A Darker Age

• Roadscholars game of Iron age MRQII
• IC thread
• OC thread
• recruitment

Characters

• Daegmund 'The bastard hound of Andazyn' Iskallor's hunter turned knight. Bastard half brother to Rosine. Nephew to the king.
  • Godfrey his retainer
• Aelfric of Clan Mernii. Herbmaster and cousin to Rosine and Daegmund, played by Jarulf
  • Rhín is his young servant.
• Rosine of Lerenil King's niece, played by Mandacaru
• Osgar, a landed mercenary knight, played by Pseudoephedrine
• Krallion, a Shamanistic warrior played by ThaGuy
• Corbin the Crow played by Chalkline

Major holdings of Chybisa

• Burzyn. Seat of the King, Verlid II. His seneschal is his queen.
• Onden. Seat of the Kings older sister. Her Seneschal is the crown prince Balesir.
• Lerenil, Seat of the kings younger brother, Aernadh. Salagys Legith is Seneschal. His wife is Aelfrics Aunt.
• Geda, seat of Chaliss of Kanday.
• Aeraban, seat as is. Baron Afaelin.
• Andazyn, seat of the Kings sister in law [by his first wife]. Baron Vastair.This is Rosins family.
• Caermal seat as is, Baron Rythal.

House Rules

• Abilities and Spells not found in the books.
• Sunsigns affect skills in different ways.
• Armour

Links

• A ‘poetic’ map of Harn. It’s the only one you need, and all named features will be ‘canon’ for this game. what they mean might be vastly different, however.

http://www.harshlands.net/Images1/harn.jpg

• Lerenil

Maps

• keep The island keep on the lake

• land grant Map of the land grant
• This is adapted from a small portion of a map from the Columbia Games Harn module Chybisa, and the original is copyright. Please do not use for commercial purposes. This is altered and adapted for a personal game only.
• The legend is pretty self explanatory. As you can see, only a few hundred acres are currently 'clear'. Osgar will have plenty of timber for a time...

Osgars Settlers

Osgars settlers.

Rolled on invisible castle. up to 50 families. http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2540713/

01-15 Crafter 16-35Farmer/yeoman.36-70 Villein 71-90 Half-villein 91-00 Cottar.

These are the forty four families who have agreed to follow Sir Osgar into new lands. Their basic contracts have already been agreed to – only the dividing of land is left to do, once cleared. Most of the free settlers are Chybisan, although the weaponcrafter is from Kaldor and the two small grants to farmers of 20 acres are Thayan.

Crafters 12 families [size/acres: 2/15,4/10,2/10,3/10, 2/15,5/10,6/15,3/15,7/25, 4/5.] Total 130acres. A miller, metalsmith, woodcrafter, shipwright, timberwright [x2], Charcoaler [x2], salter, ostler, hideworker and weaponcrafter [the last one a ringer...I just know you'd look for one].

Farmers or Yeomen. 10 families [4 of these must be archers] [size/acres: 5/50, 7/40, 3/25, 7/30, 5/40, 6/60, 4/20, 4/30, 6/20, ] Total 335 acres.

The semi or unfree are a mix of Kaldoric [mainly in the villeins – 5 families], Thayan [3 villein and 4 half-villein families] and local [the rest]. Most of the locals are improving their lot by making this move, either with larger acreage or improved social standing. Conversely, most of the Kaldoric and Thayans are losing some.

Villeins. Semi-free. 12 families [size 4,5,6,4,5,5,7,8,5,6,4] [30 acres + 5 freehold] Total 420acres. Half-Villeins. Unfree 6 famillies [size 4,5,4,4,5,6] [15 acres ] Total 90acres. Cottars 4 families. Unfree [ size 3,2,5,7] [ 5 acres] Total 20 acres.

Total granted acreage: 995acres + 5 for a small shrine [or two] and village/manor location.

The grant has permission to clear 1400 acres, with 1000 held as forest. This leaves a demesne of 400 acres at present. Some of this can be taken up by grants of land to either religion. Some must be taken up by land to support three light horse. The initial demesne is small as it is assumed some families will lose land to rents over time.

Note that this activity is also taking place on Legith grantland to the West. There is a similar ratio of refugees to Chybisans in their mix.

Most of these people have everything they own on hand-drawn carts, though the freefolk generally have a donkey or pony.

• The extra resources being made available out of the Royal and Baronial purses are basically services - paid lumberfellers, timberwrights, carpenters and masons from Burzyn and other keeps. Supplies are mainly tools and building/carting equipment. A small group of the royal foresters will help patrol the area. The rest is a purse for paying skilled labour (or unskilled), whether settlers or itinerants.

Issues of rights and obligations will be settled by negotiation with the Kings representative [in this case, the Baron]. Currently, you are held to providing one Heavy cavalryman trained to the lance and escorted, two light cavalry and four archers. If you intend to gallavant about, you need this levy as excess to yourself and any band of followers. Your grant is big enough to do this, eventually.

• The actual site for the manor will be played out in game.

The Cwll or Forest Folk

• The forest folk are small, both in stature and in number but very civilised. They do not practice farming as Chybisans know it, but use clearings and tree 'shepherding' to raise small crops and resources. The towns are small but permanent settlements of 150 -200 able souls. The permanent camps reach this size only in summer...in other seasons they may slip as low as 30-40 folk. The season camps are crop dependent. Many of the folk spend time roaming to different areas of the wood and more open lands to the North, gathering and harvesting small areas tended or groomed for generations.
• The Oath of Life

The Hodiri and their Traditions

To make it easier, heres a list of the spirit types a spirit worshipper would have been able to contact. These are all from the tradition of Horadir, which is followed by Hodiri, Chybisan, Solori and Setha shaman societies or traditions.

• Nature spirits. Important ones are hound and horse, hawk, fox and bull/cow.
• Spirits of place. Horadir, river spirits, wood spirits, grassland spirits.
• Ancestor spirits. Great riders, warriors, Shaman, Speakers.
• Elemental spirits. wind/air is favoured. fire and moon spirits are possible.

• The gods of the Hodiri are natural things...sun, moon, thunder, night. Their priests do not give them names or worship them seperately but speak to and of them as a whole. It is another Way of the Old Ways. In many ways, worship of the divine is seen as the 'other' shamanic tradition of the Hodiri.

Setting

The small kingdom of Chybisa, once a crossroads for trade and major cavalry centre in the Remull holdings on Harn. Now, its an isolated collection of small manors centred round the formidible Burzyn keep [which looks remarkably like Harlech castle]. The current king has taken the peaceful times of the last six years as a good omen - and looks to reclaim some of the fallen manors to the north of the river. Meanwhile,the Baron of Lerenil pursues his aim of establishing Lerenil as a seagoing port. To do so requires a settled north bank to the river...but the greatwoods are populated by Setha And worse, wolf riders and forest-orcs. Rumors speak also of Trolls and Ogres, not seen since the Remuli drove them out.

Setting assumptions

• Magic - Common magic will become the province of specialist users. The average person, while not superstitious about magics use, will regard it as a dangerous pasttime.
• I'll run all the magic systems as is - with the main change being the general unavailability of common magic. Sorcery with have a particular mode or approach - there are alchemists, astrologers, enchanters, power word mages and necromancers rather than sorcerers. Crunch wise, this simply means that different 'grimoires' require a mundane as well as magic skill to enable. The mundane skill must always be greater than the magic one.
• Common magic becomes the province of the church and divine initiates, witches, warlocks and shaman/druid types. Most magic specialists will also pick up a little. It is 'low magic', but you must have the gift [or divine/spirit backing] for it.
• Technology - Due to Remuli and Dwarf influences, there is a wider range of arms and armour technology on Harn, but getting fitted plate [or fancy helmets] is, on the other hand, not going to be easy. Inheriting grandpas Equestrian war gear, being very good mates with a dwarf [remember, they have withdrawn from the lands of men largely] or being a noble from Melderyn [for thoe unfamiliar with a Harn map, the southeastern Island kingdom] would be about the only way to access that sort of gear.
• For cultures, assume picts on too many sacred herbs for the Setha, a general gaulish feel for the Anadhe, and more germanic for the Hodiri [who are mounted].
• The hodiri are pretty much Goth/Alans, if you are looking for an analogy.

Background

• Burzyn Keep was built by a mad dwarf hundreds of years ago, and was annexed by the Republic as their headquarters for Three auxiliary legions [ regulars,archers and cavalry] for nearly a hundred and fifty years. When the legions finally left there had been a local interpenetration of these auxiliaries, and many [in the case of the Hodiri, nearly all] stayed when the legions left. The currently Royal line of Chybisa [named after the local Lord who bade the mad Dwarf build a keep] can tenuously trace descendence from the royal line, even through the times of the Republic. The people of Chybisa are a mix of former natives, Republicanised auxiliaries and refugees from both Kaldor and Thay.

• The Setha are local natives [Jarin] who returned out of the north during the Rebublics retreat. They ravaged the lightly settled lands native to them [between Kaldor and Chybisa] and reclaimed it as their own. Their interest in the area is due to the presence of a creature of their Gods called the Stalker on the Heath. They are ruled by skull faced shaman/priests, who appoint chiefs and decide the fate of clans. They are sometimes friendly [and have been generaly peaceful for the last few years]. this will never last, though as history has shown...sooner or later the tribes grow too large and someone leads a war.

• The Hodiri occupy the woods and plains between Melderyn and Chybisa. They are descendents of Auxilia from the Mainland - a plains people noted for their horse skills. They were an early conquest of the Empire and had attained semi-independence by supplying troops and set tribute. The two legions stationed in Harn slowly established themselves in the marches that bear their name and eventually replicated their homeland customs in miniature. They are horsefolk, wagon owners, with herds for wealth. Currently, there are 12 tribes, and two of these are fairly friendly to Chybisa. Hodiri attentions are given mostly to warring with the Solora [a Jarin tribe to the South] and skirmishing with the few mainland colonies of Melderyn.

• The Anadh are a mix of Jarin and Ysirii archers [former auxiliaries] who occupy the woods and hills between Chybisa and Thay. While they are a generally peaceful folk, they are intolerant of the Church of Light, follow only the Old Way and have been the causes of crusades in the past. They are currently peaceful with Chybisa, but not Thay. rumors of an alliance between them and raiding Orbaalese keeps the Theocracy awake at night.

• Kaldor is warring on itself in a series of attempts to claim the throne and title of King. The church is heavily involved as an arbiter, and there are a dozen newly formed fighting orders, on both sides in any conflict.

• Thay is a bastion of the Church and a small island of culture, following a Theocratic governing body with the king as advisor to parliament and commons. However, it has been under constant attack by Orbaalese and Ivinian raiders for nearly five years. Latest rumors speak of year round settlements to the North...

• Melderyn is a decadent remnant of the Republic, with entrenched Senate and Equestrian classes, bonded servitude for peasants and a thriving trade in indentured servitude. Citizens form the middle class and make up the bulk of the Legions. Sorcery has a dark name in Melderyn, and while there are practitioners of the Arts, they have a fractious relationship that is entwined in the games of high politics played by the Republics elite. It is also the most civilised area on Harn, barring the dwarven and elven cities.

• Chybisa itself consists of the Royal seats of Burzyn [King ], Lerenil [brother] and Onden [sister] and the keep of Geda [ Held by the Baron Erynn, originally of Kanday]. Politics and family are one...though there are many lesser lords who can hold sway in court. The land is some of the best quality in Harn and produces two harvests a year. There is a fierce independent streak in Chybisa - the amount of freeholders is higher than Kaldor or Melderyn and the peasant class can win freedom ffor themselves or their descendents through payment or service. They have a strong tradition of archery [the local longbow is actually a composite of two woods] and mounted commoners [sergeantry].

• The Church of the Child has several monastic and hermetic orders in the East of Chybisa, but no actual fighting orders. The Church is not actually well supported in Chybisa and the shrines to local gods and spirits still dot the roads and wells. The local bishop is tolerant of local custom and has even attended festivals.

• The guild of arcane lore in Chybisa is composed of less than a dozen practitioners, mostly alchemist-apothecaries, diviners and enchanter/bards. Most hold some position in one of the noble courts, or are directly related.

A sense of Scale

This p-Harn is cinematic in scale. What would be the extreme in naturall features is the norm here. Caves are commonly as big as the largest caverns of our world, waterfalls are longer, trees larger, mountains higher. Animals can be much larger and are generally more intelligent. This applies to the superstitions, folklore and stories of our Earth as well. People do see ghosts, true love and innocence are powerful forces, there are little people and monsters and old laws that even gods must obey. Riddling games, bets and wagers, hosting laws, oaths all have power. So do rightful positions…true kings, godmother/father, clanhead, kings champion all bestow a modicum of Power.

Other gods

There are various other divine beings or concepts worshipped by smaller groups or individuals on this Harn. Goblinkind has the Crom Cruach, Baelor and the cauldron mother Annig. There are dark or old things that answer to a few who dare to call them...demons, entities of Chaos or dark Intent. Rethem and especially the city of Golotha are famous for their open worship of darker gods and forces.