The Parslexburgs

The problem: One of my longest lasting campaigns, was not run with a dedicated roleplaying group with a group of my good friends. The group was divided into two groups however. One those who wanted to roleplay semi-historical character from different time and culture with Nobles, limited education and many cultural behaviors they believed existed during the Dark Ages of Europe. I was in this group The other group wanted to play characters not that unlike themselves i.e. college educated, well feed, egalitarian, capatilist protestants with large vocabularies. The solution was to create a pocket of culture that would fit this roleplaying background. The resulting clash between our imagined Medieval ideal and our surrogate American culture was lot of fun to roleplay. I tried to capture this conflict here by describing the \\\“liberal\\\” setting we came up with from the perspective of feudal lord.. 

The Parslexburgs
Dear Brother,
I write you this letter with good news and hopeful prayers. I have secured the use of a Fleet for our Cursade to liberate the Noric lands from the Savages.  This fleet is not yet build but the King of Theer has given full command to levy the materials, labor and crew to construct and man in the crew with in his province of Parslex. He has also given us leave to house our troops in the province until the fleet is completed. Thus while I oversea the construction of the fleet you man begin to rather up those Holy Warriors that wish lay their sword upon the alter of our Holy God Cooronan.  But I warn you prepare the men and Nobles with the knowledge I have interned in this letter. The County of Parslex or the Parslexburgs as they are know here is not at all like the rest of our lands, but rather divided into cities that are ruled without direct consul for the noble born.  
   The Parslexburgs are group of 11 walled cities within the Kingdom of Theer located on the great island of Dukowhick. While the cities are subject to the rule of the Royal Family of Theer, Tenwyrm, they maintain a great deal of autonomous governing. They are also culturally isolated from the rest of Dukowhick, by their history, religion, and most their education and industries. For example, within the Burgs literacy reaches as greater than 90% in the Burg of Magetower and no lower than 60% in the western most Burg of Hardren. And while great than 80% of the Duko outside of the Burgs work and live as serfs on estate farm with another 15% living as free serfs in undeveloped counties, the Parslexians are all considered free peasants capable of owning property, bringing legal cases (though this is limited to local Burg matters) to public trial, and the majority of them make a living as some sort of skilled laborer. Thus the mind and attitude of a Parslexian peasent is to that of an average Lord’s field peasant as a Lady in Waiting at winter court is to a seaside town widow: They will both take of your boots off but one requires lot more fancy talk and empty promises.  Thus any of our high born brothers should be warned to sheath their pride and expect a lot of direct gazes, lose speak and haggling when doing business in the Burgs. God’s truth being: business is what the Burgs are there for. Although our Lordly soilder’s should be careful not think of himself in the King’s lands for the Burgs are a bit of a nation within a nation.

History:
The Seafort: The first of the the burgs was founded before the tragedies of Constillerty in the south of Dukowhick, but after the founding of Barbbarberty. The Nomar Mages built a fortified port at sheltered bay about 5 leagues of the west of Telc arm of Dukowhick.  I hear say they named the bay for some Mage general who was never Registered, and thus his name has been stricken.  It is now simply called Seafort bay.  Of importance to our purposes brother is that the Seafort was (and still is) the center for all Cartographic and Seafaring knowledge in the North. The bay was designed to be the center of the Northern Fleet, and the gate way to the conquest of the Noric Fingers, Theosia, and all other points beyond. Very shortly after the fortifications were finished the Shipwrights arrived, the forests around the fort came down and the bay filled with gallys.  All this depicted in tapestries and murals in the great hall of the city.  But what is not recorded so concisely was the actions of one the Fort’s early early Lord-Captain who was obsessed with putting everything on a map.  This now nameless, Lord-Captain turned his fleet away from conquest and towards exploration ,and turned his Cohorts of warrior-mages into a legion of wandering Diviners feverishly scribbling maps.  The crews of the Seafort galleys made landings in all Five fingers of the Noric continent, left emissaries at the Dwarf Citadels in the East, brought the knowledge of the three mast ships back from the Elf Isles in the West and penned the only charts of the Dragon Shallows.  The maintenance, supply and manning of this fleet gave rise to the city that now envelops the eastern shore of the Seafort Bay. The cartographer’s eventually established the Academy of Par which taught Divination, navigation and mapmaking to would be Captains from all over the Nomar Empire and effectively put Dukowhick on the map. Please excuse the pun. But of interest to us and our efforts, an extension of that seafaring school still exsists in what is now a Temple of the Lexwan cult.        

The Priests:  The Second great event in the history of the burgs was the founding of the temple of Lexwan. As I wrote above the Nomar legion of the north had been a pack of traveling librarians. It was out of the ranks of those salt encrusted spell chucking candle burners that that the false prophet Lexwan arose. A fact that you can not forget when in the town of Seafort, for I was not able to take piss on a wall without my manhood being leveled at some other depiction of that would be priest Lexwan climbing a mountain, discovering a temple or kneeling before some foreign king. Lexwan was a Nomar Captain, Diviner and Cartographer who became interested in the religion. Like all of his Nomar breathen his nature was easily corruptible and inherently disloyal.  Upon his journeys through out the east he became aquainted with all type of false religion and arcane traditions.  And his weak Nomar mind was seduced by each one.  When he returned to Seafort after 25 years abroad he had developed a philosophy that truth and wisdom could only be found by embracing and respecting all faiths false or otherwise.  He sought to unify in one teaching all the ways of the world, irregardless of whether it was some child like poems preached by a thin blooded eastern peasants or the lustful whims of the Rain soaked Telc gods.  Of course the power hungry Nomar of Seafort jumped on this idea with both feet. In their arrogance they turned their perverse obsession with maps and writing into a religious vocation. The Academy of Par became the Temple of Lex and the next generation of cadets now became worshippers of the newly formed Lexwan pantheon as well students of Divination.  Thus started thePriesthood of Lexwan, and the institution persists today teaching both a mixture of pagan worship and arcane Nomar knowledge.  Though I loath to say it brother, The God’s Truth is: our forth coming campaign would be much benefited by handful of Lexwan guides who are familiar with the land and languages of the Noric land.

The Mages: As we all know too well the Parslexburgs are the only depository of Arcane knowledge outside of the Holy Cooronan Mages of Noma itself.  As side from what small bits of magic are still taught to the Priests of Lexwan there are two other schools of Magic. The oldest of those is the Library of Par. It was founded shortly after the rise of Lexwan by those mages of the Academy unwilling to become members of the cult moved across the bay with a replica of the Arcane Library.  They set up their wares in a network of caves which burrow into the cliffs above a sandy off shoot of land then called Whicklanding.   The founding of the Library was itself a predictor of the fall of the Nomar, because the Diviners of Par very quickly gave up their worldly pursuits and began a focused study of magic for magic’s sake.  Whicklanding, while not a true natural port was next to shallows exploited by whalers, seal hunter and fishermen, and home to a Telc camp. The Pars eventually civilized the Telc savages and thus founded the second of the Parslexburgs, and Whicklanding, was renamed Parslanding.     
Hardren and the Engineer: The Burgs as an interconnected community of walled cities was the result of the efforts of a Nomar Chief of Scouts and a nameless figured referred to as the Engineer.  The pair came to power following the tragedy of Constillerty.  As is known, the third great sin of the Nomar empire was its loyalty to coin, and after Constillerty was taken by the darkness there was no system with which to buy the loyalty of the Nomar soilders throughout the isle of Dukowhick. Constillerty fell in 99th year before the Rise, and by the 98th year almost all of the posts in Dukowhick were reported to be deserted.  The man Hardren was nothing more than cavalary a scout and his light horsemen were tasked with observing Telc movements within the Telc arm. But he was a Noble soldier through and through and indeed saved the realm from chaos.

In the 97th year Hardren and his horsemen road into Seafort to gain passage back to Noma and collect several years of back wages.  Seafort however was crippled with fear. This fear is not surprising because the land was held by peasants, priests and mages.  And of course they latched on to the first man of arms that they saw and handed the land over to him.  The Civilized settlements were besieged on all sides, the Telcs were mounting raids, the Orcs had started pirating the Noric sea, and the horrors of Constillerty were beginning to creep into the country side of Dukowhick.  The Town of Seafort begged Hardren for help.  Hardren turned his back on coin and took leadership of the land. He organized the people of Seafort, Parslanding and the surrounding communities. He focused labor towards the good of the realm, trained soldiers and worked tirelessly to protect the cities.  After defeating the Telc clans at the River of Shynnfenncaugh, Hardren took a Telc warrior woman for his wife. It was shortly after this battle that the Engineer first mentioned in the histories.  As a statement of victory Hardren wished to establish a fortress on the east side of the Shynnfenncaugh.  The Engineer designed the Hardren’s fortress not simply as
The fall of Nomar and the Merchants:
The boom of construction during the Reign of Herdren and the Engineer lead to the training of great deal of men. Scores of skilled Teamster where needed to transport the material, stone cutters were required in previously unheard of numbers on Dukowhick.
More Mages:
The Treaty of Barbbarberty

The Government: While they are all the Subjects of the King, there is little evidence of the kings law on the streets of the burgs. If ever there was evidence that the blood our is more potent and thicker with the humors of wisdom than the low born races than it would be what passes for leadership in these nests of unclaimed chattel. There is the a word: Bureau. I had to look it up, but those Nomar mages seemed quite fond of them. At any rate it seems to be a group of peasants responsible for spending their Prince’s coin on specific projects.  Each town has group of Bureaus responsible from everything from the maintenance of the walls and sewers to checking that the coins in their pockets are made of true sliver and gold. And then located throughout the Burgs are the Bureau Generals, each responsible for coordinating and combining the efforts of the local Bureaus. The members of the Bureau are selected by the mob. Every individual who wishes to sit on Bureau will write his name on sheet of paper along with a list of his accomplishments and post this sheet of paper outside of church or Tavern in the middle of summer. There is no guarantee of as to truth in what as written, but all in town may read it.   Then everyone that lives in the town will be given a tile, and after the names have been up for a week a jar will be place beneath each sheet. And the towns folks will stroll by at their leisure and drop a tile in the jar of his favorite candidate.  The flaws, and errors in this are so hideous and obvious that cataloging them is beneath either of us cousin. Besides they are made completely obvious when results of this tile counting are observed.  In almost all cases the choices are not based on merit or birth or even the number tiles found in a jar but rather on the whims and desires of the true power in the Burgs: The Trade Guilds.
As mentioned previously the guilds rose out of the works of Hardren’s engineer and were cemented by the arrival of the merchants.  But while they are pools of great skill they are often as much thieves and tyrants as anything. It is well known that Bureau of Roads is run by the Teamsters who maintain only those roads that profitable to them. Indeed sometime putting Parslex coin in the maintenance of roads 60 leagues away on the southern side of Dukowhick while neglecting local roads and bridges. Indeed the Burg of Hardren is isolated during heavy rains.  Furthermore, based an all to friendly exchange between what I was certain was a highway brigand and Teamster Driver, I am sure they have a hand in the robberies along local roads. Some Bureau posts are passionately and violently contested by the guilds, and it is said to get seat on the Bureau of Weights and Records you must build it out of the bones of at least three men. Other Bureaus appeared to be an industry in themselves. The Bureau of Coin for example has been a near heredity institution of single family since its’ inception. Some Bureaus do represent more our noble aspects, in particular the Shipwrights guild, located only in Seafort was treated as an institution of almost divine gravity, and the craftsmanship was considered sacred. I am certain that they must have been the bastards or orphans of high born men, and that we will be able to a respectable business there.
At the end of the day though, this is still the King’s realm and the Treaty of Barbbarberty has not changed that. Each town flies the flag of Theer and the Tenwyrm crest. The King’s vassal’s and men are given the privileged of their rank in the towns, and can inspire a proper fear and humility in the mob.

Food: Soup! Soup in a bowl! Soup is served at both the meals they take during the day. Not served in a trenchant of bread, but in a earthen ware or wooden bowl and it is eaten with a miniature ladle. And as mentioned before they only eat two meals a day, they do not break fast but take only a midday and evening super. Which is not to say their mouths are ever lax, if not flapping out a long disgusting speech; they are constantly eating.  They pick all day at bits of cold food, either carried with them in a small sack or purchased from one of the constant harassing criers. 
But they do sit at table at least once day, men and women and eat and talk. They are no songs at these tables, and they sit all around the tables positioned in the middle of the room. This means that the servants have to approach you from behind to refill your goblet. I damn near killed a half dozen serving wenches and porters during my stay. But Gods be Wise, and I learned a few things while their. 

As I said before the meal starts always with a soup, even when I spent two days on the road with a Parslex caravan.  And the soups is always so strongly flavored that you cannot taste the meat, but instead taste what ever ancient weed they chose to boil in milk, oil or butter that day. Then once you have your food they will ask you a question. This is not a challenge, it is fact what is considered polite in the Burgs. But if they are use to outsiders they will either ask each other questions or sit their as nervous as a treaty wife on her wedding night. Breaking the silence with toast or tails does little to put these peasants at ease. So it is best to have a question. If there is music at the meal you are not expected to join in either with voice or clap, but instead continue to act as if fellows at the table are more interesting than the bard (who will be in front of you if you’re lucky).  Most horrific of all, after the soup they bring out the “meat”, which must have been on ice block since last winter since they always cover the meat in some sort of sauce or bake it in some type of bread.

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