A Fortress Within

A large swath of the Fair Kingdom is either occupied by the Empire of the Crescent Moon, or under the suzerainty of native nobles sympathetic to the Empire of the Crescent Moon— which can be quite generous in terms of the autonomy it leaves to the local aristocrats as long as they support the Empire.

As a result, those nobles who are either sympathetic to the Empire of the One Faith or try to stay neutral between the two opposing and powerful empires have to strengthen the borders of their holdings and demesnes lest the Crescent Moon takes advantage of their weakness. As a result, a whole chain of small border fortresses has sprung up within the Fair Kingdom rather than at its borders as used to be the case in the past.

A typical fortress within the kingdom

Justice in the Fair Kingdom

Herrenstuhl

The administration of justice is entirely in the hands of the nobles, each of whom has his prison and his local magistrates. In petty cases, the magistrate administers summary punishment, and is provided with a machine for inflicting stripes. In the case of a robber being caught in the fact, he may be punished even severely without much delay: in doubtful cases, it is necessary to proceed with more caution; but the code of the Fair Kingdom is extremely imperfect, and the proceedings are all directed towards extorting a confession. In cases of importance, it is necessary to call a Herrenstuhl, a sort of jury, in which the provincial magistrate always takes a part. Here a fiscal or lawyer must plead the case sometimes both for and against the party accused. Appeals may be made to the courts of the county and of the circle, and lastly to the royal court of Pressburg. This complicated system of appeals, necessary perhaps in a country where the influence of the nobles is everything, and where a single person is sometimes proprietary of a whole county, renders the execution of a sentence so dilatory, that it is sometimes put off for months, and even for years: capital punishments are very rare in this country.

—from the diary of a traveller from far Caledonia

Foes

Not only should monsters be uniquely designed by the GM; they should also be sparingly used. Anyway, the most frequently met foes are humans. They are the most formidable opponents player characters may encounter.

Monsters

Monsters must be uniquely designed by the GM for each adventure: what sense of awe and bewilderment can there possibly be if the creature encountered is already well-known by the players? There are, however, monster categories, so as to have specialised weapons, spells, etc. Suggested categories are:

• Changelings/faeries
• Monsters from the pagan past
• Otherworldly monsters (e.g., demons)
• Undead

Creation

This blog will present a dark fantasy setting based on late 16th century/early 17th century Central European legends and lore.