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  1. #1
    SCO Adam Theo
    Guest

    Elven Realm Structure (long)

    Hello birthright, Adam Theo here.
    This day of Sunday, May 30, 1999, at 2:08:29 AM

    hi, with me DMing the Queen of Tuarhievel in my RW game, and playing
    the Prince of Tuarhievel in the 'ITSOD' game, i have come up with this
    little thought on how elven society has structured realms and landed
    vassals.

    first of all, the Anuireans structure lands like this: Empire, Duchy
    (or equivelent), Barony, County. of course, this was in the days of
    the Empire, and the titles have little meaning now, but are still used
    in realms for vassals, especially the lower titles.

    the elves IMO do this: Kingdom, Kingdom, Kingdom, Kingdom. what i
    mean is, that in elven views, the title, the name, for the realms and
    rulers are the same, no matter your level in the system. whether liege
    or vassal. the term 'kingdom' does not fit too well, since it
    obvoiusly does not mean what we are used to. but when it was
    translated by early Anuirean diplomats and liguists, this is what they
    decided to use. of course, a direct translation in the elven language
    would be something akin to our usage of the word 'realm' and 'realm
    regent' for 'kingdom' and 'king'. a thought i had a couple of days ago
    is that possible elven society is like a fractal design. there is a
    basic, simple pattern, which is repeatted again and again on a larger
    and larger scale, until you have a final result which is either flawed
    from the original pattern (a 'flawed fractal') or it has turned into a
    completely different pattern on this large scale ( a 'sum fractal',
    coming from the phrase, 'the sum is greater than it's parts'). i see
    elven socity's structure working much like a 'sum fractal' in the
    respect of vassalage and liegedom with realms and law.

    the law of the land is a funny thing with elves. for one, there
    isn't a lot. very little. most of it is like Mhoried's. it just seems
    like commong sense. and most of the 'laws' are nothing more than an
    individual's or a family's moral code. so it is fairly easy for a
    court to make judgements at a centralized level, which is sometimes
    done to one degree or another. in an elven realm equivelent to an
    Anuirean Duchy, there is usually a major Court (Tuarhievel's Court of
    the Moon for example), which passed simple laws as it saw fit (rare,
    for the simple fact most laws are common sense types of laws), or took
    actions relevant to the region alone (taxes if any, punishing
    criminals, deciding fund allocation, etc). bigger issues (wars, big
    alliances, etc.) were done at a more centralized location if available
    (none now, but in the Glory Days of the Elven Empire, it would have
    been the so called 'Empire', although it's elven word would have
    vbeen, yet again, 'kingdom' or possibly 'high kingdom' if it was
    significant enough).

    the word 'prince' (and 'princess')is not a native anuirean word, IMC.
    it comes from early elven contact, and was modified by the anuireans
    from the elven meaning, which meant something like 'right hand to the
    king'. it was a title sometimes given to landed regents, 'kings' if
    that regent was very close to the 'bigger' king above him, and did
    work for him (a lieutenant as well as a landed vassal). but a prince
    in elven society didn't have to be a landed vassal, or even a vassal
    at all. he could simply be a lieutenant, or also oftentimes a
    relative. but was always a 'right hand' or close assistant to the
    king. the anuireans modified it slighly to fit somewhere in between
    the Emperor and the Dukes. a anuirean prince could sometimes rule
    land, even a duchy, but didn't have to. his main responsability was to
    over see a particular region of the empire for the emperor, since he
    probablty wouldn't have all that time to do it himself. things like
    making sure the dukes and duke's family kept in check. looking after
    individual noble family's problems, and trying to act as the Emperor
    in semi-important issues so the Emperor could tend to wars and other
    'empire level things'. in the case of Prince Avan of Avanil, his
    ancestors ruled the ducky of Avanil, but was also the Prince of a
    region of the empire, probably the Heartlands. there might have been
    princes for other regions, but what has happened to them in the 500
    years since the fall could be the source of some great stories. people
    may say that if there had been other princes, we wopuld have heard
    something about them, or they would have left some remnant of their
    living. not really. remember, it has been 500 years. that is a
    *looooong* time. a really long time. i am surprised that the designers
    decided on a time frame so huge. i would have gone with 200 years or
    so, personally. but just keep in mind how long 550 years is.

    comments now? here's one for the Netbook.

    - --
    Adam Theo, A Patriotic American Libertarian Capitalist.
    SCO of Theoretic Internet Services, http://www.theoretic.com, http://www.theoretic.com
    'Your Web Hosting, Email Forward, and Weather Forecast Solution,
    With Just Two Words: Quality and Privacy.'
    Mailto:adamtheo@Theoretic.com , ICQ:22377963
    Using 1.33

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  2. #2
    JNeighb934@aol.co
    Guest

    Elven Realm Structure (long)

    I have some aesthetic notes to add regarding the noble titles of the Empire,
    but it is purely of my own making from my campaign, not official background.
    The Andu were made up of several tribes, referred to as Houses, of which
    there were at least five. I have found mention of only four of the old
    tribal names from the published material, however: the Deretha, Elins,
    Anuireans (ruled by the family that beget Roele and Haelyn,of course), and
    Boru. The Houses were ruled by a ruling family headed by a chieftain. The
    Houses were further subdivided into clans who loosely followed the chieftain,
    but the chieftain's control over the clan leaders was far from absolute in
    most cases. The chieftain was seen more as mediator of disputes between
    clans and a respected advisor, and a leader during times of war. The warlike
    Andu also used the title of baron, an Andu word meaning warlord, to signify a
    charismatic and strong clan leader who lead several clans in battle.
    After the Andu escaped the shadow of Azrai and the Adurian Empire
    into Cerilia, they were able to safely settle down into sedimentary
    lifestyles, changing from a nomadic people to farmers and craftsmen with the
    help of the elves. Many clan leaders became wealthy and powerful and
    proclaimed themselves kings, the old Andu word for ruler. Not to be outdone,
    the tribal chieftains made themselves the High King of their tribe in an
    attempt to maintain control of the petty kings. To back up their claims,
    both High King and petty king relied on the muscle of the barons, clan
    leaders who did not have the power to be king but still commanded many
    warriors. A High King's heirs of the ruling house became known as princes, a
    word taken from the elves roughly meaning "right hand to the king" (as first
    described by Adam Theo in his previous post).
    A few Houses were more united (such as the Anuireans, because of
    their strong ruling family, and the Deretha, because of continual warfare
    with the Spiderlord) and had only one king, with the barons beneath him.
    Some of these barons wielded considerable influence and might. One such was
    Baron Diem, a hero of the War of Shadow and friend to Roele. After Deismaar,
    several clanlords of the Deretha flocked to his banner and he claimed the
    western half of the Southern Coast, including the Free City (present day
    Ilien). The king of the Deretha was left with only the lands that comprise
    present-day Roesone and Aerenwe. Allying with Roele, Baron Diem was
    instrumental in defeating the Deretha king, who was one of those who resisted
    Roele's vision of empire, and the king was forced to cede most of the lands
    that now make up Roesone to Diem. Thus Diemed was born.
    Roele's allies and the more powerful of the defeated tribal kings, in
    order to placate them, were made the archdukes of the new empire, with vast
    territories to rule. Underneath them were their barons, who in turn elevated
    their most faithful warriors to the rank of count. And the rank of baronet,
    literally translating to "little warlord," was bequeathed to minor vassals
    who led their liege's knights in battle. Well, that's more than enough
    meaningless historical dribble for now :) Hey, it might be useful to a
    character with Ancient History. Doubt it :)To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com
    with the line

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