Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

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JMaytr
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

Post by JMaytr »

Duke Devlin Flaertes

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"Seven Seals...Seven Rings...Seven Brides for the Scarlet King..."
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

Post by ewancummins »

NOTES ON HOUSE ALAM



My version of the house is based closely on canon, but differs from the fanon you can find on BR.NET.

  • Duke Carilon
wife is deceased
  • his Son, Teran, rumored to be mad, rarely seen at court
    his Daughter, Soraene, lovely, charming, and talented in dealing with the court

    his only living brother, Riegon, who plays to the mob in Lofton, bit of an outcast at court
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

Post by ewancummins »

Image

Count Robin of Ghonallison, in his younger days

He now wears his mustache longer and has graying hair, but otherwise looks much the same.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

Post by Brock Marsh Runoff »

The men of House Ghonallison really have a penchant for pointing swords at a camera while desperately needing a shave.
"You said I killed you--haunt me, then!...Be with me always--take any form--drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!” -Wuthering Heights
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

Post by steveflam »

Brock Marsh Runoff wrote:The men of House Ghonallison really have a penchant for pointing swords at a camera while desperately needing a shave.
All you need is a sword :P
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

Post by Varrus the Ethical »

House Ghollison:

"We do not shave."
"Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it."

George R.R. Martin.
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

Post by ewancummins »

Brock Marsh Runoff wrote:The men of House Ghonallison really have a penchant for pointing swords at a camera while desperately needing a shave.
It is known.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

Post by ewancummins »

More notes coming...
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

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ewancummins wrote:Some clerical notes:

Setting in general:
The chief source on priests and religion in the setting, the
aptly named Book of Priestcraft, really hasn't got much to say about celibacy, marriage, and all that. Priests of various sects and temples presumably bless marriages. But can they get married?
By default, I would say yes. Celibacy is important enough, especially in Birthright, that it would have been mentioned.
Some individuals may take special vows. Monks are celibate, natch. And several sects prefer that senior leaders not marry and have children, but instead pass on their bloodlines to adult heirs chosen by the hierarchy.
But it is not uncommon for priests and priestesses to be married. Specific vary by sect/ patron power/ local culture.

In Tuornen:

The Western Imperial Temple(of Haelyn)

Fornication is forbidden but marriage is allowed for priests with the permission of their superiors. Haelyn is married to Nesirie, so it would make little sense for him to forbid his priests from marrying. Fathering bastards is ill advised and shameful. It brings chaos into the family and society. Women should remain chaste until marriage. A woman's chastity is bound up with her honor. Men, too, ideally, should avoid premarital relations, but unofficially many Tuor priests take a realistic attitude about the possibilities of persuading men in general of that. Better to have to do with whores than to dishonor the wives and daughters of one's neighbors. The hierarchy usually looks the other way about rich married men keeping mistresses, and according to rumor a good number of the senior priests even keep mistresses themselves.
Priestesses and low ranking male clerics enjoy a better reputation for chastity and fidelity.

The Archprelate is a widower.


The Militant Order
Marriage is allowed, but discouraged for adventurers and itinerants. Many priests choose to remain celibate. Not necessarily chaste, though. Jokes and ribald stories tell of fathers and sons meeting for the first time at the temple of the Storm God, naughty MoC friars deflowering farm girls, and the like. Failing to look after children is a sin. Adultery is considered a gross insult answerable by violence. The Militant Order does a lot to help bastards and orphans by offering them work, whether as soldiers or servants. Indeed, bastards can even rise to the priesthood, despite the widespread negative attitude about them (less powerful in Tuornen than Alamie, but still a significant social factor).
Cuiraecen is not married, but popular legends connect with romantically with two demi-goddesses, the lady of shadows and the lady of fire.

Fhylie the Sword is unmarried.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

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ewancummins wrote:Notes on slavery, servitude, labor, contracts, etc.

In ancient times, most cultures practiced some form of slavery.

The first Emperor, Roele , altered old customs and only allowed slavery as a punishment for crimes, especially treason and rebellion. Rebellion was often punished by mass enslavement instead of mass execution. But this only applied to combatants and traitors. Good behavior could earn a slave his freedom. Under the Roele emperors , no child was born a slave and kidnapping free persons to enslave them was a hanging offense on the second conviction. The Empire's rulers were not shy about enforcing this law in alien lands they conquered.


Serfdom was commonplace until the civil wars and plagues that broke up the Old Empire. Now it is much more common for poor rural people to live as renters or sharecroppers than as serfs.

Indenture exists mainly in the form of apprenticeships. It is perfectly legal to sign a contract and bind out one's children to work for a master. Common, too.
Criminals may be sentenced to work for temporary periods, or to work to reimburse someone they have wronged.


Slaves imported from foreign countries that actually allow slavery may be registered with the local authorities as bound servants and issued appropriate papers. This gives the slaves status equivalent to an apprentice. They most work for their masters, but enjoy some basic personal protections. Striking an apprentice or other bound person to correct him with reasonable force is legal. Sadistic whippings and the like could be cause for a kind- hearted magistrate to rule the contract dissolved and turn the servant loose.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

Post by ewancummins »

Lost and distant human nations and tribes



Irboude

Before the Basarji and even before the Masetians, the Irboude settled in the southern reaches of Cerilia. Finding the lands of the southeast ( present day Anuire) inhabited by warring elves and goblins, the ancient nomadic Irbouda travelled east and over mountains and swamps till they reached a country of sunny grasslands.
But the country was already inhabited by wolf riding goblins and by gnolls, beast men of Azrai. The Irboude fought these monsters. They conquered the green Tarvan Hills and created the first human kingdom in Cerilia.

(More history later... My version of the Irboude as a separate race of men is based on extrapolation from a couple of vague regencies in BR books. The closest real world analogues might be Persians , Scythians, and Thracians.)


Masetians

See main book, Cities of the Sun


The Troglodytes of Thaele

According to the stories of Rjurik explorers and colonists, a race of savage , dwarf like men inhabit parts of Thaele. These natives spend the winters in caves, emerging in warmer weather to hunt.
Last edited by ewancummins on Wed Oct 28, 2015 11:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

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Sex roles in Brechtur

IMC, Urban Brechts believe that fighting and sailing are men's work, while women should concern themselves with" kinder, kuche, kirche. "That is, children, the kitchen, and church. For the Brechts, the kitchen signifies management of the household. Brecht women in the port cities run things at home while their husbands are away at sea, trading in the markets, or guarding warehouses and docks.
Brecht female regents control temple holdings much more often than guild or law holdings.


Old fashioned Brechts in the interior may have different ideas. And of course there are female princesses and countesses and such who rule lands in their own right.

A Brecht girl might bob her hair, dress in man's attire, strap on a sword, and go seek adventure. Some swashbuckling women defy social expectations while still openly showing themselves as female. That creates scandal and curiosity, but it also cares a certain outlaw romantic cachet. I have altered the published presentation of the setting to allow for these kinds of character concepts because it seems fun.

Anuire IMC has a different attitude about women adventuring and fighting, with more Joan of Caesarea and Mathilda of Cannossa type characters running about. Or,indeed, Boudicca!

Some of this may relate to relative population density, numbers of mercs, and land vs naval focus of war.

(OOC note on sex and cultures:

The implicit, default approach, not just for Birthright but for most Nineties TSR stuff, was a kind of " in fantasy land sex does not matter " approach. There always were some exceptions, but many of those were in cultures away from the geographical areas that got the most attention, or were features of monster societies. The TSR Code of Ethics might have been one reason, but there is also very little about sex in earlier, pre-Code products. I suspect it got ignored for the same reasons we don't see a lot about other social stuff in the books: the game focus is on monsters, dungeons, treasure, and adventure. DMs were expected (rightly so, IMO!) to add as much or as little social matter as they liked.

For Birthright, I like to include greater social detail. More about sex. more about marriage, inheritances, laws, political matters, etc. All that stuff comes up fairly often in my BR games, as compared with some other stuff I might run.

)
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

Post by ewancummins »

The Ice Age of Thaele


According to the oldest legends of the Rjurik in Cerilia, Thaele was once covered in evergreen forests and fields of heather. But after the War of Shadow, the glaciers of the mountains in the north grew at a stupendous rate, grinding down to reach the sea and only failing to breach a single barrier massif.
The early attempts at colonization thus failed, driven out by cold and hunger.
And, worse still, the great mass of ice altered and cooled the weather in Rjurik, the northern waters of the Great Bay, and the coasts of Vossgaard.

Nobody knows for sure what caused the ice to grow. Some stories say Azrai's cold heart lies buried in the center of the northern continent. The Vos believe their Goddess, Kriesha, holds court on the high ice.
Or maybe the ice Giants used magic to expand their home range?
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

Post by ewancummins »

The Ice Age of Thaele


According to the oldest legends of the Rjurik in Cerilia, Thaele was once covered in evergreen forests and fields of heather. But after the War of Shadow, the glaciers of the mountains in the north grew at a stupendous rate, grinding down to reach the sea and only failing to breach a single barrier massif.
The early attempts at colonization thus failed, driven out by cold and hunger.
And, worse still, the great mass of ice altered and cooled the weather in Rjurik, the northern waters of the Great Bay, and the coasts of Vossgaard.

Nobody knows for sure what caused the ice to grow. Some stories say Azrai's cold heart lies buried in the center of the northern continent. The Vos believe their Goddess, Kriesha, holds court on the high ice.
Or maybe the ice Giants used magic to expand their home range?
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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Re: Birthright Campaign Notes, Images, etc.

Post by ewancummins »

I won't post any substantial changes to Khinasi canon without consulting Kintire ( except adding some slavery, because it just strikes me as bizarre that the canonical Khinasi do not have it, and for the reasons given. Least plausible aspect of their culture. It also clashes hard with the historical and literary inspirations of their society.)
Delight is to him- a far, far upward, and inward delight- who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth, ever stands forth his own inexorable self.

-from Moby Dick (Hermann Melville)
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