Post/Author/DateTime

Post

Sigurd van Norhusen 06-23-07, 03:08 PM

Just so I don't forget where I put it... Commonwealth of Biskaŭsk Description A ragged country at the northernmost inhabitable History The city of Biskaŭsk was founded 265 years before the Crisis by adventurer and businessman Matŭas Szenam in the most hospitable place of the Northern Wastes, both close to the Grey River and a very great silver field. Despite the climate, the city began to attract inhabitants (aside from the slaves which Matŭas brought with him in the first place) and soon it became a center of trading - mainly silver and fish for foodstuff, wood, and fabric. Over the course of a century, the city became an established trade hub that formed a loose confederation with a circle of surrounding cities (typically near warm water springs or rivers). All that changed circa 150 years before the Crisis, when a flock of vampires started attacking trade caravans with increasing verocity. In desperate attempt to stave off starvation and ruination, the leader of the confederation, Stefán Szenam entered a pact with the vampires, essentially hiring them as mercenaries to stay away from the caravans, in return granting them citizen rights and free food from criminals and undesirables. Over the decades the vampires were granted more and more powers, until they finally took over openly and turned Stefán's granddaughter Mindel into one of their own. After the Crisis, the relatively intact cities were flooded with refugees from all over the world. Soon, they could no longer sustain themselves, so harsh measures were implemented with force - dissenters were publically hanged and forced to guard the city gates as undead. Since the year 53 after the crisis, the Commonwealth of Biskaŭsk has been a feudal, merchant-minded society. On the very top of the feudal ladder are the vampire lords, each residing in a castle close to one or two cities at least. The vampire lords form the government of the entire Commonwealth, communicating via servants or magical means. They trade with mortal lives the same way they deal with sacks of potatoes. Below them are the merchant lords, who are elected by their peers upon wealth and approved by the vampire lord's governor. They (or their representatives) are on the city councils and govern the day-to-day business of their respective city. Below the merchant lords are the mercenaries (adventurers and travellers that pay mercenary taxes) and the ordinary free merchants. Generally, if one intends to stay in the Commonwealth for longer, one has to align with one of the local merchant lords and become his or her feudal servant. Below merchants and mercenaries are the serfs, the rightless bulk of society. Each of them is owned by a merchant (and thereby a merchant lord) and can be taken by a vampire lord at their whim. On their own, they are allowed to own property, but it can be taken away by the merchant (although not without payment, the amount of payment is at the merchant's discretion). It should be noted that, while dhampirs are a far more common occurence in the Commonwealth than elsewhere, they are usually merchant lords or mercenaries. Notable cities Biskaŭsk - 32,000 inhabitants The founding city and metropolis in its own right, is seated in a wind protected depression right next to the Grey River, the largest flowing body of water in the northeastern hemisphere. Pribram - 11.000 inhabitants A city living of the silver and iron mines at its borders, Pribam has been a center of growth for the last decade. While it is more or less a giant ghetto and the inhabitants drop dead like flies, more are always ready to move to the city, desperatly wishing for a chance for richness. A notable center for the local black market - if one knows the right people, everything is available, from foreign spices to exotic slaves. Notable inhabitants Mindel Szenam - Vampire Mistress Last of the Szenam, Mindel is the subjet of too many legends to count. Unlike the other vampire lords, she is seen in the open every odd year, making public speeches or giving out charity (although this is seen as a death sign). Local cults and deities