GURPS: Church and State Society and Status

Rotbrueck demographics and geography

See History section for the explanation of some of this:

Also, just for fun [1] [2]

Names are often used multiple times. Rotbrueck can refer to the Baron, the Barony, the town, or the bridge itself. Greywater can mean the river, the keep, or the town surrounding the keep. Context (both here and in play) usually defines what the hell somebody's talking about. Rotbrueck is the common term given to the Baronies of both Rotbueck and Whiterock. Baron Paul Raudidge is the Baron of both, and this is often shortened to just Rotbrueck. Both were full baronies of about 700k acres each, making Raudidge's total area today about 2200 sq miles. This makes the current land under Raudidge larger than most counties [3], but he still retains only the title of Baron. Rotbrueck lays about 40 miles north to south, and 55 miles east to west. Rotbrueck is rougher country than the rest of Valderland or the Isle or Brote, with only a density of about 45-50/sq mi. The rough country makes even these short distances take days to travel. The estimated population of Rotbrueck is just over 100k. Rotbrueck town is 6k.

There are 4 other settlements of size between 2-4k. Stonecroft and Unterwald both have populations over 3k and both lie in Whiterock along the Whiterock river. Both of those have a small keep with a landed knight in charge. Kaufburg lies along the Rotbrueck road to the east of Rotbueck on the way to Whiterock, laying in the near middle of Ganiwald (Gani Woods). It holds a population of just over 2k, and makes most of it's money and earnings from the pilgrims who come to the Cathedral of St James the Defender, or trading with the Gani for meat, pelts, timber, and other Gani goods. There are a handful of landed knights who claim land in this area, as the human settlements were allowed to increase over the past 200 years, which resulted in several baronial land grants. Kaufburg has no charter, nor is it under a lords protection, so often suffers taxation by all the different knights as they show up with their Thanes and demand tribute for protection. Bullford lies to the northwest of Rotbrueck in some of the least settled land of the Barony, and is a fortified frontier town with a landed knight in charge with his own keep of decent size.

The last two settlements of note are Fuessen Castle and Greywater Keep. Fuessen Castle lies in the Fussen pass to the south at the headwaters of the Snow river, and has a minor settlement of just under 1k. Fuessen Castle defends the pass from encroachments by the Holy Quadrangle Empire of Man, and protects travelers and traders in the wild passes. Greywater Keep is under the landed knight Sir Lazcus Weisfeld, a great uncle to Baron Rotbrueck. Greywater lies southwest of Rotbrueck along the Greywater river on the path to the Canton of the Grey Watch. Most other commoners and settlers live in a manorial system [4], within small villages and hamlets clustered around a parish church and a manor house [5]. The manor house usually belongs to a status 2-3 person who is sometimes a minor landed knight or a man-at-arms with more than average holdings. These manor village are usually then surrounded by 2-5 other smaller villages filled with either serfs or yeomen. Sergeant-at-arms and minor men-at-arms make up some of the other minor landholders in the manorial area or may own the property from the manorial lord, directly from the baron, or from some other manorial lord who resides elsewhere. About 15% of all manors in Rotbrueck belong directly to the baron, who rents them out. Those vassals pay a scutage, and can keep every profit above the annual scutage. There's somewhat less than a 100 total manors or estates in Rotbrueck.

Lifestyle

Medieval households [6]. Most manor lords just have a glorified peasant house. Usually a central hall, where the servants sleep, and where meals are served, with private rooms for the family. The buildings are normally of stone.

Valder Nobility and Rotbrueck's position

When Trious I consolidated the kingdom, all of the little lordlings that had land gained titles as Tenant's in Chief. Most of them may have held no more than a castle, a village and everything within a few miles. The powerful might have put together 100-150 professional soldiers each, and maybe 400-500 for the most powerful. Most of the nobility's lands throughout Valder is very patchwork over the years due to marriages, inheritance, dowries, etc. A baron will likely have a large estate in one spot, while and earl or duke will likely have several (if not dozens) scattered across the kingdom. There are over 150 tenants in chief in Valder. Rotbrueck is just one...but it quietly became one of the most powerful.

Rotbrueck is different. The Maguirians came as a group of 1500 warriors with their families in tow, about 10 times as much as the other lordlings. When Trious won them over, he gave all of them the original Rotbrueck, which could have easily been divided into 4/5 normal baronies, but Trious I couldn't really politically support giving the outsiders several titles. The Maguir chief got the title, and the right to see to his lands as he saw fit. Trious couldn't give him a greater title even if he wanted to, as he was an outsider, but Rotbrueck did get land that was mostly unclaimed by others, making it more homogeneous, and most of the forests and hills and stuff were also given to Rotbrueck and not left as "king's land". In essence, Rotbrueck has as much land as many Earls and Dukes, but his is all in one spot.

The other nobles never took too much umbrage from this as originally Rotbrueck wasn't very good farmland (thus the name Stonedale for the area around Greywater), but Maguirians were herders first and foremost and found better uses for the land, and there's a family history of using earth magic (purify earth) which has gone a long way to improving the lands over 500 years. Rotbrueck also was very insular for the first several hundred years, never playing in politics, just supporting the King and minding their own business. Many historically regarded them as the King's pet mercenary army. Now that perception has gone away.

Whiterock county was originally two baronies (Unterwald and Stonecroft). One Imperial invasion too many put the entire Stonecroft family to the sword, and when the dust settled, the Baron of Unterwald claimed it all under the title Whiterock, which was backed at the time (several hundred years ago). And then a couple of generations later, Whiterock fell to Rotbrueck and all of the sudden, Rotbrueck controls lands that could be considered 7 separate baronies and two whole counties...but again Rotbruecks stayed out of politics in the kingdom, faithfully defended the southern border, and generally wanted to be left alone (and also didn't start getting uppity and start claiming the title of Earl or Count). Mar has paid attention, and generally become more forceful over the generations about a) getting Whiterock back, and b) checking the power of his neighbor. None of Rotbrueck's other neighbors have ever had any reason to complain...unless they tried to poke the hornets nest, Rotbrueck has left them alone too. Rotbrueck even backed Chalouth's petition for a charter to become a Free City, and have generally been on friendly terms with their Burgermeister ever since.

Mar has over the years made ambiguous claims that Rotbrueck's growth is a Raudidge family plan and they have become a threat to the Kingdom's stability as they control too much centralized territory, and have generations of laws backing them up as rather more autonomous than most. The Bishop of Rotbrueck has always been one nominated by the baron and the Archbishop in Kingsdale approved it...and since the Bishop in Rotbrueck oversees all the clergy in Rotbrueck, the Rotbrueck clergy have quietly kept some of their Maguirian traditions that other Central Kingdoms folk would fine a bit...sacrilegious. St Livian's is a great example. The Rotbrueck Bishop (nominated by the Baron) appoints the Abbess there, and both positions have for generations gone to Raudidge family members. St Livian's practices several things that main stream Quadrant church would dogmatically disagree with, but the order of St Livian is small, in fact it exists only in the Isle of Livian where the Abbey is, so the only oversight comes from the Bishop, and he lets them practice their faith as they always have. St Livian's has quite a reputation as a finishing school for young ladies, but they're also picky about the women they let come there. St Livian's also uses the practice of bonding with their Warders (the male defenders on the island) who share a bond with nuns/priestesses that is almost identical to that of a familiar with a mage. Rotbrueck has also held on to their ethnic language and has slightly different magical and fighting styles than Valder. All of this lends some support to Mar's claim, but Rotbrueck has never acted as an aggressor against other interests in the Kingdom, whereas Mar has on several occasions, kind of tainting Mar's argument that Rotbrueck is the one to be regarded as the threat.

Status in Church and State

To be entrusted with missions, responsibility, or just to be allowed to keep the loot you get, you need status, as well as the right to bear arms outside of warfare. Status is limited to 2 max as there are only a small handful of Status 3 people in the Barony, like maybe 12, but maybe a thousand status 2. Of those with the same status, the higher listed position outranks the lower. To get status, one must have a social obligation to a person or institution, the only exception that I have found is wealth, which can grant free status on its own. If a commoner shows up with 50 lbs of silver, his landowner would likely kill him and take it...and then bribe the Sheriff. Positions of status can be granted by anyone of higher status. Knights are not only knighted by the king, but by many lords as well. A king's knighting counts for more than a Baron's knighting. A powerful lord (duke or earl) might try to inflate his own importance by enfeoffing his knights as Barons or Counts. They are not peerage, or considered Lords of the Realm, but within their Lord's area should be treated as the title he gave them. Knighthood does not engender the same sense of competition among the peerage, and any knighting is usually good enough to be considered a knight.

• 8 Emperor Imperial Majesty
• 7 Imperial Consort or Heir, or King
• 6 Prince/Princess
• 6 Duke/Duchess
• 5 Marquess/Marchioness
• 5 Earl or Count/Countess
• 4 Viscount/Viscountess
• 4 Senior Baron/Baroness
• 3 Lesser Baron/Baroness
• 3 Landed Knight/Dame
• 3 Governor/Mayor (varies between 2-4 depending on the town, Rotbrueck's Mayor is 3, while Chalouth's Burgermeister is a 4)
• 3 Guildmaster/Guildmistress Master/Mistress
• 2 Unlanded Knight/ Dame
• 2 Captain
• 2 Men at Arms
• 2 Craftsman (master)
• 1 Squire
• 1 sergeant at arms, and lower men-at-arms
• 1 Craftsman (journeyman), Merchant –
• 0 Villein, Townsman, common soldier
• -1 Serf, Urban Rogue (by reputation only), mustered peasant militia
• -2 Beggar, Slave, known criminal

Knighthood and Knightly Orders

Any lord of Status 4+ may usually knight someone they deem worthy. Laws and tradition in a given kingdom may set some requirements on what they can do. A knight gains a modicum of status and respect for his position, but is NOT considered a lord of the realm, peerage or such. Knights may also receive their spurs from Knightly orders, both secular and religious. In any of the three cases, a knighthood always comes with duty and an oath. Even with the duty and oath, a knight in an order is often still be a vassal of secular lord if he owns lands and such. Some knightly orders own land in their own right, and from their rents, dues and plunder fund their unlanded knights.

Each of the four Quadrants has at least one major order of Knights, and most kingdoms have several. The kingdom of Canton is named after their order, The Knights of the Grey Watch. Secular orders usually receive a charter from a kingdom to operate, and the whole order owes fealty to the kingdom and must provide so many knights in case of war, etc. Religious orders, and some secular, cross boundaries and brethren knights can expect hospitality among each other.

In Valderland, there are three secular orders, listed in order of prestige.

• The Valiant Knights of the Stone and the Defenders of Valderland: The oldest order, formed under Trious I during the war with the Imperials when Valderland formed as a kingdom. Mostly martial and physical in aspect, with few mages of note. They receive their spurs directly from the King.
• The Telestic Order of Mystic Thanes: The most enigmatic order in the Central Kingdoms. Their ranks are freely open to all races who can meet their criteria, fairly different from other conservative orders. Usually by invitation only. Their exact numbers, goals, and holdings remain mysterious to most outsiders. The Archbishop of Kingsdale brought charges of heresy against the order about 30 years ago, and succeeded in removing (torturing, excommunicating, and executing) several ranking members of the order. The Children of the Light lent a hand to the Archbishop.
• The Holy Bearers and Defenders of the Light: Religiously inspired. The claim many ranking clergy in their ranks and are the fastest growing order in numbers and prestige.

The most common (and feared) religious order is the Holy and Blessed Children of the Light and Seekers or the Truth. Headquartered under the Archbishop of Crandel in the Holy Quadrangle Empire of Man, their reach extends far beyond their borders as they are a powerful force within the church, and many a Bishop has caved to their will rather than oppose them.

Persons of Status

Rotbrueck Castle:

• (4) The Baron, His Lordship, Paul "The Hammer" Raudidge, the Baron of Rotbrueck, and the Baron of Whiterock.
• (3) The Baroness Iris (deceased).
• (3) Thomas Steward, Steward to Baron Rotbrueck.
• (3) Sir William Grim of Troutsdale, Captain of the Baron's Household guard and Baronial Champion.
• (3) The Baron's Children, Sir Travis (24), Sir Preston (21), Dame Martha (18), Dame Heike (15)(Currently at St Livian's finishing her education) and Harold (13) (currently residing with the Earl of Hightower, beginning his education). Travis is the heir, Martha and Harold show the most talent of for magic, Preston's martial skills are highly regarded.

Rotbrueck County:

• (3) Sir Walter Pinedale, Lord Mayor of Rotbrueck.
• (2) Captain Sir Michael of Tomsfield, Captain of the Rotbrueck municipal forces.
• (3) Bishop of Rotbrueck and Lord Chaplain to Rotbrueck, The Right Reverend Bishop, His Excellency, Garth Raudidge, younger brother of Rotbrueck (minor bishop, a major one would likely be status 4- a bishop is religious rank 4).
• (2) The Right Reverend Deacon James Straum, Deacon to Bishop Raudidge, religious rank 3.
• (3) The Abbess of St Livian's, The Right Mother Superior, Reverend Mother Charlotte Raudidge, an aunt of Rotbrueck, religious rank 3.
• (2) The Reverend Mother Katarina, Prioress of St Livian's, religious rank 2.
• (3) The Abbot of St Adolphus, The Right Reverend Father, Reverend Father Marcus Taulburg, a non-Maguirian, religious rank 3.
• (3) Sir Lazcus Weisfeld (of House Raudidge), lord of Stone Dale and a great uncle to Rotbrueck.
• (3) Sir Calbert of Highbrook, and Dame Olivia (of house Raudidge), lord and lady of Fuessen.
• (3) Sir Phillip Parsons, a methuselah and High Mage of Dunel (Druid), High Mage of Rotbrueck, Knighted by the Baron in the Knights of Rotbrueck, also rumored to hold allegiance with the The Telestic Order of Mystic Thanes.
• (3) Sir Edward of Morncreek, Sheriff of Rotbrueck and member of The Valiant Knights of the Stone and the Defenders of Valderland, a non-Maguirian.

Whiterock:

• (3) Bishop of Whiterock, The Right Reverend Bishop, His Excellency Francis of Gwyndal, a non-Maguirian, his cathedral sits in Unterwald.
• (3) Sir Tristan Tall and Dame Emma, Lord and Lady of Unterwald, non-Maguirian.
• (3) Sir Ulrich of Stonecroft, and Dame Lucia, Lord and Lady of Stonecroft (she is imperial born).
• (3) Sir Henry Laufen, Sheriff of Whiterock and member of the The Valiant Knights of the Stone and the Defenders of Valderland.

Chalouth:

• (4) Burgermeister of Chalouth, His Lordship, Lord Damon Cooley of Silver Street.
• (4) Archbishop of Chalouth, The Right Reverend Archbishop, His Grace, Troy Filius of Filldale (younger brother to Count Filldale).
• (3) Sir Marvin Pineshire, Defender of Chalouth and Captain of her municipal forces.
• (3) Dean of the University of Chalouth, High Mage of Ampul (the tradition), Otis Grunfeld.

Farther Afield:

• (7) King of Valderland, His Majesty, the king of Valderland, and his Grace, the Duke of Pembrook, Daniel Pembrook.
• (6) Queen of Valderland, Her Majesty, the Lady Isla, Daughter of the late King Stephon III (she's dead).
• (6) Princess of Valderland, Alsesea Pembrook.
• (6) Princess of Valderland, Aliena Pembrook.
• (6) Duke of Mar, His Grace, Lord Roger Gloscter, and Her Grace, Lady Ithena of Highbridge.
• (4) Baron of Riverbend, younger brother to the Duke of Mar, Lord Robert Gloscter; his wife, the Baroness, Ursala is the daughter of the late King Stephon II.
• (3) Their sons, through their mother, heirs to the Valder throne, in order, Matthew, Robert, David and Leonard.
• (6) Duke of Brote and Baron of Darkport, His Grace, the Lord Luke of Darkport, and his wife, Her Grace, Lady Othelia, daughter of the late King Stephon III.
• (3) Their sons, who through Othelia can lay claim to the throne, Lucas and Marcus.
• (3) Dame Louisa of Kingsdale, daughter of the late King Stephon II, whose rumored son can lay claim to the Valder throne.
• (5) Count of Wavecrest, His Lordship, the Lord Bryan Wavecrest.
• (5) Earl of Hightower, and Highmage of Usirius (Stormwarden), Lord Fauler Stein.
• (5) Earl of Greenwood, and Highmage of Fardun (Eldritch Knight), Marshall of Valder's forces, Champion of the King of Valder, Lord Stan Green.

Law

What can I say, it's Medieval. Ordeals and torture are common. Punishment is usually very harsh; oathbreakers have their lips cut off, thieves have their hands cut off, adulterers may be castrated (but this is often overlooked). The king appoints a Sherriff (status 3) for each of the counties, Whiterock and Rotbrueck both have one more from long standing tradition than need. The one is Rotbrueck is considered harsh, fair, conservative, and diligent. The one in Whiterock is corrupt, lazy, vengeful, proud. The Sheriff keeps the King's Peace and enforces his laws, which generally include highway robbery, murder, poaching in the King's forests, and treason. All other crimes are left up to local lords to mediate. The Peerage often has their own Reeves in a given village or Parish, but their authority is limited. The Sheriff can go where he will and arrest who he wants. In practice, the peerage are the only ones who can challenge a sheriff. The Sheriffs normally maintains a fortified house, or sometimes a castle, with a separate strong room run by their chief servant, their Bailiff. The Sheriff sits in judgment, except on peers. A sheriff who wants to maintain a good relationship with the county lord will often ask him to sit in judgment with the sheriff on persons of importance. Sworn freeman to a Tenant in Chief can appeal to their Lord (the Baron) to intercede on their behalf. The Baron can appeal to the King on his own behalf, and might do so as well for loyal and trusted agents. The Sheriff and Reeves will often call upon the Lord and or country gentry (Knights and Thanes) to get men to capture, guard, transport a prisoner.

Clergy are protected by law from laymen, and can only be detained or punished by their superiors, in a court usually presided over by a deacon superior to the parties involved (in Rotbrueck, the Bishop's deacon would handle the court for anyone except one of the abbots or the Bishops Cannon priests). A man who kills a cleric can expect to be excommunicated, which most everyone believes results in his soul going to hell. A person who kills a known criminals (status -2) or those excommunicated will not be sought for murder, and might actually be rewarded.

Vigilante justice is common, and many sheriffs will overlook it. Blood feuds are also common, and unless it gets out of hand, will be overlooked.

Towns with charters often have dispensation to write, enforce and adjudicate their own laws. Chalouth has a royal charter and is a royal Free City, with a Status 4 Burgermeister. Rotbrueck has a Baronial charter, is NOT a free town, and has a Status 3 Mayor.

Peasants and commoners can carry few weapons and armor. A staff, short sword, knobbed club, hatchet would be ignored almost anywhere, and a shortbow or spear would be ignored in the countryside. Any non-metal armor would not cause them trouble. These are all LC 4 items and generally any land holder will allow his commoners and peasants to arm themselves with the basics.

CRs vary by status. For -2 to 0, it's CR 5; for 1-3, it's CR 3 and for status 4+ it's CR 1.

• LC = CR + 1 or more: Any citizen may carry the item.
• LC = CR: Anyone but a convicted criminal or the equivalent may carry the item. Registration may be required, but there is no permit fee.
• LC = CR - 1: Permission required. If the the person is a Thane, permission is assumed with the title, they are military.
• LC = CR - 2: Prohibited except to persons operating under the direct orders of a person with status to allow that item. (this will likely mean LC 1 items for the party, which would be serious spells, magic armor, magic weapons, etc. If you're on the Baron's business, then you can employ these methods. If it's personal, it would be illegal...but if they're all dead, whose to tell.
• LC = CR - 3 or worse: Only permitted to the military or secret police. (necromancy & gate spells)

Permissions can be as simple as a person who can freely use it vouching for you; i.e., if your are a thane of a Baron directly, then with his knowledge you can do all LC 1+. Tenants in Chief are military leaders and can grant permission to their subordinates for law enforcement and military purposes simply by swearing them in as Knights, Sergeant-at-arms, or Men-at-arms.

Money and economics

Money is rated throughout the Central Kingdoms as: Copper Farthing (1) Silver Penny (4) Gold Crown (200) Silver Pound (1000)

Imperial Lands use similar denominations, but different: Copper Penny (1) Silver Denari (4) Gold Mark (150) Talent (1000)

Coins of the Canton of the Grey Watch are very pure, reliable, and often physically large. They include the small copper khenn ($1), the copper dann ($12), the silver ffo ($144), and the gold tohn ($5,184). However, Grey Watch coins are extremely rare outside of the Canton; a Cantonite who pays a non-Cantonite in danns, let alone ffo, is showing great respect.

Rotbrueck is known to mine and supply some of the best rock and metals in the kingdom, and this generally keeps Rotbrueck (Baron and Barony) more prosperous than most. Two other mainstays are of true importance. First is the trade route from the Holy Quadrangle Empire of Man, that comes through Fussen Pass, through Rotbureck and on to the Valderland Free City of Chalouth, about 2-3 days downriver (north by northeast) from Rotbrueck. Second is mutton and wool from sheep raised in Stonedale. The Baron takes pains to make sure both stay viable.

All seven major settlements have guilds (Unterwald, Stonecroft, Fussen, Kaufburg, Rotbrueck, Bullford, and Grewater), but only Rotbrueck truly has specialized guilds. The others might have a Clothsmen's Guild, whereas Rotbrueck has a spinners, weavers, fullers, tailors, dyers, and embroiderer's guilds. Rotbrueck is the only settlement with a market open daily. Most of the others will have 2-3 market days per week, but you can knock on a craftsmen door and likely get him to sell you something.

Technology

Before Burn's Crossing, many parts of the Central Kingdoms and Imperial areas was TL4 almost 5. The devastation and social upheaval made many areas retard to lower TL. Techs that were in wide use and understood by many (smithy techniques, farming techniques and windmills/watermills) generally survived better. Those that were rarefied and known to only a few, suffered worse. I'm also considering how magic might affect the need to develop tech. 10-15 pts in spells with minimal magery can make a decent ship's weather mage, dramatically decreasing the need to build better ships with stuff like seek coastline, wave, current, storm, wind. On the other hand, magery can also advance the understanding of other things as hawkvision, microvision, measurement, test load, and just generally fucking around with the forces of nature (lightening, fire spells, earthquake). My view is that these things work better when a mage understands the underlying principals of physics that he's manipulating, so some of the sciences tend to be a little more advanced. The application of the knowledge gained from raw sciences went into better magery, not into better engineering applications.

Building technology is a great example of this. Measurement, test load, move earth (and stone), shape earth (and stone), essential wood, essential stone, and others allow buildings beyond what a TL3 society could normally perform. Master builders often have these spells in lieu of understanding how to use a plumb line or other surveying techniques. However, the basic underlying understanding of architecture, and structural physics is advanced enough to allow TL4 construction, using a mix of mundane TL 3 techniques and magic.

As a general guideline:

• TL3- Metallurgy, shipbuilding, medicine (no demand with healing magic), armor and weapons, water wheels, most engineering not specifically mentioned below, mining and prospecting, brewing,
• TL4- Biology, physics, astronomy, optics, chemistry (due to alchemy mostly) farming, buildings, windmills, stagecoach (leaf spring), navigation, clockwork, movable type (high demand from the need for the publication of magical texts; but this is still rare, there is no printing press in Rotbrueck).

GURPS: Church and State