Editing Daily Life Under the Shadow

==A Harsh Life Under the Shadow==

In the occupied lands in the Last Age, most villages are eaking out a marginal existence. They share limited resources, depending on the whim of the local Shadow representants. If the local legate has a touch of mercy, they may have the surplus to barter for goods outside of the community. In most rural communities,  a permit is issued, in the form of a brass chit that allows its bearer to pass unmolested by the Shadow patrols (this is not guaranteed at all times).

The manorial system also has brought with it its logical consequence; the beginning of a feudal society, with many farmers or artisans pledging their lives in the service of the local traitor prince or even legate. Since they place themselves under his protection, they effectively become his slaves, but on the other hand they are granted minimal security and food in exchange of their freedom. One of the biggest mistakes a group of PCs might make would be to assume that such people will want to be freed...

There is also a flourishing slave trade, which makes some Orcish tribes all the richer. Some even specialized in capturing halflings, as those are on high demand as slaves. But isolated human communities, especially those who did not choose to become the local tyrant's serfs, are prime targets for Orcish raids, capture and being sold as real (ie, with no rights at all) slaves. After all, any orcish regiment or legate will need free manpower for various duties, thus sparing the more important servants their time and efforts for more important matters.

Of course, being the local "lords", occupation troops and legates are still free to help themselves for whatever ware they need or simply catches their eye. But trade still subsists, in a very limited way, for other people.

 
==Legal trade and its limits==

The gnomes have been given the freedom of trade up and down the Eren river, providing they do 'their part' for the forces of izrador. Much like the feudal system, they're essentially slaves to the Shadow, but do have a limited amount of freedom, which allows them to subtly aid the resistance.

Thus, most trade is focused around the waterways, and whole towns have sprung up around riverside markets in the Last Age. These towns are the middle men, like a midnight mall. Farmers and craftsmen from all over come to these towns once a month to sell their wares and buy what they need.

On the other hand, Eredane is a rather vast place, and there are towns and villages that are too far from a river to actively trade regularly.

This puts them in an isolated state, these towns on the most part have to be self sufficent, or rely heavily on the communities around them for resources. This creates a very anarchic place to be: trust is only really extended to people in the community that have somehting to offer. News are sparse, so rumours of the 'outside' world are wild and misleading. This brooks fear toward outsiders, especially those who could upset the balance of the fragile community. In a place like this, morale is low and resistance to the Shadow minimal, as people try to get on with their lives in their situation.
 
Those wishing to live free of the Shadow have moved as far away as they could from the waterways and old trade roads. Isolated communities have to be self sufficient or they may band loosely together without villages within a two to three day walk/ride. For example, there may only be one village with a competent smith/forge and the other local villages come to the smith to get what they need/can't produce. Several isolated villages may band together under a strong warrior or skilled channeler for protection against slavers and other nasty things coming from the north.

In the countryside, anyone is free to go "trade" within a 10 mile-radius around them (because, in case of control, the local soldiers or legates all know that it's only “old Joe” trying to sell his eggs to the village).

Beyond that range, a special authorization is given, only to those who swear allegiance to the Dark Lord. If they do, they are given a token that is proof enough that they are reliable persons. Of course, such tokens are often coveted by resistance groups to provide them a "cover story". However, only important figures (legates, etc.) are ever given the "magical tokens" described in MN01. Written documents are to be avoided, as literacy is a rare privilege in the Last Age. Many troops (human or orcish) stationed at checkpoints could not read them anyway, so what's the point?

Outside of the rivers, regular trade with established routes and deliveries does not exist in Midnight. Smugglers and people who move critical items through the wilderness, well off the beaten path probably still exists. Eredane is dangerous, but good woodland skills and the sense to stay off the roads will help. Orcs and Legates can be avoided if you're not carrying magic. Smuggling of skilled people (channelers, halflings) is also ongoing.

On the roads, the only goods that move legally on a large scale do it with hobgoblin caravans of boro's and mules dragging timber, weapons, cockingpots and what-have-you to large fortifications.  Tribute and supply caravans are not trade, but they do offer opportunities to a resourceful party to obtain supplies, gather information, or if they're wildly successful and probably suicidal, to infiltrate a Shadow garrison/stronghold. There are garrisons well clear of the rivers that need to be resupplied. The vast majority of the gnomes stay on the Eren River. That means most of the north has to be supplied by other means.


==The need for a black market in the cities==

In the Last Age, any big occupied city has at least one black market. Why? Because urban citizens cannot produce food, which they trade against goods they are producing (clothes, shoes, etc.) with the farmers. Black market rarely involves selling "forbidden" things like weapons or books, but simply allows people access to restricted or difficult to find items, for a very high price.

With such a heavy demand for items in urban areas, there are lots of people somehow involved in black market. Either resistance groups, people who act out of a selfish desire to make a profit from such an activity (and can then be dubbed "traders"), or simply criminals who smuggle alcohol, prostitutes, etc. into the towns for their own filthy profit.

Some caravan masters working for the Shadow are also doing a little "blackmarket" work. What good that may be traded for are probably small goods to make life easier, such as tools, or more pleasant such as liquor and tobacco. A whole orc “maffia” has developed in the last years, making a huge profit in trading some goods that they manage to steal from their caravans to needy urban citizens.

In the southern plains, there is rumoured to be a whole "ghost market" (ie, a caravan always on the run) standing in the wilderness of the Erenland Horse plains, selling black market wares to any freeriders it meets.


==The Laws of the Shadow==


===Punishable by death===
'''All acts of direct rebellion or assistance to the fey'''
* Fey blood: anyone of elven or dwarven birth
* Collaboration with the fey (excluding gnomes)
* Aiding fugitives from the Shadow
* Assaulting a legate or senior agent of Izrador
* Possession of an enchanted item
* Casting of spells or other uses of magic



===Punishable by enslavement===
'''Less serious crimes that are not considered a direct threat to the rule of the Shadow'''
* Possession of martial weapons or armor
* Assaulting any servant or soldier of Izrador
* Unauthorized presence in a restricted area (includes traveling anywhere without proof of official business)
* Resisting arrest
* Worship of any deity but Izrador
* Smuggling
* Theft or withholding of items designated for the use of Izrador
* Unauthorized travel beyond settlement borders
* Possession of nonmagical books or scrolls
* Teaching others to read
* Failure to report a violation of the laws



===Punishable by the Lash===
'''Small infractions and minor crimes'''
* Hoarding of food
* Being late or short on tax payments
* Not averting your eyes or making way for a legate
* Unauthorized use of a forge


==Laws of the Shadow==
As the Shadow’s armies spread across Erenland, the
Night Kings issued a series of edicts designed to deny their
new subjects the ability or will to resist their rule. The edicts
have been enforced by whip and vardatch; even orcs fresh
from the breeding grounds in the north understand that to
appear weak before the cattle, as they call the humans and
enslaved fey, is to invite a stampede. There are no appeals, no
mercy; judgment is swift and brutally efficient, with innocents
suffering as often as the truly guilty. In the case of serious
violations, whole families are enslaved or sacrificed for
the crimes of a single individual. The harshness of these punishments
is designed to turn brother against brother, father
against son. <br> Foremost among the laws of the Shadow are these: fey
are to be killed on sight or reported immediately; none but the
servants of Izrador may bear weapons, even simple hunting
tools like knives and bows; and none but the Order of
Shadow may teach others to read or write.
The subjects of Izrador also live in fear of the
Shadow’s enforcement of unwritten laws, which can
change at the whim of a local legate or garrison commander.
Even those proclamations that are declared with
posted writs and notices are sadistic excuses to punish the
ignorant, as few in Eredane have the ability to read. This
lack of certainty breeds fear and indecision, with villagers
seeking approval for even simple repairs or everyday
movements, yet fearing to draw attention to themselves
lest they earn a beating for their trouble. Survival skills in
these dark days are passed from generation to generation,
and among the most valuable things a child can learn are
how to anticipate a legate’s whims, how to predict an orc’s
rage, and most importantly how to remain unnoticed by
both.



==Life Under the Occupation==
One hundred years of combat, disease, deprivation,
and enslavement have greatly reduced the human population
of Eredane, especially north of the Pelluria. The
Dornish population has been cut in half since the end of
the Third Age and continues to decline. The rest of
Erenland is littered with abandoned or destroyed villages.
Wind and rain have eaten away at these once vibrant communities,
turning the collected buildings into little more
than moldering piles of rock and rotting timber. Small
forests have reclaimed fields and even swallowed buildings
that once nestled in their clearings. Rich farm fields
lay fallow, full of weeds, or covered by swordgrass and
thistles. Only the winds, whistling through broken windows
and amongst the burial rings, bear witness to what
once was.
The loss of life and abandonment of countless villages
has also taken its toll on the roads, bridges, and dams
that once marked the strength and achievement of
Erenland. Even well into the south, what were once wide,
well-maintained trade roads are now little more than scattered
game trails. Bridges have collapsed or washed away, leaving
their jagged foundations to jut like fangs from the riverbanks.
Those bridges that remain are extremely hazardous and
crudely patched. In some cases, bridges have been purposefully
destroyed by insurgents to prevent easy passage by the
Shadow’s armies.
Time and the elements have not been the only causes of
widespread destruction; at the end of the Third Age, dark
magics and foully concocted diseases washed over towns and
villages that attempted to resist the Shadow’s advance. Some
sections of Eredane are completely lifeless as a result of these
attentions, the ground brittle and gray, avoided by all living
things. Some say that Izrador’s corruption has seeped into the
earth, deforming the landscape and filling all that dwell there
with hatred and malice. The most dangerous of these corrupted
holes is the Foul Bog of Eris Aman, whose fetid marshes
are riddled with sinkholes, poisonous plants, and bloated,
endlessly hungry creatures that slither through the stinking
swamps.
With the collapse of the Kingdom of Erenland and the
abandonment of much of the frontier, natural and unnatural
predators encroach on human territory to hunt both domesticated
animals and their keepers. Grass cats, owlbears, displacer
beasts, and other dangerous hunters have followed
caribou and skarpin herds south and have developed a taste
for human flesh. Domesticated animals have turned feral and
packs of savage dogs, once the protectors of the Dorns, now
attack lone travelers. Everything from simple hunger to
malign magical corruption have warped the behavior of normally
peaceful animals, turning them into savage beasts that
attack without provocation and have caused them to lose their
fear of man. The natural order is slowly being overturned, and
the hunters have become the hunted.

===The Loss of Knowledge===
The forces of the Shadow in the North raided and
burned, killing all who opposed them, and laid waste to the
land. They destroyed whole cities, wiped entire cultures from
the face of the earth, and plunged the world into a dark age
out of which there is little hope of crawling. The legates of the
Order of Shadow have continued to drive this descent into
darkness by outlawing literacy, writing, and science, arresting
or killing outright those found with books or teaching others
to read.
With the destruction of the accumulated knowledge of
centuries and the brutal punishment of anyone caught pursuing
such knowledge, the Order of Shadow has forced the
human lands into a pit of ignorance and sealed it over with
fear, suspicion, and hate. Trade routes have been broken and
the flow of information severed along with the flow of goods.
Without the natural exchange of ideas and knowledge, the
human lands have fragmented into isolated pockets of mistrust
and prejudice. Art has ceased to exist and only the basest
of necessary crafts continue. The common tongue, once
widespread, is fragmenting into incomprehensible regional
dialects, further alienating humans from each other. The sciences
of alchemy, healing, and metalworking stagnate and
slowly revert to more primitive forms.
Now, even if the fey were free to openly walk the land,
they would find nothing but fear and prejudice awaiting them
in the human lands. Suspicious peasants and fearful city
dwellers alike would hand them over to the legates’ spies,
with no respect for the memory that their peoples once stood
together against the Shadow.
Even in the lands of elves and dwarves, where books
and literacy are cherished legacies, there has been an
inevitable academic decline. Under the reign of the Shadow,
trade with the fey is punishable by death and therefore only
vital goods are smuggled into their lands. Unfortunately, little
science or philosophy comes with them. As one by one
settlements near the borders of their lands fall to the Night
Kings’ raids, great thinkers are murdered and libraries of irreplaceable
tomes are burned. One idea, one thought, one story,
or one scroll at a time, the collective enlightenment of the
world is falling prey to the fire and hate of the Shadow.

====Occupied Erenland====
The Shadow has divided Erenland into 22 districts, creating
a system of regional viceroys that have their own troops
to enforce the laws, root out resistance groups, and ensure the
smooth flow of supplies, slaves, and sacrifices. The viceroys
are responsible for vast areas, much of which is sparsely populated
and not easily accessible. The major communities all
have permanent garrisons and the old trade roads and navigable
rivers are well patrolled, with fortified guard posts at fairly
regular intervals. Minor roads, game trails, and lesser
rivers and streams are rarely patrolled, however, due mostly
to the sheer scope of each garrison’s patrol zone and the limited
returns to be gained. Indeed, the vast distances between
population centers and major roads, especially in the Dornish
north, are the major reason why the resistance has survived
for a century against overwhelming odds.
Not all humans are enemies of Izrador; many are active
collaborators. The Order of Shadow, for instance, is almost
exclusively human. In addition, thousands of humans serve in
the Night King Jahzir’s armies or as guards for legates, as
loyal retainers of the traitor princes and false sussars, and in
mercenary units. While each racial group accuses the others
of providing the greatest percentage of traitors, the truth is
that Dorns, Erenlanders, and Sarcosans have all turned willingly
to the service of the dark god. Many of these are not evil
warlords or malevolent rogues, but rather simple craftsmen,
farmers, and woodsmen who betray their friends and neighbors
out of fear or desperation. Collaborators can appear anywhere
and in any guise. The old healer that acts as the local
midwife is the same woman that identifies children who bear
the spark of magic to the local legate. The neighbor that has
shared bread for years reports blasphemies against Izrador to
see former friends hung. The fear that anyone could secretly
worship or serve the dark god has sapped the will of most of
the subjugated people of Eredane to resist the Shadow.

====Northern Erenland====
While all of the traditionally Dornish lands have been
ravaged and plundered over the last 100 years, there remain
vast distances in which to avoid the gaze of the Shadow or the
wrath of his legions. Much of this area has been raped of what
resources it has to offer, however, and is cursed by foul
weather, the restless souls of the Lost, or dangerous creatures
that have followed the orc hordes down from the north. The
region north and east of Bastion, though covered in tall sword
grass and subject to the full fury of the winter storms from the
north, has few orc garrisons, and those are tied to key villages
and old Fortress Wall keeps. In the barren wilds north of Steel
Hill, nearly feral Dorn tribes subsist on wild boro herds and
scavenge what wild roots and edible vegetation they can
gather, and may never see an orc legion. While marginally
free, the Dorns of these areas live such miserable and harsh
existences that one might question whether slavery would be
better.
Farther south, in the more fertile lands, most of the
Dornish villages are under the Shadow’s control. A few, isolated
by dense forests or extremely rugged terrain, have
escaped the Shadow’s notice. The only other free areas in
which the Dorns cower are along the eaves of Erethor and in
the foothills of the Kaladruns. There, with sanctuaries close at
hand, the Dorns can mount raids and hide refugees, building
villages in isolated clearings or forgotten valleys.

====Central Erenland====
Along the Pelluria, in the heartland of the shattered
Kingdom of Erenland, the Shadow’s grip is absolute. From
orc infested Fallport in the west past Highwall, Port Esben,
and Davindale, and even to the fearsomely garrisoned town
of Chandering, the Shadow dominates all facets of life. Only
the few fishing villages built in marshy areas or without easily
accessible landing spots can avoid the tithe and therefore
live with marginally less fear. Along the southern coast, the
Shadow’s grip loosens. Free human and elven villages still
dot the coastline in the Green March, but with the ongoing
Shadow offensive in Erethor their days are numbered. Farther
east, rumors persist that the leaders of House Baden escaped
the fall of the city and still fight a hidden battle against those
who occupy their city, trying to provide some protection from
the worst abuses of the occupation. The once numerous villages
that farmed the rich land around Baden’s Bluff are now
ruined ghost towns, inhabited by those too afraid or too weak
to leave. The only other city on the southern shore, Erenhead,
is controlled by the orcs, who use the human population as
slaves to offload supplies for the wars. The plains around
Erenhead are covered in slave-worked farms and pastures to
provide for the growing garrison and the massive numbers of
orcs who pass through the city.

====Southern Erenland====
Life in the Sarcosan lands is far freer than in the north,
as the densely populated major cities have smaller mixed orc
and human garrisons that are nominally under the command
of the false sussars. Alvedara and Sharuun still have vibrant
markets, and the people don’t have the lean and hungry look
so prevalent in Dornish lands. Most of the great plains are
still the realm of the daring freeriders and the pitifully few
remaining bands of nomadic halflings. Small sailing vessels
and hundreds of smaller fishing boats still sail the Gulf of
Sorshef and the Pale Ocean. Some boats risk crossing the
churning waters and the Shadow’s naval patrols to reach
Stormhold and Asmadar. The one blight on the landscape is
the city of Cambrial, home to the Night King Sunulael.
Cambrial is a city of the dead, where the living stay close to
their homes, shutter their windows, and pray that the unliving
are well fed by their master. Travel within 50 miles of the city
is extremely dangerous and only fools or the truly desperate
go anywhere near it.
While the Shadow’s armies occupy much of Eredane,
the war against the fey and the human resistance continues.
To support the war, an almost constant stream of orcs, goblinkin,
and the foul spawn of the breeding pits flows from the
frozen north into the northern Kaladruns, through the
Highhorns into the Veradeen, or down the Ishensa River and
across the Pelluria to join the Fey Killer’s armies in southern
Erenland. Outside the Ishensa River valley, the ports on the
Pelluria, and the northern Eren Plains, orcs are far less
numerous and less involved in hunting down resistance
groups.

==The Steep Cost of Freedom==
The blood of the fey pays for what little freedom the
humans still enjoy. The war in Erethor and under the
Kaladrun Mountains has drawn away over half a million orcs
that could be occupying Erenland. In Erethor, the war extends
from the freezing bogs and evergreens of the Veradeen, along
the borders of the elven heartlands of the Gamaril River
Valley, Green March, and the Caraheen, and finally into the
dismal Druid’s Swamp of the Aruun. The elves fight a desperate
battle, giving ground foot by foot and watching as axe
and fire consume their ancient homeland.
Those that live free still suffer from the ongoing war
and the Shadow’s occupation of much of Erenland. Izrador’s
armies control the most fertile and easily accessible lands.
The free settlers have to struggle to survive, coaxing crops
out of barren, rock-strewn land and scrounging for fodder for
their declining herds. Clean water is a luxury in some areas
and its lack has led to famine and disease. The hard, thin soil
of these barren lands has forced most of the free people to
become nomads, moving from one pastureland to another.
The constant movement provides some protection from goblinkin
slavers that sweep ever farther into the wildlands
searching for fresh slaves. Villages and nomad camps are
forced to be on constant guard, setting pickets to scan the
horizon for sign of this scourge.
Strongholds of the
Resistance

====Erethor====
The demands of war reach into the very depths of
Erethor. No village is untouched, as the Witch Queen has
called every warrior that can wield a blade or notch an arrow
to bowstring to join the armies fighting along the Burning
Line. Only the very young or the infirm remain, left to tend
the groves and harvest Erethor’s bounty. Many villages, some
thousands of years old, have been abandoned because the
Witch Queen can not spare warriors to defend them. The orcs
are not the only danger to the residents of the wood; horrid
beasts created by the Sundering or roused from slumber by
Izrador stalk the darkest recesses of the wood. Demonic spirits
from the Aruun range farther north each year as the skilled
Danisil demon hunters fall one by one to their otherworldly
foes. Even the remote coastal villages of the Miransil are not
free from the conflict, as the dark god corrupts the great
beasts of the sea to his cause and the Witch Queen summons
troop levies from among the once peaceful coastal dwellers.

====The Kaladruns====
Unlike the war against the elves, in which orc armies
march en masse and the smoke and fire from the Burning
Line can be seen as a never-ending stain on the horizon, the
war against the dwarves is largely unseen. The orcs move
directly from the frozen north through the Icewall Mountains
and into the subterranean labyrinths of the Kaladruns. The
under-mountain rings with the clash of vardatch and spear
against axe and shield. Individual dwarven clans fight desperate
but hopeless holding actions against the uncountable
Shadow hordes. Some dwarven clans have survived by collapsing
every tunnel into their clanholds and praying to their
ancestors that the Shadow will pass them by.
Above the surface, the often impassable terrain has
allowed the Kurgun dwarves and their human allies to avoid
the worst ravages of the war. In the heights above Low Rock,
Dorn and Erenlander refugees have been able to carve homes
from the cliff sides, surviving thanks to their herds of boro
and goats. They watch in fear as the Night King Jahzir forms
a new army to strike at the dwarven clans from the south and
deny any hope to the former dwarven capital of Calador. The
southern Kaladruns and the foothills along the White Desert
have so far been mostly spared from the fighting. The clanholds
there are few, however, and have been so secluded that
they are unlikely to learn the lesson from their northern kin:
that uniting as one is the only hope in facing the orcs, who
gather even now near Drumlen.

====Raiders and Freeriders====
Even under the Shadow there is life and some small
degree of hope. North of the Pelluria, sheltered in the eaves
of the great forest and roaming free upon the Plains of Eris
Aman, House Redgard still fights for its people. With the help
of the Caransil and supposedly led by Roland, prince of
House Redgard, these insurgents have brought thousands of
refugees into the forest. While in some cases a burden to the
elves, these refugees have also assisted the war effort by
occupying elven villages that had to be abandoned when the
Witch Queen ran out of troops with which to defend them.
The raiders exist in a nest of uneasy freedom that is buffered
on the south by the Foul Bog of Eris Aman and to the northeast
by the ruins of Cale. With the Shadow focusing it efforts
well to the south and so many troublesome obstacles in the
way, only the orc garrisons of Fallport and Steel Hill remain
to harry the Redgards.
Meanwhile, many true heirs of Southern Erenland are
said to lead camps of freeriders south of the Ardune. While
the Shadow’s control here is absolute, the enemy has grown
complacent. There are no battle lines, something that the
clever insurgents use to their advantage. These noble princes
raid caravans, free slaves, and keep the traditions and tales of
their people alive while their usurpers lounge in palaces and
let the great Sarcosan cities fall into decadence and ruin.

====Wilds of Erenland====
Outside the more densely populated regions of
Eredane, in the vast wildlands, one of the greatest dangers is
the roving bands of goblinkin slavers. The slavers have free
reign to take as many humans as they can from villages not
under the Shadow’s dominion. The goblinkin have access to
many ready markets, all hungry for slaves: Steel Hill requires
miners, farms and cities alike need heavy laborers, the orcs
require occasional fresh meat to temper their hunger, and of
course the dark god’s priests require sacrifices. The slavers
especially prize young children that can be sold to legates or
collaborators to be raised and trained as loyal servants of
Izrador. Mercenary bands often purchase Dornish boys as servants,
later training them as soldiers to replace losses in their
ranks.
Slavers are not the only dangers in the wildlands. Poor
soil, lack of water, and limited game result in malnutrition or
even starvation. In the harsh winters in the north and the searing
heat of summer in the southern plains, many die each year
from exposure. The bleached bones of humans are a common
sight in the wastes of the White Desert or the cold tundras on
the northern coasts of the Endless Ocean. The harsh weather
is just one of the dangers. Animals turned feral and creatures
warped by the Sundering or maliciously altered by the
Shadow roam the wastes, competing for scarce food. In these
desperate times, even humans turn against each other: bandits
prey upon the weak and even fellow refugees may attack to
drive others away from areas with water and food.



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[[Midnight: North & South Portal|PORTAL]] &nbsp;|&nbsp; [[Midnight RPG - THE SOUTHIES|THE SOUTHIES]] &nbsp;





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[[Midnight: North & South Portal]]