The Jorvin Empire

Sitting next to the Steppes, the Jorvin Empire begins at the edge of the vast grasslands and sweeps west and south. To the north it is bounded by the Ice Claw sea, which draws in to the Ice Princedoms bordering the Tundra, and at the south by the Maiden river, which rises in the Greycap Mountains and proceeds west and south to the Silver Sea. In the west the Empire peters out as it meets other kingdoms. Military resistance rather than anything else prevents further expansion. Overall the Empire runs about 700 miles from east to west and 600 from north to south.

This does not stop the Empire from claiming sovereignty over other lands, and the Emperor's voice is one of the strongest in the western kingdoms, rivalled only by the Church's leaders in its authority. A number of other states owe fealty to the Wolf Throne, or are claimed specifically as lands belonging to the Emperor. Hence the Ice Princedoms and the previous situation with Allreyd, where the king was a keen supporter of the Empire. Hence too the throne's insistence that the Jorn Isles to the north west are part of the Empire, even after the awakening of Ember the Thrice Cursed and the driving out humans from all but the most peripheral of the islands.

The Empire has the clout to make most of its claims stick, too. It raises levies of soldiers from its peasantry and nobles, imposing taxes on anyone who fails to provide troops in times of war (the revenue from this usually goes to hire mercenaries). In addition the Wolf Throne has created five orders of knights, which are invested in the capital, Gruchstadt; and are specifically committed to the Emperor's security. The Wolf Order, the oldest of them, is specifically dedicated to keeping the Emperor alive, and was founded after an assassination attempt early in the Empire's history. Other orders focus on specific threats; though the largest, the Order of the Rose, is simply a regiment of strong warriors.  Privately some members will admit that the various orders are more social clubs than anything serious, but the members are also required to be elite soldiers, and to have enough money to pay for equipment of a certain quality, which elevate them beyond the reach of the common fighting man.

A fleet of ships patrols the Ice Claw Sea, ostensibly looking for pirates and is homed in the port city of Landungstadt, where the first of the Jorn refugees made landfall in the area, before there was an Empire. Now it is dominated by thick city walls and a castle to defend the ship yards whilst artificial reefs have created a hazardous channel into the port that forces ships to depend upon the city's pilots to gain access. Whether or not these measures are justified is a matter of debate, but the Jorvin Emperors have always invested heavily in defence, perhaps with a weather eye towards the land they abandoned, lest the wyrm should seek out new prey.

The Empire also draws on the services of the Wizard Families, though this is not a matter of fealty. The Families contract their services to the Wolf Throne for specific purposes, whether that's warfare, security, or simply undertaking work that requires their specialist knowledge. All nobles, mayors and burghers may hire magical assistance, and this forms one of the cornerstones of the Families power, both economically and in terms of how wizards are perceived by the public. Because they are associated with the Throne, and various Manors, even the most anti magic people tend to leave them alone, out of fear for the possible reprisals.

In terms of terrain the Empire is mixed, thick forests lie to the south, and are said to be the home of elves or dryads, though nobody can confirm that; if there are non humans dwelling in the forest, they don't advertise themselves. Their presence is more a belief, based on the condition of certain, ancient trees which are sometimes found garlanded with flowers and carved wooden tools.  The east is a mixture of hills and plains, and is rich in ores, as are the Greycap mountains which provide much of the Empire's iron deposits. The west provides rich farmland, earning it the title of the Empire's bread basket, growing wheat, barley and other grains, in addition to the bulk of vegetables. Meat production is more common in the east, where the hills allow for sheep grazing, but the west is known for its pigs and oxen. The west is also rife with marshes, which are the home of mosquitoes, and of the Marsh Men, a species of near feral water dwellers who raid the nearby homes. A series of lakes sits almost in the very centre of the Empire, providing the Imperial Court with their winter palace when they withdraw from the capital.

The Empire's climate provides heavy winters, where rivers and lakes freeze thickly enough for markets to be held on the ice, and hot summers blighted with mosquitoes and storms. Spring and autumn tend towards wet but sunny, and its this mix that makes the Empire's farms so productive.

The people in the Empire draw from a number of different races and tribes. The Jorn  (pronounced Yorn) are the most well known, having risen from refugees to rulers in the space of one hundred years. In doing so they conquered the other tribes, who at the time of their arrival dwelt peacable, trading with one another and only warring on occasion. They were held to their peace by the local version of the Church, which promulgated the virtues of peace and prosperity. The Jorn are a tall race, black haired and dark eyed, which contrasts with their milk white skin.

The next most prosperous people are the Gullson (pronounced Goollson), the people of the west. Strongly built with blonde hair and blue eyes being dominant in their ranks, they are an agrarian people for the most part. They have spread throughout the Empire, naturally, and can be found in most major cities, often in roles connected with the food grown in the west. The Gullson also went on to found a kingdom in the west, which has thus far resisted the Empire's attempts at expansion.

The south is populated by the Marlson, who are shorter and less powerfully built than the Gullson, but share their blonde hair and blue eyes, whilst the east is divided between the Javin (Yavin), named for the river that runs through their ancestral lands, and the Ralzad, a horse tribe that has settled in Empire, and provides them with their horses. The people here are smaller and darker than their western cousins and speak both the Jorn of the official imperial business and their own dialects, something that has largely died out in the west.

In addition to this the Empire is home to refugees, adventurers and nomads, people looking for a new home, or a quick buck. People from Sharoban, the Steppes, even the Tundra, fetch up inside the Empire's borders, admittedly something that's easier to do now that the Empire is expanding out onto the Steppe itself, in search of land for its sons and daughters. Other travellers have also made their way though, some of them quite surprising. In addition to people from Allreyd, or the Jorn Isles, and other kingdoms there are rumours of non humans who are not tied to the places where their people made the pact. These has included stories of a woman who seemed to have slightly wooden appearance, and according to reports melded with the forests with alarming ease. There are reports of cat people along the Maiden River, often working as merchants and dock workers, and the Marsh Men have been known to undertake their own mysterious journeys. These last have seldom been well received, and its rare for their journeys to be a success; there is a standing bounty on their heads in the western part of the Empire, and they are often shot on sight.

Despite this parts of the Empire prove to be as much melting pots as Sharoban, and there are ghettos in almost every Jorvin city. Integration comes harder here, the Empire's perspective on the world makes them haughty and creates barriers to outsiders. As a result ghettos are the most popular solution, one supported by the nobility and the forces of law and order. Where there aren't enough of one race to create a ghetto, they tend to end up shoehorned into an pre-existing ghetto and left to get on with it.   As a result areas in cities that are nominally dedicated to one community, end up having more diversity than the areas outside them. It creates tensions however and it is not uncommon for the ghettos to see their own violence as long standing communities object to newcomers. Crimes of this nature are often overlooked, allowing the perpetrators to get away with it scot free.

Next time we'll examine the politics of the Empire, and how the Wolf Throne retains command.

An Aside

Hi,

This entry isn't going to be more content but rather a quick question for, the reader, to answer.

Now that the Steppes have been more or less finished off here (in the sense that I'm sure I can find more to add if I have to), I'm wondering about collecting the blog entries into a PDF to sell, at a reasonable price. Would that be of interest to you? How much would you be willing to pay, and what extra content would you be interested in seeing, to give you the chance to get something that's not been on the 'web?

I really want express thanks to anyone who's read the blog, and I hope you've enjoyed the world I've been building so far. I welcome your feedback and thoughts on what you post and appreciate your comments.

The Witch Tribes

The most easterly group of people on the Steppes, the Witch Tribes', or Wise People as they call themselves, lands begin where the land begins to dip away into a crater several hundred miles wide. They are a discrete group among the Steppe dwellers, taller and paler than the other tribesmen, with thick curly hair and piercing brown eyes.  The other thing that sets them apart is a lineage that they claim, one that reaches back to a curious set of ruins at the heart of their shared lands.

Their legends claim that once the ruins were a city, a metropolis of magic and myth, where their traditions were born and they commanded spirits, of all sorts, to work wonders. At the heart of the city sat the Star Heart, which had fallen from the sky and created the crater in the beginning. According to the stories the Witch Tribes used the knowledge they gleaned from the Heart, which they described as a beating thing, made of stone but still functional as an organ, to raise the city with help of magical servants. Elementals, demons and others were pressed into their service, bound to tasks and punished if they failed. With their assistance the witch women grew food and banished the bitter winters. Civilisation bloomed, great houses developed as the women became powerful, and passed that power to their daughters. Puberty became significant not just as a sign of maturation but as the point where the first hexes and incantations were taught. Men were raised as labourers, scholars and soldiers but denied any form of arcane power, from fear that they would misuse it.

Most of the tales the Tribes tell of the city suggest it was a paradise, which creates a nagging question of how it fell. Here, the lorekeepers tend to clam up and refuse to be drawn on the matter. There is of course speculation, from stories of bargains gone astray, and demons who were impossible to placate. Inevitably there are stories of men who learned magic and brought doom on the area, one more reason why the Witch Tribe men are still barred from learning even the simplest cantrip. Only a few stories tell of war and destruction, even though the ruin's stones are marked by fire even centuries after they were abandoned. The fact that each of the tribe matriarchs proudly traces her lineage, real or imagined, back to the city and that there is a great deal of antipathy between the tribes is ignored. The elaborate rituals they use to secure peace when tribes meet are similarly set aside, as are the spirits that still lurk in the ruins, keeping all humans out. So fearsome are the defenders of the ancient city that a small group of Sharoban's graduates have a yearly contest to see which of them can brave the crater and retrieve a token from the remains, in a sport called 'ruin running'. So far only a handful of the competitors have returned, and all of them barely escaped with their lives. Their reports suggest a number of powerful and inhuman creatures now inhabit the area, including a chimera that has the body of a tiger and the tail of a scorpion, and is believed to haunt the Inner Market area.

The origins of these creatures are not known, but there is some speculation that they are bound to the place, especially as they never seem to venture into the wider world.

Away from the ruins, the Tribes have fallen into a way of life very similar to their cousins elsewhere, following their herds, minding their borders and fighting small, sporadic, wars with their rivals. Moots are rare and only held for marriage reasons, or if there is a shortage of something. Even a threat from outside the area is unlikely to unite the tribes, and any alliances that are forced into existence that way perish within weeks.

The Tribes are stolidly, and openly, matriarchal. Men do as they are told and do not even occupy positions of authority during wartime, even if they are expected to be on the front line of any fighting. Women form the strategy and diplomatic groups for every tribe, and it is an established fact that they will not deal with men. Caravans who pass through Witch Tribe lands always take a woman to serve as a negotiator as a result. This isn't to say men have no influence, but it's small. It's rare for a man to get his own way and floggings of disobedient males aren't uncommon. That being said, the tribe leader is very much the mother of the tribe and she will typically take a personal interest in the men's well being. Cynics might say that this is to ensure that good matches are made, but there's little evidence for this.

The other constant is the use of magic. Almost every aspect of life is governed by ritual; the women tend to the spirits whilst the men tend to the world. Offerings are made regularly and every territory has locations rich with offered blood, bones and skulls; all to appease the spirits and win their allegiance. Where this differs from shamanism is that the Wise People do not simply ask for aid, their rituals continue long standing bargains that require the invisible world to give them aid, and which can be enforced if necessary. Women still offer their blood, and their lovers for mystical aid, and whilst the stories of men being sacrificed after successfully impregnating their wives are just that, stories, they remain and there's a nagging sensation that they have been true at some point in the past.

In their relationships with the other Steppe inhabitants the People maintain a singular face; closed, standoffish. They do not mix well with the other nomads, nor with the Arctic tribes. They may trade with Sharoban's caravans but only at a safe distance, and woe betide the ruin runners who cross their lands without caution. They have no time for Giants or Hobgoblins, and battle both groups with equal vigour.

The advice given to those who must cross the People's lands is; travel swiftly, be polite and take nothing away.

Next time, we'll turn our attention to the west and the Jorvin Empire, beginning with an overview and a small slice of history.