Editing ALVATIA: Main Page

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[[Category: Setting]]
[[Category: FANGS]]
[[Category: Alvatia]]

== Alvatia: Realm of Fantasy ==

Alvatia is a 'low magic' fantasy campaign, set in a culture not too different from 14th Century England. Players can explore the many islands of Nyranim, encountering adventures as they go – sometimes unexpectedly. As they gain influence, they may control the fate of manors, counties, or entire nations – and gain allies and enemies.

The players may be serfs, mercenaries, nobles, artisans, sorcerers, clergy or any of a host of professions and social classes. They might become heroes, saving the people from grasping despots or terrible monsters; villains, gathering power and fortune before making an attempt on the throne; or merely ordinary folk, trying to survive and eke out a living.

Initially, players will be refugees from a plague-ridden continent to the East, to give a convincing reason for their ignorance of Alvatian customs, politics and affairs. Players may belong to clans, guilds, societies or religious groups; as players (or actors) gain followers, income and power, their status in these groups, and in the Kingdom, may increase. When a character (player or otherwise) swears fealty to another, each receives some benefits.

The Kingdom of Alvatia covers about 11,000 square miles, and has a population of over half a million. Within Alvatia, folk build castles, huts and walled towns; they raise crops, build homes, craft weapons, and sell their wares; they ride horses, sail ships, and climb trees; and they fight with swords, bows, spears and other weapons. The feudal nature of society is itself sometimes a benefit – or a hindrance – to the success of a player. 

The possession of, and legal rights to, property will be (as much as possible) governed within the 'reality' of the game. A character might clear some land in the forest, build a hut, plant a field and declare him or herself the owner by some 'homestead right;' if nobody disputes this, he or she remains the de facto owner. Feudal lords (who may be players) may bestow, or reclaim, lands; squabbling lords may seize lands by force of arms. Within the cities exists a more 'modern' system of property titles:  houses and building lots can change hands for a sack of silver.

Various forms of magic exist, some openly but most covertly. These range from the 'hedge' magics of the peasants, to high and scholastic wizardry. Artifacts of ancient power, herbs with subtle effects, and items needed for powerful rituals.


== History of the Kingdom of Alvatia ==

In the month of Threshing, 938 years since the Miracle:

In the year four hundred and twelve, Prince Eustace the Sailor returned to Voland with news of the discovery of lands far to the west – the Nyranim Islands. His father, King Guy II, was impressed by the tales of wealth in the heathen lands across the Sea, and gathered his ships; Prince Guy was given command of the invasion.

The fleet arrived in the year 414 at the shores of what is now called the county of Fimark, in the kingdom of Alvatia. Only a few Suthrian settlers were in the area; they were quickly overcome. After a few delays, the Volanders marched south to attack Suthria itself – and discovered the hidden strength of the Suthrian military, and the terrible power of the fell Suthrian magics. After years of combat, Prince Eustace died in the year 421, and the Volanders lost much of their desire to conquer Suthria. King Guy's successor, Bernard, appointed his brother Prince Vincent (born in the year 391) as Regent of the Principality of Alvatia.

When the Partition War began during the year 425, the other heirs of Guy disputed Bernard's claim to Voland; after the Talesite Massacre, Vincent renounced his allegiance to the King. Three years later, he declared himself King Vincent of Alvatia. 

The first months of Vincent's reign were near-anarchy, as followers of the Voland king, brigands, greedy lords, and ambitious courtiers all maneuvered for power in Alvatia. Vincent proved more cunning and ruthless than his enemies; by 430 his throne was secure, and he has been known since as King Vincent the Warrior. The boundaries of Alvatia's counties adjusted a bit during the first years of his rule, and have remained (mostly) stable since then.

The current King of Alvatia, Randall IV, is the twentieth monarch of that realm. He was crowned in the year 931, eight weeks after the death of his father, King Fulk; some skirmishing and heated arguments had accompanied his ascension to the throne. Until the arrival of the refugee Easterners, his reign had been (relatively) peaceful. 

With the appearance of the Great Pox in Neldorf ten years ago, and in Voland two years ago, many persons have decided to remove themselves from the Mainland to the safety of the Islands of Nyranim. Most of these refugees have traveled to the Kingdom of Alvatia, as the language of the inhabitants is also that of Voland, and the people there are not savages or heathens. The church of Saint Carmund has performed holy rituals to keep the Pox from appearing in Alvatia

Folk from Voland, Neldorf, Alba and other lands laid waste by the Pox arrived in great numbers, both high and low, laity and clergy, rich and poor. The merchants in the cities raised their prices again and again; the nobility of Alvatia made laws to annoy and impoverish the foreigners; and many of the people were most unfriendly. Still the refugees came.

Now the cities on the Alvatian coast are crowded with persons from the Mainland, and the foreigners can no longer be contained in ghettos or quarantine houses. Some of Alvatia's lords are welcoming them, and establishing new villages and manors where before was wilderness. Other lords employ them as mercenaries, or in menial positions. Even once-mighty Volander nobles must scrimp and scrounge on the Islands of Nyranim; many wise and holy clerics must work as scribes to merchants and courts. 

Other countries near Alvatia -- the barbarian mountain-folk of Restrick, the unruly Kingdom of Meldun, and the ancient Suthrians – have become restive of late. Some fear that the lords of those lands would swoop down upon the crowded cities of Alvatia, or intercept the ships bearing refugees from the Mainland.

== Links ==

* [[ALVATIA:_Ingsby_-_Village_and_Manor|The Village and Manor of Ingsby]]
* [[ALVATIA:_Religion_-_Saint_Carmund|Saint Carmund]]
* [[ALVATIA:_Religion_-_Presences|Presences]]
* [[ALVATIA:_Cottage_Styles|Cottage Styles in Alvatia]]