Setting questions

[Bjorn]

This thread is for questions about the setting of the Free Kingdoms.

The primary reference for players is the Free Kingdoms wiki.  It is not the primary reference.  I have a separate setting bible, and while I will try to keep the wiki up-to-date and in-line with the bible, I am only human.  You as players are encouraged to edit the wiki to include your own creations, understandings, and extra bits of knowledge.

[Bjorn]

In response to a question from Drac, the campaign will start off in Brindisi, in Brindia, unless I have a good player provided reason for elsewise.

[Dracos]

In the wasting war...did the Empire Under Heaven have magic? 

it seems odd narratively that they began sharing their magic during that war and not at some undetermined point of good will beforehand.  You think they would be largely too busy to do so at that time, outside of training folks living and fighting in Fars Ia already.

[Dracos]

You mention ogres and lizardmen as client races of the True People.  Could we get some minor ref on them? :)  Or are they not going to show up?

[Bjorn]

In the wasting war...did the Empire Under Heaven have magic? 

All nations have divine magic.  At the beginning of the Wasting War, the Empire did not display any sort of arcane magic.  During the final offensive, however, they brought in goblins wielding a new sort of arcane magic (later identified as sorcery).  In the Free Kingdoms, it isn't known for how long the Empire (or the goblins) have had sorcery.  When the Fars Ians first met the Empire about 850 years ago, the Empire did not have any sort of arcane magic, but the goblins didn't join the Empire until some time after that.

it seems odd narratively that they began sharing their magic during that war and not at some undetermined point of good will beforehand.  You think they would be largely too busy to do so at that time, outside of training folks living and fighting in Fars Ia already.

Fars Ia was never going to trade away wizardry if they could get away with it.  It was their only real resource, and they weren't going to give away their only military strength. 

The Wasting War, however, changed things.  Traditionally, Fars Ia's military was made up of wizards, who used arcane magic to devastate their foes while protected against direct assault by small groups of infantry forces (usually mercenaries).  These tactics worked very well in the few smaller-scale conflicts with the Free Kingdoms, and in the few skirmishes they'd had with the Empire on first contact.  However, in the Wasting War the Fars Ians for the first time found themselves facing armies that numbered in the hundreds of thousands.  The enemies that made their way through the hail of wizardry weren't rag-tag groups of a few survivors, but thousands of disciplined troops, and the unorganized standard forces the Fars Ians had traditionally used to protect their wizards were in no way sufficient.

Fars Ia decided that what they needed were the Free Kingdoms armies.  At the time, however, there was no evidence that the Empire Under Heaven's aggression extended beyond Fars Ia.  In order to bring in the Free Kingdoms, then, Fars Ia had to make the major concession of opening the academies to Freemen.  Technically, this was a reciprocal relationship, where Fars Ians were now allowed to attend the military academy at Imperia, but no one honestly considered that an equal trade.

The armies of the Free Kingdoms changed the tide of war.  The Fars Ian wizards could cut the Imperial troops down to a size where the Free Kingdoms had numerical advantage, and while the Imperial armies were much better trained and better disciplined, the Free Kingdoms tended to be better armed and, importantly, had cavalry.  The tides of war reversed, and the combined forces were able to push Imperial forces back to the Fars Ian border, where a stalemate ensued.  The combined forces could not push into Imperial territory, as their supply lines became too long and the open space allowed the Empire to wheel whole legions around the combined forces and strike back into Fars Ia.

Events up to this point had taken up two years.  At this point, the Wasting War entered a long period of stalemate, with the two armies facing off in armed camps along a line running north-south from Ghobbar to the Mynydd Mountains.  During this time, the Free Kingdoms usually had only token forces in Fars Ia.  Occasionally the Empire would launch a major attack, which the border forces could normally hold off until they were reinforced by the rest of the army.  This stalemate, lasting about seven years, was for most a peaceful time.  There was thus lots of opportunity for Freemen to start studying magic, and for the Fars Ians to teach them.  Since many of the heaviest casualties during the war were among wizards, the halflings couldn't afford to play games with the terms of the treaty.  They needed every wizard, regardless of race, and one of the terms of study at the academy was agreeing to a term of service on the border forts.

Then came the renewed offensive.  The wizards, rather than raining unchecked damage on the attacking forces, were instead forced to deal with the sorcerous counter-offensive of the goblins.  This magical war created storms of uncontrolled energy.  In the resulting chaos, the discipline of the hobgoblin legions balanced out any other military advantage the Free Kingdom armies might have had, and they grimly marched forward through the madness to mow down the panicking Freemen.  Even if the Empire hadn't taken Maggydd and destroyed the Brindian army at the Battle of the Indigna, it is not clear that the reinforcements could have held Fars Ia.  As it was, it was a complete rout, with Fars Ia destroyed and the Free Kingdoms surrendering unconditionally within a year.

You mention ogres and lizardmen as client races of the True People.  Could we get some minor ref on them? :)  Or are they not going to show up?

No one in the Free Kingdoms knows much about them.  Ogres and lizardmen (the latter only in the final offensive) were used as shock troops in the Wasting War, and that was the first anyone had seen them.  The same was also true of Orcs, who were used as the Empire's only form of cavalry, riding on enormous wolves.  Both the legions stationed in the Easter Military Holdings are hobgoblin-only, however, and so the only of these client races you'd see in the Free Kingdoms are deserters.  (Ogres and lizardmen live long enough that deserters from the Wasting War would still be alive, though ogres would be quite old.  Orcs do not, but orc females are as likely to be warriors as orc males, and so children of deserters is an option.)

[Dracos]

Okay, awesome to know.

---

I notice that horses sound like they are mostly nonexistant in the free kingdom's (from your resource thing).  Is that so?  Should we generally not have Ride due to a lack of reasonable resource to have learned it?  Equally possible with swim, since its medieval times and I don't think non-coastal dwellers would've learned that.

Also, I'd like to know your thoughts with regards to the knowledge skills and what/which are relevant in your gameworld.  its a bit of a leading question, but I've seen both sides of it (GMs that never use them and use others excessively, punishing the 'wasted' skill points and the reverse, where not getting them means, quite rightly, that you don't have knowledge in that area).  Both are fine with me, just want to get a feel for it ahead of time and the knowledge skills particularly are meant for being altered to campaign specs usually.

[Bjorn]

I notice that horses sound like they are mostly nonexistant in the free kingdom's (from your resource thing).  Is that so?  Should we generally not have Ride due to a lack of reasonable resource to have learned it?  Equally possible with swim, since its medieval times and I don't think non-coastal dwellers would've learned that.

Horses are rare though not unknown, it's just that there are none native to the region.  A lot are still exported through Uskila.  Someone with a rich or military background might very well have learned ride skills, but that's the context in which they're used: mounts or carriage horses for the rich, cavalry horses, and mounts for messengers.  They aren't common mounts or used as draft or farm animals.

Swimming would be rare.  Both seas that the Free Kingdoms faces on are unpleasant.  The Black Sea in the north is very cold, and the Shifting Sea in the south is treacherous, with unpredictable and powerful waves and tides, changing sea bottom, wild winds, and the like.  On the other hand, there are a lot of rivers in the area, so it's not entirely unknown.  Halflings would be very unlikely to know it: the part of Fars Ia wasn't desert was dry, rolling hills, with little flowing water.

Also, I'd like to know your thoughts with regards to the knowledge skills and what/which are relevant in your gameworld.  its a bit of a leading question, but I've seen both sides of it (GMs that never use them and use others excessively, punishing the 'wasted' skill points and the reverse, where not getting them means, quite rightly, that you don't have knowledge in that area).  Both are fine with me, just want to get a feel for it ahead of time and the knowledge skills particularly are meant for being altered to campaign specs usually.

I haven't put much thought into it yet.  In general, I'm probably going to treat setting knowledge as "you know it or you don't," judged on character's background.  You should use knowledge skills if you're going beyond obvious levels of knowledge based on the background.  For example, a gnomish barbarian from Skagness would know the history of Skagness, the geography of the Free Kingdoms, the basics of the Church of St. Turin and gnomish paganism, and the animals of the Free Kingdoms without having to take skills.  On the other hand, if you wanted your barbarian to also know the history of the Turin Empire, you'd want to take Knowledge:History.  I can pretty much guarantee I won't do skill checks on Knowledge, so except for synergy there's no reason to take extra ranks in it.

[Bjorn]

Just realized I might not have properly answered Drac's question about client races.  Is anyone interested in playing one of the client races?  If so, I'll flesh out more details and post them here.

[Dracos]

That's cool, and thanks for being forthright with it.

And maaaan...  I'd totally be interested in playing an ogre cuz you Never ever get to play them.  But I'm already pretty welll done with halfling merchant assassin thief the second who is not named Lupin al'Har.

[Dracos]

What languages are there?

[Bjorn]

What languages are there?

Abnathir: The language spoken by the gnomes

Berevian: The former language of the Free Kingdoms, still spoken by most Freemen.  While it shares common roots with Turinian, the two are now very different.

Classical: The version of Common spoken shortly after the founding of the Empire Under Heaven.  As the Empire has grown and incorporated other races, Classical simplified into the version now known as Common.  Most hobgoblins are still fluent in Classical, though other races find it difficult to master.  Very few Freemen would know it.

Common: The main language of the Empire Under Heaven, and now of the Free Kingdoms.

Farsi: The language of Fars Ia.

Gwylloch: The language of the dwarves of Trymfyrd.

Teanga: The language of the elves of the Deepwood.

Turinian:  The language spoken in the Turin Empire.  Merchants of Uskila still speak Turinian, which suggests the language is still unchanged in the former Turin Empire.

[Dracos]

Thanks.

[Bjorn]

Given the emotional debate on the MIC going on right now, a quick weigh-in on the economy of magic items.

You can sell magic items for 50% of list price.  What this reflects is a combination of the collapsing economy and that you're more interested in selling it quickly.  If you want to sell it for more (possibly even beyond list price), it will take role-playing.

On an OOC level, we're taking this approach because (I think) it encourages players to keep and use the magic items they get, rather than trade it in for the optimal set, and that sort of creativity is what makes the game fun.  At the same time, I'll be making sure you get the items you need, because that also makes the game fun.

Notes on calendar:
A year has 360 days, arranged in 6 months of 60 days, with each month split into ten weeks of six days (Restday, Firstday, Seconday, Thirday, Fourthday, and Fifthday).  The Empire celebrates the beginning of the year at winter solstice, with the months named First, Second, Third, etc. in the unimaginative Imperial tradition.  The years are numbered since the first Emperor Under Heaven was appointed by the Emperor Over Earth; the current year is 2064 D.M. (the two-thousandth, sixty-fourth year of divine mandate).

Prior to the Wasting War, the Free Kingdoms used the calendar of the Turin Empire.  12 months of 30 days per year, with five weeks of six days apiece (Teradio, Aquadio, Aerodio, Pirodio, Biodio, Nullio).  The beginning of the year is the birth- and deathday of St. Turin, which is the 32th of Fourth Month by the Imperial Calendar.  The months are named for saints: Primo Turinus (Primo), Augustus, Omnus, Alexus, Jovus, Malificus, Sorpius, Herodus, Septus, Janus, Crispinus, and Requiem Turinus (Requiem).   The current year is 1205 A.S. (Anno Sancta).

Notes on currency and the economy:
1 platinum piece= 6 gold pieces
1 gold piece= 10 silver pieces
1 silver piece = 5 copper pieces
1 copper piece = 2 brass pieces

The somewhat painful denominations derive from the fact that the Empire uses a currency based on the labour standard.  One gold piece can in theory be redeemed for one month's worth of unskilled labour.  Thus, a platinum piece is a year's labour, a silver piece a week's labour, a copper one day (five working days per week), and a brass a half-day.  In addition to the coins, the Empire also issues bonds, which are paper notes equivalent to a stated number of gold pieces.

The Turin Empire uses centimes as currency.  This is a fiat currency, invented by its namesake St. Centime, and administered by the church of the same (it is easier to get people to accept a fiat currency when it is backed by the word of a god).  Partemes are also in use, and equal to one hundredth of a centime.  Currently, the merchant-barons of Uskila (who are the only people for whom this is a relevant issue) trade centimes and Imperial gold pieces as being equal in value.

[Dracos]

Okay, good to know on all fronts.

[Bjorn]

Revision to setting that should not affect anyone: the only clerics (as PHB class) in the world are the priests of St. Turin.  There are no clerics who worship the Faceless Lady, Celestial Court, mountain worship, etc etc.

If this is really going to screw with your character plans, let me know, but it should be safe by all account.