For a thousand years, however, Arendish Kings mounted
expeditions against the Asturian brigands in the north. Whole generations
were swallowed up in the dim, silent stretches of the forest, and old
men woke screaming as they remembered the horror of the
expeditions of their youth. The forest became a labyrinth of caves and
tunnels and hiding holes. Dead-falls and pit-traps made the roads
impassable. (The sole exception being the Great West Road which
was patrolled by Tolnedran Legionaries and which the Asturians in
a secret treaty with Tol Honeth had agreed to leave open.) Asturian
archers, already the finest in the world, became even more
proficient, and the floor of the forest was littered with mossy bones and
rusting armor. Transplanted Mimbrate peasants plowed and
planted, and the Asturians came out of the forest and reaped and
gathered. Paradoxically, it was frequently necessary to import food
into one of the most fertile places on earth.
The situation in Arendia remained unchanged until 4875 when
Kal-Torak came across the mountains of Ulgoland and down onto
the Arendish plain. While it might have been expected that the
Asturian Arends would simply hide in their forest and watch the
destruction of the Mimbrates, such was not the case. Apparently the
persuasive powers of the Rivan Warder were sufficient to move the
Asturians to join with the Rivans and Sendars on their great march
southward to the Battle of Vo Mimbre.
NOTE
The battle of Vo Mimbre is the most celebrated event in the history of
the twelve kingdoms. The details of the strategy, tactics and the
individual heroism of various participants are too well-known to make their
repetition here necessary. Elsewhere in these studies is a portion of the
Arendish epic which deals with the battle. While the work is a bit
overpoctic for Tolnedran tastes, it is nonetheless, a fairly
straightforward account. In this respect it is unlike certain bardic productions
which literally seethe with enchantments, magic and unseen
monstrosities, all of which may be very well for the entertainment of
children and illiterate peasants, but has no place in a work which strives to
some seriousness.
At the conclusion of the Battle of Vo Mimbre, by unspoken mutual
agreement, the Mimbrate King and the Baron who had led the
Asturians through the final years of their endless war with the
Mimbrates adjourned to a quiet dell just east of the city,, and there,
without preamble, they fell upon each other with their swords. By
the time they were discovered, both were dying from innumerable
wounds. The Mimbrate Knights and the Asturian Foresters would
undoubtedly have resumed the eons-old bloodshed between them
on the spot had it not been for the timely intervention of Brand
XXXI, the towering Warder of Riva, who had just overthrown the
mighty Kal-Torak. The enthusiasm of all the kingdoms of the west
over his victory gave his word virtually the weight of law.
Summoning both the Mimbrate and Asturian Barons before him, he
quickly determined that the heir to the Mimbrate throne was a
strong young man, and that the last descendant of the Asturian
Duchy was a young maiden. He thereupon ordered that the two be
married, thus joining the two houses in a unified monarchy and
ending the war that had lasted for eons. When it was pointed out to
him that a marriage between an Asturian and a Mimbrate was more
likely to cause a war than end one, he instructed that the two young
people be imprisoned alone together in a tower for the space of one
year. This was done, and for the first several months the shouts of
the two as they wrangled and argued could be heard for some
distance. In time, however, the shouts subsided, and upon their
emergence from the tower, the couple seemed quite content to
marry and to rule jointly.
It is strongly suspected that this ploy was the invention of the two
advisers of the Rivan Warder, a strange pair whom history has never
identified. Both wore the traditional grey cloaks of the Rivans, but
no distinguishing badges or crests. The man was grizzled and grey,
and seemed quite fond of sharing a bottle or two with the common
soldiery The woman was strikingly handsome with an imperious
presence. As one Tolnedran General remarked, ‘She carries herself
more like an Emperor than the Emperor himself.’
Following the unification of the two houses by the marriage of the
Mimbrate Prince Korodullin and the Asturian Princess Mayaserana,
the nation lived in peace and outward harmony. The Asturians
returned to their lands and lived in relative peace with their
Mimbrate neighbors. It was during this period that a rather intricate
dueling code was developed whereby disputes could be settled
directly between two contending parties without plunging entire
districts into war.
The time of peace, which followed unification profited Arendia
enormously. Fortunes have been made from the abundant wheat
harvests, and there has been a greater supply of good bread in the
nations of the west than ever before. It is, however, characteristic of
the people that much of this wealth has been poured into
fortifications and arms. Apparently, Arendish nobles believe in their hearts
that the peace is only temporary and, as always, they prepare for
war.
The present King of Arendia, Korodullin XXIH, is a somewhat
sickly young man who has sat upon the throne at Vo Mimbre for
little more than a year.
NOTE
It has been observed by certain breeders of livestock that a strain is
severely weakened by too much inbreeding. It is unfortunately true that
the touchy political situation in Arendia makes it mandatory that all
members of the Royal Family of Arendia marry as closely within the
blood’line as possible without violating the universal laws forbidding
incest. The centuries of cousin-marriage have undoubtedly accentuated
defects which would have been quite easily washed-out by the influx
of new blood.
Arendia
COINAGE
Large numbers of gold and silver coins from the period of the civil
wars of varying weights and purity. Practice is to weigh them and
check extensive tables for value.
One of the provisions of the Treaty of Tol Vordue was that
Arendia would use Tolnedran coins, which they do.
COSTUME
SOLIDLY MEDIEVAL
Because of the nature of the country, Arendish noblemen never leave
home without being fully armed and at least partially armored
chain mail and surcoats inside wool or linen or fancier fabrics,
elaborate robes, crowns etc.
ARMOR
Arends are a little heavier into plate armor than other nations – not
quite the free-standing suit, but breastplates and strap-on guards
over upper arm, forearm, thigh, shin, front of throat. Full visored
helmets (not hinged). Weapons: swords, axes, maces, lances, etc., etc.
WOMEN
Very medieval. High waist. Pointed cap, etc. Lots of brocades, etc.
Heavy cloth.
BURGERS
(Townsmen) Merchants. Guild-type hose, jackets baggy,
tam-o’shanters. Cloaks, robes, very elaborate marks of rank on robes etc.
SERFS
Usual serf-stuff, burlap, rags. Arendish serfs are badly
downtrodden.
FORESTERS
(Asturians) Robin-Hood stuff. Nobles encumbered by their mail but
they wear it.
COMMERCE
The Burgers try, but Arendish nobility is so stupid that they keep
putting obstacles in the way. Needless embargoes, prohibitions on
the removal of gold from the fiefdom, etc. Taxation is brutal in
Arendia. Lots of smuggling and tax-evasion. Tax-collectors are
frequently bushwhacked. (Standard item of apparel for
tax-collectors is a thick, close-grained, and well-fitting plank under the mail to
protect the back from arrows – not uncommon to see a tax-collector
ignoring the two or three arrows stuck in his back.)
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
Strictly feudal – vassals, serfs etc. Arch conservative. Nobility very
uppity. Tremendous importance of HONOR. Code of dueling to
avoid warfare. Formal meeting of Knights – charge with lances. The
fight on foot afterward. (Considered bad form for a mounted man to
attack a man on foot.) Usual King Arthur stuff.
Some degree of courtly love – all pretty formal.
Political marriages. Women bored to tears. Certain amount of
fooling around. Poetry and romance have left Arendish women
pretty senseless. Lots of suicides.
RANK
The King
Hereditary from the marriage of Korodullin and
Mayaserana
The Dukes
The King’s brothers and cousins
the Earls
Other members of the Royal Family
The Barons
Heads of other noble houses
the Viscounts
Their brothers and cousins
The Counts
Other members of those-families
Lords
Feudal Lords of specific manors
Knights
Unlanded nobility
Burgers
Town dwellers with some substance
Freemen
Usually town laborers or craftsmen
Serfs
Bound to the land
MODES OF ADDRESS
King ‘Your Majesty’ (even the Queen calls the King this)
Queen ‘Your Highness’ (same – King calls her this)
Dukes and Earls ‘Your Grace’
Barons ‘Your Magnificence’
Viscounts ‘Your Eminence’
and Counts
Lords ‘Your Lordship’
Knight ‘Sir John’
MANNERS
Arends are formal to the point of being socially incapacitated. Their
lives are so circumscribed by custom and the rigid social structure
that their entire lives seem to be a kind of stately dance. Lots of
bowing and formal address. Honor, which is to say good name, is