The Shrine of Hamaskis.
The Realm of Brice
The Shrine of Hamaskis.The Realm of Brice | |
The Shrine is indeed fortunate to be able to bring our visitors Jared Milne's Cyclopaedia of the Old World. This article covers the nation of Brice, whose history is largely one of warfare and conflict.
It must be said that this realm is not thought highly of by its neighbors. Its past invasions of Ruddlestone and Gallantaria have caused wounds that still fester to this day, especially with the matter of trade, which is hindered by pirates in the City of Mazes. Femphrey, in its wisdom, still deals with this realm, although Gallantaria and Ruddlestone are obviously lukewarm allies. Gallantaria still holds bitter feelings over Brice's inability to bring Karam Gruul and the Moonrunners to justice until a Gallantarian war veteran did so for them. However, the intrepid traveler will still need to know about Brice in order to fulfil his knowledge of our continent.
Sir Jarvis of St. Wymerios University, Crystal City, 293 AC.
Major cities are the Forbidden Fortress, City of Mazes and Quill.
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Brice has some decent farmland in and around the Forbidden Fortress, but apart from that and the diamonds in the Diamond Islands, Brice has few natural resources of its own, forcing it to rely on heavy trade and diamond exportation to import metal for its weapons. It has also attempted mini-invasions and skirmishes with Gallantaria and Ruddlestone for greater natural resources, and will not hesitate to act as a bully when necessary. |
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Ninety-four percent of Brice's population is human. Two percent are Dwarfs, but the remaining four percent consist of a large number of nonhuman Chaotic races, such as Orcs, Kobolds, Goblins, and their ilk. These are actually treated as higher in the social ladder than the serfs, and they almost universally serve in the army.
| People and Powers | Occupations and Skills | Trade and Commerce |
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The Lord Regent is elected from a council of nobles who cast lots amongst themselves to see who will become the Regent for a four-year term. He has almost all the powers of a king at his disposal, and it is he who wears the Crown of Kings when Brice's turn comes up. He is charged with governing the day-to-day affairs of the realm, with his Prime Minister being the commander of the army. The Prime Minister is selected as the noble who received the second-highest number of votes. Only the highest of nobles may advise the Lord Regent. His word may not be disputed by the lesser landholders, who pay tax to him and contribute soldiers from their peasant population to the army. He is unto a dictator elected by a very small elite, and is careful to keep the nobles allied to him. Next to the Lord Regent, the army is the single most powerful group in the nation. Soldiers may take women, food or other resources from the serfs as their needs dictate, and are rigidly trained. Brice's army is perhaps the best-supplied and well-trained in the entire Old World, since Brice is overwhelmingly a militaristic nation. Many of the troops come from the wilder north, where monsters still run wild and the populace is tougher. Punishment for crimes is very harsh. Death is the punishment for Murder, Piracy, Rape, Sedition, Military desertion and being a Member of the Cabal of the Werewolf, except that Serfdom for life is an alternative in the case of desertion. Banned religious worship results in permanent exile and banishment and all goods become the property of the nation. Rioters get a week in the stocks and inciters get six months! Smuggling earns a fine of at least 350 regents. Imprisonment is a common sentence, with the following terms being the minimum inflicted, except that military service is an alternative for Burglary: Arson (ten years), Banditry (five years), Robbery (ten years), Burglary (two years), Counterfeiting (five years plus six hundred regent fine) and Fraud (one year, plus 200 regent fine, minimum). Military service (without pay) is also frequently ordered for the following minimum terms: Assault (one year), Drawing a weapon in a public place (six months), Home invasion (five years), Kidnapping (three years, plus a public beating), Tax evasion (one year, plus payment of all taxes due) and minor crimes (one year) such as disturbance of the peace, sneaking into a city, unlawful entry into a city, vandalism, public intoxication, slander, etc. |
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Quill, in the far northeast of Brice, is a giant mining town from which diamonds are brought from the Diamond Islands across the Onyx Sea, which Brice claims as its own. Brice has somewhat lighter taxes than Gallantaria, but this is made up for in the significant payment of scutage fees to avoid military service, and contributions to the royal coffers by the churches of Dyshyos, Gredd and the Swordbearer. One gold regent equals ten silver medals. Foreign currency exchange: 85% for other Old World nations, or eight regents and five medals for each gold piece given. This exchange decreases to 75% for coinage from other continents. Income taxes: Nine percent of all annual income-serfs are exempt. Foreigners pay twelve percent in taxes. Adventurers pay twenty percent in taxes on loot found in Brician territory. Scutage Fee: All physically and mentally fit male citizens must serve a minimum of three years in the military, and enjoy all the privileges, responsibilities, etc. Those who do not wish military service can pay a scutage fee of one hundred and fifty gold regents. Property taxes: Eight percent of their entire worth for a home, eleven percent for a business. Foreign citizens have taxes raised by two percent for each category. Trading duties: All merchants coming from the Diamond Islands pay ten percent in trading duties. All other trade goods entering Brice must pay eight percent in duties. |
Brice's government is what led one of my contemporaries to coin the term "police state". While Lendleland has a class system that is rigidly defined, Brice simply has two divisions: the wealthy military, and the poor civilians. Serfdom still reigns in most parts of the land, especially in the tightly controlled south, where nobles reign, forcing the people they own to continually force crops out of the infertile soil, which is by now grossly over farmed. They also freely draft peasants into the army, and essentially treat them like chattel. While Brice is no longer the paranoid state where everyone is relentlessly spied on and bothered by secret informers, much of the southern region is still tightly controlled . The Lord Regent, Tinardo Del Riska, operates out of the gigantic military barracks/market/slum/residence known as the Forbidden Fortress. Further north, however, the nobles are essentially left to themselves and sometimes fight amongst each other, especially near the vermin pit of the City of Mazes.
The common peasant is a serf. He may not leave the land he was born on, and is essentially chattel for the nobles who wish to submit him as part of their quota for the army. While artistans, craftsmen and so forth are generally permitted to own their own land and live in the cities, they must pay a heavy tax to the army, a tithe to the churches of Dyshyos and the Swordbearer, the gods of Pride and Combat, respectively. We commonly call them Fourga and Telak, however.
| Religion | Fashion | Daily Life |
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Chruch tithes: All free ctiziens must pay a tax of fifty regents a year to both the churches of Dyshyos (Fourga) and the Swordbearer (Telak). These churches pay four percent of all earnings each year in taxes. |
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Famous Drinks: The Soldier's Brew is the drink of choice for Brician soldiers. This wine is pressed at grand vineyards worked by serfs on noble estates in and around the Forbidden Fortress, and Brician soldiers, since the War of the Four Kingdoms, have used this wine in pre-battle ceremonies, and is said to have a strong, sweet taste to it that "only a Brician battle-man can take", or so the soldiers boast. Only Brician soldiers are allowed to drink it, costing three regents a drink.
The Old World also has many other Famous Drinks and Spirits. |
I regret to say that with the recent actions in the Fortress of Doom debacle, tensions between Brice and Ruddlestone are at an all-time high. The Third Ruddlestone War may loom, and unless the ruling priest of Ruddlestone can stop the Bricians, it seems that Brice will have another taste of battle in the near future. The Cabal of the Werewolf has formed, been stamped out, re-formed under Karam Gruul, been publicly accepted, gone underground again, and had many of its leaders slain in the upheavals of the 280s AC. They still seek to depose Tinardo Del Riska and impose their own rule on Brice. They are apparently encouraging the Third Ruddlestone War, which is coming dangerously close to exploding, thanks to the militancy of Priest-King Rogar, and the raids launched by the warriors of the Demonkeep Outpost. Surprisingly, they have begun raiding, raping and pillaging into eastern Brice to make the Bricians pay for the sins of their fathers. Rogar appears to be doing little to stop them, and Tinardo, in his fury, is more than ready to destroy the Demonkeep Outpost to stop the raids upon his nation. Some say the Cabal of the Werewolf are encouraging both sides into war so they may seize power when the time is right.
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