The Kings of Kron have been in the same family since the time of Beatold. There is a certain magical affect which dates back about six hundred years which insures that one and only one of the offspring of the current ruler (or rulers, as there have been in the past) will look like the ruler, and that one will be the next leader of Kron. Nonetheless, there have been disputes in the past, and hence a system of non-lethal combat has been established in order to decide which of the offspring shall be the next ruler upon the resignation or death of the King or Queen.
The current ruler is named Bertrenand, who seems to be interested in the advancement of justice. The Kronian court system, which had existed in the past, but which had had less funding, perhaps, than it needed, has suddenly found a patron in the current King. Some of the other aristocracy are not too pleased with this development, since some of their less valiant business dealings have suddenly found a new threat. It used to be easy to have a judge in your pocket - but with the reign of Bertrenand this is becoming much more difficult.
Bertrenand is having a gleaming new marble hall of justice established in Kron. He hopes that this new building, along with the extra pay and better policies on Judicial conduct and corruption will help overhaul a judicial system which was making the enforcement branch something of a joke. It too often happened that the Strong Arm guild (which acts as the internal police force for Kron) would capture some criminal or break up some ring and yet the perpetrators would get off due to some miscarriage of justice.
Just below king in the hierarchy of nobility are the Kronian lords. These lords are currently, or were at some time in the past, associated with the line of Kronian kings. The line of lords started with the five children of Beatrice who did not want the throne, opting instead to become the leaders of the trade guilds of the day. Some of the lines of lords are directly connected to the Kronian family, and others have been maintained through marriage or even (in one case only) through friendship and affinity. This particular house of lords (as the various lord lines are called) is called the Marcellus house, after the only known friend and confidant of Beatold. It is interesting to note that the Marcellus house has no relationship at all with the historical figure Marcellus - it is simply that since the time of Marcellus, all close confidants of the King and Queen of Kron have been given the honorary title of Marcellus. There are thirteen lord houses, with various branches and detailed history. All thirteen of these houses maintain sumptuous apartments within the city of Kron itself, but the main ancestral estates of these houses are sumptuous (although some are partially ruined) castles located in the districts of Kron.
Below the level of lords in nobility are the Dukes from the states, provinces and duchies outside of Kron itself. The full kingdom of Kron is a loosely organized group of states. The leader of each of these autonomous states is considered to be a Duke in the Kronian hierarchy, although in their own territories they may call themselves Kings. So for example, Grablie Friemeister, Duke of Luka calls his province the Dutchy of Luka, while Trohn, leader of the Kingdom of Trohn calls himself a King. Each Duke from the provinces are members in the Coucil of Dukes, an advisory board to the King himself. In this respect, Dukes have more power than lords, since the lords do not have an organized board which advises the king. The Council of Dukes has a large amount of say in troop movements of the Kronian army. Yet Dukes are considered lower than lords in the registry of aristocrats.
These provinces are only semi-autonomous, since most of them pay large dues to the Kronian army for protection and to maintain the Mountain Defensive Line. However, most of these Kingdom-Provinces also maintain their own standing army for border disputes and for internal policing.
The council of Dukes use many resources in order to properly advise the King. One of the main enforcement, information gathering, and functionary resources which the Council of Dukes uses is an organization known as The Black Ambassadors. The Black Ambassadors have proved their worth and wisdom to the Council of Dukes many times, and have been in existence since before the last Orc wars. They are trusted implicitly by some in the Council of Dukes. However some of the more paranoid question their heritage, since they were a part of The Black Guard during the reign of Theodore. Other resources used by the Council of Dukes includes the Council of Guild-masters, the Council of Caravan Companies and the Council of War. Although the Council of Viscounts used to be a main resource of the Council of Dukes, they have become less so recently.
The establishment of the Council of Viscounts began by decree of King Quentin the Second. The Council of Viscounts is actually the original Fighters Guild, though there is no connection today between the fighters guild and the Viscounts. Each Duke in the Council can recommend anyone they want to become a Viscount in the Kronian aristocracy. Those recommended are generally holders of keeps and mayors of towns. There is a steep cost, a long period of consideration by the entire Council of Dukes, and no guarantee that any Viscount candidate will be accepted. These facts tend to keep the number of Viscount applications low, although there are several candidates every year. The reason it takes so long to decide and act on an application is that once a person becomes a Viscount, his title can be passed onto one of his male children until the family line runs out. Hence there are a large number of Viscounts. Some provinces have literally hundreds of Viscounts. The orc wars tend to end Viscount lines, but since there have been no orc wars for more than fifty years, the Council of Viscounts has grown to accommodate over 600 members.
Although the Council of Viscounts can advise the Council of Dukes, and sometimes the Council of Dukes can ask the Council of Viscounts to perform some service, recently (in the last 8 years) the Council of Viscounts has become more of a social league than a ruling body. Many of the members of the Council of Viscounts are more interested in vast grand parties and conspicuous consumption rather than the governing of their respective subjects. Yet many members of the Council of Viscounts have responsibilities for certain sets of villages. In many cases, in order to maintain the life style to which they have become accustomed, they have to raise the taxes and tariffs on the peasants.
The Duke of Luka, Grablie Friemeister, pays Kron a large tariff in return for troops and protection. Freed of this responsibility he busies himself with more important things, like parties and hunts and getting the local peasant women pregnant. He realizes that he is no good at administrative responsibilities so he leaves most of that to his daughter, Reba. He is also trying to marry her to a Kronian lord, hoping to cement the relationship with Kron. He does not realize that merely being a principality which allows Kronian forces into its border without passage taxes is enough to keep relations good no matter if the daughter marries a troll.
The Kingdom of Tol is slightly different from the Dutchy of Luka. The King is a strange, but kind-hearted human who does not believe the predictable warfare of the Kronian army can win the final battle against Niemann. The policy of Tol is to charge passage fees to non-Tolian armies. He keeps his own army trained by a very powerful fighters guild that rules the land by strength. Although the discipline comes from strength rather than law, the basic aim of the army is good. They do not exploit the worker (they do not call them peasants) and membership in the army is not required. However, the fact that there is very little farmland in the principality tends to make the military the only occupation that pays enough for subsistence.
The kingdom does pay rather large dues to Kron. This is because of the Mountain Defenses that all the principalities pay for. They also pay so that the King can be considered for succession to the throne of Kron when King Bertranand dies. To defray the dues they charge a large fee for troop movement through the Kingdom.
Most Elven races are from the great north-eastern woods. The Elves themselves count over two-thousand different races, but humans do not seem to be able to distinguish the different races except in broad categories. Each Elven race has its own dialect of a single language, known to humans as Elven. Humans often find it surprising that two Elves, who supposedly speak Elven, cannot communicate properly with each other in Elven except for a few basic words. This is because speaking one dialect of Elvish does not necessarily mean that another dialect of Elvish can be understood. Certain words and phrases may be common, or sound similar, but usage and pronunciation are different enough that communication is difficult or impossible. Some dialects are so different that communication is completely impossible.
A long time ago, it became clear to the Elves that if they wanted to maintain the power to protect their forest homes, that some organizing language would have to be spoken by all Elves. The Elven leaders gathered at the temple of Ayefr and Yefr at the northern edge of the High Forest (or the Southern Edge of the Grey Forest, depending on who is telling the story). Each race of Elves wanted all the other elves to use their own dialect, and no compromise seemed possible. In fact, the council of Elves was becoming so fractious and discordant, that it appeared that the end result was to be further separation and division.
At this point Yefr himself manifested a solution (with possible help from Ayefr). A large circle had been created in the forest around which the elders were discussing the problem. This circle had been established ages ago after the demi-races had removed the gods from the natural plane (as the elves call the prime material plane), as a small replica of the magic circle used during the banishment. Tempers were flaring, and some factions were so enraged by the unreasonable demands of the other factions that Elven civil war was not an unreal possibility. The circle was holy ground, and could not be entered except to declare or capitulate a war. All at once, four of the elders who's dialect differed the most from the dialect which was currently being considered as the standard entered the ring.
The Elven leaders were shocked and dismayed, as this meant that civil war was imminent. At the moment when the four elders stepped into the ring, the ring started to glow red, and split into four rings, each centered on one of the elves who had entered the ring, yet still entwined. Due to the new, larger configuration of rings, those Elven leaders which had previously been outside the ring, now stood inside one or two of the four rings. In the center, from the area which encompassed all four rings, a bright, white light rose to the sky, which was difficult, but not impossible to look at. From this light a male Elven voice of incredible majesty and beauty declared these words, "You are not outside the ring of banishment, for I am me, and you are he and she, and we are all together."
Suddenly the light disappeared, but the single lime-stone and marble ring which had been in that spot previously was replaced by the four red-stone rings which are still there today. At first, the elders did not understand the meaning of the pronouncement. Some arguing and bickering continued in the various dialects. When all seemed lost again, understanding flowed over the crowd, like a gust of wind or a fall of light rain (some claim, this was Ayefr's doing): the voice which had come from the light had spoken in Eastern Human. This language was known as Kronian, or Common, as the people of the human city Kron called it. It was resolved that the Elven races were to keep their dialects and cultures separate and equal. Common was to be the standard tongue when communicating between disparate races. The reasoning was that if the Common tongue was used by the gods in order to communicate to the assembled group of elves, then it could be used for a standard cross-Elven language.
Even given the divine intercession, acceptance of the Kronian tongue was difficult. There were many languages that all elves learned, such as goblin, orcish, and kobold. Any one of them could have served for a common language if a non-Elven language were to be chosen. In fact, the human race was considered at that time to be not much better than orcs. It was true that the humans tended to cut the trees down in order to build artifices of good, while orcs tended to cut the trees down in order to build artifices of evil. However, it was also true that both non-Elven races cut the trees down with no provisions for growing other trees elsewhere (which is an Elven tradition which spans all the known races). Yet, in time the choice was accepted. Ever since that time, most Elven children have been taught their native dialects, as well as the Kronian tongue spoken by the other Elven races and most of the humans of the Eastern Seaboard.
For ease of use, the Elves allow the humans to categorize the elves into general classes, generally based only on the grosses external features which the humans seem to be able to distinguish.
These Elves generally come from the High Forest, which is north of the Kronian lands, and extends from the East Coast to the Brazen Mountains. Humans have extensive contact and knowledge of High Elves. Several towns in the Kronian provinces are run by High Elves, such as Sillopanna. The human caravan companies have established profitable and extensive routes through the southern portions of the High forest with the blessing and help of the Elven kingdoms in the forests. It is usually the High Elves who held the Dwarves and Gnomes to cut the supply lines of Niemann's forces during the orc wars, and hence the Kronian lands have a very good relationship with the Elves.
There is some grumbling amongst the High Elves about the encroachment of the humans into the forests.
The Drow are a race of elves who come originally from the dark northwestern Drow forest. Legend has it that the Demonness Lolth had at one time entwined Yefr and Ayefr in a special web. While the siblings were tied together, Lolth created some of the aggressive and dangerous forest animals and creatures. When Yefr and Ayefr found a way to break their binds, a great battle ensued between Yefr and Lolth. The complete history of this battle is unknown, but at some point in the battle Yefr's blood was shed, and from this blood the races of elves sprang. However, some of this blood also mixed with the blood of Lolth, from which blood the Drow arose. Hence there is lively debate between Elven scholars over the meaning of the story, and whether or not Drow can truly be considered 'Elves,' and whether or not they can overcome the component of Demonness blood vital to their makeup.
The Drow still live in the Drow forest, and despite their reputation as cruel and heartless beings, they have not participated in large numbers in the wars against the Kronian Seaboard. However, encroachments into the Drow forest have been met with strong and brutal resistance. Many fierce and magical creatures live in the Drow forest.
The Brazen Mountains and the Western Mountains house most of the dwarven race. Dwarven society is clan-based in a tree of intertwining alliances and offshoots. Each branch has a name, but most branches end up tangled into one of the main trees. The clan-tree of the past is depicted in many tapestries, wood carvings, and stone relief works.
This tree structure of the clan reflects one of the stories about the founding God of the Dwarves, Nido. It is said that Nido hung himself on the tree of life in order to get gnostic or mystical knowledge to bring to the Dwarven race. This great sacrifice was only partially successful, since Dwarves are not good with magic and magical things. However, Dwarves dwell in caves and mountains, deep inside the earth, which gives them some knowledge of the deep places inside the soul. It is said that the Dwarves were the first alchemists - attempting to change base led into gold, not necessarily on a physical level, but on the deeper personal level of the soul.
Dwarves are strange amongst the warring races in that the ratio of males to females is two to one. This means that Dwarven females are highly prized, and fiercely defended from attack. It is the women who have the political power in Dwarven society, while the men tend to be considered by the female power base to be drone-like and expendable. It is very rare to find a Dwarven woman outside the cave clan towns in which dwarves live. Dwarven women are allowed up to four husbands, and an average adult female keeps three husbands. However, marriage is considered to be short term (ten to twenty years is considered appropriate) and Dwarven females often swap husbands when they feel it would solidify political clan agendas.
Dwarven males, on the other hand, when the are married are usually very faithful to their wives, since having more than one master can be very taxing. Dwarven females give birth to new Dwarves once every eight to nine years or so, from the time that they are fifty. Hence, most Dwarves have an average of six siblings. Dwarven families are reckoned through the female, so if two Dwarves have the same mother, they are considered brothers. However, if two Dwarves have the same father but different mothers, they are considered to be recorma to each other (the closest translation of recorma in Kronian parlance is cousin).
Dwarves live in the hills and the mountains. Their enclaves generally have some structures and utilities in the open air, in a place where many cave entrances can be found. Many dwarves live in these outer towns and villages, but the real center of a Dwarven enclave is inside the caves and mines. The women of a clan almost never come outside of the caves, and never live in the outer or exposed part of Dwarven towns. The usual reason women come outside might be to travel on diplomatic or husband finding (the same thing) missions to other clans which are not accessible through the tunnels. Hence when humans first started studying the Dwarven habits and lifestyles, there was some confusion over whether or not Dwarven females existed, since none could be found in the Dwarven towns and villages which the humans visited. It is rare that any race other than dwarves are allowed inside the cave area of a Dwarven town.
The Humans know of five main clans which are currently considered to be root clans. (Sometimes root clans get spread out into several other root trees - dwarves do not consider this to be decline, but rather the goal of their society - having roots in many different clans in order to form a stronger tree). These clans are the Yemar, Haric, Griko, Fucrudin and Balba clans. It is not always true that these clans have complete harmony between each other - there are feuds which have to do with territory and supplies of good husbands. It is also known that there is at least one "sick" part of the tree, which has given rise to the evil race of dwarves known as Druegarr. There are not many other races which even know of the existence of the Druegarr clan, since the Dwarves consider them to be the "dirty laundry" of the family tree, and the Dwarves keep their dirty laundry to themselves.
The yemar are the clan which are located closest to Kron and which the humans in the Kronian lands have the most dealings with. The Yemar are principals in many of the mining guilds, and also have significant interest in IBM.
You would think that people who were so friendly and for whom no race has a quarrel would have a very open society. If you ever attended a halvling tea-party, this notion would not be dispelled. However, a veritable ocean of intrigue, power-struggle, slight, alliance and scandal lie beneath the surface in halving society. Further, all of these things may occur in during one tea-time, simply by merit the of whom is served before whom by the mother. The halvling believe that to show these sorts of things to outsiders is unseemly. Hence few outsiders know what it means when a Oxford Old Boy says "just so," to a Brown Fellow.
Halvlings are people who love their gardens. All three types of Halvlings (Stout, Longfellow and Hairfoot) live in the hills far to the south of Kron. They keep very clean burrows, and outside each burrow is a bright and well-maintained garden. The halvling god is Nudi, and since each worshipper of Nudi must maintain a garden at their place of permanent lodging the keeping of the garden itself is considered to be a religious activity.
The most famous and mysterious structure in the halvling lands are the hanging gardens, which is a large, tastefully ergonomic building with sections above and below ground dedicated to all kinds of plants, but especially to hanging plants. The hanging gardens are a tourist attraction, and many families of many races spend vacations traveling to see them. In fact, the DEC caravan company has an official relationship with the proprietors of the hanging gardens in order to offer package travel deals to its customers.
Although gardening and tea are the main passions of halvlings, they are also very useful at all the arts and crafts, and nearly all burrows are crowded with nick-nacks of every description. Tiny wooden sculptures, brass wall hangings, ornate clocks, impeccably carved bedside tables, beads of every description, colorful collections of stones, intricate vases, are all items to be found in profusion (but tastefully done) in halvling homes. When halvlings acquire wealth, it is so they can more tastefully decorate their burrows and gardens in this manner.
The halvlings are also unique in that their system of government is completely democratic. There is a senate of six (two of Stout stock, two of Longfellow stock, and two of Hairfoot stock), and a house of one-hundred from the various districts, based on the population of the district. Two consuls are appointed as leaders by popular vote. These two consuls serve six year terms, and elections are held every three years, so that the consuls terms are staggered. Consuls can serve any number of terms, and are the leaders of the halvling armies.
The only race of demi-humans which halvlings hate are lizard-men. There are great marshes to the south of the halvling lands, and the lizard-men and the halvlings often vie for territory along the southern border. Most of the standing halvling army is quartered in the southern part of the halvling lands in order to deal with the frequent clashes and incursions suffered from the lizard-men.
Halvling children are schooled at the large universities: Oxford, Brown and Yale. It is often the case that social status is based on University attended rather than the race of halvling. Hence, two Stouts who went to Oxford and Yale respectively would be considered bitter rivals ("You, sir, have the boorish manners of a Yaley"), while a Longfellow who also went to Oxford would be considered allies with the Stout from Oxford.
Gnomes live in the south western foothills of the Brazen Mountains. Of all the civilized demi-human races, (Elves, Half-Elves, Dwarves and Halvlings) the Gnomes live farthest from the human lands surrounding Kron. They are the only one of the civilized demi-human races which have their homeland to the west of the the Brazen mountains. (The Drow are not considered to be "civilized").
Gnomic society is based on eating clubs. Every day, the Gnomic men will stop their work in order to have dinner with their eating clubs. At these clubs, the young initiates into the club serve the older gnomes. It is considered the duty of each Gnome in the club to sponsor a youngster into the club. One of the responsibilities of this sponsor is to guide the young male Gnome through the difficult physical and mental schools which all Gnomic boys are put into at a very early age. These schools are amongst the best schools of all the races, catering to both the physical and mental aspects of the boys education.
Gnomic females have an interesting place in gnomic society. Gnomic males main responsibility is to sponsor and help the young Gnomic boys. However, it is expected at some point a Gnome will choose a female for a wife (the Gnomes know how to cut a jig, and the main Gnomic social activities consist of colorful dances in beautiful dance halls, bedecked in the gems and colorful artistry particular to Gnomes). However, it is not uncommon for a fellow eating club associate to ask to borrow another members wife. This request usually happens when a young member of the club wishes to have a child, but does not yet wish to get married. Rather than being an insult, asking to borrow your eating-club members' wife is considered to be a great honor, and more often than not the request is granted. These Gnomic swaps usually last for about a month at a time.
Gnomic females keep to themselves, and learn to keep the cave or burrow through word of mouth. They do learn from their husbands the art of polishing and cutting stones, so that they can stay home and cut or polish the gems which their husbands mine. However, their main task in life is to raise the very young. Eventually, the Gnomic boys will be put into one of the eating clubs (it is illegal in Gnomic society for a Gnome to join the same eating fraternity as his father. The Gnomic boy must find another eating club, and a sponsor), while Gnomic girls are prepared for the duties and responsibilities of being a wife. When the Gnomic boy leaves home for his new eating club, the club becomes the boys parents, and the true parents (which may not be the husband and wife) are expected to have no more to do with the boy. It generally does not work that way, since the parents often keep tabs on their sons through interaction with the sons eating clubs.
The girls, however, are the property and responsibility of the mother and husband (not necessarily the father) until marriage. Having another woman in the home in order to help with the chores (cutting and polishing gems, doing the detail or small work on the machinery, creating the colorful Gnomic tapestries) is considered a great help, so that often the parents are unhappy to see the girls go. In order to provide incentive, Gnomic males who wish to propose marriage, must pay reparations to the parents. This reparation usually is in the form of gems or gold, but cattle and sheep or other means have been known to be used for this reparation.
Furthermore, the Gnomic woman can set any price which she desires which the Gnomic suitor must pay her as well. The money the woman asks from the boy is intended to be the insurance policy for the prospective bride. If the groom should die or become a poor provider, the female should be able to live off of this money. However, in actual practice, (especially if the couple are actually in love), the money which the woman asks for tends to be a token "special" amount, such as 1052 GG (Gnomic Gold).
Although most Gnomic women fall into this pattern, there also seem to be a large percentage of Gnomic women (say, one out of ten) who do not enjoy staying at home, in order to keep burrow for their husbands. These women leave their clan and go to the Human, Elven or Halvling lands in order to establish a place for themselves there. Rather than being considered outcasts in Gnomic society, these women are simply deemed different, and are neither revered for their wisdom or ridiculed for their differences. If these Gnomic women travel back to their clan, they are welcomed warmly. If they remain in foreign lands, then when other Gnomes meet them, they are treated with respect.
Gnomes love to build machines, and often use their mine and burrow homes for garages in which to keep the machines which they build. In fact, one of the main sources of revenue for Gnomes is trade with the Halvlings for farm equipment and machinery. Recently, both IBM and Apple has made overtures to the Gnomic elders to establish permanent trade routes between the Kronian kingdom and the Gnomes. There are some difficulties associated with such a trade line. One potential trade route is through the Halvling lands. This route is not the most direct (in fact, the initial leg of the routes would be south rather than north), and going through the Halvling lands would involved taxes and tariffs on merchandise. The other main route is through the Southern portion of the Brazen mountains. While the North-Eastern portion of the Brazen mountains have been made safe by the Dwarves and the caravan companies, the Southern Brazen mountains have not been tamed to any degree yet. There are Giants, Dragons, Trolls, Ogres, Hydras and all other manner of nasty creatures throughout the ranges. Furthermore, the terrain is much more difficult, featuring cliffs and impassable valleys.
The Gnomes, being productive machine makers, were one of the only races which the Gods paid much attention to during their war on the planet. The gods employed the Gnomes both on Lilne's and Annani's side to create machines of war. Ikol himself recruited (or forced) a clan of Gnomes called Spriggan to create his hideous and insidious devices. The Spriggan became so twisted by their involvement with Ikol and with the strange and unbearable knowledge of these machines that they became evil themselves. This twisted and mainly insane sect of the Gnomic race are a source of embarrassment for other Gnomes. Unlike the Drueggar family of the Dwarves, the Spriggan are well known by the other races of the Kronian Seaboard, since the new and cruel war machines of the Spriggan are used in every war mounted from the Woble continent and the Western lands.
The story of the war of the gods starts with a love affair between a human named Beatold and the Goddess Ayefr. Some say that this Beatold is the same Beatold who started the line of Kings in Kron. Scholars have trouble believing these stories because of the fact that the time lines simply do not match up. If the Beatold of this story is the same Beatold who started the Kronian line of Kings, then he would have had to have been somewhere between two and four thousand years old.
However strange the story, it is believed that this love story (there are those who do not believe Ayefr became pregnant from Beatold, but rather that the love story is a metaphor for the fact that Elves found the new race of Humans very attractive, and many Humans found Elves to be mysterious and beautiful, and that many half-elves were the end result) is the source of the Half-elven race.
Although it is clear that the Half-Elven race is the smallest of all the major civilized races, they are the fastest growing. The Half-Elven race has just enough members to have a sustainable race even if new members of the race were not being added by the continuing (though greatly cooled) affair between Humans and Elves.
Half-elves combine some of the best features of both sets of ancestors. However, the formation of a separate society for Half-Elves has been problematic due to the fact that the Half-Elves have no specific area of Saii to call their own, as do the Elves, Humans, Halvling, Dwarves and Gnomes. Strangely enough, what this means is that the population of Half-Elves is spread more evenly over the entire set of continents. Hence, they can be found nearly anywhere, unlike the other races. For example, if you were visiting the famous Halvling Hanging Gardens, you would be hard-pressed to find any Elves at all. However, you could easily find some Half-Elves. Despite their smaller numbers, the awareness of Half-Elves is the greatest of all the races because of their ubiquity.
When Half-Elves do form independent societies, they are as nomadic wanderers. It is not unusual for these nomadic societies of half-elves to strike out into areas usually not considered safe. Hence, there are many Half-Elves on the untamed continents, as well as in dessert caravans.
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