[Information] World Information

[darthcharon]

 

The Monarchy Alstenot is technically a monarchy, ruled by a single king who oversees the entire country. The current king, Fredrick the Fourth, has not claimed an heir, and with no child readily available to take the throne, the law claims that it will fall to the houses under the throne to pick a worthy replacement. Under the Treaty of Vestun, the throne is the only one that can possess standing armies. While the houses may hire soldiers to act as royal guards, and are expected to maintain a standard police force in their towns, they may not under any circumstances possess actual troops under their employ. Of course, with no king or queen to back the law, whether or not it is enforced will be up to the houses themselves. Although the monarchy does technically have the right to at any time give direct orders to the houses, it generally allows each house to regulate itself, giving orders only in times of war. The crown also has the distinct right to declare a house "Extra Legem", or "outside the law". A house that is declared Extra Legem is no longer protected by the laws of the land, including the Treaty of Vestun. Among other things, this means that other houses can invade, ransack, and otherwise make miserable the lives of the offending nation without fear of reprisal until Extra Legem is revoked. Any land claimed from that house or items stolen from their coffers during that time are considered rightful property of the attacking nation. The dreaded decree is usually only issued for serious offenses, and almost always come with a length of time in which it is valid, varying from a few weeks to a few years. All violations of the Treaty of Vestun come with an automatic declaration of Extra Legem for a minimum period of one month.

 

The Guilds There is a guild for virtually everything, from the expected fighter and wizard guilds, to the mundane masonry and smithing guilds, and even more exotic ones like the consort and gambling guilds. If there exists a service, there exists a guild to provide it. Though it is possible to find freelance workers, such are generally frowned upon as unsafe for both employee and employer. The employee is not guaranteed the basic rights and pay that the guild would offer, while the employer cannot guarantee the quality of the job, or that the freelancer will not simply skip town with the money. Such is the influence and wealth of these guilds that they are often called the minor houses, and though they lack any true political influence, their words carry great weight in the noble houses.

 

The Leagues Due to the signing of the Treaty of Vestun, the houses cannot, among other things, possess armies of their own. However, due to the written words (which may or may not have been intentionally written as such), the treaty does not prohibit the hiring of external military forces, which has led to the creation of the leagues. They are large mercenary forces which offer their services to whomever they please, and more than a few consider the size of the pay the only important factor. Oftentimes a house will fund the creation of a league, in hopes that it will offer their services to their house at a discount and to their enemies at a steep price, but once created such leagues are wholly independent, and the house cannot legally claim any ownership of it without violating the Treaty of Vestun. As such houses are very careful when handling loyal leagues, for fear of ostracizing them and driving them away.

 

Religion Religion in Alsternot is a diverse thing, and one deity might be worshiped in two completely different ways in opposite ends of the realm. Ultimately, however, all the religions are unified within the temple guild, which has divided all of their deities into two general categories, the gods of good, and the gods of law. The gods of chaos have no desire to be incorporated into such a rigid structure and have instead gone and done their own thing (typical, really), while evil deities are shunned, for obvious reasons, though many still operate in secret. The practice of religion is at least as diverse as it's pantheon, ranging to daily worship and zealous peasants to athiest communities that have zero interest in anything beyond their mortal affairs. To avoid confusion when traveling to lands that may not recognize their god, most clergy announce themselves by declaring themselves by pantheon, not by god, though they will almost always include the name of their god as well, in the off chance they are recognized.

 

The Common Races Humans Humans are obviously the most abundant race, accounting for well over 70% of the population. Other than that there isn't much to say about humans, other than that they are as diverse here as they are in real life, coming from all walks of life. Additionally, they are the only ones that can rule the houses, and also occupy the vast majority of positions of power outside the houses. Dwarves Dwarves live in the nigh impassable Gruunspike mountains, which form the northeastern boundary of Alstenot. They are primarily an isolationist group, preferring to tend to their own affairs under the mountains, though they do frequently trade with their neighbors. Though a few dwarves have left their homes and set up home in Alstenot, few do so willingly, and most are either criminals exiled for their crimes or attempting to escape from something back home. These 'sun dwarves' as their underground brethren call them, are treated with respect in Alstenot for the most part, for their skill with metal is legendary. However, if they ever try to return home, they are treated only marginally better than human guests at best, and downright hostility at worst. The only exception to this are the merchants, who are deeply respected due to the sacrifice they have made, abandoning the greatness of the earth to bring the dwarves what they cannot provide themselves. Elves Elves are a very mysterious race, and anyone wishing to play one should PM me for a full debriefing of their history, but in short they are very much a seafaring race, coming from some land across the ocean. Though most of their kind are nice enough, if a bit full of themselves, and always happy to trade when they land. The rest though, however, are raider and corsairs which spend most of their time looting ships, but have been known on occasion to launch attacks on land as well, though they never venture far from the coast. A few have set up permanent residence in Alstenot, but even then they seem very reluctant to live more than a day's walk from the sea. Halflings Halflings have no land of their own, nor a desire to create one. Simple folk for the most part, they are usually content simply to live their lives as citizens of Alstenot, where they are renowned for their many taverns and bakeries. However, just because they are usually calm does not mean they are docile, and Magnar the Humanite found out. Possessive of an unyielding hatred for non humans, the lord of house Calstriin sought to boot out all the halflings, elves, and dwarves by drastically increasing the tax on all establishments not owned by humans. Thus started the halfling uprising, which lasted a measly three weeks before Magnar's head was found in a cooking pot, a message to his successor. Greenskins Orcs and goblins, as well as bugbears and other races often associated with them, are most frequently found in the vast desert which defines Alstenot's southeastern border. Unlike most classical greenskins, the orcs and goblins of the desert are a proud, nomatic people. Though they are still warlike, they fight by their own code of honor, and are more akin to the native americans than the typical bloodthirsty monsters they are often portrayed as. This of course does not stop the good people of Alstenot from mistaking them as such, however. They have, on occasion, been hired by brave houses for one task or another. While they have no need for gold, they have a particular interest in gems, believing that different colored gems have different spiritual effects, and they always need more basic supplies such as food and tools.

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