Lithium Flower
Arcane
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- Nov 29, 2016
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INFINITY SAGA
Lords of Infinity is the third book in a planned 5-book series of text adventures with RPG elements, authored by Paul Wang and published by Choice of Games. I highly recommend purchasing the games and supporting the author.
Click here to read the first part of the let's play, Book I: Sabres of Infinity.
Click here to read the second part of the let's play, Book II: Guns of Infinity.
RETURN FROM WAR TO A FAR MORE PERNICIOUS STRUGGLE
You are Sir Alaric d'al Ortiga, Knight of the Red, Baron Ezinbrooke of the Kingdom of Tierra - and you survived a hard campaign of eleven years as a Captain of the Royal Dragoons. Still you cannot rest easy, for as the sole survivor of your family, you have inherited a significant debt, a decrepit estate, and an impoverished barony. Just as hundreds had depended on you at the height of your military career, hundreds still depend on you at the very start of your post-war life. Then there is the matter of the Cortes, the Tierran senate in which you are meant to serve the interests of the kingdom's subjects, six million men and women, many of whom were rendered destitute for the sake of the war effort.
As a fighting man, you proved yourself indomitable; as an officer, you were a liability. Your actions have put so many men into the ground - perhaps as many comrades died from your reckless orders as the enemies you slayed in combat. What will you do now, with the influence you now have over your estate and the realm at large? Will you master yourself to take on the responsibilities of Lordship... or will you wrestle with your madness in the torturous anticipation of all hell breaking loose again, that you my lead the charge towards its gates once more, sparing neither friend nor foe?
NATURE OF THE PLAY-THROUGH
At 1.6 millions words, several branching paths, and many statistics and variables both explicit and concealed, this is a huge game by text adventure standards. Prepare for a complex, slow-burn narrative, but be assured that this flickering candle will eventually flare into a bloody inferno.
As before, I plan to hold votes on pretty much every decision of consequence, including the most minor ones, and update the thread daily. This may change in the future, particularly if I find that the narrative is progressing too slowly.
Obviously refreshing yourself on the previous books is ideal, but given that's quite a task in its own right, I have written a short summary of past events below, and will be supplementing the game's narrative by reminding you of your past as established events and characters come up.
Most of the game's original writing will be in plain text, like so.
Bolded text indicates a decision that has been made - most will be voted on by you lot, but some inconsequential choices (for example, questions or information for which there is no penalty for pursuing) will be selected automatically to speed things along.
~Text flanked by tildes is my own addition, usually to remind you of previous characters or events It could be a copy-pasted passage from the past books, a stray thought to remind of some narrative or mechanics, or something of the sort. To make things are a bit more interesting (and the character a bit more tolerable for me personally,) this will also represent Alaric's critical inner voice - madness, trauma, and self-loathing boiling up from the depths of his mind, against which his naive idealism desperately guards~
[Bracketed text is my own addition, that will clarify mechanics or sparingly offer advice.]
STORY SO FAR
Below is a two-part summary of the past 11 years.
This part of your story began in the 602nd year of the Old Imperial Era, on the brink of the Kingdom's counter-offensive against the League of Antar.
As a scion of petty nobles from the Duchy of Cunaris, you became a Cornet of the Royal Dragoons at the young age of 14. Before departing for Antar, you met your fellow officers Davis d'al Elson and Caius d'al Cazarosta. The former was a hopeful and idealistic officer held back by foppery and insecurity; the latter, a ruthlessly skilled zealot held back by his bastard birth and impersonal manner. Your own liege, Duke Cunaris served as the regiment's colonel.
After reaching the vast and powerful, yet brutish and oppressive land of the Antari, you struggled to lead the few men under your command. Your first mission under the daring knight-colonel Enrique d'al Hunter showed that you could reliably follow orders and conduct yourself bravely, yet lacked the creativity to seize initiative. Nevertheless, the mission succeeded in its goals and you have done your part, which earned you Hunter's positive regard.
Due to some combination of this initial success, your steadfast temperament, and some measure of nepotism, Duke Cunaris ended up approving your early promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, in spite of your relative lack of experience. You were reunited with Cazarosta - who had become Lieutenant also - and Elson, by then your Captain (perhaps having benefited from his connections even more so than you.)
Regardless of character flaws and disagreements, the three of you fought and grew well together. Elson had become more competent and less immature; Cazarosta dulled his edge enough for his insightful input to be considered, if not yet respected; and you have improved somewhat as a tactician, but moreso proven your worth as a fearsome combatant, more than capable of holding your own even when your men had faltered.
Then came the battle of Blogia, the bloodiest yet.
Both the Antari and the Tierrans seemed to have underestimated each other. In spite of heavy initial losses, the Antaris positioned themselves perfectly to strike at the exposed flank of the King's army... and the Royal Dragoons were the only regiment that stood in the way, occupying a two-tower keep. Captain Elson - his bravery, on the edge of being murderous and insane, a mirror to your own - ordered you to hold the keep with Lieutenant Cazarosta, himself leading a suicidal charge into the thick of the Antari.
Facing overwhelming odds, including a force of the much-feared Antari light cavalry and the even more fearsome, bane-enhanced Church Hussars, you could have easily taken this opportunity to retreat.
Instead you stayed, determined to fight to the last man as had been ordered, and Cazarosta did the same.
You barely survived, by the virtue of besting a Church Hussar in combat. Cazarosta lost an eye as he held his ground with pistol and sabre. Elsewhere, Duke Cunaris was crippled and Sir Hunter slain, along with many other valiant soldiers, officers, and lords of Tierra. More than half of your own men were cut to ribbons.
But you held. You held as the gore-splattered Church Hussars broke and fled from the ragged remnant of your troop.
Although the flank had held, the battle had no decisive victor. Its bloody outcome brought great uncertainty, that was only slightly dispelled when your liege King Miguel I arrived to oversee the war effort personally.
For your efforts, he made you and Cazarosta into Knights of the Red, and both of you were promoted to the rank of Captain.
By the end of of it all, you were only 19 years of age.
As a scion of petty nobles from the Duchy of Cunaris, you became a Cornet of the Royal Dragoons at the young age of 14. Before departing for Antar, you met your fellow officers Davis d'al Elson and Caius d'al Cazarosta. The former was a hopeful and idealistic officer held back by foppery and insecurity; the latter, a ruthlessly skilled zealot held back by his bastard birth and impersonal manner. Your own liege, Duke Cunaris served as the regiment's colonel.
After reaching the vast and powerful, yet brutish and oppressive land of the Antari, you struggled to lead the few men under your command. Your first mission under the daring knight-colonel Enrique d'al Hunter showed that you could reliably follow orders and conduct yourself bravely, yet lacked the creativity to seize initiative. Nevertheless, the mission succeeded in its goals and you have done your part, which earned you Hunter's positive regard.
Due to some combination of this initial success, your steadfast temperament, and some measure of nepotism, Duke Cunaris ended up approving your early promotion to the rank of Lieutenant, in spite of your relative lack of experience. You were reunited with Cazarosta - who had become Lieutenant also - and Elson, by then your Captain (perhaps having benefited from his connections even more so than you.)
Regardless of character flaws and disagreements, the three of you fought and grew well together. Elson had become more competent and less immature; Cazarosta dulled his edge enough for his insightful input to be considered, if not yet respected; and you have improved somewhat as a tactician, but moreso proven your worth as a fearsome combatant, more than capable of holding your own even when your men had faltered.
Then came the battle of Blogia, the bloodiest yet.
Both the Antari and the Tierrans seemed to have underestimated each other. In spite of heavy initial losses, the Antaris positioned themselves perfectly to strike at the exposed flank of the King's army... and the Royal Dragoons were the only regiment that stood in the way, occupying a two-tower keep. Captain Elson - his bravery, on the edge of being murderous and insane, a mirror to your own - ordered you to hold the keep with Lieutenant Cazarosta, himself leading a suicidal charge into the thick of the Antari.
Facing overwhelming odds, including a force of the much-feared Antari light cavalry and the even more fearsome, bane-enhanced Church Hussars, you could have easily taken this opportunity to retreat.
Instead you stayed, determined to fight to the last man as had been ordered, and Cazarosta did the same.
You barely survived, by the virtue of besting a Church Hussar in combat. Cazarosta lost an eye as he held his ground with pistol and sabre. Elsewhere, Duke Cunaris was crippled and Sir Hunter slain, along with many other valiant soldiers, officers, and lords of Tierra. More than half of your own men were cut to ribbons.
But you held. You held as the gore-splattered Church Hussars broke and fled from the ragged remnant of your troop.
Although the flank had held, the battle had no decisive victor. Its bloody outcome brought great uncertainty, that was only slightly dispelled when your liege King Miguel I arrived to oversee the war effort personally.
For your efforts, he made you and Cazarosta into Knights of the Red, and both of you were promoted to the rank of Captain.
By the end of of it all, you were only 19 years of age.
This part of your story began in the 607nd year of the Old Imperial Era, as the King's army prepared for a decisive phase of the Antari campaign.
During a long operational pause, your regiment was restored to strength, and with your ruthless (if stuttering,) Staff Sergeant Hernandes, you were able to shape your squadron into something resembling a unit of fighting men, and not merely a mob of fresh recruits. Your capabilities as a commander improved, as did your judgement, though you continued to make mistakes as you lacked either the raw charisma of Captain Elson - neither the man nor his remains were found since his hopeless charge at Blogia - nor did you posses the sheer intellect of Captain Cazarosta. Still, your decision to appoint the bookish-yet-brilliant Lieutenant Sandoral to instill discipline in your squadron was wise, and he performed his duties well. Your batman Marion also proved indispensable, not the least due to the fact that he made the process of getting into your new knightly harness much easier.
The two other Lieutenants under your command were Iago d'al Blaylock and perhaps most notably Lord Renard d'al Findlay, the eldest son and heir of your Colonel, Duke Cunaris. Indeed, over the course of the campaign you had become something of a mentor to both Sandoral and Findlay, just as Duke Cunaris - wheelchair-bound since Blogia, yet continuing to conduct himself as a leader of men - began to act as a mentor of your own.
The major assignment - escorting a shipment of brand new wall-breaching guns to the siege of Kharangia, a great Antari city - went very well as your sense for tactics had improved, as had your squadron's ability to perform them. You were accompanied by Lady Katarina, a mysterious agent of the Royal Intelligence, whose conduct towards you was at times sultry, and at other times bordered on overbearing. Mistrusting the woman, you kept her at arm's length. It was not after the war's conclusion that you learned she was, like Caius, a Cazarostra - and the legitimate heir to the Earl of Leoniscourt. On the other hand Master Garing, one of the men responsible for the creation of the new guns, was able to get you to invest in his project concerning yet another experimental weapon project.
Besieging Kharingia proved a difficult and checkered experience. After Cazarosta led the Forlorn Hope into the breach, the renowned Kentauri Highlanders commanded by Marcus d'al Havenport conducted the main assault, but it was not until your Dragoons supported them that the Antari defenders were finally broken.
Yet your victory was soured by the fact that your men, embittered by high casualties they took during the assault, immediately took to violently plundering the city alongside the Highlanders. Not yourself nor Marcus were able to impose order, perhaps demonstrating that, in spite of your improvements, you still had your limits as a leader. And while a sack of a city taken by siege was not an unusual thing in war, the sheer barbarity with which your men behaved still remains in your mind. Many Tierran soldiers had to be hanged for the chaos to finally subside.
Long afterwards, you once more had to escort Lady Katarina, though that time she was accompanied by Lord Cassius - a bold, proud ambassador of the advanced and powerful realm of Takara. Your open distaste for Takaran culture and the ambassador's temperament led him to view you with as much contempt.
Spent by the sack of Kharingia, then subsequently diluted by fresh recruits, your squadron was never able to recover to the peak of professionalism that it briefly held. Your reputation further suffered as you at times acted with as much callousness and rudeness as Cazarosta, and refused to play politics. You felt more at ease among grunts and commoners, befriending brevet-Lieutenant Lewes of the ex-convict Experimental Corps.
Always leading the way into the boldest course of action, your awesome aptitude for violence further enhanced by your knightly plate-and-blade, you evoked fear in your enemies, subordinates, and comrades. Your conduct was checkered, your victories pyrrhic, your reputation bloody. Your temperament, while occasionally resembling that of an adept and experienced tactician, was still largely that of a boy playing with tin soldiers and falling asleep to patriotic tales of glory - which did not help diminish your unnerving effect on your allies.
Surprisingly, it was Cazarosta who seemed to look at you with a quiet understanding, as if he shared your madness. While neither of you confused your relationship for friendship - indeed, it was questionable whether Cazarosta was even capable of such relations - all the blood you have spilled and shed together did inspire a measure of trust between the two of you.
Some of the men, too, understood your devotion to blood, glory, and duty. That Lewes fellow, and Hernandes who had been with you the longest, and good Marion. Perhaps even Sandoral...
But not Duke Cunaris, for even he had come to look at your record with despair, his faith in you much tarnished.
Yet when it came for the war's deciding moment - the second battle of Kharingia, this time in its defense against the Antari host that was the backbone of the League's resistance - It was you who was temporary promoted to the temporary rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel, and placed in command of the entire Dragoon regiment.
If only because a cripple and a bastard were trusted even less than you in that capacity.
You fought that battle the exact same way you fought the ones that came before - with zealous conviction, with ruthless violence, your line overextended, your swordsmanship without peer.
You fought, and you won, and your men died. Again and again.
Hernandes and Marion, of your squadron, had perished - and elsewhere, that poor, hard bastard Lewes, who you could not spare forces to support. Even that Countess Welles who you barely knew, perhaps a too-headstrong woman among men, but nevertheless deserving of protection, you failed to save.
Most of your friends and loyal men lay dead, while your casualties once more approached close to half of your regiment. Such were the results of your actions.
Yet so was victory. Perhaps that is what it took - a man like you. Leading so many lesser men towards to their deaths.
The war was won; the treaty, signed. You were 14 years old when you signed up, more boy than man, and by the war's conclusion you were 25. Eleven years.
The Cazarosta half-siblings, Caius and Katarina, saw fit to see you off regardless of the distance between you. The bastard, it turned out, decided to stay in the army.
You envy him, do you not? For you have no such choice, but to return home and ascend to Lordship as per your father's death.
What kind of Lord will you become, you overgrown brute of a boy, having exchanged your toy sword for a blood-drenched blade, your unerring prayers answered only by a chorus of the dead?
During a long operational pause, your regiment was restored to strength, and with your ruthless (if stuttering,) Staff Sergeant Hernandes, you were able to shape your squadron into something resembling a unit of fighting men, and not merely a mob of fresh recruits. Your capabilities as a commander improved, as did your judgement, though you continued to make mistakes as you lacked either the raw charisma of Captain Elson - neither the man nor his remains were found since his hopeless charge at Blogia - nor did you posses the sheer intellect of Captain Cazarosta. Still, your decision to appoint the bookish-yet-brilliant Lieutenant Sandoral to instill discipline in your squadron was wise, and he performed his duties well. Your batman Marion also proved indispensable, not the least due to the fact that he made the process of getting into your new knightly harness much easier.
The two other Lieutenants under your command were Iago d'al Blaylock and perhaps most notably Lord Renard d'al Findlay, the eldest son and heir of your Colonel, Duke Cunaris. Indeed, over the course of the campaign you had become something of a mentor to both Sandoral and Findlay, just as Duke Cunaris - wheelchair-bound since Blogia, yet continuing to conduct himself as a leader of men - began to act as a mentor of your own.
The major assignment - escorting a shipment of brand new wall-breaching guns to the siege of Kharangia, a great Antari city - went very well as your sense for tactics had improved, as had your squadron's ability to perform them. You were accompanied by Lady Katarina, a mysterious agent of the Royal Intelligence, whose conduct towards you was at times sultry, and at other times bordered on overbearing. Mistrusting the woman, you kept her at arm's length. It was not after the war's conclusion that you learned she was, like Caius, a Cazarostra - and the legitimate heir to the Earl of Leoniscourt. On the other hand Master Garing, one of the men responsible for the creation of the new guns, was able to get you to invest in his project concerning yet another experimental weapon project.
Besieging Kharingia proved a difficult and checkered experience. After Cazarosta led the Forlorn Hope into the breach, the renowned Kentauri Highlanders commanded by Marcus d'al Havenport conducted the main assault, but it was not until your Dragoons supported them that the Antari defenders were finally broken.
Yet your victory was soured by the fact that your men, embittered by high casualties they took during the assault, immediately took to violently plundering the city alongside the Highlanders. Not yourself nor Marcus were able to impose order, perhaps demonstrating that, in spite of your improvements, you still had your limits as a leader. And while a sack of a city taken by siege was not an unusual thing in war, the sheer barbarity with which your men behaved still remains in your mind. Many Tierran soldiers had to be hanged for the chaos to finally subside.
Long afterwards, you once more had to escort Lady Katarina, though that time she was accompanied by Lord Cassius - a bold, proud ambassador of the advanced and powerful realm of Takara. Your open distaste for Takaran culture and the ambassador's temperament led him to view you with as much contempt.
Spent by the sack of Kharingia, then subsequently diluted by fresh recruits, your squadron was never able to recover to the peak of professionalism that it briefly held. Your reputation further suffered as you at times acted with as much callousness and rudeness as Cazarosta, and refused to play politics. You felt more at ease among grunts and commoners, befriending brevet-Lieutenant Lewes of the ex-convict Experimental Corps.
Always leading the way into the boldest course of action, your awesome aptitude for violence further enhanced by your knightly plate-and-blade, you evoked fear in your enemies, subordinates, and comrades. Your conduct was checkered, your victories pyrrhic, your reputation bloody. Your temperament, while occasionally resembling that of an adept and experienced tactician, was still largely that of a boy playing with tin soldiers and falling asleep to patriotic tales of glory - which did not help diminish your unnerving effect on your allies.
Surprisingly, it was Cazarosta who seemed to look at you with a quiet understanding, as if he shared your madness. While neither of you confused your relationship for friendship - indeed, it was questionable whether Cazarosta was even capable of such relations - all the blood you have spilled and shed together did inspire a measure of trust between the two of you.
Some of the men, too, understood your devotion to blood, glory, and duty. That Lewes fellow, and Hernandes who had been with you the longest, and good Marion. Perhaps even Sandoral...
But not Duke Cunaris, for even he had come to look at your record with despair, his faith in you much tarnished.
Yet when it came for the war's deciding moment - the second battle of Kharingia, this time in its defense against the Antari host that was the backbone of the League's resistance - It was you who was temporary promoted to the temporary rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel, and placed in command of the entire Dragoon regiment.
If only because a cripple and a bastard were trusted even less than you in that capacity.
You fought that battle the exact same way you fought the ones that came before - with zealous conviction, with ruthless violence, your line overextended, your swordsmanship without peer.
You fought, and you won, and your men died. Again and again.
Hernandes and Marion, of your squadron, had perished - and elsewhere, that poor, hard bastard Lewes, who you could not spare forces to support. Even that Countess Welles who you barely knew, perhaps a too-headstrong woman among men, but nevertheless deserving of protection, you failed to save.
Most of your friends and loyal men lay dead, while your casualties once more approached close to half of your regiment. Such were the results of your actions.
Yet so was victory. Perhaps that is what it took - a man like you. Leading so many lesser men towards to their deaths.
The war was won; the treaty, signed. You were 14 years old when you signed up, more boy than man, and by the war's conclusion you were 25. Eleven years.
The Cazarosta half-siblings, Caius and Katarina, saw fit to see you off regardless of the distance between you. The bastard, it turned out, decided to stay in the army.
You envy him, do you not? For you have no such choice, but to return home and ascend to Lordship as per your father's death.
What kind of Lord will you become, you overgrown brute of a boy, having exchanged your toy sword for a blood-drenched blade, your unerring prayers answered only by a chorus of the dead?
REFERENCE FOR THE LORD OF THE TIERRAN CORTES
Unlike the Guns of Infinity reference, which mostly elaborated on the copy found in Sabres of Infinity, this one has largely been rewritten to be more focused on the internal matters of the realm. For instance, the information about the recent war and the Tierran military has been condensed or removed outright.
The Unified Kingdom of Tierra is, in many ways, little more than a polite fiction. Constructed out of a patchwork of petty kingdoms by the Principality of Aetoria little more than a century ago through a combination of diplomacy, trade, threats, and open violence, the Unified Kingdom remains in many ways divided along cultural, politickal, and historical lines. Only the institutions of royal government serve to bind the six million people and disparate regions of Tierra together, however tenuously.
Thus, to understand Tierra is to understand that it is still many nations pretending to be a single entity—a collection of hundreds of little local governments, administered by members of a common aristocracy, and linked together through a quasi-feudal network of obligations and privileges, all in the guise of a unitary state.
In many ways, that divided character still shows itself. Nowhere is this clearer than in the strong regional identities of the major constituent regions of the country. Having once been sovereign and independent kingdoms prior to the establishment of the Unified Kingdom, these regions still maintain strong ties to their past, and often owe their loyalties foremost not to the Kings of Tierra but to the Great Houses, who claim descent from the kings and queens which once ruled those regions.
The sole exception is Aetoria itself. The Kings of Tierra descend directly from the Princes of Aetoria, and the lands which the Principality of Aetoria once covered have been accustomed to the rule of the royal House of Rendower, not for decades but for centuries. As a result, the institutions of royal government, the Army, the Navy, the Intendancy, all are seen as fundamentally Aetorian in character, and the great city of Aetoria itself is seen not as an appendage of the Unified Kingdom, but as its heart.
Which is not to say that the Duchy of Aetoria can do without the other regions of the country. Aetoria's soil is mostly ill-suited for farming. Much of it is only useful for the raising of sheep or the growing of particularly hardy crops. The City of Aetoria must rely upon trade with other regions and even other countries to feed itself—and its status as a commercial centre has more to do with its excellent harbour, excellent location, and royal favour than any particular productivity.
The same could not be said of Cunaris, traditionally the wealthiest and most populous of Tierra's regions. During the period of the Petty Kingdoms prior to Tierra's unification, the Findlay kings of Cunaris were considered the most powerful in the land. Ruling from the fortified city of Fernandescourt, they governed a realm possessed of productive lands, fine rivers, and a strong military tradition. Indeed, to hear some Cunarians speak of it, a Findlay of Cunaris ought to have been the first to unify Tierra under his reign, not a Rendower of Aetoria.
Despite such sentiments, Cunaris has never really chafed under Aetoria's rule. Its admission into the Unified Kingdom had been early and entirely peaceful, a legacy which few in Cunaris regret.
The same could not be said of the hardscrabble folk of the wind-blown Salt Coast, who had never unified into a single entity. Split into three dozen small realms dominated by the Cazarosta pirate-kings of Leoniscourt, the Englesseys of Crittenden, and their collateral branch, the Englesseas of Castermaine, the hard-bitten, fractious states of the Salt Coast had prided themselves on self-reliance, independence, and defiance in the face of any threat. They were the first to take up arms against the threat of an expanding Aetoria. Only after three decades of military defeat did Leoniscourt, the last of the Salt Coast kingdoms, at last accept Tierran rule.
At least part of Leoniscourt's persistence was the result of outside support. Through imports of iron and coal, as well as the occasional military alliance, the Candlesses of Wulfram were the animating force behind multiple attempts to contain Aetoria's expansion. Dominating much of the north, the Kings and Queens of Wulfram saw a unified Tierra as a threat to their power and security. Only after nearly six decades of resistance did the Wulframites at last submit, though the Dukes of Wulfram have striven to use their land's prodigious natural resources to keep their seat at Tannersburg an economic powerhouse independent from Aetoria's direct authority.
Like Wulfram, Warburton joined the Unified Kingdom late. Blessed with great reserves of silver and fertile land, and separated from the Tierran mainland by the Straits of Kentaur, Warburton developed its own culture and systems of governance separate from those of the mainland. While the Harris Kings of Warburton would eventually join the Unified Kingdom in the wake of military defeat and a campaign of diplomatic pressure, its languid—some would say indolent—way of doing things mark it as a very different place from the rest of Tierra.
Last of all, there is Kentaur, the last bastion of the first people to inhabit the Tierran mainland. Pushed into the poorest and most inhospitable part of the country by centuries of encroachment from the so-called Settler-Lords who now rule the rest of the Tierran mainland, the Kentauri have developed an understandable mistrust of most outsiders. Fractious, proud, and prone to violence, most of the Kentauri clans live within the borders of the Unified Kingdom but refuse to partake in its institutions.
Only Clan Havenport serves as an exception. Possessed of Kentaur's only sizeable natural harbour, the Havenports grew wealthy and powerful off of trade with the Settler-Lords, a relationship which eventually developed into an alliance with Cunaris and Aetoria. The chief of Clan Havenport was among the very first to accept annexation into the Unified Kingdom. As the Dukes of Havenport, his descendants have served the Crown's interests in Kentaur faithfully ever since. In return, the Rendowers provide the Havenports with the support needed to reward their allies, destroy their enemies, and dominate most of Kentaur.
While these Great Houses control much of Tierra's wealth and population, the majority of the country is not administered directly by such families, but by a vast array of lesser nobility. Where the Duke of Wulfram might control the industrial city of Tannersburg and wide swathes of Wulfram's richest and most profitable land, the rest of the region is split up into the estates of dozens of lesser aristocrats, each in possession of a few villages, a handful of farming estates, or a town. However, many of these lords are equal to the heads of the Great Houses in one respect: they too each possess a seat in the Cortes, the Tierran parliament.
The Cortes is emblematic of the compromise between the Crown and the aristocracy that sits at the heart of Tierran governance. While the King reigns, it is the Cortes which represents the interests of the nobility. It is the Lords of the Cortes who perform most of the functions of government and provide the bulk of the King's Army in times of war. Thus, if he is to govern effectively, the King must negotiate effectively with these aristocrats, regardless of their wealth or seniority within the peerage. As a result, the Crown must consider the concerns and counsel of even relatively poor and undistinguished members of the nobility.
Of course, such a compromise remains an arrangement between the components of the aristocracy, not a measure of genuine popular rule. The vast majority of Tierra's people are not of the Baneblooded classes, but the Baneless commons, who build its houses, run its shops, work its fields and die in its wars. They possess little voice or influence in the processes which determine the laws they must live under, the taxes they must pay, and the leaders they must submit to.
Aetoria is the capital city of the Unified Kingdom of Tierra. With a permanent population of over two hundred thousand, it is Tierra's largest city by far, as well as its financial and cultural centre.
Founded as a port town, Aetoria became wealthy and powerful as a centre of maritime trade thanks to its excellent harbour. With commerce came finance, and the city quickly developed a formidable banking sector, which the Princes of Aetoria would eventually use to finance the expansion of their power, the construction of vast fortifications, and eventually, the foundation of the Unified Kingdom itself.
All three of these developments can be seen embodied in the imposing bastions and sea walls of the Northern Keep. Initially raised as a fortified citadel during the city's early days, it has been rebuilt and expanded time and time again over the course of many generations. As the power of Aetoria's rulers expanded, the construction of wooden palisades and rough earthworks expanded with it, becoming a massive stone fortress bristling with cannon, considered one of the most powerful fortresses in the Northern Kingdoms.
As the Princes of Aetoria and then the Kings of Tierra subjugated or made friends out of their enemies, the risk that the city might fall under attack began to diminish. Aetoria seemed no longer in need of a citadel, and the immense fortifications which previous rulers had built to protect the city now seemed unnecessary. Over the course of several generations, the city's defences declined in importance. The smaller fortresses meant to protect the city's outskirts were abandoned or left in disrepair, and large sections of the land walls that once encircled the city were torn down to make room for new shops, housing, parks, and squares.
The Northern Keep, however, escaped this fate. Having long since been established as the seat of the House of Rendower, the fortress was converted into the centre of royal governance. Now, the great fortress houses a vast complex of government offices, the residences of the royal family, as well as the assembly chamber of the Tierran Cortes.
However, this does not mean that Aetoria is entirely unprotected. The elite troops of the Aetorian Grenadier Guards still patrol the ramparts of the Northern Keep, and while the city may be mostly undefended from land, its harbour is watched over by an immense series of shore batteries, mounting enchanted runecannon capable of defeating almost any attacking fleet.
The series of renovations which led to both the construction of the shore batteries and the dismantling of much of the land walls also defined much of the current shape of the city itself—for the controversial King Edmund II had sought not only to modernise his capital, but to beautify it as well. To this end, he commanded that much of the upper city be demolished and rebuilt. Gone were the winding streets and overhanging eaves, to be replaced with what Aetorians sixty years later now refer to as the Upper, or New City.
The New City is a place reserved for Tierra's elite. Its broad and geometric streets are intended to accommodate the palanquins of the wealthy and the coaches of the aristocracy. Its fashionable neighbourhoods are filled with stately townhouses for the powerful and the small armies of servants who follow them. It is the home of the Royal University, where the children of high society are groomed for exalted office—and of the exclusive clubs, theatres, and opera houses where the high-born take their ease. Perhaps one Aetorian in five lives in the New City, and of that number, perhaps nineteen in twenty exist in some form of service to the remainder.
Most of Aetoria's population live in an entirely different sort of environment, in the part of the city which has never been rebuilt. In the Lower, or Old City, the ways are still narrow and often unpaved, the streets are winding and likely to end in blind alleys, and the buildings are haphazard amalgamations of cheap public houses, workshops, and cramped quarters where poor families live in single filthy rooms—if they are lucky. Although the Old City has always been crowded, the construction of the New City has only exacerbated the problem, by displacing tens of thousands of former residents to make room for the new homes built for their social superiors. Despite the best efforts of the Orders of the Blue, life in the Old City is often miserable and threadbare—something which the burden of the war taxes and the Crown's increasing debt have only worsened.
In between the wretched poverty of the Old City and the glittering affluence of the New rests a sort of middle ground, a place without official name or boundaries, a sort of frontier from whence Aetoria's wealth and power flow from. Here are the quays from which a hundred ships a week might be loaded and emptied. Here are the warehouses and the offices of the great merchant houses, the manufactories, the homes of the burgeoning middle class, and the banks which finance it all. Here is Grenadier Square, the headquarters of the King's Army and the most obvious sign of royal presence within the city itself. Here is where the poor labour, and the rich profit.
And there is much profit to be made. An ambitious individual can do much to take advantage of the vast amounts of wealth and influence which flow through the city. With the proper application of talent and no small amount of luck, one might find Aetoria's streets to be a pathway to the greatest fame and fortune which one's birth might allow. It is in the pursuit of such hopes that draws commoner and country aristocrat alike to the great city.
Even though precious few see such a dream realised.
The Bane, or Life-Poison, is an energy which exists in all things alive and formerly living. In the distant past, its presence was like that of the heat of a flame, easily sensed by even the most raw infant, and able to be manipulated at will with a bare modicum of training. In those days, the power of the Bane was used to work great wonders, and the roots of living trees and stones made from the fossils of long-dead creatures were used as readily as the mattock and the spade to build the great empires of old.
Centuries ago, this changed. The power to manipulate the Bane ebbed from humanity. In greater and greater numbers, children were born without the ability to work or even sense its power. The great sorcerous empires shook apart in the resulting upheavals, and the countries which rose in their shadow built with sweat and machines what their ancestors once wrought with the sheer force of their will. Only the Elves of Takara and Butea retained their universal mastery over the Bane, a quality which has done much to reinforce their own self-regard.
Yet not all humans have lost the powers that their ancestors once took for granted. It was quickly discovered that some rare few individuals retained the ability to sense the Bane, and that if they bred with those who possessed the same ability, their children would inherit such a power. On rare occasions, it was even found that such offspring would even be able to manipulate the Bane as well. These individuals quickly became marked out, exalted as a class above the rest of humanity, a chosen group spared the loss of Banesense and Banecasting due to some intangible superiority. In the Northern Kingdoms which sprang up from the ruin of Old Calligia, these familial lines quickly amassed influence and power, establishing themselves as a social class of their own.
These were the first Banebloods.
Banebloods make up about one out of every two hundred humans. In the Northern Kingdoms, Baneblood is synonymous with nobility, for it is believed that only those who have retained the ability to sense the Bane have the perspicacity and the judgment required to rule. In Tierra, this is referred to often as the Blood of Command, and it serves as a mandatory requirement for almost any position of real power or responsibility. With only the rarest of exceptions, only a Baneblood may hold noble title or a seat in the Cortes, command soldiers in the King's Army, occupy the highest offices within the King's Navy and civil service, or marry another Baneblood. Banebloods are considered to possess an innate sense of honour, and are seen as a result to be more trustworthy and morally upright than those born as Baneless commoners.
Two Baneblooded parents also possess a very small chance of creating one of those rare individuals capable of manipulating the Bane: Banecasters. Although even such gifted individuals can only manipulate the Bane with the aid of intensive training and intricate patterns of pine-wax baneseals to channel the caster's will, a Banecaster of sufficient power could replicate, to some degree, the feats of their distant ancestors. However, no two Banecasters possess the same degree of power. While training might teach a Banecaster the fundamentals, some are simply born with greater capacity than others. To measure such potential, the Kian have developed the Test of Calibres, a process by which the potential power of a relatively untrained Banecaster may be categorised, with the First Calibre being the weakest, the Ninth being the strongest, and the Tenth Calibre being maintained solely as a theoretical maximum of human ability.
Very few Banecasters exist in the highest calibres, but even the weakest may be capable of assisting in the process of Enchantment, wherein a Banecaster, working either alone or in concert with other casters, might use etched runes impregnated with special oils to impart extraordinary qualities upon inanimate objects, creating metal or wooden objects of immense durability or supernatural properties, and devices which are capable of doing the otherwise impossible. Such processes are immensely expensive and time-consuming, but objects enchanted in such a manner are highly prized—as are those capable of creating such works.
While most children born to a Baneblooded parent are heirs to immense societal privilege, there are exceptions. In every generation, there are children born to Baneblooded mothers who are not themselves Banebloods. As it is generally understood that any pairing of Banebloods would create Baneblooded children, these unfortunate infants are generally assumed to be the product of a particularly loathsome form of adultery, a crime for which the mother is harshly punished, and the child must suffer under the stigma of Deathborn-Bastardry.
Deathborn-Bastards are not well-regarded in Tierran society. Considered to possess the ambition and ability of a Baneblood with none of the restraint or integrity, they are seen as the product of a betrayal of the natural order. As a result, Deathborn-Bastards are considered to be naturally untrustworthy and innately prone to duplicity and all manner of villainy. As a stock character in Tierran operetta, he is a schemer filled with low cunning but devoid of loyalty or morality. He inevitably betrays his benefactors and pursues villainous schemes solely for the joy of petty cruelty.
Yet in many ways, Baneblood, Baneless, and Deathborn-Bastard alike play only the parts which society has written for them. The Baneblooded lord is seen as an embodiment of honour and dignity, so it is his actions which define what those words signify. The Baneless commoner is told her entire life that she is unsuited for command, so she has little chance to even consider the possibility. The Deathborn-Bastard, treated as a scoundrel in the making since infancy, has little means to resist the narrow path he is put on, save by revenging himself against those who have forced him to take it.
It is not an equal system, nor a particularly fair one, but it is one which has stood for centuries, one that shows precious little sign of changing.
Yet.
Centuries ago, this changed. The power to manipulate the Bane ebbed from humanity. In greater and greater numbers, children were born without the ability to work or even sense its power. The great sorcerous empires shook apart in the resulting upheavals, and the countries which rose in their shadow built with sweat and machines what their ancestors once wrought with the sheer force of their will. Only the Elves of Takara and Butea retained their universal mastery over the Bane, a quality which has done much to reinforce their own self-regard.
Yet not all humans have lost the powers that their ancestors once took for granted. It was quickly discovered that some rare few individuals retained the ability to sense the Bane, and that if they bred with those who possessed the same ability, their children would inherit such a power. On rare occasions, it was even found that such offspring would even be able to manipulate the Bane as well. These individuals quickly became marked out, exalted as a class above the rest of humanity, a chosen group spared the loss of Banesense and Banecasting due to some intangible superiority. In the Northern Kingdoms which sprang up from the ruin of Old Calligia, these familial lines quickly amassed influence and power, establishing themselves as a social class of their own.
These were the first Banebloods.
Banebloods make up about one out of every two hundred humans. In the Northern Kingdoms, Baneblood is synonymous with nobility, for it is believed that only those who have retained the ability to sense the Bane have the perspicacity and the judgment required to rule. In Tierra, this is referred to often as the Blood of Command, and it serves as a mandatory requirement for almost any position of real power or responsibility. With only the rarest of exceptions, only a Baneblood may hold noble title or a seat in the Cortes, command soldiers in the King's Army, occupy the highest offices within the King's Navy and civil service, or marry another Baneblood. Banebloods are considered to possess an innate sense of honour, and are seen as a result to be more trustworthy and morally upright than those born as Baneless commoners.
Two Baneblooded parents also possess a very small chance of creating one of those rare individuals capable of manipulating the Bane: Banecasters. Although even such gifted individuals can only manipulate the Bane with the aid of intensive training and intricate patterns of pine-wax baneseals to channel the caster's will, a Banecaster of sufficient power could replicate, to some degree, the feats of their distant ancestors. However, no two Banecasters possess the same degree of power. While training might teach a Banecaster the fundamentals, some are simply born with greater capacity than others. To measure such potential, the Kian have developed the Test of Calibres, a process by which the potential power of a relatively untrained Banecaster may be categorised, with the First Calibre being the weakest, the Ninth being the strongest, and the Tenth Calibre being maintained solely as a theoretical maximum of human ability.
Very few Banecasters exist in the highest calibres, but even the weakest may be capable of assisting in the process of Enchantment, wherein a Banecaster, working either alone or in concert with other casters, might use etched runes impregnated with special oils to impart extraordinary qualities upon inanimate objects, creating metal or wooden objects of immense durability or supernatural properties, and devices which are capable of doing the otherwise impossible. Such processes are immensely expensive and time-consuming, but objects enchanted in such a manner are highly prized—as are those capable of creating such works.
While most children born to a Baneblooded parent are heirs to immense societal privilege, there are exceptions. In every generation, there are children born to Baneblooded mothers who are not themselves Banebloods. As it is generally understood that any pairing of Banebloods would create Baneblooded children, these unfortunate infants are generally assumed to be the product of a particularly loathsome form of adultery, a crime for which the mother is harshly punished, and the child must suffer under the stigma of Deathborn-Bastardry.
Deathborn-Bastards are not well-regarded in Tierran society. Considered to possess the ambition and ability of a Baneblood with none of the restraint or integrity, they are seen as the product of a betrayal of the natural order. As a result, Deathborn-Bastards are considered to be naturally untrustworthy and innately prone to duplicity and all manner of villainy. As a stock character in Tierran operetta, he is a schemer filled with low cunning but devoid of loyalty or morality. He inevitably betrays his benefactors and pursues villainous schemes solely for the joy of petty cruelty.
Yet in many ways, Baneblood, Baneless, and Deathborn-Bastard alike play only the parts which society has written for them. The Baneblooded lord is seen as an embodiment of honour and dignity, so it is his actions which define what those words signify. The Baneless commoner is told her entire life that she is unsuited for command, so she has little chance to even consider the possibility. The Deathborn-Bastard, treated as a scoundrel in the making since infancy, has little means to resist the narrow path he is put on, save by revenging himself against those who have forced him to take it.
It is not an equal system, nor a particularly fair one, but it is one which has stood for centuries, one that shows precious little sign of changing.
Yet.
To be a Baneblooded aristocrat in Tierra is to be in possession of great privilege. With few exceptions, only Baneblooded men may purchase officers' commissions within the King's Army, or aspire to command ships of the King's Navy. Only Banebloods may be considered for appointment within the higher ranks of the Royal Intendancy and other institutions of the civil service. Only Banebloods may become full members of the Knightly Orders, as well as a myriad of other exclusive organisations and clubs. Banebloods are exempt from the land taxes which prevent all others from holding and leasing out landed estates for meaningful profit. They are also exempt from low justice, being subject only to criminal conviction through a Cortes vote. In exchange for such immense advantages, they must also take on certain obligations: they are barred from partaking in the trades, and they are obliged to adhere to unspoken but stringent codes of behaviour, ones which are violated at peril to the offender's reputation, fortune, and life.
However, despite these common factors, not all Banebloods are equal. Tierran society is a highly stratified affair, and the aristocracy is no exception to that rule. The vast majority of the Baneblooded classes are made up of the households of the untitled, or Low Nobility. Whilst often in possession of considerable fortunes and properties, as well as no small amount of social influence, they lack any true politickal power. Their lands and wealth have little more legal protection than those of the Baneless, and although they may purchase a Baronetcy from the Crown at considerable expense, such a distinction serves little meaningful purpose and does not elevate them to the echelons of real power.
For that, one must look to the High, or Cortes Nobility. These are the six hundred or so noble houses in possession of a title, and thus a seat in the Tierran Cortes, or parliament. This too is a class subject to great stratification, from the houses of the immensely wealthy and powerful Dukes, down the order of power, wealth, and seniority to Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, and finally Barons, whose estates may consist of little more than a hard-scrabble village or two, a decaying country house, and an immense family debt, accumulated over the course of generations in an attempt to keep up appearances.
However, despite this great disparity, all members of the Cortes Nobility possess certain powers and privileges in common.
The first of these is, of course, the right to maintain a seat on the Cortes, to be held by the head of that house. These individuals are known collectively as the Lords of the Cortes.
In official terms, every Lord of the Cortes is equal to any other within the Cortes Chamber. Each vote possesses no greater weight than any other, and thus in theory, a Baron with an income of nine hundred crown a year holds the same power within the Chamber as a Duke who brings in a hundred and fifty thousand.
Of course, in reality, things are rather different. Those Lords of the Cortes possessed of great wealth or influence have ways of making others vote as they do—which means one vote with enough money or patronage behind it could easily rally dozens. As a result, the opinions of those Lords of the Cortes unable to amass such power are considered with less weight than those who can. Thus, when the Cortes opens, a great many lords entitled to sit within it choose instead to remain on their estates, either out of a refusal to play the influence games required to become a major power, or out of the simple understanding that the potential rewards of Cortes politics are not worth the expense of maintaining a townhouse and establishment in the capital. As a result, only perhaps one out of five Cortes seats are filled in any given session, though particularly contested votes are more likely to attract higher attendance.
This hardly means that the Cortes Nobility do not enjoy the exercise of their powers, however. The other privileges which Lords of the Cortes possess are ones which they may employ from the comfort of their country estates: the right to dispense justice and mete punishment to those who reside in their lands, the right to raise a private army—or Houseguard—to defend their estates, and the right to entail property to a title so that it cannot be confiscated, save in the direst extremity.
The last of these rights is of particular significance, for it means that much of Tierra's best and most populated land is tied up in noble titles. Under normal circumstances, such titles—and thus, the property entailed to them—are passed from father to eldest son, but when a noble house possesses no male heirs, matters quickly grow complicated. Under Tierran inheritance law, control over a title whose holder has died without male heirs reverts to the overlord from which the title was issued from, be it an Earl, a Marquess, a Duke, or the King himself. Though a female heir may inherit the title itself, she has no control over the substance of its powers or entailed property. She only retains the right to marry, and thus place her inheritance under the control of another—and even then such matters remain difficult, for the titles of two noble houses may only be combined with the approval of a Cortes vote, a measure to prevent a single family from amassing too much power.
Given the undesirability of such an eventuality, it is perhaps then no surprise that many noble houses spend great quantities of time, influence, and money to secure advantageous wedding matches for their children, both for the sake of social and politickal advancement, and to retain estates and patrimonies which may have been passed down for generations, if not centuries.
However, despite these common factors, not all Banebloods are equal. Tierran society is a highly stratified affair, and the aristocracy is no exception to that rule. The vast majority of the Baneblooded classes are made up of the households of the untitled, or Low Nobility. Whilst often in possession of considerable fortunes and properties, as well as no small amount of social influence, they lack any true politickal power. Their lands and wealth have little more legal protection than those of the Baneless, and although they may purchase a Baronetcy from the Crown at considerable expense, such a distinction serves little meaningful purpose and does not elevate them to the echelons of real power.
For that, one must look to the High, or Cortes Nobility. These are the six hundred or so noble houses in possession of a title, and thus a seat in the Tierran Cortes, or parliament. This too is a class subject to great stratification, from the houses of the immensely wealthy and powerful Dukes, down the order of power, wealth, and seniority to Marquesses, Earls, Viscounts, and finally Barons, whose estates may consist of little more than a hard-scrabble village or two, a decaying country house, and an immense family debt, accumulated over the course of generations in an attempt to keep up appearances.
However, despite this great disparity, all members of the Cortes Nobility possess certain powers and privileges in common.
The first of these is, of course, the right to maintain a seat on the Cortes, to be held by the head of that house. These individuals are known collectively as the Lords of the Cortes.
In official terms, every Lord of the Cortes is equal to any other within the Cortes Chamber. Each vote possesses no greater weight than any other, and thus in theory, a Baron with an income of nine hundred crown a year holds the same power within the Chamber as a Duke who brings in a hundred and fifty thousand.
Of course, in reality, things are rather different. Those Lords of the Cortes possessed of great wealth or influence have ways of making others vote as they do—which means one vote with enough money or patronage behind it could easily rally dozens. As a result, the opinions of those Lords of the Cortes unable to amass such power are considered with less weight than those who can. Thus, when the Cortes opens, a great many lords entitled to sit within it choose instead to remain on their estates, either out of a refusal to play the influence games required to become a major power, or out of the simple understanding that the potential rewards of Cortes politics are not worth the expense of maintaining a townhouse and establishment in the capital. As a result, only perhaps one out of five Cortes seats are filled in any given session, though particularly contested votes are more likely to attract higher attendance.
This hardly means that the Cortes Nobility do not enjoy the exercise of their powers, however. The other privileges which Lords of the Cortes possess are ones which they may employ from the comfort of their country estates: the right to dispense justice and mete punishment to those who reside in their lands, the right to raise a private army—or Houseguard—to defend their estates, and the right to entail property to a title so that it cannot be confiscated, save in the direst extremity.
The last of these rights is of particular significance, for it means that much of Tierra's best and most populated land is tied up in noble titles. Under normal circumstances, such titles—and thus, the property entailed to them—are passed from father to eldest son, but when a noble house possesses no male heirs, matters quickly grow complicated. Under Tierran inheritance law, control over a title whose holder has died without male heirs reverts to the overlord from which the title was issued from, be it an Earl, a Marquess, a Duke, or the King himself. Though a female heir may inherit the title itself, she has no control over the substance of its powers or entailed property. She only retains the right to marry, and thus place her inheritance under the control of another—and even then such matters remain difficult, for the titles of two noble houses may only be combined with the approval of a Cortes vote, a measure to prevent a single family from amassing too much power.
Given the undesirability of such an eventuality, it is perhaps then no surprise that many noble houses spend great quantities of time, influence, and money to secure advantageous wedding matches for their children, both for the sake of social and politickal advancement, and to retain estates and patrimonies which may have been passed down for generations, if not centuries.
In Tierra, the concept of religion is one synonymous with the veneration of the dead. This is not, in most cases, a matter of ancestor-worship or a general reverence for the deceased, but the exaltation of a particular list of individuals—men and women of high birth and great accomplishments who sacrificed their lives in the name of a good and noble cause, and who as a result have been elevated after death to a position of mastery over all things. These exemplars are known collectively as the Sainted Martyrs, and to Tierrans of particularly faithful inclination, all things good and ill may be accorded to their will and their design.
There are hundreds of such remembered individuals, sorted into Pantheons based on the manner of their martyrdom. Saints of the Pantheon of the Blue are those who gave up their lives to protect the innocent and powerless: the defiant victims of tyrants, those who drown saving others from shipwreck, those who treat the victims of plagues only to fall victim themselves. Saints of the Pantheon of the Green are those who gave up their own lives in the pursuit of knowledge: those who perish exploring the unknown, or devote their lives so wholly to study that they forgo all other things. Then there are the Saints of the Pantheon of the Red, perhaps the best known, who fall in battle for an honourable cause and to meaningful ends, in a moment of utmost martial heroism.
Other Pantheons exist as well, but the Saints of the Blue, Green, and Red are the best known, and the Orders devoted to their examples are by far the most numerous and well-established.
Ultimately, the Saints are worshipped through emulation, through a desire and an demonstrated willingness to live the virtues which have led them to martyrdom. For those who would devote themselves further, there are the Knightly Orders, institutions established in the name of a given Sainted Martyr, whose members not only seek to copy a Saint's good works in life, but their manner of death as well. For example, those who join the Orders of the Blue, or the Orders-Succorant, devote their lives and deaths to alleviating the suffering of the poor through charitable works. Those who join the Orders of the Green, or Orders-Aspirant, devote their lives to the pursuit of knowledge above any obligations to fortune, family, or even safety. Those who join the Orders of the Red, or the Orders-Militant, seek glorious death through battle.
Of these, it is the Orders-Militant which are the most recognisable, for the Knights of the Red have long come to the conclusion that to achieve a heroic death in battle, one must first be given every aid in achieving a state of martial prowess. To that end, the Orders of the Red maintain chantries within their shrines and chapter-houses, where those members of the Order with the ability to Banecast put their powers to good use by imbuing weapons and armour with special properties through prolonged and careful ritual. Such a process results in suits of armour impervious to musketry at all but the closest ranges, and blades capable of shearing through steel as if it were paper. It is this armour and these weapons which the Knights of the Red bring into battle, where they have forged a much-deserved reputation as paragons of war.
But to wear banehardened armour and wield a baneruned sword is a prospect far beyond the reach of most. The possession of such rare and expensive equipment is yet another privilege of the Baneblooded aristocracy. Baneless commoners may join a knightly order, but they will never aspire to knighthood. Instead, they become Seekers of Martyrdom. In theory, such individuals are to follow the path of virtue and self-sacrifice just as Baneblooded Knights are. In practise, Tierran Seekers serve as menial labourers within their order. It is they who clean the shrines and chapter-houses, who cook the meals and wash the clothes and empty the chamberpots. In many ways, their lives are no different from those of any other servant, but with the added burden of religious obligation.
Of course, there are reasons why men and women volunteer to be Seekers regardless. For some, the chance at guaranteed work, room, and board are more than enough. Others volunteer as true believers in a given Order's mission. Most, however, enter such a life in hopes of a greater reward. A Seeker who lives a virtuous life and dies a fitting death is believed to ride with the Saints themselves, just as members of the Baneblooded aristocracy do. Through such a means, a common-born Seeker might become the equal of a lord or a king, their funeral pyre freeing them not only from the decaying shell of their mortal existence, but the restraints of their birth and class as well.
Banebloods, however, may aspire to an even greater legacy—they may achieve Sainthood themselves, should their lives be sufficiently virtuous and their martyrdoms sufficiently spectacular. In Tierra, as it is in Mersdon and Callindria and many of the other Northern Kingdoms, such a thing is decided amongst the Knightly Orders. When an individual is nominated for Sainthood, a beacon must be lit in their name, within sight of the chapter-house of another order. For a year and a day, those who support the candidate's elevation must shield the flame against the elements, the seasons, and the efforts of those who might be opposed. If the flame lasts the course, then a new Saint is named, a Knightly Order is founded in their name, and a chapter-house is built around the beacon flame, to guard it forevermore.
Such a process is the major difference between the Sortitionist, or Mersdonian Rite and the rival, Ascensionist Rite. In the latter, Sainthood is not seen to be bestowed by acclamation or through the approval of existing Knightly Orders, but through a being known as the Mother of Ascension, who demonstrates the worthiness of a candidate for Sainthood by working miracles and other wonders on their behalf. In much of the Northern Kingdoms, Ascensionists are a minority. In the League of Antar, however, they are the majority, many of the founders of that country having been early adherents. Many of Antar's unique institutions and social arrangements may be attributed to the influence of Ascensionist principles, which have shaped the League's society in great and subtle ways, much remarked upon by theologians and historians alike.
Of course, such distinctions and details are of little consequence to the common Tierran. To them, it is enough to say that the way in which they and their forefathers have venerated the Saints is correct, and that any foreigner who does otherwise is wrong. In the Unified Kingdom, the Ascensionist Rite is considered a disfavoured minority at best, and outright heresy at worst. Yet so long as the heretics in question remain far away across the Calligian Sea, such matters will be of only secondary importance to all but the most zealous of the faithful.
There are hundreds of such remembered individuals, sorted into Pantheons based on the manner of their martyrdom. Saints of the Pantheon of the Blue are those who gave up their lives to protect the innocent and powerless: the defiant victims of tyrants, those who drown saving others from shipwreck, those who treat the victims of plagues only to fall victim themselves. Saints of the Pantheon of the Green are those who gave up their own lives in the pursuit of knowledge: those who perish exploring the unknown, or devote their lives so wholly to study that they forgo all other things. Then there are the Saints of the Pantheon of the Red, perhaps the best known, who fall in battle for an honourable cause and to meaningful ends, in a moment of utmost martial heroism.
Other Pantheons exist as well, but the Saints of the Blue, Green, and Red are the best known, and the Orders devoted to their examples are by far the most numerous and well-established.
Ultimately, the Saints are worshipped through emulation, through a desire and an demonstrated willingness to live the virtues which have led them to martyrdom. For those who would devote themselves further, there are the Knightly Orders, institutions established in the name of a given Sainted Martyr, whose members not only seek to copy a Saint's good works in life, but their manner of death as well. For example, those who join the Orders of the Blue, or the Orders-Succorant, devote their lives and deaths to alleviating the suffering of the poor through charitable works. Those who join the Orders of the Green, or Orders-Aspirant, devote their lives to the pursuit of knowledge above any obligations to fortune, family, or even safety. Those who join the Orders of the Red, or the Orders-Militant, seek glorious death through battle.
Of these, it is the Orders-Militant which are the most recognisable, for the Knights of the Red have long come to the conclusion that to achieve a heroic death in battle, one must first be given every aid in achieving a state of martial prowess. To that end, the Orders of the Red maintain chantries within their shrines and chapter-houses, where those members of the Order with the ability to Banecast put their powers to good use by imbuing weapons and armour with special properties through prolonged and careful ritual. Such a process results in suits of armour impervious to musketry at all but the closest ranges, and blades capable of shearing through steel as if it were paper. It is this armour and these weapons which the Knights of the Red bring into battle, where they have forged a much-deserved reputation as paragons of war.
But to wear banehardened armour and wield a baneruned sword is a prospect far beyond the reach of most. The possession of such rare and expensive equipment is yet another privilege of the Baneblooded aristocracy. Baneless commoners may join a knightly order, but they will never aspire to knighthood. Instead, they become Seekers of Martyrdom. In theory, such individuals are to follow the path of virtue and self-sacrifice just as Baneblooded Knights are. In practise, Tierran Seekers serve as menial labourers within their order. It is they who clean the shrines and chapter-houses, who cook the meals and wash the clothes and empty the chamberpots. In many ways, their lives are no different from those of any other servant, but with the added burden of religious obligation.
Of course, there are reasons why men and women volunteer to be Seekers regardless. For some, the chance at guaranteed work, room, and board are more than enough. Others volunteer as true believers in a given Order's mission. Most, however, enter such a life in hopes of a greater reward. A Seeker who lives a virtuous life and dies a fitting death is believed to ride with the Saints themselves, just as members of the Baneblooded aristocracy do. Through such a means, a common-born Seeker might become the equal of a lord or a king, their funeral pyre freeing them not only from the decaying shell of their mortal existence, but the restraints of their birth and class as well.
Banebloods, however, may aspire to an even greater legacy—they may achieve Sainthood themselves, should their lives be sufficiently virtuous and their martyrdoms sufficiently spectacular. In Tierra, as it is in Mersdon and Callindria and many of the other Northern Kingdoms, such a thing is decided amongst the Knightly Orders. When an individual is nominated for Sainthood, a beacon must be lit in their name, within sight of the chapter-house of another order. For a year and a day, those who support the candidate's elevation must shield the flame against the elements, the seasons, and the efforts of those who might be opposed. If the flame lasts the course, then a new Saint is named, a Knightly Order is founded in their name, and a chapter-house is built around the beacon flame, to guard it forevermore.
Such a process is the major difference between the Sortitionist, or Mersdonian Rite and the rival, Ascensionist Rite. In the latter, Sainthood is not seen to be bestowed by acclamation or through the approval of existing Knightly Orders, but through a being known as the Mother of Ascension, who demonstrates the worthiness of a candidate for Sainthood by working miracles and other wonders on their behalf. In much of the Northern Kingdoms, Ascensionists are a minority. In the League of Antar, however, they are the majority, many of the founders of that country having been early adherents. Many of Antar's unique institutions and social arrangements may be attributed to the influence of Ascensionist principles, which have shaped the League's society in great and subtle ways, much remarked upon by theologians and historians alike.
Of course, such distinctions and details are of little consequence to the common Tierran. To them, it is enough to say that the way in which they and their forefathers have venerated the Saints is correct, and that any foreigner who does otherwise is wrong. In the Unified Kingdom, the Ascensionist Rite is considered a disfavoured minority at best, and outright heresy at worst. Yet so long as the heretics in question remain far away across the Calligian Sea, such matters will be of only secondary importance to all but the most zealous of the faithful.
I decided to also include the Glossary and Personages of Importance sections previously found in Guns of Infinity, found below. Please note that these sections may have been excluded from Lords for the sake of internal consistency, and that the list of persons will not be updated past the end of Guns of Infinity (there is, instead, a separate list of friends and foes which will be reflected on the character sheet.)
IAGO D'AL BLAYLOCK
(Born 588 OIE) Lieutenant of the Royal Dragoon Regiment. Noted duellist. Baneblood.
GLEN D'AL BUTLER
(Born 594 OIE) Lieutenant of the Royal Dragoon Regiment. Baneblood.
LOUIS D'AL ENGLESSEY, EARL OF CASTERMAINE
(Born 558 OIE) General-of-brigade in the Tierran army. Commands an infantry brigade in the King's Army. Baneblood.
SIR CAIUS D'AL CAZAROSTA
(Born 585 OIE) Lieutenant in the King's Army. Commander of Third Squadron, Royal Dragoons. Knight-Companion of the Order of Saint Joshua. Illegitimate son of the Countess of Leoniscourt. Deathborn.
SIR JOHANNES D'AL FINDLAY, DUKE OF CUNARIS
(Born 556 OIE) Colonel-in-chief of the Royal Dragoon regiment. Knight-Grandmaster of the Order of Saint Jerome. A sitting member of the Cortes and head of the noble house of Findlay.Commander of the cavalry brigade in the King's Army. Lost the use of his legs at Blogia. Married with three children. Banecaster of the eighth calibre.
ULRIKE ECKHARTS
(Born 458 OIE) An Intendant of the Takaran Empire, assigned as an observer to the Duke of Wulfram's army prior to the Battle of Blogia.
LORD DAVIS D'AL ELSON
(584-607? OIE) Captain of the Royal Dragoon regiment, eldest son of the Baron of Hawthorne, a poor but politically influential Cortes noble. Former commanding officer of Third Squadron, Royal Dragoons. Missing and presumed dead after the Battle of Blogia. Banecaster of the third calibre.
LORD RENARD D'AL FINDLAY
(Born 594 OIE) Lieutenant of the Royal Dragoon regiment, eldest son and heir of the Duke of Cunaris. Baneblood.
LAURENT D'AL FINDLAY
(Born 597 OIE) Cornet of the Royal Dragoon regiment, younger son of the Duke of Cunaris. Baneblood.
EDMUND GARING
(Born 575 OIE) Master gunsmith and junior partner in the Aetorian firm of Garing, Gutierrez, and Truscott. Baneless.
ADALBERTO D'AL GARRET
(Born 590 OIE) Captain of the Royal Dragoon regiment, commanding officer of Fourth Squadron.Baneblood.
WINTHROP D'AL HARTIGAN, VISCOUNT OF HUGH
(Born 580 OIE) Lieutenant-colonel of the 5th Regiment of Foot. Related by marriage to the Elsons of Hawthorne. Banecaster of the second calibre.
ARTHUR D'AL HAVENPORT, DUKE OF HAVENPORT
(Born 573 OIE) Lieutenant-general of the Tierran army. Succeeded the Duke of Wulfram as Councilor-Militant and Lieutenant-general. Baneblood.
LORD MARCUS D'AL HAVENPORT
(Born 588 OIE) Lieutenant-colonel of the Kentauri Highland regiment. Younger brother of the Duke of Havenport. Baneblood.
LORD CASSIUS VAM HOLT
(Born 527 OIE) Takaran ambassador to the court of King Miguel of Tierra. Eldest son and heir of Richsgraav Maximilian vam Holt.
MAXIMILIAN, RICHSGRAAV VAM HOLT
(Born 399 OIE) Senior member of the Takaran Richsenaat. Secretary for the Ministry of Barbarian Affairs. Close personal friend of Aldkizern Reskin vam Paulus ai Takara. Former Colonel-in-chief of the Takaran Imperial Life Guards. Father of Lord Cassius vam Holt.
LORD ROLAND D'AL KEANE
(Born 571 OIE) Lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Dragoon regiment. Baneblood.
PRINCE BOLESLAW OF KHARANGIA
(Born 533 OIE) Antari lord of Kharangia. Allied with Prince Mikhail of Khorobirit. Banecaster of the second calibre.
PRINCE MIKHAIL OF KHOROBIRIT
(Born 573 OIE) A powerful Antari nobleman and the League of Antar's greatest general. Defeated the Tierran army decisively at Blogia in 607 OIE. Baneblood.
CEDRIC LEWES
(Born 577 OIE) Sergeant-major in the 8th Regiment of Foot. Holds a brevet commission as a Lieutenant of the Experimental Corps of Riflemen. Baneless.
LORD KAROL OF LOCH
(Born 569 OIE) An Antari Church Hussar sworn to the service of Prince Mikhail of Khorobirit. Baneblood.
ROBERT MARION
(Born 581 OIE) Corporal in the Royal Dragoons, bat-man to Captain Alaric d'al Ortiga. Baneless.
HARLANDO D'AL MARRAS, BARON OF MARRAS
(576-607? OIE) Lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Dragoons, formerly second in command of the Regiment. Missing and presumed dead after the Battle of Blogia. Baneblood.
HIS TIERRAN MAJESTY, KING MIGUEL OF HOUSE RENDOWER
(Born 586 OIE) Reigning monarch of the Unified Kingdom of Tierra, as well as Duke of Aetoria. Young and impetuous, but capable. Baneblood.
ALEJANDRO D'AL NEILLE
(Born 580 OIE) Major of the Kentauri Highlanders. Baneblood.
VICTOR D'AL REYES
(Born 583 OIE) Major of the 8th Regiment of Foot, commander of the Experimental Corps of Riflemen. Baneblood.
HELENA VIZTELAS
(Born 471 OIE) Captain of the Takaran Imperial Guard. Military attache to Intendant Eckharts.
JAMES D'AL SANDORAL
(Born 592 OIE) Lieutenant of the Royal Dragoon regiment. Baneblood.
"STRELLYK"
(Born ???) Antari freeholder turned partisan. Commands a small group of irregulars raiding the Tierran-controlled stretches of the Imperial Highway. Baneless.
ELEANORA D'AL WELLES, COUNTESS OF WELLES
(Born 587 OIE) Tierran noblewoman and civil servant. Currently in Antar at the behest of Grenadier Square. Orphaned by the death of her father at the Battle of Blogia in OIE 607.Baneblood.
SIR ENRIQUE D'AL HUNTER, VISCOUNT OF WOLFSWOOD
(577-607 OIE) Lieutenant-colonel of the Grenadiers. Knight-Captain of the Order of Saint Jerome. Former commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards. Killed at the Battle of Blogia. Banecaster of the ninth calibre.
HECTOR D'AL CANDLESS, DUKE OF WULFRAM
(542-607 OIE) Formerly commanding officer of the King's Army in Antar and Duke of the northern duchy of Wulfram. Killed at the Battle of Blogia. Banecaster of the sixth calibre.
(Born 588 OIE) Lieutenant of the Royal Dragoon Regiment. Noted duellist. Baneblood.
GLEN D'AL BUTLER
(Born 594 OIE) Lieutenant of the Royal Dragoon Regiment. Baneblood.
LOUIS D'AL ENGLESSEY, EARL OF CASTERMAINE
(Born 558 OIE) General-of-brigade in the Tierran army. Commands an infantry brigade in the King's Army. Baneblood.
SIR CAIUS D'AL CAZAROSTA
(Born 585 OIE) Lieutenant in the King's Army. Commander of Third Squadron, Royal Dragoons. Knight-Companion of the Order of Saint Joshua. Illegitimate son of the Countess of Leoniscourt. Deathborn.
SIR JOHANNES D'AL FINDLAY, DUKE OF CUNARIS
(Born 556 OIE) Colonel-in-chief of the Royal Dragoon regiment. Knight-Grandmaster of the Order of Saint Jerome. A sitting member of the Cortes and head of the noble house of Findlay.Commander of the cavalry brigade in the King's Army. Lost the use of his legs at Blogia. Married with three children. Banecaster of the eighth calibre.
ULRIKE ECKHARTS
(Born 458 OIE) An Intendant of the Takaran Empire, assigned as an observer to the Duke of Wulfram's army prior to the Battle of Blogia.
LORD DAVIS D'AL ELSON
(584-607? OIE) Captain of the Royal Dragoon regiment, eldest son of the Baron of Hawthorne, a poor but politically influential Cortes noble. Former commanding officer of Third Squadron, Royal Dragoons. Missing and presumed dead after the Battle of Blogia. Banecaster of the third calibre.
LORD RENARD D'AL FINDLAY
(Born 594 OIE) Lieutenant of the Royal Dragoon regiment, eldest son and heir of the Duke of Cunaris. Baneblood.
LAURENT D'AL FINDLAY
(Born 597 OIE) Cornet of the Royal Dragoon regiment, younger son of the Duke of Cunaris. Baneblood.
EDMUND GARING
(Born 575 OIE) Master gunsmith and junior partner in the Aetorian firm of Garing, Gutierrez, and Truscott. Baneless.
ADALBERTO D'AL GARRET
(Born 590 OIE) Captain of the Royal Dragoon regiment, commanding officer of Fourth Squadron.Baneblood.
WINTHROP D'AL HARTIGAN, VISCOUNT OF HUGH
(Born 580 OIE) Lieutenant-colonel of the 5th Regiment of Foot. Related by marriage to the Elsons of Hawthorne. Banecaster of the second calibre.
ARTHUR D'AL HAVENPORT, DUKE OF HAVENPORT
(Born 573 OIE) Lieutenant-general of the Tierran army. Succeeded the Duke of Wulfram as Councilor-Militant and Lieutenant-general. Baneblood.
LORD MARCUS D'AL HAVENPORT
(Born 588 OIE) Lieutenant-colonel of the Kentauri Highland regiment. Younger brother of the Duke of Havenport. Baneblood.
LORD CASSIUS VAM HOLT
(Born 527 OIE) Takaran ambassador to the court of King Miguel of Tierra. Eldest son and heir of Richsgraav Maximilian vam Holt.
MAXIMILIAN, RICHSGRAAV VAM HOLT
(Born 399 OIE) Senior member of the Takaran Richsenaat. Secretary for the Ministry of Barbarian Affairs. Close personal friend of Aldkizern Reskin vam Paulus ai Takara. Former Colonel-in-chief of the Takaran Imperial Life Guards. Father of Lord Cassius vam Holt.
LORD ROLAND D'AL KEANE
(Born 571 OIE) Lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Dragoon regiment. Baneblood.
PRINCE BOLESLAW OF KHARANGIA
(Born 533 OIE) Antari lord of Kharangia. Allied with Prince Mikhail of Khorobirit. Banecaster of the second calibre.
PRINCE MIKHAIL OF KHOROBIRIT
(Born 573 OIE) A powerful Antari nobleman and the League of Antar's greatest general. Defeated the Tierran army decisively at Blogia in 607 OIE. Baneblood.
CEDRIC LEWES
(Born 577 OIE) Sergeant-major in the 8th Regiment of Foot. Holds a brevet commission as a Lieutenant of the Experimental Corps of Riflemen. Baneless.
LORD KAROL OF LOCH
(Born 569 OIE) An Antari Church Hussar sworn to the service of Prince Mikhail of Khorobirit. Baneblood.
ROBERT MARION
(Born 581 OIE) Corporal in the Royal Dragoons, bat-man to Captain Alaric d'al Ortiga. Baneless.
HARLANDO D'AL MARRAS, BARON OF MARRAS
(576-607? OIE) Lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Dragoons, formerly second in command of the Regiment. Missing and presumed dead after the Battle of Blogia. Baneblood.
HIS TIERRAN MAJESTY, KING MIGUEL OF HOUSE RENDOWER
(Born 586 OIE) Reigning monarch of the Unified Kingdom of Tierra, as well as Duke of Aetoria. Young and impetuous, but capable. Baneblood.
ALEJANDRO D'AL NEILLE
(Born 580 OIE) Major of the Kentauri Highlanders. Baneblood.
VICTOR D'AL REYES
(Born 583 OIE) Major of the 8th Regiment of Foot, commander of the Experimental Corps of Riflemen. Baneblood.
HELENA VIZTELAS
(Born 471 OIE) Captain of the Takaran Imperial Guard. Military attache to Intendant Eckharts.
JAMES D'AL SANDORAL
(Born 592 OIE) Lieutenant of the Royal Dragoon regiment. Baneblood.
"STRELLYK"
(Born ???) Antari freeholder turned partisan. Commands a small group of irregulars raiding the Tierran-controlled stretches of the Imperial Highway. Baneless.
ELEANORA D'AL WELLES, COUNTESS OF WELLES
(Born 587 OIE) Tierran noblewoman and civil servant. Currently in Antar at the behest of Grenadier Square. Orphaned by the death of her father at the Battle of Blogia in OIE 607.Baneblood.
SIR ENRIQUE D'AL HUNTER, VISCOUNT OF WOLFSWOOD
(577-607 OIE) Lieutenant-colonel of the Grenadiers. Knight-Captain of the Order of Saint Jerome. Former commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards. Killed at the Battle of Blogia. Banecaster of the ninth calibre.
HECTOR D'AL CANDLESS, DUKE OF WULFRAM
(542-607 OIE) Formerly commanding officer of the King's Army in Antar and Duke of the northern duchy of Wulfram. Killed at the Battle of Blogia. Banecaster of the sixth calibre.
ANTAR:
ex: "Antar has been in decline since King Alaric's War."
The League of Antar, a Great Power which dominates the Calligian continent in the north of the Infinite Sea. Currently at war with the Unified Kingdom of Tierra. The Antari are led by a strong-willed and unfettered aristocracy who govern the country through a noble-exclusive legislature called the League Congress.
SEE: CALLIGIA, GREAT POWER, TIERRA
BANE:
ex: "The Bane permeates all things, and cannot be escaped."
An energy that exists in all things living or once living. Can be sensed by banebloods and used by banecasters to perform acts of what could be loosely described as 'magic.'
SEE: BANEBLOOD, BANECASTER
BANEBLOOD:
ex: "Despite his wealth, he could never be counted a member of the nobility, for he was not baneblooded."
A person with the hereditary capability of sensing the Bane (banesense), a gift possesed by less than one in three thousand humans. A child is only certain to inherit this ability if both parents are baneblooded. In the Northern Kingdoms, 'baneblood' is synonymous with 'nobility.' Approximately one in twenty banebloods are banecasters, as well.
SEE: BANE, BANECASTER, DEATHBORN
BANECASTER:
ex: "I did not linger, for it is unwise to anger such a powerful banecaster."
A baneblood with the ability to manipulate the Bane to serve their own purpose with the aid of a banepattern. Human banecasters are measured in calibres, from first to tenth.
SEE: BANE, BANEBLOOD, BANEPATTERN, CALIBRE
BANE-HARDENED:
ex: "Bane-hardened plate can deflect musket balls at a range of ten metres."
A term to describe armour which has been hardened via banecasting by one of the chantries of the Orders-Militant. Bane-hardened armour is immensely expensive to make. Only Knights of the Red and Church Hussars are allowed the privilege of wearing bane-hardened armour in the Northern Kingdoms.
SEE: BANECASTER, HUSSAR, KNIGHT OF THE RED
BANELESS:
ex: "The vast majority of the population of the Northern Kingdoms is baneless."
A term referring to a person without banesense. In the Northern Kingdoms, it is almost synonymous with a person who does not possess noble blood. The pairing of a baneless and baneblooded parent results in a deathborn.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, DEATHBORN
BANEPATTERN:
ex: "The banepattern was immensely complex and took several days to assemble."
A specially designed pattern of baneseals (specially made wax seals) which allows a banecaster to channel the Bane into performing in a particular manner. Banepatterns usually consist of anywhere from fifty to three thousand baneseals.
SEE: BANECASTER
BAYONET:
ex: "They charged with fixed bayonets and began a fearful slaughter."
A long steel spike approximately 75 cm long, designed to be affixed to the barrel of an infantry musket so that it might be used as a short polearm. Named after the Kian Army of the Northern Sea (Baionne J'oune), who first issued the weapon to its infantrymen nearly five centuries ago.
SEE: INFANTRY, MUSKET
CALIBRE:
ex: "He was a banecaster of the third calibre, barely worth mentioning."
A scale of measurement of a banecaster's ability, with first calibre being the weakest and tenth being the strongest.
SEE: BANECASTER
CALLIGIA:
ex: "It is at least a week's sail from Tannersburg to the southern coast of Calligia."
The northernmost continent in the Infinite Sea. Ruled over by the League of Antar. Southern Calligia is currently occupied by the forces of the Unified Kingdom of Tierra.
SEE: ANTAR, TIERRA
CARBINE:
ex: "He carried a short carbine in one hand and a sabre in the other."
A shortened version of the musket designed to be used from horseback. Usually rifled to increase accuracy.
SEE: DRAGOON, MUSKET, RIFLING
CAVALRY:
ex: "A regiment of cavalry."
Soldiers who fight from horseback. They usually fight with pistols, short carbines, or some sort of melee weapon.
SEE: HORSE
SUBTYPES: CUIRASSIERS, DRAGOONS, HUSSARS, LANCERS
CORTES:
ex: "The motion was rejected by the Cortes."
The legislative branch of the Tierran Government, which votes to approve or deny funding to edicts declared by the Monarch. Members of the Cortes also have the limited right to present motions of their own. The Cortes is made up of the heads of every baneblooded house in Tierra. SEE: BANEBLOOD
CUIRASSIERS:
ex: "Three or four cuirassiers rode from the fort."
Heavy cavalry wearing heavy steel breastplates and armed with long, straight-bladed broadswords. Considered the most prestigious of all cavalry.
SEE: CAVALRY, HORSE
DEATHBORN:
ex: "He is not to be trusted, for he is deathborn."
The child of a baneblooded mother who lacks banesense themselves. Since the likelihood that a child born of two baneblooded parents will inherit banesense themselves approaches certainty, deathborn children are almost certainly the result of the mother's adultery. Deathborn are considered mentally deficient and naturally untrustworthy.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, BANELESS
DRAGONLOCK:
ex: "Dragonlocks can fire even in the most wretched conditions."
A firearm which uses a small bane-runed pearl to ignite a loaded powder charge instead of the traditional flintlock mechanism. Such weapons are far less likely to misfire and, as the mechanism does not need to be primed, can be loaded far faster than a flintlock weapon. They are, however, considerably more expensive.
SEE: BANE
DRAGOONS:
ex: "Dragoons are rated as barely cavalry by some."
Light cavalry armed with curved sabres and rifled carbines, capable of fighting dismounted as well as on horseback.
SEE: CARBINE, CAVALRY, HORSE
ER'VENNE:
ex: "The er'venne are arrogant by culture, not by birth."
A Kian term referring to a species very closely resembling humanity in form and appearance. Not only do er'venne (or "elves") possess greater lifespans than humans, they are also universally blessed with baneblood and the ability to banecast without restriction. This has allowed Takara, one of their larger nations, to become one of the greatest military powers in creation.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, BANECASTING, FALKISCH, KIAN'ZI, TAKARA
FALKISCH:
ex: "'The falkisch are superior to humans in every respect,' pontificated the arrogant er'venne."
The Takaran term for er'venne in general, or for Takaran citizens in general.
SEE: ER'VENNE, TAKARA
FOOT:
ex: "Regiment of Foot"
Soldiers who march, fight, and die on their feet.
SEE: INFANTRY
GREAT POWER:
ex: "Lesser nations cower when the Great Powers strut and bluster across the Infinite Sea's stage."
The four mightiest military and economic powers in creation. Despite occasional civil wars and changes in governments, the four Great Powers themselves have remained Kian'Zi, Takara, Antar, and M'hidyos for the past three centuries.
SEE: ANTAR, KIAN'ZI, M'HIDYOS, TAKARA
GRENADIER SQUARE:
ex: "We have orders from Grenadier Square to take the fortress immediately."
A series of buildings in Aetoria enclosing a square courtyard. Serves as both home barracks for the Grenadier Guards Regiment and as headquarters of the Royal Army.
SEE: GRENADIERS, NORTHERN KEEP
GRENADIERS:
ex: "Grim-faced and determined, the Grenadiers did not halt their advance."
Line infantry armed with cast-iron hand grenades in addition to muskets and bayonets. Distinguished by their tall bearskin hats. Considered the most elite of all infantry.
SEE: INFANTRY
HORSE:
ex: "Regiment of Horse"
Soldiers who fight from horseback.
SEE: CAVALRY
SUBTYPES: CUIRASSIERS, DRAGOONS, HUSSARS, LANCERS
HUSSARS:
ex: "The Hussars bore down on us like angry gods."
Heavy cavalry exclusively composed of the Antari nobility. Equivalent to the Knights of the Red in other Northern Kingdoms. Equipped with bane-hardened armour and enchanted weaponry. When entering battle, they characteristically wear contraptions of steel and eagle feathers on their saddles, which are meant to represent angel wings.
SEE: CAVALRY, KNIGHT OF THE RED, LEAGUE OF ANTAR
INFANTRY:
ex: "A unit of infantry."
Soldiers who fight on foot. Usually unarmoured and armed with a musket and a bayonet.
SEE: BAYONET, FOOT, MUSKET
SUBTYPES: LIGHT INFANTRY, LINE INFANTRY
KIAN'ZI:
ex: "The Kian style of war emphasizes field artillery over all other arms."
The Dominions of the Kian'Zi, a great power ruling the southern continent of the Infinite Sea. A loose confederation of states owning loyalty to the ruling house of Zi'enne, Kian'Zi is embroiled in a long-running antagonism with Takara. They are possessed of the finest and largest army in creation.
SEE: GREAT POWER
KNIGHT OF THE RED:
ex: "He wore the armour and golden spurs of a Knight of the Red."
A high-ranking, baneblooded member of one of the Orders-Militant. Knights of the Red have the right to wear bane-hardened plate armour and wield enchanted weapons in battle. The Antari instead have Church Hussars.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, BANE-HARDENED, HUSSAR, ORDERS-MILITANT
LANCERS:
ex: "The lancers charged the enemy."
Cavalry armed with long lances and mounted on nimble horses for the purpose of fighting other cavalry.
SEE: CAVALRY, HORSE
LIGHT INFANTRY:
ex: "The light infantry advanced under cover of darkness."
Skirmish infantry who fight in loose formation. Usually armed with a rifled musket or similar weapon.
SEE: FOOT, INFANTRY, RIFLING
LINE INFANTRY:
ex: "A company of line infantry, marching to the fife and drum."
Infantry trained to fight in tight, disciplined formation under close supervision by officers and NCOs. Two thirds of the Tierran Army is made up of line infantry.
SEE: FOOT, INFANTRY
M'HIDYOS:
ex: "The civil war in M'hidyos shows no sign of resolving itself."
Covenant of the M'hidyossi, formerly dominant in the eastern portion of the Infinite Sea. M'hidyos was once governed by a secular monarch and a religious patriarch in concert, but disputes between various court and clerical factions have led to the eruption of a violent and long-running civil war.
SEE: GREAT POWER
MUSKET:
ex: "He slung his musket over his shoulder."
A firearm approximately 150 cm long which uses a flintlock mechanism to fire a lead ball out of a steel barrel. Used almost exclusively by infantry. A well-trained soldier can fire three to five shots a minute. Muskets are accurate up to about a hundred paces. Most muskets are capable of mounting a bayonet.
SEE: BAYONET, INFANTRY
NORTHERN KEEP:
ex: "The Northern Keep maintains oversight over all high-level functions of the Army."
The oldest and largest of Aetoria's fortresses. Serves as the official residence of the King of Tierra.
SEE: GRENADIER SQUARE, TIERRA
NORTHERN KINGDOMS:
ex: "All the Northern Kingdoms combined could not stand up to the Takaran military for more than a month."
A term of Kian origin referring to the island kingdoms in between the four Great Powers. While nominally independent, these nations exist almost exclusively through alignment with one of the four Great Powers, with the exception of Tierra and Mersdon.
SEE: TIERRA, GREAT POWERS
ORDERS-ASPIRANT:
ex: "The lifetime of devoted study demanded of a Knight of the Orders-Aspirant is a form of martyrdom in itself."
A collective term for the orders of knighthood devoted to the Saints of the Green, those Saints who 'martyred' themselves by devoting their entire lives to the pursuit of knowledge. Knights of the Orders-Aspirant must swear oaths of celibacy, poverty, and non-violence. They form the intellectual elite of the Northern Kingdoms and often serve as faculty in institutes of higher learning, like the Royal University at Aetoria.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, SAINTS
ORDERS-MILITANT:
ex: "He was made a knight of the Orders-Militant."
A collective term for the orders of knighthood devoted to the Saints of the Red, Saints who achieved martyrdom in battle. The baneblooded Knights of the Orders-Militant have the right to wear bane-hardened plate and wield bane-hardened weapons. They often fight as elite heavy cavalry or shock infantry.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, CHURCH HUSSARS (their Antari equivalent), SAINTS
ORDERS-SUCCORANT
ex: "It is generally accounted a grievous crime to fire upon a bane-healer of the Orders-Succorant."
A collective term for the orders of knighthood devoted to the Saints of the Blue, Saints who achieved martyrdom through the protection or material salvation of the powerless and innocent. Knights of the Orders-Succorant must swear oaths of celibacy, poverty, and non-violence. Those among their number with banecasting abilities receive training to use these talents to tend to the injuries and illnesses of others, and are referred to as bane-healers.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, BANECASTER, SAINTS
RIFLING:
ex: "Repeated firing wore out the rifling in the barrel."
Spiral grooves machined into the inside of the barrel of a firearm, imparting a spin onto any shot fired from it, increasing accuracy.
SEE: CARBINE, LIGHT INFANTRY
SAINTS:
ex: "After her death, she was made a Saint of the Blue."
Short for Saintly Martyr, a baneblood who is venerated and elevated to a figure of worship due to the heroic or admirable circumstances of their death. Saint-worship is the predominant faith in the Northern Kingdoms. All Saints have an order of knighthood associated with them.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, ORDERS-MILITANT
TAKARA:
ex: "Takara will respond to grievous insults with military force." Dir Altrichs vam Takara, a great power situated in the western portion of the Infinite Sea. Takara is governed and populated by the er'venne and is in a long-burning antagonism with Kian'Zi. They are possessed of a mighty army and the most feared navy in creation. They are ruled by a popularly elected legislative body called the Richsenaat, which is presided over by a hereditary president, the Aldkizern.
SEE: ER'VENNE, FALKISCH, GREAT POWER
TIERRA:
ex: "It is said that Tierra is merely a hodgepodge of regions ruled by a single monarchy." The Unified Kingdom of Tierra, a regional power and one of the strongest of the Northern Kingdoms. Tierra is ruled by an aristocratic legislature led by a hereditary monarch. While considered a second-rate power, Tierra is currently challenging the Great Power status of the League of Antar in a protracted war.
SEE: ANTAR, NORTHERN KINGDOMS
ex: "Antar has been in decline since King Alaric's War."
The League of Antar, a Great Power which dominates the Calligian continent in the north of the Infinite Sea. Currently at war with the Unified Kingdom of Tierra. The Antari are led by a strong-willed and unfettered aristocracy who govern the country through a noble-exclusive legislature called the League Congress.
SEE: CALLIGIA, GREAT POWER, TIERRA
BANE:
ex: "The Bane permeates all things, and cannot be escaped."
An energy that exists in all things living or once living. Can be sensed by banebloods and used by banecasters to perform acts of what could be loosely described as 'magic.'
SEE: BANEBLOOD, BANECASTER
BANEBLOOD:
ex: "Despite his wealth, he could never be counted a member of the nobility, for he was not baneblooded."
A person with the hereditary capability of sensing the Bane (banesense), a gift possesed by less than one in three thousand humans. A child is only certain to inherit this ability if both parents are baneblooded. In the Northern Kingdoms, 'baneblood' is synonymous with 'nobility.' Approximately one in twenty banebloods are banecasters, as well.
SEE: BANE, BANECASTER, DEATHBORN
BANECASTER:
ex: "I did not linger, for it is unwise to anger such a powerful banecaster."
A baneblood with the ability to manipulate the Bane to serve their own purpose with the aid of a banepattern. Human banecasters are measured in calibres, from first to tenth.
SEE: BANE, BANEBLOOD, BANEPATTERN, CALIBRE
BANE-HARDENED:
ex: "Bane-hardened plate can deflect musket balls at a range of ten metres."
A term to describe armour which has been hardened via banecasting by one of the chantries of the Orders-Militant. Bane-hardened armour is immensely expensive to make. Only Knights of the Red and Church Hussars are allowed the privilege of wearing bane-hardened armour in the Northern Kingdoms.
SEE: BANECASTER, HUSSAR, KNIGHT OF THE RED
BANELESS:
ex: "The vast majority of the population of the Northern Kingdoms is baneless."
A term referring to a person without banesense. In the Northern Kingdoms, it is almost synonymous with a person who does not possess noble blood. The pairing of a baneless and baneblooded parent results in a deathborn.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, DEATHBORN
BANEPATTERN:
ex: "The banepattern was immensely complex and took several days to assemble."
A specially designed pattern of baneseals (specially made wax seals) which allows a banecaster to channel the Bane into performing in a particular manner. Banepatterns usually consist of anywhere from fifty to three thousand baneseals.
SEE: BANECASTER
BAYONET:
ex: "They charged with fixed bayonets and began a fearful slaughter."
A long steel spike approximately 75 cm long, designed to be affixed to the barrel of an infantry musket so that it might be used as a short polearm. Named after the Kian Army of the Northern Sea (Baionne J'oune), who first issued the weapon to its infantrymen nearly five centuries ago.
SEE: INFANTRY, MUSKET
CALIBRE:
ex: "He was a banecaster of the third calibre, barely worth mentioning."
A scale of measurement of a banecaster's ability, with first calibre being the weakest and tenth being the strongest.
SEE: BANECASTER
CALLIGIA:
ex: "It is at least a week's sail from Tannersburg to the southern coast of Calligia."
The northernmost continent in the Infinite Sea. Ruled over by the League of Antar. Southern Calligia is currently occupied by the forces of the Unified Kingdom of Tierra.
SEE: ANTAR, TIERRA
CARBINE:
ex: "He carried a short carbine in one hand and a sabre in the other."
A shortened version of the musket designed to be used from horseback. Usually rifled to increase accuracy.
SEE: DRAGOON, MUSKET, RIFLING
CAVALRY:
ex: "A regiment of cavalry."
Soldiers who fight from horseback. They usually fight with pistols, short carbines, or some sort of melee weapon.
SEE: HORSE
SUBTYPES: CUIRASSIERS, DRAGOONS, HUSSARS, LANCERS
CORTES:
ex: "The motion was rejected by the Cortes."
The legislative branch of the Tierran Government, which votes to approve or deny funding to edicts declared by the Monarch. Members of the Cortes also have the limited right to present motions of their own. The Cortes is made up of the heads of every baneblooded house in Tierra. SEE: BANEBLOOD
CUIRASSIERS:
ex: "Three or four cuirassiers rode from the fort."
Heavy cavalry wearing heavy steel breastplates and armed with long, straight-bladed broadswords. Considered the most prestigious of all cavalry.
SEE: CAVALRY, HORSE
DEATHBORN:
ex: "He is not to be trusted, for he is deathborn."
The child of a baneblooded mother who lacks banesense themselves. Since the likelihood that a child born of two baneblooded parents will inherit banesense themselves approaches certainty, deathborn children are almost certainly the result of the mother's adultery. Deathborn are considered mentally deficient and naturally untrustworthy.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, BANELESS
DRAGONLOCK:
ex: "Dragonlocks can fire even in the most wretched conditions."
A firearm which uses a small bane-runed pearl to ignite a loaded powder charge instead of the traditional flintlock mechanism. Such weapons are far less likely to misfire and, as the mechanism does not need to be primed, can be loaded far faster than a flintlock weapon. They are, however, considerably more expensive.
SEE: BANE
DRAGOONS:
ex: "Dragoons are rated as barely cavalry by some."
Light cavalry armed with curved sabres and rifled carbines, capable of fighting dismounted as well as on horseback.
SEE: CARBINE, CAVALRY, HORSE
ER'VENNE:
ex: "The er'venne are arrogant by culture, not by birth."
A Kian term referring to a species very closely resembling humanity in form and appearance. Not only do er'venne (or "elves") possess greater lifespans than humans, they are also universally blessed with baneblood and the ability to banecast without restriction. This has allowed Takara, one of their larger nations, to become one of the greatest military powers in creation.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, BANECASTING, FALKISCH, KIAN'ZI, TAKARA
FALKISCH:
ex: "'The falkisch are superior to humans in every respect,' pontificated the arrogant er'venne."
The Takaran term for er'venne in general, or for Takaran citizens in general.
SEE: ER'VENNE, TAKARA
FOOT:
ex: "Regiment of Foot"
Soldiers who march, fight, and die on their feet.
SEE: INFANTRY
GREAT POWER:
ex: "Lesser nations cower when the Great Powers strut and bluster across the Infinite Sea's stage."
The four mightiest military and economic powers in creation. Despite occasional civil wars and changes in governments, the four Great Powers themselves have remained Kian'Zi, Takara, Antar, and M'hidyos for the past three centuries.
SEE: ANTAR, KIAN'ZI, M'HIDYOS, TAKARA
GRENADIER SQUARE:
ex: "We have orders from Grenadier Square to take the fortress immediately."
A series of buildings in Aetoria enclosing a square courtyard. Serves as both home barracks for the Grenadier Guards Regiment and as headquarters of the Royal Army.
SEE: GRENADIERS, NORTHERN KEEP
GRENADIERS:
ex: "Grim-faced and determined, the Grenadiers did not halt their advance."
Line infantry armed with cast-iron hand grenades in addition to muskets and bayonets. Distinguished by their tall bearskin hats. Considered the most elite of all infantry.
SEE: INFANTRY
HORSE:
ex: "Regiment of Horse"
Soldiers who fight from horseback.
SEE: CAVALRY
SUBTYPES: CUIRASSIERS, DRAGOONS, HUSSARS, LANCERS
HUSSARS:
ex: "The Hussars bore down on us like angry gods."
Heavy cavalry exclusively composed of the Antari nobility. Equivalent to the Knights of the Red in other Northern Kingdoms. Equipped with bane-hardened armour and enchanted weaponry. When entering battle, they characteristically wear contraptions of steel and eagle feathers on their saddles, which are meant to represent angel wings.
SEE: CAVALRY, KNIGHT OF THE RED, LEAGUE OF ANTAR
INFANTRY:
ex: "A unit of infantry."
Soldiers who fight on foot. Usually unarmoured and armed with a musket and a bayonet.
SEE: BAYONET, FOOT, MUSKET
SUBTYPES: LIGHT INFANTRY, LINE INFANTRY
KIAN'ZI:
ex: "The Kian style of war emphasizes field artillery over all other arms."
The Dominions of the Kian'Zi, a great power ruling the southern continent of the Infinite Sea. A loose confederation of states owning loyalty to the ruling house of Zi'enne, Kian'Zi is embroiled in a long-running antagonism with Takara. They are possessed of the finest and largest army in creation.
SEE: GREAT POWER
KNIGHT OF THE RED:
ex: "He wore the armour and golden spurs of a Knight of the Red."
A high-ranking, baneblooded member of one of the Orders-Militant. Knights of the Red have the right to wear bane-hardened plate armour and wield enchanted weapons in battle. The Antari instead have Church Hussars.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, BANE-HARDENED, HUSSAR, ORDERS-MILITANT
LANCERS:
ex: "The lancers charged the enemy."
Cavalry armed with long lances and mounted on nimble horses for the purpose of fighting other cavalry.
SEE: CAVALRY, HORSE
LIGHT INFANTRY:
ex: "The light infantry advanced under cover of darkness."
Skirmish infantry who fight in loose formation. Usually armed with a rifled musket or similar weapon.
SEE: FOOT, INFANTRY, RIFLING
LINE INFANTRY:
ex: "A company of line infantry, marching to the fife and drum."
Infantry trained to fight in tight, disciplined formation under close supervision by officers and NCOs. Two thirds of the Tierran Army is made up of line infantry.
SEE: FOOT, INFANTRY
M'HIDYOS:
ex: "The civil war in M'hidyos shows no sign of resolving itself."
Covenant of the M'hidyossi, formerly dominant in the eastern portion of the Infinite Sea. M'hidyos was once governed by a secular monarch and a religious patriarch in concert, but disputes between various court and clerical factions have led to the eruption of a violent and long-running civil war.
SEE: GREAT POWER
MUSKET:
ex: "He slung his musket over his shoulder."
A firearm approximately 150 cm long which uses a flintlock mechanism to fire a lead ball out of a steel barrel. Used almost exclusively by infantry. A well-trained soldier can fire three to five shots a minute. Muskets are accurate up to about a hundred paces. Most muskets are capable of mounting a bayonet.
SEE: BAYONET, INFANTRY
NORTHERN KEEP:
ex: "The Northern Keep maintains oversight over all high-level functions of the Army."
The oldest and largest of Aetoria's fortresses. Serves as the official residence of the King of Tierra.
SEE: GRENADIER SQUARE, TIERRA
NORTHERN KINGDOMS:
ex: "All the Northern Kingdoms combined could not stand up to the Takaran military for more than a month."
A term of Kian origin referring to the island kingdoms in between the four Great Powers. While nominally independent, these nations exist almost exclusively through alignment with one of the four Great Powers, with the exception of Tierra and Mersdon.
SEE: TIERRA, GREAT POWERS
ORDERS-ASPIRANT:
ex: "The lifetime of devoted study demanded of a Knight of the Orders-Aspirant is a form of martyrdom in itself."
A collective term for the orders of knighthood devoted to the Saints of the Green, those Saints who 'martyred' themselves by devoting their entire lives to the pursuit of knowledge. Knights of the Orders-Aspirant must swear oaths of celibacy, poverty, and non-violence. They form the intellectual elite of the Northern Kingdoms and often serve as faculty in institutes of higher learning, like the Royal University at Aetoria.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, SAINTS
ORDERS-MILITANT:
ex: "He was made a knight of the Orders-Militant."
A collective term for the orders of knighthood devoted to the Saints of the Red, Saints who achieved martyrdom in battle. The baneblooded Knights of the Orders-Militant have the right to wear bane-hardened plate and wield bane-hardened weapons. They often fight as elite heavy cavalry or shock infantry.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, CHURCH HUSSARS (their Antari equivalent), SAINTS
ORDERS-SUCCORANT
ex: "It is generally accounted a grievous crime to fire upon a bane-healer of the Orders-Succorant."
A collective term for the orders of knighthood devoted to the Saints of the Blue, Saints who achieved martyrdom through the protection or material salvation of the powerless and innocent. Knights of the Orders-Succorant must swear oaths of celibacy, poverty, and non-violence. Those among their number with banecasting abilities receive training to use these talents to tend to the injuries and illnesses of others, and are referred to as bane-healers.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, BANECASTER, SAINTS
RIFLING:
ex: "Repeated firing wore out the rifling in the barrel."
Spiral grooves machined into the inside of the barrel of a firearm, imparting a spin onto any shot fired from it, increasing accuracy.
SEE: CARBINE, LIGHT INFANTRY
SAINTS:
ex: "After her death, she was made a Saint of the Blue."
Short for Saintly Martyr, a baneblood who is venerated and elevated to a figure of worship due to the heroic or admirable circumstances of their death. Saint-worship is the predominant faith in the Northern Kingdoms. All Saints have an order of knighthood associated with them.
SEE: BANEBLOOD, ORDERS-MILITANT
TAKARA:
ex: "Takara will respond to grievous insults with military force." Dir Altrichs vam Takara, a great power situated in the western portion of the Infinite Sea. Takara is governed and populated by the er'venne and is in a long-burning antagonism with Kian'Zi. They are possessed of a mighty army and the most feared navy in creation. They are ruled by a popularly elected legislative body called the Richsenaat, which is presided over by a hereditary president, the Aldkizern.
SEE: ER'VENNE, FALKISCH, GREAT POWER
TIERRA:
ex: "It is said that Tierra is merely a hodgepodge of regions ruled by a single monarchy." The Unified Kingdom of Tierra, a regional power and one of the strongest of the Northern Kingdoms. Tierra is ruled by an aristocratic legislature led by a hereditary monarch. While considered a second-rate power, Tierra is currently challenging the Great Power status of the League of Antar in a protracted war.
SEE: ANTAR, NORTHERN KINGDOMS
Attributes
Soldiering: Physical ability, combat skill, and tactical sense.
Charisma: Pretty explanatory, this is your ability to convince and rally others, as well as save face when things go poorly.
Intelligence: Book smarts, general awareness, and the ability to plan ahead or strategize.
There are some counter-intuitive quirks to these attributes. If my memory is right, in Book 1, preparing an exhausted warhorse for battle was dependent on Intelligence rather than Soldiering. In the same book, trying to convince someone by citing a law required Intelligence rather than Charisma. For the most part, though, most actions should be pretty intuitive.
Values
Roughly speaking, the values indicate something of the following sort:
<20: Not even worth considering
20-29: Abysmal
30-39: Poor
40-49: Average
50-59: Good
60-69: Excellent
>70: Approaching the very limit of human ability
Requirements
Requirements that check an individual attribute usually terminate with 0 or 5, so a check might require a value of 45, 50, 55, and so on.
It should be noted that certain actions might check two attributes separately - for example, a complicated action like ambushing someone through a clever ruse and subsequently besting them in combat might require 55 Intelligence and 40 Soldiering.
I do not think that there are many, if any, individual attribute requirements higher than =>65.
However, this book also introduces a lot of checks that are derived from a combination of attributes, usually attribute+reputation. Those typically require a sum of =>100.
The game conceals attribute requirements for individual choices, and I will do the same. This information is provided to give you some idea of how things work in the background, and to help you develop a sense for what Alaric can be expected to do well, and how you may want to develop him further.
---
I will add this information to the first post as well, so that it is easy to reference in the future.
Soldiering: Physical ability, combat skill, and tactical sense.
Charisma: Pretty explanatory, this is your ability to convince and rally others, as well as save face when things go poorly.
Intelligence: Book smarts, general awareness, and the ability to plan ahead or strategize.
There are some counter-intuitive quirks to these attributes. If my memory is right, in Book 1, preparing an exhausted warhorse for battle was dependent on Intelligence rather than Soldiering. In the same book, trying to convince someone by citing a law required Intelligence rather than Charisma. For the most part, though, most actions should be pretty intuitive.
Values
Roughly speaking, the values indicate something of the following sort:
<20: Not even worth considering
20-29: Abysmal
30-39: Poor
40-49: Average
50-59: Good
60-69: Excellent
>70: Approaching the very limit of human ability
Requirements
Requirements that check an individual attribute usually terminate with 0 or 5, so a check might require a value of 45, 50, 55, and so on.
It should be noted that certain actions might check two attributes separately - for example, a complicated action like ambushing someone through a clever ruse and subsequently besting them in combat might require 55 Intelligence and 40 Soldiering.
I do not think that there are many, if any, individual attribute requirements higher than =>65.
However, this book also introduces a lot of checks that are derived from a combination of attributes, usually attribute+reputation. Those typically require a sum of =>100.
The game conceals attribute requirements for individual choices, and I will do the same. This information is provided to give you some idea of how things work in the background, and to help you develop a sense for what Alaric can be expected to do well, and how you may want to develop him further.
---
I will add this information to the first post as well, so that it is easy to reference in the future.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them and I will see if I can dig the information up for you.
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