followed the Angarak war was slow and painful. It took the efforts
of three Borune Emperors to finally persuade the Drasnians to
reopen the North Caravan Route, and in the first years the resulting
trade was disappointingly meager. The Algarian herds began to
arrive at Muros again, but in nothing like their former numbers,
since the Algars steadfastly held back their finest animals for
breeding stock. The reduction in the supply of beef, however, provided
an opportunity for the development of a new industry in Sendaria.
The raising of hogs became a national preoccupation. The hog, of
course, has one enormous advantage over the cow in terms of
trade – his meat may be cured. Thus, while cattle must be driven
enormous distances to their ultimate markets, hogs may be
slaughtered and cured on the farms of their origin and the tasty hams
and succulent bacon may be shipped quite easily without fear of
spoilage. Fortunes were made in Sendaria, and many a Sendar noble
began his upward climb to position and respectability as a
hogbaron.
And then, perhaps a hundred years ago, the grim-faced Murgos
suddenly relented and reopened the South Caravan Route. Amazingly,
these harsh and war-like people seemed -to have developed an
almost insatiable urge to trade. The caravans from the east were long
and literally piled high with those very goods for which the
rapacious Nyissans demanded their highest prices – silks, spices, curious
tapestries and the fine Mallorean carpets that are almost never seen
in the west.
The resumption of trade along the South Caravan Route has
begun the recovery of the Tolnedran economy. gone, however, are
the days of absolute dominance in commerce. The merchants of
other nations have increasingly come to demand their share of the
markets that were formerly exclusive Tolnedran preserves, and
kings and their governments have more and more realized that the
strength of a nation is measured more in the health of its commerce
than in the size of its army Governments, therefore, have
increasingly become involved in trade negotiations. Those fine old days
when the kings of the west played their childish games of war and
conquest while the Empire alone concentrated on the serious
business of commerce are forever gone. The other nations have, in a very
real sense, grown up; and, while we may lament our loss of
advantage, we must welcome them into the market-place and cheer the
tremendous growth of healthy competition from which all mankind
must benefit.
Today, in the great commercial centers, Tol Honeth, Camaar,
Muros and Boktor, the market-places literally seethe with merchants
from all parts of the known world. Sendar and Tolnedran, Murgo
and Drasnian, Nadrak and Arend, Nyissan and Cherek, an
occasional Algar, brutish Thulls, and even of late grey-cloaked Rivans vie
with each other for the customer’s attention and bargain endlessly
with each other.
Tolnedra currently faces the inevitable turmoil of Dynastic
succession. Our present Emperor, Ran Borune XXIII, a vigorous man in
his fifties, is a widower with only one female child of thirteen and
has quite firmly stated his intention not to remarry. The contending
families have already begun maneuvering in the Council of Advisors
in their quest for the Throne. We must hope that Nedra in His
wisdom will guide us in the selection of a Dynasty to lead us through
the years ahead which, while they may be fraught with uncertainties,
are likely also to be rich with opportunities.
* This ‘history’ is a scant 40 pages (or so) in length, but it gave a grand overview of about
5000 years of history which proved to be invaluable.
UNIVERSAL WEIGHTS AND
MEASURes
DISTANCE
ILeague 3 Miles
MLeague l’ Miles
Inch Standard
Span 9 Inches
Yard or Pace3 Feet
Chain 66 Feet
Fathom 6 Feet
Ounce
pint
Gill
FLUID MEASURE
Y4Pint – 4 ounces
Try to avoid using ‘gallon’ and ‘quart’.
DRY MEASURE
Ounces16oz = 1 Pint
Pounds
Peck
Bushel16 pounds
Stone 14 pounds
Hundredweight 100 pounds
* These little details add the necessary sense of reality to a story’ Note that most of them
are the same as they are here in the ‘real’ world.
(2questionable coins or bars are taken to the temple for verification by
the priests of Nedra. Each temple has a set of verified scales.
The priests charge a 1% fee.
COSTUME
MEN
The upper classes wear a toga-like ‘Mantle’. These garments are
color’coded to show rank.
The military uniform is Roman.
Merchants wear belted gowns with deep, wide pockets. They are
also color-coded to show rank.
Menials and craftsmen wear tunics – just below the knees and
sleeves to the elbows. Leggings in winter. Leather aprons.
WOMEN
Gowns of a Grecian cut. Color-coding is legally required, but the law
is largely ignored except on formal occasions. The hair is worn in the
Grecian manner.
Tolnedrans customarily wear daggers (the sign of a free man) but
the daggers are largely ornamental.
WEAPONRY
The short-sword – about 2 feet long – lances, javelins, the short bow.
Heavy siege weapons – catapults, etc.
f RANK
Title
Addressed as
Color code
* The color coding to indicate rank is largely implicit in the books.
The Emperor Your Majesty gold
The Imperial Family Your Highness-Silver with Gold Trim
Grand Dukes Your Grace Blue with Gold Trim
The heads of the Major families – Borunes, Ranites, etc.:
members of his family Varied Blue with Silver Trim
Count My Lord John Green Trim
Baron Baron John White Trim
Noble Sir John Brown No Trim
cOMMERCIAL RANK
(Commercial rank is based on yearly income)
Title
Grand Master
Merchant
Master Merchant
Grand High
Merchant
High Merchant
Merchant
Income
1 Million Gold MarksBlue Gown
100,000 Gold Marks Green Gown
50,000 Gold Marks White Gown
10,000 Gold Marks Brown Gown
.tHE COMMONS
Artisans are identified by color-code on their tunics
cobbler, etc.
Grand Master carpenter,Red Trim
Master Cobbler, etc.Blue Trim
Grand High Cobbler, etc.Green Trim
High Cobbler, etc. White Trim
Cobbler (usually a one-man shop) Brown Trim
]FREEMEN (WORKERS)
They wear no trim
Wages are standardized; about $800 per year
Slightly less for farm-workers
Prices of staples are fixed by law
Note: Rank in the priesthood is equivalent to rank in the nobility.
Rank in the bureaucracy is equivalent to commercial rank.
Academics rank with Artisans.
Doctors and Lawyers have the equivalent of commercial rank.
POPULATIONS
Tol Honeth 250,000
Tol Vordue 100,000
Tol Horb 90,000
Tol Rane 40,000
Tol-Borune 10,000
7 – 8 Million Tolnedrans, mostly in villages or on farmsteads
MAJOR HOLIDAYS
Midwinter – Erastide – (the world’s (pirthday). Feasting, jollit3′
parties, gifts i
Midsummer – The Festival of Nedra. Prayers, religious observances
Various – The current Emperor’s birthday
Early Fall – Ran Horb’s Day. Celebration of the birthday of the
greatest emperor. Military parades; patriotic speeches
Late Fall – Mara’s Day. A day of guilt. offerings to Mara. Pay all
debts. Processions of penitents
RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES
The priesthood is comfortable and not very devout. Religion is formal
and perfunctory. Prayers are largely for luck and profit.
The Monastery at Mar-Terin – cloistered
Mendicant Monks – beggars
Most Tolnedrans aren’t very religious
Appendix on Maragor
The kingdom of the Marags which once lay in that pleasant vale in
the southeast quarter of what is now Tolnedra is, as all men know, no
longer in existence. The destruction of Maragor is. of course, our
national shame. This is not stated out of some desperate need for
guilt which we observe among some of our less stable colleagues,
but is, rather, a cold and incontrovertible fact. The Marags were not
by any means an admirable people, but their annihilation, as we
now know, was an unnecessarily extreme response to a cultural
aberration which might have rather easily been rechanneled.
GEOGRAPHY
The vale which was once Maragor is a mountain-surrounded and
fertile valley at the headwaters of the River of the Woods measuring
one hundred leagues by twenty-five leagues. It is dotted with
lakes and watered by the sparkling rivers which form the upper
tributaries of the River of the Woods. Those hardy souls who have
traversed it report that it is truly one of the loveliest spots in the
known world. The horror which dwells there, of course, makes
Maragor totally uninhabitable. It is also, unfortunately, non-exploitable
for precisely the same reason. The free gold still glitters on the
bottoms of the streams, but none dare risk their sanity to claim it.
THE PEOPLE
The Marags were a short, ohve-skinned people of the same racial
stock as Tolnedrans, Nyissans and Arends. The single characteristic
which all the world thinks of when the Marags are mentioned is, of
course, the fact that they were cannibals. How extensive this practice
was is the subject of much debate among scholars. The savagery
with which the Tolnedran legions extirpated the Marag culture left
little in the way of documentary evidence behind; and one may be
certain that if no Tolnedran willingly would now enter Maragor for
gold, he would be much less likely to go there in search of records or