the resulting feudal societies a little different than what happened historically. The good news is that there are ways to having both.

The first things to remember is the idea of henotheism. Henotheism is where  people are adherents of a specific deity or religion don't deny the existence of other deities and religions. In a way this makes sense for a DnDish setting where clerics have similar lists of divine spells. Something is fueling the other guy's healing spells right?

The default situation would be the religion of a specific culture. The default religion would a pantheon and each deity covering some area important to that culture. A culture living on the coast would have a different set of deities than a culture living on the steppes.

If they are friendly to another culture than their two respective religions would be friendly. If not then the two religions are rivals. A wrinkle on this is when a less sophisticated culture comes into contact with a more sophisticated culture. Because the more sophisticated culture usually has answers for things that the original culture haven't thought of. And because they are now in contact as part of a wider world, the original culture need those answers as well. This can setup conflicts in the original culture that result in factions. Which of course can lead to various types of adventures.

One way to have a monotheistic style religion in your campaign and still retain a multitude of deities is use the idea of a deity's chosen people. In my Majestic Wilderlands the Ghinorians believe themselves to be the chosen people of the Mitra, the goddess of honor and justice. While they don't consider all other religion to be enemies, their belief as a chosen people leads to the Church of Mitra occupying a similar role to our own history' Catholic Church in the lands they dominate.

The last comment I will make is that you need to consider the influence of the elves and the other long lived races on religion. My own take is that the elves have a huge influence on the culture and religion of their friendly neighbors. Their longevity allows them the time to manipulate the shorter lived races to achieve security for their realms. And often that involves them filing away any objectionable aspect of their neighbor's religion. Or even just outright replace their neighbor's original religion with a variant of their own beliefs.

And if your elves are heavily influenced by Tolkein's works, like mine are, then the elves have a divine connection as well. In the fact they actually are witnesses to the words and actions of divine beings. In Tolkein's case that was the Valar and Maier as well as the "heaven" of the Blessed Realm of Valinor. In the Majestic Wilderlands I implement this as the Sylvan culture. Around each elven realm there is a zone where human cultures are heavily influenced by the elves and other demi-human races. Because of the elves, these cultures share certain deities and moral values even when they are thousands of miles apart.

To date we covered the general ideas of feudal society in regards to the nobles, peasants, towns, and religion. Next I will dive into how I implemented this for the City-State of the Invincible Overlord in the Majestic Wilderlands.