The Rest of All Possible Worlds: Civic Constellations

I've had this in mind for a while. There are those states of Calliste chosen as exemplars for TRoAPW, described in the Gazette here. Anyway, there's a way to quickly illustrate my point in that post with simple diagrams. These aren't pointcrawls, and if they're maps, they're pretty highly abstracted ones (you could probably leave off any of the identifying letters and they would still communicate something about the state in question). If you will, they are as like to a map as the constellation of Cassiopeia is to the figure of an enthroned queen.

Majestic Pavaisse!

Blue circles for regions listed in the Gazette; crossed circle for the capital. Blue lines for major internal arteries* - there are most likely other roads or rivers or passes, just none that make sense with a wagon train or a laden barge. Red lines for major trade links. 

Sea-girt Malmery!

Bustling Datravia!

Sharp-eyed readers will have noted that there are some places hitherto unmentioned for Datravia. Of course, Datresse is still the central point of that fair land, but there are some outskirts. Think of them as the region of Veneto to La Serenissima. Anyway, these are....

• Uitbrig, the ancient town with its long-established academies and seminaries.
• Ghaivera, Datresse's granary.
• Noysdam, known as The Citadel of Noysdam or The Noysdam. The rationally-planned recently built fortress city covering the main approach to the centre of Datravia.

Anyway, I hope these go some way to focusing on the ideas presented in the Gazette.

Far-reaching Tsymric!

*Internal in the sense that we are concentrating on these polities and seeing how they link together internally. If you were to tell me that the road from Purlitz to Loughdaine was built centuries back by the Horatione Cohorts and leads directly to Horato crossing five different principalities to do so, it would make complete sense.

Panther Skins and Golden Fleeces

I have, in the past, showed some interest in the Caucuses. I recently finished reading a copy of The Knight in Panther Skin, the Medieval Georgian epic. Here's some assorted thoughts.

Vepkhist'q'aosani ('The Knight in Panther Skin') was written by Shota Rustaveli in the twelfth century, during Georgia's Golden Age under Queen Thamar. I read the 1977 translation by Katharine Vivian published by the Folio Society (as pictured below); the Marjory Wardrop translation from 1912 is available online. Vivian attempts a freer, prose translation than Wardrop; neither is in the rhymed quatrains of Rustaveli. The name of the text is given variously as The Knight in the Panther's Skin, The Man in the Panther's Skin, The Knight in Panther Skin (these differences are not unique to English: 1889 saw Der Mann im Tigerfelle and 1975 Der Ritter im Pantherfell).

What's it about? Rostevan, King of Arabia has no sons, but one daughter, Tinatin. Avtandil is the son of his commander-in-chief and dear to him; Avtandil wishes to marry - and must go about this carefully. When out hunting with Avtandil, Rostevan witnesses a knight in a panther's skin crying by a river - who refuses human contact and attacks those sent to greet him. Rostevan sends searchers after the Knight - eventually including Avtandil. 

That's enough summary to work with for the time being. Why is this an interesting work? What's distinctive about it? Well, without dipping into the Boosterism one sees on the Wikipedia entry or the introduction to the 1977 text, it's neatly structured, with the stories of Avtandil and the Knight (eventually revealed to go by the name Tariel) mirroring each other neatly. There's a great deal of tension between social bonds - the bond of Knightly comradeship, the bond of lovers, the bond of King and Subject, the bond of parent and child, the bond of servant and master. The careful resolving of the plot without breaking these bonds is interesting to watch. 

Beyond that, this is clearly a book from a well-connected society. That the protagonist is an Arab rather than a Georgian is telling; Tariel, it is discovered, is an Indian prince. Characters from 'Khateati' - that is, Cathay - that is, China - appear. There is reference to Egyptians, Greeks, Franks, Russians, Persians - as well as African slaves and sorcerers. Rustaveli's own prologue indicates that this is a 'Persian tale I found in the Georgian tongue' that he has set in verse. One gets a sense of travel and the exotic: it would be reductive but not precisely wrong to refer to it as a mix of Chivalric Romance and the Thousand and One Nights.

It should be noted that Rustaveli's Arabia and India are not depictions of his own time. No particular depiction of the desert appears in his Arabia. India apparently has mullahs who recite the Koran, but who are unmentioned in Arabia. Likewise, the coronation of Princess Tinatin with crown, sceptre and mantle by her father is clearly European. The Epilogue calls these 'strange stories of kings of a far-off ancient time' - so don't obsess overmuch over such details. 

Vivian's introduction paints the poem as Universal in spirit: it does not sit in one tradition or overarching culture. The characters are not explicitly Christian - even if King David and the Apostles are mentioned, there are no prayers to Christ or the Blessed Virgin (apparently the poem was later attacked by the Georgian clergy). Neither are they heathens: a spirit of general monotheism suffuses things, with the sun as a symbol of the one God. Avtandil finds himself praying to the seven stars of the medieval heavens. Twelfth-century Georgia (which had been Christian before there even formally was a Georgia) had expanded under David IV (Great-grandfather of Thamar) to stretch from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea at Baku - capturing much land that had previously been Islamic, including the present-day capital, Tbilisi. It is not a stretch to associate Rustaveli with knowledge of a variety of religious traditions.

Speaking of Thamar, there are a number of redoubtable princesses in The Knight with the Panther Skin. More than in any work of courtly love? Perhaps not, but Tinatin's aforementioned coronation is a clear  reference to female royal power and position (however devoted she may be to her father). Together with passages in the prologue and epilogue, the shadow of Thamar lies heavy on this work.

Enough of that. A few things I wish to glean from all this.

Shota Rustaveli, apparently.

***

I've been interested before in historical or alternate names for the planets which can be used for a bit of quick worldbuilding when you can't really be asked to make up an entire new solar system. As I said above, Avtandil finds himself invoking the seven heavens of medieval cosmology (the planets as far as Saturn, plus the moon and sun).

Anyway these are named below, together with a brief extract from Vivian's text. The same section from the Wardrop translation is here.

Zual, whose nature is calamity - Saturn
Mushtar, supreme judge and arbitrator between heart and heart - Jupiter
Marikh the warrior and avenger - Mars
Aspiroz the fair - Venus (Hesperus)
Otarid - Mercury

***

The Terrae Vertebrae setting from which Punth was spawned had as a premise that each state in Vertebraea would be based on some medieval epic. I think I've said before that I wouldn't mind introducing some sort of mountain kingdom along with the rest of Punth's neighbours. Well, here's an obvious opportunity.

Marikylo, the Kingdom of the Eight Vales

In the mountains of the Spine of the World, there are the dwarfholds, the great peaks and plateaus only occupied by that stubborn, hardy and independent folk. But in the densest region of the mountain range, there are a string of valleys that have been the home of an ancient folk, who migrated there centuries before the Nirvanite empire ever rose. Marikylo.

Eight high but sunny valleys are joined by passes worn by centuries of use. At each of the handful of passes, a fortress lies: the High Keeps. These are in the gift of the King of Marikylo. Most of the nobility hold a position in their own right, as head of a clan or possessors of valuable estates - but the rank of Castellan indicates a greater trust, to say nothing of greater powers and privileges. Of course, not all High Keeps are alike. Some connection regions in the vales so long settled and so long loyal that the Castellan has very little in the way of active duties: these are regarded as a next to a sinecure. 

Others abut restive regions or passes to the outside world or are the sites of contact with the High Mountain Dwarves - these require a surer hand. The principal division among the elites, then,  is between those families that rely on Royal patronage and the profession of arms - the Panthers - and the stockrearers and farmers - the Rams. Naturally, ancient history and memory of autonomy as a petty kingdom animate a number of other interesting feuds.

How do the Mariklyne live? From the mountain herds of sheep - known for producing a very fine cloth - they take wool, milk and meat. In the sheltered, warm valleys they have citrus groves and vineyards. The Dwarves are glad to have an agricultural trade partner on hand and produce ironware for Marikylo. There is trade and carriage of items across the mountains - and here the Mariklyne prosper.

Marikylo lies between Nirvanite and Talliz and Punth: it has connections to Kapelleron lords and Ka-Punth tribes, to Fahflund merchant houses, to Talliz Boyar families. If you need to get something across the mountains in a hurry, you will be dealing with Marikylo. The necessity of trade and the security of their surroundings has produced a welcoming culture - so long as the High Keeps stand. It is said that Marikylo produces three things in abundance - Mountaineers, Middlemen and Masters (that is, scholars).

Of course, other things can be found in the mountains than Dwarves. Witches - Dragons - the bleached skeletons of ancient armies that still clutch antique swords. There are places where even the hardiest shepherd will not take his flocks. 

Episodes from Horatione History

The Empire of the Five Senates

In the fifth century after the formation of Horato, the reign of the Emperor Mamilian was marked by campaigning. He spent the best part of two decades in the lands that would one day become Hentzay, extending Horatione control into those territories and shoring up the border forts elsewhere. 

The absence of the Emperor from the capital was not, strictly speaking a problem. His sister took over most of his ceremonial functions - taking an immoderate pleasure in donning male costume for the purpose. Day to day domestic policy was set by not by the Imperial bureaucracy (which had its hands full on ferrying men, money and material to the frontier) but by the Senate of Horato, and four cities of near-comparable splendour and prominence.

So long was Mamilian's absence from the heartlands that his nickname became 'the Sentinel Emperor' - or, in the private circles of his critics 'the Porter' or 'the Gatekeeper'. No single senatorial lineage had representatives in all five cities, but enough had two or three magistracies to their name. Co-ordination between the five became ever-smoother and the senators prospered. 

It is for this reason that Annullina Perpetua in her Annals of a Pensionary, writing with about two centuries of hindsight refers to this not as the Empire of Mamilian, but 'an Empire of Five Senates'. (Orlando Babbon, in his rather later Withering and Descent attributes her harsh judgement to 'the bitterness of the defeated').

A Tauroctony

When, in the later days of the Popular Despotate, the sun-arc was replacing the bull's head in the iconography of Horato, one of the last major Imperial centres was the great garrison of Porsena. This was home to the XII Legion, long posted at the border and thus earning a cognomen perhaps best translated as 'Margraves'. The XII were notoriously battle-proud and, when the Legate Nallian came to present them with fresh battle-honours and a new war-shrine objected, crying 'You are here to take our horns!' Nallian, fearing a mutiny had the presence of mind to reply 'Gallant Margraves, as I rode hear I heard the sighs of half the maidens of the Empire. Had you been doing something with your horns, I would not have come to take them.' The welcome reminder of leave and the border-term bonus mollified them - but some memory of it resided in the XII and rankled, for Nallian would eventually gain the bitter nickname 'Bullslayer'. 

(or at least, that was the nickname that junior officers felt able to pass on to the Legate)

Berenician

The brother of the vigorous Berenician succeeded him as Emperor. The new Emperor moved into the Volsinian Palace near Mandalium. There he was greeted by the Grand Chamberlain Danpherus, who ushered him swiftly into the patterns of his deceased brother. At each turn, the new Emperor would be met with the whispered reminder 'This is how blessed Berenician did it'; 'This was the favoured hall of Berenician'; 'The mighty Berenician burnt incense here every other week'; 'Would Berenician approve?'

Eventually, Danpherus was rejected from the Imperial Household with the accompanying statement 'I am the Emperor of Horato now.'

Soon after, the Volsinian Palace burnt down.

The Pastoral Secession

In its first days, Horato's alliance with the countryside around was shaky. The union of the Horatione senate and people with the shepherds and land-owners was re-affirmed every year in a great ceremony. But in order for the union to be remade, it had to be broken (in order to demonstrate the independence of the countryside). A large crock of goat's milk was broken on the steps of the assembly house and twelve stout shepherds would stare in a hostile silent vigil at the Gate of Astur. 

By the time of the Popular Despotate, the Secession ceremony had taken on a different tone. The new Despot (whoever that was at the time) would have to go out the country for a day and a night, where he would eat plain food, wear a course tunic and listen to shepherds playing the reed pipes and having poetry competitions.

It is not recorded when the Pastoral Secession came to an end, but it is recorded that the Emperor Servilla did not like goat's milk or chestnuts. 

Consider reading this and this.

Terrae Vertebrae: The League of Civic Etiquette

A desire was expressed in conversation for more details of the world of Punth; Terrae Vertebrae. While the continent of Vertebrea is detailed in some of the earliest material on this blog, its neighbours - Punth excluded - have only been roughly sketched out. Following said chat, a few ideas occurred for at least one more exception. 

****

Welcome, traveller, to the cities gathered in the League of Civic Etiquette. Welcome to thousand-celled markets and busy counting-houses. Welcome to courts where the fountain plays and libraries with the muted footfall of slipper-clad scholars. See the munificence of the prince and the receipts of the chancellor. Hear the call of the poet, the grunt of the wrestler and the questions of the metaphysician. Look closely for the woman with the hidden knives or the man with scroll-cases under his robe. Seek out traders in a hundred different goods and services, teachers of a hundred different faiths and disciplines - but keep an ear open for the news from the municipal herald or the decisions of the district magistrate.

To the west of Vertebrea across the Inner Sea, with its nearest portions at about the same latitude as the Imperium, is Near Rhakhia. The name Rhakhia, same as the modifier 'Near' derive from Vertebrean use. A well-travelled person or a scholar from Near Rhakhia might acknowledge the similarity between Rhakhia tongues, or the proximity of the states, or the forms of culture - but still think of themselves as a Cascaran or an Agogi.

Numerous states exist in Near Rhakhia, their interactions governed by the League of Civic Etiquette. The Faith of the Eight is prevalent but not dominant in Near Rhakhia. The two institutions are not unconnected. 

The earliest tales of Rhakhian society - that is, stories involving rulers and people rather than the creation of man from clay, or fire, or the spittle of goats, or apes cursed with the hearts of lions and the tongues of serpents - describe only two offices of note beyond family heads and village headmen (not infrequently the same thing). These are literally translated from the dialects of Old Rhakhian as 'Judge-Chieftains' and 'Captains of the Host'. 

    The former was a single, supreme role within a region, granted (as those old stories actually collected and recorded tell it) to a wise householder with enough personal wealth to have the leisure to judge disputes and enough clout to enforce their pronouncements. The latter was a role gained by charisma and wealth sufficient to head a militia, and many Captains would reside in the region of one Judge. A Judge-Chieftain would not bear arms, even if they had once been a Captain of the Host. Neither role seems to have had a specifically religious function, and the presence of a specialised priestly caste varied from region to region.

Both roles diminish or transform in the histories as the cities of Rhakhia emerged from hillforts, river crossings and oases. Trade and agriculture brought a concentration of wealth and the production of oligarchies. Occasionally some potentate would gain enough prestige and might to make themselves a tyrant, but such rulers rarely lasted long enough to produce a dynasty. 

    The conquest of one city-state by another was rare, but not unknown. Far more prevalent was the economic subordination of one state by another, or the withering of fortunes in plague or famine, or alliance leading to one-sided hegemony. 

Then across the sea in Vertebrea (somewhere) rose the Faith of the Eight, as the Sybil of the Rocks communicated her revelations. The man recorded by both the Manifest Rite and the Unified Rite as  Confessor to the Rhakhians was St Euthydemus. The first convert he made was Gamilat, from then his constant companion - at least, as The Book from Across the Water gives it. There may have been converts to the faith in Near Rhakia before this, but their names have been lost to men. 

Alongside oligarchs and cities had grown an administrative caste. Records in papyrus and clay attest to this, as do inscriptions and seals. Tyrants and the more unscrupulous oligarchs would when pressed use these as scapegoats: my decision was just, but the corrupt scribe altered it. The foolish clerk failed to record it. The petty magistrate was too wedded to protocol, and let that beast go unpunished. The corrupt vizier took the money for herself. The enemy bribed him. My advisor did not bring that to me. Our troops are loyal and strong, but went unfed and were thus defeated. Even where clerks escaped the wrath of a tyrant, the chances of mob violence or social ostracism and penury were high. Such purges may not have been regular, but had sufficient chilling reputation to slow or disrupt administrative work, including the licensing of trade and the gathering of taxes - which reduced the ability of the state, which led to more rulers seeking scapegoats. The historian Shabilat, writing two centuries after Euthydemus, records this practices as 'The Abuse of Viziers'. 

Huldo was the cousin of Gamilat, and if not a vizier, had escaped just such an abuse to arrive in the port of Rabbelisotor, where Gamilat dwelt and Euthydemus had arrived. It is still, frustratingly, unknown if he was a convert to the Faith of the Eight. The Book from Across the Water gives his name only twice in lists of other people and such letters of Euthydemus that have survived refer only occasionally to Huldo. What does seem likely is that he was desperate, embittered and in want of friends. Bureaucrats and converts found common cause at this time: a foreign faith could be cursed and despised in the same fashion as a wicked, scheming functionary. Euthydemus, along with Gamilat is recorded as having fled a city in fear of his life at least twice. It may be supposed that Huldo was with them.

The years of this life that Huldo endured do not seem to have been ill-spent. When finally St Euthydemus gave the Sermon in Pharnaces that would establish the Faith of the Eight in Near Rhakhia, he used the burgeoning assembly of converts to circulate the text later called the Fount of Civic Etiquette. This was, in so many words, a plea for the end of the Abuse of Viziers - together with a series of suggestions to strengthen the work of administrators in service of rulers. The principles of broad flexibility, limitations to taxes and a series of suggested, predictable limits to policies (if never to rulers) were suggested as renewing the ancient roles of Judge-Chieftain and Captains of the Host. Demagogues would be replaced by statesman-teachers, despots by wise leaders. Religious tolerance would be the rule, exercised through a licensing system. 

The Satrap of Pharnaces (a ruler in his own right, wherever the traditional title came from) endorsed not only the new Faith, but decided in time to try the new method. Even if Huldo is recorded as more of a dialogist than a rhetor, it is clear that the example of Euthydemus had been meaningful. 

    The revitalising effect on Pharnaces - be it through the busy new community of converts or the new codes of Civic Etiquette or smoother trade with coreligionists in Vertebrea - was obvious. The Cathedral of Euthydemus rose, as did Huldo's School of Civic Etiquette. The next decades would see the spread of the Faith, and the composition of the Codes of Civic Etiquette - along with several books of maxims.

****

If the Faith mimicked the provincial structure of the Nirvanite Imperium without taking on its full range of administrative functions, the League of Civic Etiquette grew to inhabit the functions of an empire without the drive of an Emperor. There was no single burning cause: just the unspoken request for predictable, orderly government. A ruler could be harsh, but harsh in a certain set of pre-arranged manners. Local weights and measures could never be standardised across Near Rhakhia, but a certain bracket of comparable units could be compiled. 

Cities might be ruled by a Bashaw, or a Lord Protector, or a Prince, or a Nizam, or a Supreme Functionary. But they will be staffed by those schooled in the Civic Etiquette and taught at one of its academies - and sent far from home. Armies are led by local aristocrats and filled with the troops of the region, for those schooled in the Etiquette are nigh-on pacifistic; the highest paid mercenaries in the wartime are thus pioneers and quartermasters. In contemporary Rhakhia war is rare. Conspiracy is more usual than conflict and discreet, dedicated operatives do more than a host at the gates.

Unification of Near Rhakhia is nigh-impossible; federation highly unlikely. The simultaneous preservation of the cities and defusing of national and ideological tensions reduces most drives for this. Huldo is recorded as having said that were a reef in the Bay of Rabbelisotor to rise to the surface, and the crabs on it to gather in council, and appoint ministers and magistrates, they too could be admitted to the League. This was likely in jest; there are sufficient cultural peculiarities to Rhakhia that limit the League of Civic Etiquette - structures of inheritance and the choices of taxable goods and services. 

Of course, the sheer weight of the League on the cities of Near Rhakhia has also brought its own set of cultural changes. A common tongue unites many of the city-states of the League, with many language barriers eroded down to dialects. If Etiquette-trained clerks are not constrained in the manner of a monk, the form of their education and displacement furnishes them with a certain approach to the world. Local aristocrats and elites actively develop forms of culture set against the League - flamboyant manners to set against the self-effacing servants of the Etiquette in their un-official non-uniforms. Great lavishly costumed performances compared with the word games and technical poetry of the Civic Etiquette. Aside from the sword-drill and manoeuvres expected of the governing class, shows of physical prowess in the pursuits of wrestling, horsemanship and falconry.

Another product of centuries of the League has been public works. The wealth of trade and the ease of communication has swelled coffers. Local rulers wish to differentiate their government from the codes of Civic Etiquette to which they are bound and will do so by financing and completing works above and beyond the requirements of the Etiquette. These shout their patron's status, by ornament or symbol or unique function. 

    Public baths, libraries, viaducts, avenues, plazas, observatories, study halls, fountain courts and ornamental well-houses crowd the cities of Near Rhakhia. These are unlike the self-consciously simple buildings associated with the Civic Etiquette - one could not speak of a single Rhakhian style of public architecture, but some of the most impressive features include palaces of many apartments, Solomonic columns, tiled surfaces (placing an emphasis on shape over colour; tiles interlock in numerous points or curve and drip in extravagant scallops), carved window screens, millefiori domes, gilded grid structures and numerous ornamental gardens. 

    Scholars flourish in the League, either falling into the patronage of a luxuriant elite or the smoothly furnished path of a student of the Etiquette. In either case, there is a desire for and satisfaction in innovation. Mathematics, music, poetry, logic and metaphysics abound. Public performances or expositions are popular events.

Defiance of the League can meet - and has met - with a number of penalties. An entire corps of civil servants can disappear from a city, most famously in the story of the Flight from Cascara. Every city under the League will have a thick-walled inn near one of the gates with a full stables, secretly (or not-so-secretly) belonging to the League. Anything that has even a whiff of the Abuse of Viziers may meet with work stoppages, barbed letters and infamy. A city that united fully against the League would be left to its own devices. The League plays the long game.

    The fate of one trained in the Civic Etiquette who openly counsels against the Etiquette is unknown, but the fact that Schools of the Etiquette are kept particularly clean has been noted, though servants are never seen.

Diplomatic relations between the states of the League and nations around it are perfunctory. The business of the League is the League; a merchant may travel, but those learned in Civic Etiquette should remain in places where that Etiquette holds. The League rarely acts a single entity, preferring to respond as necessary to explain its internal processes to incomers. 

Yet in the last years, several responses to the League have emerged. Banditry flourishes in the backcountry, between the jurisdictions of Rhakhian city-states. Unsatisfied young lords chafe at the restrictions of the Etiquette, proposing bold new theories of governance and modes of leadership. The Codes of Civic Etiquette have after all never been framed in explicitly ethical or religious terms - their breach could only ever be a venial sin. The toiling villagers of backwater Sanjaks long for some of the fruits of urban life and the balance of ethnic and religious rivalries, long carefully poised, might be tipped by mass migration or a wave of missions. 

    And there are always whispers of warlords, witch-kings and ethnarchs in Central Rhakhia that might finally be willing to cross the hill country and descend on the cities of the coast....

Names in Mistress of Mistresses

In the way of a companion to my last post and as a comparison with an old list I did of Telmarine Names, please see below. This is largely taken from an appendix to the Gollancz Fantasy Masterworks edition. Names without a particular nation attached to them are either ones I cannot place from the information provided or are part of a cosmopolitan Zimiamvian court.

Barganax (M, Mezria)
Lessingham (M, Rerek, but it's complicated)
Antiope (F, Mezria)
Fiorinda (F)
Styllis (M)
Derxis (M, Akkama)

[Akkama is not mentioned in the main review - this is a nation outside of Ziamiamvia entirely]

Horius Parry (M, Rerek)
Jeronimy (M, Fingiswold)
Berold (M, Fingiswold)
Roder (M, Fingiswold)
Ercles (M, Rerek)
Aramond (M, Rerek)
Arcastus (M, Rerek)
Bezardes (M, Rerek)
Brandremart (M, Rerek)
Daiman (M, Rerek)
Gayllard (M, Rerek)
Mandricard (M, Rerek)
Meron (M, Rerek)
Roquez (M, Rerek)
Rossilion (M, Rerek)
Thrasiline (M, Rerek)
Belinus (M, Fingiswold)
Bodenay (M, Fingiswold)
Bosra (M, Fingiswold)
Hortensius (M, Fingiswold)
Orvald (M, Fingiswold)
Peropeutes (M, Fingiswold)
Romyrus (M, Fingiswold)
Tyarchus (M, Fingiswold)
Venton (M, Fingiswold)
Barrian (M, Mezria)
Egan (M, Mezria)
Ibian (M, Mezria)
Medor (M, Mezria)
Melates (M, Mezria)
Zapheles (M, Mezria)
Alquemen (M, Akkama)
Esperveris (M, Akkama)
Kasmon (M, Akkama)
Orynxis (M, Akkama)
Amaury (M, Rerek)
Gabriel Flores (M, Rerek)
Vandermast (M, Rerek)
Zenianthe (F, Fingiswold)
Anamestra (F)
Heterasmene (F)
Myrilla (F)
Paphirroe (F)
Raviamne (F)
Zenochilde (F)
Anthea (F, Mezria)
Bellafronte (F, Mezria)
Campaspe (F, Mezria)
Myrrhe (F, Mezria)
Pantasilea (F, Mezria)
Rosalura (F, Mezria)
Voilante (F, Mezria)

You might be able to vaguely trace out Mezria as having Grecian names, Fingiswold and Rerek as having more French or Italian names - though I do not think of this as a hard and fast rule! Akkaman names ring as deliberately more exotic to me - entirely proper as they come from another state.

Punth: A Primer Ch. 3

Punth: where the scribes records details of the latest five-year plan on clay tablets beneath the eyes of watchful green four-armed aristo-commisars!

An ongoing topic here has been Punth and the Qryth. A desert land, split by rivers, ruled by four-armed folk taller than men - who take the tongues of people for their own.

As other posts have explained, Punth operates rather like Ascia in Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. Language is purely the product of the Codes - as written long ago by the alien Qryth. A Punthite can only communicate in extracts from the Codes.

If this is to be made into something usable, some of those Codes need to be available for use on the tabletop. Whilst I do not presume to write anything meticulously complete as the books of propaganda, law and instruction that constitute the Codes, I can at least produce a comprehensive slice of them. I shall attach to these encounter tables for the land of Punth.

[I suppose that first paragraph could be taken to mean that Punth is a satire of leftism or some sort of failiure state of progressivism. That capacity does exist, but that's not really the point.  There is something comical about trying to go as quickly as possible from Pharaohs and Pyramids to Soviets and Sputnik (as desirable as that might be), both because of the cargo-cult nature of it and because it seems so unlikely - as if Birmingham were the centre of a Venetian-style mercantile republic; or casting Calgary as the next Singapore. Seeing like a State (which I have now read!) and the failure of central planning - if it results from the thought and practice of the left or the right wing - may be the appropriate political text.

That said, the Qryth are meant to have some of the pathos of the shipwrecked - as well as the heroic stature of the Green Martians and the glamour of Star Trek.]

Before the Tribunal

A trial in Punth is conducted before a tribunal, which will usually include at least one of the Qryth. It takes a lot to come to trial - the pettier, breach-of-the-peace offences can be dealt with by a local headman or Gendarme sergeant by summary beatings* or withholding food. A trial in Punth does not involve a jury, nor does it really involve an advocate or legal adviser (an interpreter or spokesperson may be provided in the case of juveniles or foreigners.) Commercial or property disputes will probably be settled by a decision by the highest ranked local state official - who generally have a judicial role as well.

The trial is held in public at one of the ziggurats-citadels. A designated Official Witness (who is in fact probably working from numerous witness statements) will describe the offence. A few other witnesses may also be called, especially if they were the ones who were involved in the crime.
The accused may speak - though this is often fruitless, except for those who really know the Punth Codes. After all this, the judges will render a verdict.

Therefore, consider the following example trial. Aside from those named below, you may assume the presence of other petitioners, a scribe and sundry guards, Gendarmes, citizens &c.

Chief Judge: Let all who hear, attend.
CJ: When the Sky Princes speak, none else shall speak, for they speak wisdom.
CJ: When the Sky Princes command, none else shall, for theirs is might.
CJ: When the Sky Princes settle, none else shall, for in their gift is peace.
CJ: Let justice direct might. Let all who may attend. Let justice be marked and recorded.

Official Witness: If the people are to be fed, work must be divided between them. Therefore, offices and duties will be given to the just.
OW: All men should live in peace, from which comes plenty.
OW: If there strength at our gates, who shall come against us?
The foolish, the reckless, the malicious.
OW: The foolish will do as the malicious, though justice coupled with might stand against them.
OW: If a man has fallen in the dust, let his neighbour bend to him.

[OW gestures to AP]

Aggrieved Party, with a prominent wound to the head: Who must rise first? The mighty. Who shall be raised up? The just.
Aggrieved Party's Partner: All men should live in peace, from which comes plenty.
APP: When the sun is down, work must cease.
APP: Let each man be seen at his work.

OW: Let no man take more than is needed. May the fruits of the people stay with the people.
OW: The Sky Princes and the Servants of the People will the tend the ways of peace.
OW: Those who do not attend to correct teaching shall leave these places by such means as are best.

Associate Judge 1: May the fruits of the people stay with the people. Where there is harm, let it be seen by the just and amended by the mighty.

[OW proffers a tablet to the tribunal]

OW: That which withers may be replanted.
AP: The blocked channel may be cleared.

AJ1:  If a man has fallen to the dust, let his neighbour bend to him.

[CJ gestures to the Accused Man]

CJ: Let all who may attend.

AM: Where there is labour, let there be comfort. Where there is thirst, let there be water. Where there is wind, let there be a shelter.
AM: Offices and duties will be given to the just.
AM: When the Sky Princes command, none else shall, for theirs is might.

CJ: All voices in time will fall silent. But let the just speak last.

[CJ, AJ1 and AJ2 confer]

AJ2: Folly will lead to weakness; weakness to malice. By our efforts, let us suppress all three.
CJ: If two men fall to the dust together, they must bend to one another.
AJ1: Justice and might are offered to all.
AJ1: The Servants of the People will the tend the ways of peace.
AJ2: The spiteful seek to confound their victors
CJ: Where justice and might are in concord, all are in concord.

[The Judges turn to the court]

CJ: Let all who hear, attend.
CJ: To learn peace is to learn wisdom. To the wise will come plenty.
CJ: The Servants of the People will the tend the ways of peace.
CJ: For the People to prosper, many offices must be filled.
CJ: If the roads are clear, if the roof is sound, all will travel in safety and arrive to comfort.
CJ: Let justice direct might. Let all who may attend. Let justice be marked and recorded.

***
A man who occupies a minor office has come to the court. He has been attacked and robbed. The Official Witness describes the incident and recomends a spell on a Workgang. The wounded man is exhibited and accuses his attacker. The wounded man's wife mentions the time of the attack and how she knew the attacker.
A judge asks for details of what was taken or damaged. These are provided.
The accused man defends himself, blaming the wounded man for abusing his position.
The judges confer, and elect to send the accused man to a work gang. This is announced to the court.

***

Shades of the Fallen Tower

The spirits of those sorcerers who ruled Punth before the Qryth still linger in the desert. THe strongest are known to the desert tribes as djinn. Here are several ways in which they might manifest.

1. A spectre in armour, upright but still bearing the marks of their violent demise upon their person. ("Hamlet's father")
2. A man in the imperial finery of the ancient world, with a carefully benevolent expression.
3. A monarch, dressed for a ceremonial hunt. Their most notable feature is a long, well groomed beard (or crown of hair).
4. The head of a lion sits on a stone pedestal, although no blood shows from the neck stump. Bones are littered around it. The lion's head moves, eyes tracking your motions and the jaw moves.
5. In a depression in the dunes, something like vegetable oil bubbles and steams - though the puddle never reduces.
6. Within a small cave, there is an amphora of wine, which is quite fresh to the taste - though unlike any modern vintage. Those who taste will see the spirit of that place.
7. Thirteen large serpents who travel in convoy.
8. Someone is sitting on a rock, in the shade of an old pillar. They turn as you approach, but do not get up. They cannot rise, for the below the waist they are one with the rock.
9. A tall flame, most clearly visible at sunrise and sunset. At night it is gone entirely.
10. A cleft in the ground, where a vast flame burns constantly. Smoke steadily rises up.
11. An eagle with feathers of gold and lapis lazuli. It does not seem to flap its wings much when in flight.
12. As a tiger is to a house cat, this vast thing is to an elephant. Though it does not seem to leave footprints.
13. A floating palanquin with purple curtains. Inside is only a skull, resting crookedly on silk cushions
14. What's a goat doing out here?
15. Something gleams against the sun. When you squint, the planes of a tetrahedron seem to shimmer briefly.
16. A four-armed figure, with the head of a bird. Each hand toys with something that is either a weapon or an ornament.
17. Blue smoke rises from the platform of a chariot. The chariot is being pulled by winged jackals with bronze collars.
18. A tall, pillar of open air, about which the clouds cluster.
19. There is a voice on the wind, if you will only attend to it.
20. You, but prettier, better dressed and better groomed.




*'The people meeting in counsel may judge, but no one is to receive more than a hundred blows.'

Qryth Questions

OR, What's a nice four-armed green thing like you doing in a place like this?

For those new to all this, or who want a refresher: I've been floating Punth and the Qryth for a while now, giving a somewhat fleshed-out introduction alongside a specific hexcrawl.

So, I shall go over the questions about Punth and the Qryth that might ask for an answer - and haven't quite been answered elsewhere.

What surrounds Punth?

To the North: A mountain range*; beyond that, southern provinces of the Nirvanite Imperium.
To the East: The Mountains of the Spine of the World.
To the West: The Inner Sea; beyond the sea, the Coastal Emirates.
To the South: ...well, I haven't written this yet. But let us say that it is divided between Zanzibar-style East Africa  Emirate-influenced trade ports and the tribal kingdoms and confederacies of the interior.

What's the terrain and climate of Punth like?

Fertile Crescent-Mesopotamia, with Arabian Empty-Quarter regions and a single coastline. Settlement is centred around the rivers, but the more deserty regions have Qryth occupancy and thus distort the typical model of population (as in the Hexcrawl).

What's the history of Punth?

See here.

How's Punth governed?

As the hexcrawl article above suggests, the Qryth rule. To take this a little further, this resembles an aristocratic republic like Ancient Rome or Carthage, but with the sort of domination by the Qryth that utterly crushes any democratic influence. There is a 'tribune of the plebs' equivalent for human Punthites, but this is not a position of power. An emergency powers role - a Shogun or (Roman Republican) dictator - can be granted, but has rarely become a cross-generational feature. Qryth cultural strength restrains it.

All this is without taking into account the Codes and the power they offer. That very clearly puts a new light on things, whatever the parliamentary practices might be. It becomes much more reminiscent of a one-party state in the Twentieth century. But the Qryth have been at this for centuries. A position in the Assembly or the Codification Group is politically fraught, but a disgraced Qryth Assembly member is going to be to be sent off into the distant provinces or to an estate than to be executed without trial. Parliament, not Politburo. Oligarchical collectivism? Not quite.

Is there a Punthite religion?

Not really. The Codes are a pragmatic device for working in the world - though they are so all-consuming that they might be said to have the status of a religion.

Is there a Qryth religion?

Again, not really. As space-farers, the original shipwrecked Qryth had the sort of faith that had become rather abstract. However, Qryth culture is an obsession: keeping the torch burning, sticking together, rather than becoming a scattered people, permanent exiles.

...the features of Qryth culture being?

Of course, if the ancestors of the present-day Qryth or their people beyond the stars saw all this, they would be deeply confused. The most foreign element is the interpretation of the Codes and the leadership of the Punth: this is part of the life of each Qryth. Magisterial scholarship and jurisprudence dominates the academies of the Qryth. But this is acknowledged as duty distant from their essential 'Qryth-ness'.

The Qryth culture in Punth, then, involves learning a great deal of history, learning and living in a traditional Qryth manner (the greatest of the Qryth tread a fine line doing this: the more they spend in Reserves or Retreats, the more they embody their culture, the more status they gain - but their own power and influence may suffer). The crew of the Qryth ship that crashed were adventurous explorer types, pseudo-military even - hunting and athletics pursuits are typical. This has a distorting influence on Qryth art, as if a predominant theme of sculpture was Rugby Union and the Venus di Milo wore a scrum cap.

Hang on, Terrae Vertebrae has magic and clerics and so forth - do the Qryth have souls? What happens to the Punthites after death, given their moral status?

The Faith of the Eight debate this intently. They have come to the notion that some sort of Purgatory is provided for the less malevolent of the Punth. The Qryth are damned for their tyranny or complicity in tyranny. The various Crusades into Punth are a consequence of this.

So, can the Punthites do magic? And the Qryth?

The Punthites can, but it's an up-hill struggle given the thought-dominating status of the codes. The Qryth are outsiders to this 'magical biome'; it is a real struggle for them to master even the basics. This is exacerbated by the lack of a Qryth magical tradition, both pre- and post- shipwreck.

What size are the Qryth?

Ten foot or so. Green-ish skin, four arms. Slim corded-muscle bodies. Pretty much Tharks. Twice as strong as a strong man.

So, like Tharks, they have males and females? Do they bear young like mammals, or hatch eggs like natives of Barsoom?

Yes to males and females. They are similar in appearance is most respects, more so than humans. Social division along such lines is present though limited: Qryth women can live like Spartan females, propped up by plenty of helots.  Eggs are hatched, as Barsoom - but individually by families and without the Green Martian 'natural selection' element. Child rearing is very important to the Qryth, to sustain their culture - and to make sure the children aren't going become like the Punthites. Contact between Qryth juveniles and humans is limited.

[EDIT - No longer quite the case]

Does Punth trade a great deal?

Not really; it has had to be self-sustaining at many points in history during wars. Even pre-Qryth, it wasn't a seafaring state and the deserts and mountains make trade difficult.

Ports exist on the coast, but the economy of Punth, while not as such centrally planned, puts a great deal of stress on coordination for the purposes of the Qryth; there is no regular trade deal due to Punth's status as an outsider on the international stage and those traders that do come to Punth are rarely greeted warmly. This is due to being outside the Codes, a mercurial commercial policy and Qryth snobbery.

It might be compared to Western merchants travelling to the East Indies in the Sixteenth Century. While there isn't so far to travel, there is no established diplomatic link or trade policy in place; who knows what the Local potentate or governor will think of you; the culture shock is acute; and making a deal, let alone a profit is shaky proposition at best.

What's the architecture like, what with ten-foot folk living besides five-foot folk?

All public buildings are Qryth-sized - compulsory under the Code (besides being useful in places that function-wise have to accommodate plenty). Some private buildings are regularly sized, but a Punthite of wealth will have a Qryth-sized home or reception space.

The prominent feature of Punthite architecture is the ziggurat: a defensible citadel, a reminder of their history, a court for the Qryth officialdom. Qryth cultural impulses on the part of the shipwrecked crew preserved smaller things than buildings - just as stranded humans might preserve the Iliad with more ease than Classical architecture. The oldest and grandest ziggurats were built with advanced technology and thus are the best examples of Qryth architecture. The original crash site was also heavily fortified - but the pre-fabricated huts that the spaceship carried have long since gone and the walls alone remain from those days.

Speaking of advanced technology, what's left among the Qryth?

The occasional ray-gun and communicator. A few medical devices, with ritualistic instructions and limits uses (the automatic doctor can reattach legs good as new - but it takes time to set it up, during which time the patient might bleed out and it can only reattach legs).

The sort of standard of these things is indicative in one of those old machines that has been maintained to this day. It makes armour from ingots of iron and with plenty of time to charge up the solar panels. But what it can make is very close fitting pieces of metal, perfectly weighted and shaped for a given individual, of a very high quality steel. But a team of craftsmen has to attach straps, buckles and pads to these pieces of metal and make the whole thing workable.

What do they eat?

The Punthites can eat what humans eat. Their diet is perhaps limited and functional rather than extensive, but is not utterly bleak.

The Qryth spent some time doing genetic modification to make local plants edible and nourishing for them, as well as generally more healthy, bigger &c. They have applied this to a number of beasts as well (hence the game reserves, though some Qryth-beasts can be reared for food rather than just hunted). They can no longer make said modifications on any great scale.

Are there any further questions?

*I quite like the idea of the presence of a beleaguered Armenian or Georgian equivalent in these mountains, sandwiched between empires (IE, Byzantine and Persian) - though without the Black Sea. But to give Medieval Colchis and Lazica and so forth their due, this really needs a little more research. Also, there are Dwarves which I want to do something with, mentioned in the Beyond Vertebrea post.

Terrae Vertebrae: Notes on the Sub-Continent

The following is taken verbatim from my notes. Derivative it might be, but I didn't want it to be a direct pastiche of Hindu myth - as, I understand, the RPG Arrows of Indra is. Therefore, I took the setting back to the same roots as Vertebrea and went from there.

The Sub-Continent

All this ranges into the (Psuedo) Indian Sub-Continent. I haven’t conceived a definitive Hinduism-esque faith. But....on the basis that all faith in Terra Vertebrae works its way back to the Elder Races, after a fashion.....

OK, so the Manifest Vision and the Unified Vision in Vertebrae were the Dwarven and Elven influence divided by geography. Let’s play with that, and have the same influence divided by caste/class. So: Faith among the peasantry and lower citizens goes down the village guardian spirit – localised god of place Dwarven semi-Shinto route. But the ‘Brahminic’ priestly-monkish caste come up with vast unifying theologies leaning towards Pantheism – like the Elves. Nobles, richer merchants, &c. walk a line between the two camps.

Reincarnation is a little more complex than otherwise – necromancy, ghosts &c suggest some form of afterlife.  So, this is a doctrinal dispute.

What Gods do they worship? I shan’t invent the Hindu Pantheon from scratch. But to the ‘Brahmins’ most any god would be valid, after a fashion. Rustic peasants worship nature spirits. Merchants worship figures embodying concepts (a limited number thereof). Warriors worship Hero-Saints and Supermen, tallied to specific concepts – with the notion of a God above them all, who they learn about from the Priests.

Religion is taught and delivered to the masses in separate ways. A village has a wise man who teaches prayers and leads them. A regiment of troops might have a keeper of the icons and resident tale-teller to talk about not-Rama and Pseudo-Hercules. Merchants and Shopkeepers will place statuettes in their booths and will approach a Priest if they want to know more.  Priests will cater for all comers and would not hesitate to bless a standing stone or a battle-totem. Some priests will tailor their careers to a specific caste. But the ‘most priestly’ priests will be thinking in very abstract concepts of the Divine, and the Universe, and the Divinity of the Universe....

Politically, there are many fractured kingdoms. Just about right for the Mughals to wander in and unite things. 

Terrae Vertebrae: Beyond Vertebrea

Vertebrea is formed something like a vast arrow, pointing north, flanked by a few islands. Land masses, different continents stretch away in roughly four directions: East of Talliz, South of Talliz; West of the Nirvanite Imperium and South of the Imperium.

This is all largely on the same basis as world building in Vertebrea, but fairly loosely sketched in - partially out of ignorance, partially out of focus. Though there are some bits I am fairly fond of and seem a touch more substantial.

East of Talliz 

Closer to Talliz one finds something reminiscent of Central Asia; nomadic tribes and vast stretches of steppe. This is comparable to the Mongol hordes or the Crimean Tartars, given their proximity and mutual hostility to the Talliz. 

Beyond such lands, the traveller might find something reminiscent of the Far East. Vast settled, civilised lands; rather better unified (in theory) than Vertebrea. Seeing as Pseudo-European nations owe their characters to national epics/vague notions of personality, the same applies to Pseudo-Asian ones. Thus, not-China is in the middle of and/or in living memory had something resembling the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.  

As far as religion goes, the most prominent one is a belief in something called The Heavenly Jury - detailed elsewhere.

Nations that bear some resemblance to Japan, Korea or Vietnam presumably exist. The furthest East one may go probably centres on a Yoon-Suin -like 'city at the end of the earth' in the midst of an archipelago. 

In the mountains of this land, the Dwarves dwell, upon peaks higher than any other. Their cities can be seen here, steep sided and bedecked with spires. They are difficult to reach and are the subject of many legends. The equivalent of Polynesia and Australasia is unknown.

South of Talliz

South of a great desert, separating the Talliz from them, lie a series of kingdoms on fertile plains sloping down from the mountains. These are most heavily reminiscent of an Africa largely free of European or Arab influences: the Maasai rather than Mombasa and Zanzibar. Far enough to the South presumably lies the veldt and the Zulu.

Some ports exist on the coast, though trade with other continents is irregular. As above, the Benin Empire rather than the Kilwa Sultanate.

West of the Imperium

Across the Traitorous Passage out of the Inner Sea lie a people dotted across the seaboard. They raise a series of proud cities, filled with amazing architecture, decorated in dizzying patterns. A remarkably ornate culture has developed. All these cities owe homage to one distant overlord, but that has not stopped them seeking their own gain, through trade and exploration.

This is, in short, all rather approximate to Islamic civilization: the Arab World of the Thousand and One Nights and the Alhambra rather than the deep desert. It is an urban - and urbane - world, and knows Verebrea as a neighbor rather than an enemy. It has never been the subject of crusades from the Faith of the Eight; the beliefs of these lands bear sufficient resemblance to the Faith to live and let live - unlike some closer to home, South of the Imperium.

Beyond the deserts, we reach two distinct areas: one is once again reminiscent of Central Asia; the Central Asia of Samarkand and Tamurlane rather than Genghis Khan and the High Steppe. Reaching far into the West is a land much like the Indian Subcontinent - which may need it's own entry.

The Dwarves of this place walk among the race of men, openly and unafraid; they have proven time after time the strength of their resolve. Their lands were hard won and hard kept.

South of the Imperium

The land of the unbelievers, the fallen. A great desert, with who knows what lurking beyond. Where ten crusades have faltered. The Land of Punth.

Babel meets Barsoom, on the sands of Arrikis. Suitable reference should be made to the Ancient Mesopotamia of history (rather than the Babel of literature), Snow Crash and the Ascian people from Wolfe's Book of the New Sun.

Verbatim from my notes....

Tharks +Ancient Astronauts + Ziggurats+ Tower Of Babel [Cf. Snow Crash?] + Ascian Language [Book of the New Sun, Loyal to the Group of Seventeen]  Tharks expy = The Qryth

Order of tyrannical Mage-Priests [NB –Cf. White Martians] impose Mind control on Vast nation in times gone by; defeated by Tharks, but psychic after effects shatter language. Tharks have to restructure – in fairly exploitative fashion. Ancient astronaut –esque cult develops around tharks, who live at top of vast Temple Towers, Ziggurats, in Deep desert, &c. All rayguns &c. now purely ceremonial / decayed beyond use / lacking ammo. Martian Barsoom-esque Grand Canal

City peoples more wedded to Ascian than rural. Cf. Fremen for deep desert people; inner resilience, strength, harshness, individuality. ‘Tharks’ remote, but rather an object of sincere faith. City folk called Punthites; Desert call themselves Ka-Punthites (that is, true Punthites). Odd synthesis of sincere faith in the Qryth combined with an awareness (the truth of which being shrouded in the mists of time and folklore) that there was a time when they were not so dominated by another species. Greater contact with northerners, traders &c. increases this feeling(cities aren’t necessarily Hermetically sealed, but not the same level of free interaction) .

Border city; ‘City of Compartments’ on pass between Kapelleron and Punth. Divided into large sections by ancient Cyclopean architecture. City run by Dwarves on top of aqueduct – main water supply.  Desert folk at one end; Northerners at the other. Tension!!! Called Austergate by the Northerners, Ermapunth by the Punth and Karnaras by the Dwarves.

I am perhaps most proud of Punth and the Qryth. Quite derivative in their way, but the notion of a relatively sophisticated Late Medieval world being jammed up against a Newspeak-ridden Barsoom appeals to me. If anything asks for more attention in Terrae Vertebrae, it is this. 

Terrae Vertebrae: Knightly Orders

On the basis that anything aping Medieval Europe will have orders of Knights, be they secular or organised by the Faith and that both Fighters and Militants might appreciate the chance to belong to a greater organisation (not that this is obligatory, or even necessary - see Prophets, and why they get called that in The 52 Pages).

For MR and UR consult the Faith of the Eight posts.

State

Order of St.Vaderian – Nicquardy based order for Royals. Predates MR/UR split, so is open to both, but dominant in worship forms, customs &c. MR. Most kings don’t seem to mind.

Order of the White Wings – based on Nicquard second sons who went to Talliz to bolster the borders and inherited the wings of the hussars. Nicquard/Talliz, principally.

Order of the Green Collar – Torwick. Cf. Sir Gawain. Principal order of chivalry. UR. Female members by association (some of which are fighters), but all of which get to wear emerald silk arms-covers.

The Order of the Golden Talon – V. Recent Talliz order, founded by the current King for his supporters. UR

The Brothers of the Fierce Owl – Old Guard Talliz border lords. ‘The eye that watcheth in the night’ against raids. Opposition to the Golden Talon. UR

The Knights of the Long Valley – Fahflund political faction. Conservative aristocracy; not lacking in military skill, but rarely focuses specifically on it. Still a force to be reckoned with in war, due to wealth if nothing else. MR

The Brethren of the Tall Tower – Fahflund burgher urban order; a deliberate counterpoint to the Knights of the Long Valley, but not nearly as wealthy.

Twelvepine Lodge – Sylmunnion. Heroes of the far north.

The Little Brothers of St. Dimitri – Talliz rough and ready heroic order. [‘Little? That man is six foot seven!’  ‘Ha! Before St. Dimitri, we are all little! Have some more Kvass!’]

The Equestrian Order of the Seventh Aspect – Kapalleron rapid-response knights. Colours: navy blue and gold. MR

The Long Horns – oldest and grandest Trygvir warrior band. Somewhat crusty. Halfgiant membership allowed.

Grand Order of the Splendid Shield –Novopolian order of knights. Now known more for foppery than anything else. MR

NB – Talliz hordes function similarly to knightly orders and in some ways replace them.

Church

The Knights-Errant of St. Berengaria – Questers into Elven lands. Bring them into the fold. Gender neutral. Moderately scholarly. UR (mainly).

The Band of Iron – international order, designed to ensure good relations with dwarves. MR (mainly)

The White Star Order of St Lemuel – maritime order. Principally western. Symbol: white eight pointed star on navy blue. Cf. Knights of Malta; crusade focus. Also deal with distressed seamen. Known as ‘The White Stars’. MR

The Peregrine Order of the Vigilant – the ones who inform for the Questors. Moderately sneaky.

The Custodian Knights of St. Castrum – crusader die hards. Dug in on the Punth border.

The Order of the Steel Suns – First Aspect militants. As often female as male, with combat roles in theory mainly male. Very different in practice. Known as ‘The Steel Suns’. MR

The Order of St. Ophelia the Bloodyminded –origins in Nicquardy. Female only. Spreading... MR,but open-minded.

St Godric’s Hand –demonhunters. Serious business.

The Harts of Oak – Knights devoted to the Third Aspect. Deliberately masculine in practice; but not necessarily male.  Stag/Oak imagery. Not quite druids. MR. Hope you like big silly wooden antlers.

The Sacristans Belligerent – guardians of churches in remote and hostile places.

The Anointed Sisters of St Rhadegunt de Sanglier – Female only; taking the faith into dark places. Have a charter allowing for defensive forces. Not only military, but not pacifistic.

The Enshrouded Order of the Eighth Aspect – Nirvanite, but range further. Ancestor cult in arms. Put down the undead (other orders will do so, but these guys have a specific remit). Gender neutral, but who can tell under the robes. MR

The Swift and Resplendent Order of the Fourth Aspect – Couriers and bankers, with a charter for self-defence (generally lay brothers and ‘consultants’, rather than dedicated warrior monks). Being superseded by Novopolis banking houses in the west and St Tankred in the East. Suggested they might have a future as a financial regulatory body. MR

The Choir of Steel – Fanatics. The MR Attack dogs.

The Five and Twenty Terrible Clerks – Fanatics. UR attack dogs. Named for the ones who went berserk at a theological conference. Name initially ironic; clearly not very good clerks if they went on a rampage. Soon proven to be dreadfully true.

A bit of both; rather local but ultimately clerical

The Order of St Tankred – military, financial and political power in Hurdamark. Sometimes get round to killing monsters. UR

Terrae Vertebrae: The Talliz Confederacy

The Talliz Confederacy. Set low on the Eastern Coast of the mountains, as the plains stretch far away from the peaks. Reminiscent of Slavic Europe.  Division between older settlements near the mountains and the frontier.

Borders roamed by hordes/warrior brethren. Run by Voivodes. Remnant of nomadic lifestyle. Can be temporary part of life, young man’s game. Older members if not in strategic position get Quartermaster logistic roles or pensioned off as village constables, tavern owners &c. Numbers kept up by glamour of job; also folk tradition that Bastard’s not a Bastard in the Hordes (By extension, dalliances with Horde member common enough – happy accidents are easy enough to pass on) some ancestry within hordes, but few family groups. More adoption/ apprenticeships. Semi-nomadic, Cossack like, defenders against the infidel. Sometimes with heavy Church sponsorship (esp. Psuedo-Hussites). Raiding parties across border.  Different Voivodeships have different techniques – Winged Hussars, Lancers, Horse archers, Hussite War wagons – but all meant to be quick response, flexible. 

One might posit a “Scythian Horsewomen” Horde also - rejecting masculine Talliz society.

Emphasis on Heroic figures within the Church as Folk Saints; ‘Hercules’ and Russian heroes, not St Francis. UR faith; peasantry/uninterested nobles/priests catering to same barely know of/mention the aspects.

 Hetmen run towns, villages; dislike having to pay/cater for rowdy bachelor soldiery. Hetman as Mayor, Civilian leader.  Kremlins as place of refuge. Mining by the mountains, trade with Dwarves; farming on plains – discourse with elves.  

Land owned by aristocracy – Boyars. Split between local administration, duties to king and military duties – often farmed off to younger sons in Voivode. Have armed retainers- but not as competent/dashing as hordes.  King has own territory-control guards: infantry, Strelets (Think also the Black Army of Matthias Corvinus).

Trade: plenty of caravan goods – lots of lovely curiosities, rarities, &c. Fine porcelain. Tea. ‘Silk Road’ ends here; forks to go north to Fahflund/through the pass to the Novopolis. When’s there’s not a war on.  Even when there is. Trade pacts possible on high holy days....which tend to coincide, due to old pagan festivals falling near to/being replaced by modern traditions.

Hereditary Monarchy, but ‘King and Highest of All Talliz Peoples’ not ‘King of Talliz’. Competency and ferocity is most heavily desirable. Lot of pressure for the more popular Voivode’s to take the throne. Several have in the past. Many more were adopted into the Royal Family in order to curb or redirect their power- with limited success.  (UR) [King Wenceslas IV Falconis]

Again, not quite so linked to national epics. Still hopefully adequately nuanced.