scholarship of erenth: k:Balduren

Showing posts with label k:Balduren. Show all posts

Westrun Commoner Clothing (Talir, Treft, Balduren)

Ren of the Plains

Ren was a Tribal god of the Nandi who was incorporated into the Grand Temple of Westrun. He was also one third of the triad of patrons which was said to protect the City of Balduren.

Ren appears as a young man on the edge of adulthood. He is able to tun at the speed of a horse without ever needing rest. He wears a plain shift and is always barefoot. For this reason, he is the patron of all those who undertake the Grooming Run each year.

Ren has the power to grant running, endurance or iron will to anyone for a period of up to one year. While his worship predated the coming of the Decadon, his cult was accreted into the pantheon of the Grand Temple of Heaven. He is alleged to have descended from the children of Heimos, but the earliest mentions of him predate 3700ey.

Princess and the Stable boy

She drinks from a goblet all shiny and new,

He guzzles his ale from a bucket or two,

She wore a silk bodice that never got torn,

He’s tangled in hay and smells like a barn.

Oh, the princess won’t fight, and the stable boy cants,

One’s soft as a petal, one shit his pants,

Two claim the crown but neither’s quite right,

One’s scared of the dirt and one’s lost the fight!

So who’ll take Balduren when the dust clears away?

The lad who won’t fight or the girl who won’t stay?

The crown waits in silence, a cruel, stubborn toy—

Between the sweet princess and the filthy young boy!

Oh, the princess won’t fight, and the stable boy cants,

One’s soft as a petal, one shit his pants,

Two claim the crown but neither’s quite right,

One’s scared of the dirt and one’s lost the fight!

So raise up your cups and drink down your sorrow,

For kings made of folly can’t rule us tomorrow!

To horses that gallop, to fights never won,

'tween the brat and the bastard you have to choose one!

Oh, the princess won’t fight, and the stable boy cants,

One’s soft as a petal, one shit his pants,

Two claim the crown but neither’s quite right,

One’s scared of the dirt and one’s lost the fight!

Agronar the Pacifier of Goblins

Agronar was a noted general of Marten the Good who was High King of Westrun from 4850-4901ey.

Agronar was first knighted at the Battle of Five Chieftains in 4875ey during the Northrun campaign and given command of the Steel Fist Company which was redeployed to the Westrun Marches. There he negotiated good relations with the Fraternity and is said to have worn the Green Cloak among them for the space of ten years. After pressing the goblin hordes to the sea in the North, he was placed in command of the Stalwart Legion and sent to reinforce the armies of Treft.

While in Treft, he defeated the orc chieftain of Rakag and greatly diminished the orcs of Dynkyr. Then he exceeded his orders and took his legion into Balduren itself, placing them at the disposal of the Marks Marshall of that kingdom, winning considerable good will and bringing Balduren more fully into the Eight Kingdoms Pact. When the hordes were again pressed to the sea, he founded Harmony to tie the forces of Collonia and Balduren together.

After several years in Harmony, Agronar took his legion directly into the Goblin Kingdoms. Once there, he won wars against several horde chieftains and lost three Captains that had been with him since his knighting in Northrun. He defeated Gruumsh One-eye, god-king of the Orcs in single combat, and then founded the Hall of Splendor on that field of battle.

Agronar remained in the Goblin Kingdoms prosecuting every gathering of orc and goblin which was large enough to earn his notice. In 4901ey, he was recalled to Peakshadow upon the death of Marten the Good.

After swearing fealty to the new king, Favian III, he was named the Chancellor General of Westrun, but absconded from Peakshadow in the middle of the night. He returned to his legions in the South and traversed the entirety of the Goblin Kingdoms, coming eventually to the Satrapcies of Southrun. There he disbanded his legions, and entered semi-retirement, keeping only the Steel Fist Company under his command.

He was later summoned to service by Favian III and sent to prosecute the so-called "Debtor's War" in the Pincipalities of Vyruma Serpentis. After conquering all of the white and black princes, he renamed the Free Provinces and extracted allegiance to the High Throne from their new barons.

At the end of the "Debtor's War" he was recalled to Peakshadow to renew his oath of fealty to High King Favian, but disappeared at sea and was never seen again.

Order of the Planar Knights Protectant

The chapel of this peerage is located in the wilds of Balduren.

The Order of the Planar Knights Protectant, also known as the Hellslayers, are an independent Peerage who operate largely outside of Church organization. They have taken a vow to fight the dread Malenir and any of their followers.

In order to qualify as one of the Hellslayers, the members must have slain or been instrumental in slaying a Malenir before joining the Order.

The Unloved

The Unloved are a famous infantry guild in an area known for its cavalry culture. For this reason, they are often hired to do the tasks considered beneath the proud mounted soldier. There is also the matter than most of the members are non-citizens, in many cases drawn from the castaway children the harsh culture of Balduren produces.

The Unloved are primarily a light infantry company when fighting in formation.

The Colonello is Firan.

The Guildhall is located in Balduren.

A List of the Cities and Provinces of Westrun by Kingdom

There are two basic political subdivisions in Westrun. The first is the Province and the second is the City. Both of them pay tribute to their monarch.

The Provinces vary in size and composition, but all are ruled a lord who is vested in it and responsible for it to the King. The lord may be a minor noble as a baron, a middling noble as a count or a greater noble as a Duke. Sometimes a lord who holds a province on the border of another Realm is considered a Margrave. If the lord of a province is a King in his own right, he is considered a Prince of any other province over which his royal prerogative does not extend. The lord of a province is considered the highest authority there. They have the unlimited chartered power to lay and collect taxes from their residents, to license marriages and other enterprises, as well as to keep the peace on their lands. They also enjoy the right to a trial before their peers and cannot be divested from their land except for cause and then only by trial.

Freeborn men and those who have been liberated from the role of serfs or slaves often find themselves settling around the open-air markets that rise at crossroads and near common river fords. With the permission of a lord they may settle a town on his land which still falls under the jurisdiction of his Reeve and must draw up a contract to pay him taxes and/or rent.

Once a town is in place and has grown to the size of 1000 free men (usually 3-5000 people), they can petition their monarch to fortify the town with a wall. Upon entertaining the petition, the king holds a hearing at which the populace and their lord have the right to be heard. If the hearing finds for the populace, the town contract is replaced by a royal charter. The town then becomes a city, independent of the rule of the lord whose land it was. The city then pays a tribute to the King as any province might. The city also gains the right to enforce its own laws, tax its own citizens, and elect its own mayor. Anyone born in a city is considered a free man, regardless of his parent's social class or condition of servitude. City air makes men free!

The Kingdom of Balduren

Capital City of Balduren
City of Gate
City of Pitglen
City of Tradestop

The Kingdom of Bolden

City of Aberford
Metropolis of Peakshadow
Capital City of Bolden
City of Daymarch

The Kingdom of Collonia

City of Gryondell
Capital City of Wanderhalt

The Kingdom of Menea

City of Ascar
City of Blunden
City of Heltorun
Capital City of Menea

The Kingdom of Rath

City of Bradtilly
City of Gregor
Capital City of Rath

The Kingdom of Saklan

Capital City of Laketon
City of Sheptoft
City of Sutbree

The Kingdom of Talir

The Kingdom of Treft

City of Diestamp
City of Harborkeep
City of Northpoint
Capital City of Treft
City of Southpoint

Kingdom of Balduren

Name: The Dictatorial Reaches of Balduren, commonly called the Kingdom of Balduren

Ruler: Marksmarshall Phero Belasarus III, commonly called "King"

Government: A stratocracy -- rule by the current and retired members of the military of Balduren.

Population:

Description: This kingdom is one of the three Southern Kingdoms of Westrun, and in typical Southern fashion, a non-traditional monarchy. Balduren is a military limited dictatorship in which the highest ranking military official is also the king. He is closely advised and sometimes directed by a council of retired military officers, who are also the highest judicial and administrative power in the land.

The Reaches of Balduren are vast expanses of grassy coastal plains which stretch from the Goblin Kingdoms to the Eight Kingdoms. These so-called Southern Reaches have long been protected by the horseman of the plains who have kept the maurading goblins from reaching civilization for many centuries.

The cavalry culture of Balduren is without peer. Everything is built on the relationship between the horse a rider. The Marksmarshal has six Brigades to command for a total of nearly 10,000 horses and riders -- a formidable and self-sufficient force. Eventually, these veterans return to civilian life, though they maintain their emeritus rank for the rest of their days. These retirees make up the government officials in each of the cities. It is they that vote on laws, serve as juries and can even censure the King (March Marshal), if it becomes necessary.

Note that there are residents of Balduren who are not, and never have been, members of the military. These people are the metics. They have rights of residency, but not of citizenship. Theirs is a second class existence, but one that many are very comfortable sustaining. Though they will never serve on a jury or hold public office, they can bring suits of law against others and have prosperous businesses.

The Reaches are known for its thick sod turf which is inhospitable to the plow, but readily able to support vast herds of bison and the many herds of wild horses. The chief exports of Balduren include fur blankets and other fur garments, hides which are prized by leathermen the world over, and of course, war horses widely sought by knights across the Eight Kingdoms.

The Lances of Balduren

Balduren is widely known as the fiercest warrior culture of the Eight Kingdoms. Many of its practices are considered savage and sacrilegious, but they persist despite the edicts of the church and the criticism of learned men. Few would argue that the Balduren methods are not effective as all the Eight Kingdoms rely on the mounted warrior of the Southern Marches for their protection and continued survival.

Balduren citizens have to prove their fitness as a warrior people, even as infants. All Balduren infants are brought before a council of retired Lances and examined for physical defects. Those who are not up to standards will never be citizens, if they are even permitted to live. No citizen will raise a non-citizen, so the so-called defective children are abandoned outside the Fork -- the peninsula on which Balduren is built. Metics may adopt such abandoned children and raise them with trades, but they will never be allowed full inclusion in Balduren society.

Babies who pass their inspection are raised among the horses and bathed in the salt water of the Sea. They sleep on straw and grow up with sparse clothing and thin blankets. They are frequently ignored when they cry and they are derided if they express the common fears of darkness or solitude.

At the age of 7, Balduren boys are removed from their parents’ homes and begin in the Stables of Seafall March -- a training regimen on a island in the middle of the Mourning River. It is run by retired lances and is designed to mold them into skilled warriors and proper citizens. Separated from their families and housed in communal barracks like stables, the young would-be Lances are instructed in horse lore, warfare, stealth, hunting and athletics.

At age 12, the Stable boys are deprived of all clothing save for a horse blanket died red and forced to sleep outside and make their own beds from straw. To ready them for a life in the field, the Stable boys are encouraged to scavenge and to live off the land -- even if that means that they are reduced to theft. During this time, a boy learns to shoe a horse and to do the leatherwork necessary for creating a saddle and stirrups. He is also learning to make a lance and to throw javelins with great accuracy. During that time, he has also seen to the joining of a mare and stallion to produce a colt.

Just as all Balduren men are expected to be Lances, all women are expected to bear children. Balduren girls are allowed to remain with their parents, but they are also subjected to a rigorous education and training program of their own. While the boys are at the Stables, the girls spend most of their mornings at chores and then spend their evenings learning medicine and veterinary skills, plus dance, tumbling and rudimentary training at ranged weapons.

Competition and fighting are encouraged among Balduren children. Life in the Stables is brutish and violent. Many of the lessons and tasks are presented to the boys and games with clear winners and losers. Winners are rewarded lavishly. Losers receive public ridicule, scorn and may even be stripped of the right to continue training. Anyone who shows weakness or complains of hardship receives more of the same. Anyone who evidences timidity is subject to teasing and violence at the hands of his peers.

By his 16th birthday, the last test of a boy's manliness is his Grooming Run. The young male will take a small knife, his blanket and a skin for water. He must run the old sea road from the mouth of the Mourning River to the City of Balduren, fending off wild animals and finding food and water along the way. He has thirty days to complete his task. The journey is long and perilous and will total some 400 miles. After the boy completes the ritual run, he will undergo the Gauntlet and be accepted as a citizen of the city.

Finally, the Lance is ready to meet and raise his mount. The next two years are spent teaching the horse and rider to function together as a team. When the horse is ready, so is the rider. Then both he and his horse will join the Regiments together.

Each and every male citizen of Balduren is an an accomplished warrior and horseman, a competent ferrier and leatherworker, as well as a hunter, scavenger and cook of no mean ability. He can navigate his way across the plains of his homeland. Find water and game for himself and tall grass for his steed.

After joining the Regiment, a Lance will be kept hungry and lean. He will eat communally with his squadron and live in a baracks. Poor fitness will cause him to be subject to public ridicule. Overweight Lances are sometimes rowed out to sea and left to sink or swim back to society.

At age 30, the Balduren male is encouraged to take a wife who is capable of bearing children, with great honor afforded those who marry the widows of fallen Lances. When married, he may choose to leave the squadron barracks, but even those that do end up living in very close proximity to it. The primary purpose of marriage is to produce new Lances for the cavalry. In fact, Balduren law says that only two people may be buried with marked graves: women who die in childbirth and men who die in combat.

If not retired due to wounds before then, at age 60 all Lances are forced to return to civilian life, though they maintain their emeritus rank for the rest of their days. These retired military men make up the government officials in each of the cities. It is they that vote on laws, serve as juries on trials and censure the King (Marshal of the Citadel), if it becomes necessary.

Men too old and feeble to conduct the affairs of the City are often led to senicide. They will be taken to the sea wall of Balduren, there to throw themselves onto the rocks and pounding surf in a ritual called the Leap of Fate. Those who do so with warrior spirit will be buried with a marked grave. Some who choose not to take the Leap of Fate will sometimes bid goodbye to their friends, and once more undertake the Citizen's Run in reverse -- this time from Balduren back to Seafall March.

Military Honors in the Southern Marches

Military Honors and the Southern Marches of Balduren

Every lord of the following titles is a Margrave and an officer in the Balduren Lances. Despite these titles and the named provinces within them, it doesn’t mean that these areas are actually occupied. These are military honors and tied to the land only in so far as the Eight Kingdoms Pact ties nobility to land.

Eastfall March
Deepwood March
Dwardyn March
Seafall March
Lostwoodfall
Greenfall
Grayfall
Westfall
Westwoodfall
Spirereach March
Bastreach March
Horereach March
Hordreach March

The Marksmarshall is by default, Lord of the Fork

House of Ardaben

.
The Domain Seat of this House is located in the Province of Wodrangia in the Eastfall Region of the Kingdom of Balduren in the Land of Westrun.

Its Primogenitor was Tharis Ardaben, a priest of the old gods. The House no longer has any religious affiliation. It remains one of the more influential House of Westrun.

Its motto is "With Divine Favor."

It's coat-of-arms depicts a crane holding a gold amulet. The crane is the symbol of the loyal and vigilant watcher. The gold necklace is held loosely, signifying the tribute money that the house receives as the price of their vigilance for the entirety of the Eight Kingdoms.

The House Patriarch is Anthar, Margrave of the Eastfall, Baron of Latinia in the Free Provinces.

The Heir Presumptive to the House is Anthon IV

Its liege lord is Belasarus, King of Balduren.

It has no vassals.

The Oxmen have rated this House at 39 gold bars.

House of Belasarus

.
The Domain Seat of this House is located in the Province of Belinia in the Deepwood March of the Kingdom Balduren in the Land of Westrun.

Its Primogenitor was Belasarus the Bold, a decorated hero of the Second Goblin War and brother of Beck the Mighty.

Its motto is, "For the wind of heaven."

Its coat-of-arms is a horse rampant.

The House Patriarch is Geor.

The Heir Presumptive to the House is Geordon.

Its liege lord is Geldorf, High King of Westrun.

Its vassals are Ardaben, Margrave of Eastfall

The Oxmen have rated this House at 44 gold bars.

House of Bosteed

.
The Domain Seat of this House is located in the Province of Rineria in the Region of Westwoodfall in the Kingdom of Balduren in the Land of Westrun.

Its Primogenitor was Aglavir Bosteed who was a hero of several battles.

Its motto is "With thunder and steel."

The House Patriarch is Aglavir, Margrave of Hordreach March and Westwoodfall, Baron of the Free Province of Aqilia.

The Heir Presumptive to the House is unknown.

Its liege lords is Belasarus, King of Balduren.

It has no vassals.

The Oxmen have rated this House at 14 gold bars.

House of Cosyng

.
The Domain Seat of this House is located in the Province of Pedoria in the Kingdom of Balduren in the Land of Westrun.

Its Primogenitor was Cosyng the Reaper.

Its verse is "Civility with concordance."

Its vexil is a scythe and skull.

The House Patriarch is Ferdis.

The Heir Presumptive to the House is Ferdinand.

Its liege lord is King Belasarus

It has no vassals.

The Oxmen have rated this House at 12 gold bars.

House of Foeschan

.
The Domain Seat of this House is located in the Province of Lasonia in the Kingdom of Balduren in the Land of Westrun.

Its Primogenitor was Foeschan the Night Rider.

Its verse is, "Patriots dreams."

Its vexil is a black and green checkered pattern.

The House Patriarch is Pwel, Margrave of Spirereach March, Baron of Lasonia.

The Heir Presumptive to the House is Poul.

Its liege lord is Belasarus, King of Balduren

It has no vassals.

The Oxmen have rated this House at 19 gold bars.

House of Gildfarer

.
The Domain Seat of this House is located in the Province of Kevalia in the Kingdom of Balduren in the Land of Westrun.

Its Primogenitor was Aldedram the White.

Its verse is, "With iron will and steeled resolve."

Its vexil is a mailed and bloody fist on a white field.

The House Patriarch is Kile, Baron of Kevalia.

The Heir Presumptive to the House is Nerod.

Its liege lord is King Phero Belasarus

It has no vassals.

The Oxmen have rated this House at 17 gold bars.

House of Grymbalde

.
The Domain Seat of this House is located in the Province of Jasmia in the Kingdom of Balduren in the Land of Westrun.

Its Primogenitor was Hildevo the Mule.

Its verse is "Defiance and Labor."

Its vexil is a red sun with bent rays with a superimposed crescent moon.

The House Patriarch is Haldemar, Baron of Jasmia.

The Heir Presumptive to the House is unknown.

Its liege lord is King Belasarus of Balduren.

It has no vassals.

The Oxmen have rated this House at 14 gold bars.

scholarship of erenth

Westrun Commoner Clothing (Talir, Treft, Balduren)

Westrun Gentry Clothing (Balduren)

Westrun Noble Clothing (Balduren)

Westrun Royal Clothing (Balduren)

Ren of the Plains

Princess and the Stable boy

Agronar the Pacifier of Goblins

Order of the Planar Knights Protectant

The Unloved

A List of the Cities and Provinces of Westrun by Kingdom

Kingdom of Balduren

The Lances of Balduren

Military Honors in the Southern Marches

House of Ardaben

House of Belasarus

House of Bosteed

House of Cosyng

House of Foeschan

House of Gildfarer

House of Grymbalde