| "For a countryman be he
farmer or just serf,
there is no gold and right in all the world." (quoted from the song "The knight and the maiden", written from an unknown travelling man in the Lovely Field) "In the name of Lord Praios, Lady Rondra and their ten immortal brothers and sisters, in the name of honor, of courage and of divine power, in the name of faithfulness, the realm and the imperial majesty, in the name of love and respect of any good-hearted creature, I now sink this blade on thy shoulders, which shall carry a hard burden from now on. So stand up, knight..." (in most parts of Arkania the formula for knighting someone) A modern democratic state is seemingly no atmosphere where dragons, orks and hobgoblins grow. They demand for princes, who wear crowns, may they be called empress, king or duke. Consequently, the dominating form of state is monarchy. Arkanian princes, however, are not like kings or queens taken out of a fairy tale, who only wonder where their fair daughter has vanished, they have to care about politics. The era of Arkania is not really similar to the medieval times on Earth but more like the early renaissance and so Arkanian princes act accordingly, i.e. they use all the means of politics available: diplomacy, corruption, war and intrigue. But most of them are truly working for the sake of their people. And thus they are honored by the people as semidivine entities. Heroes of your players should also have a certain amount of faith in "their" emperor or empress. The gamemaster should deal with the actions of those princes and use this knowledge for scenarios. |
The two most significant states
in Arkania are the "Middle-realm" and the "Lovely Field", also called "Horasrealm".
The §Middle-realm" is governed by a king, King Brin I, because the
emperor vanished about ten years ago, but this kintg will sonn be called
emperor again after a certain amount of time displayed in a contract of
the nobles of the region. The Horasrealm is governed by an empress, Amene
III, who is the newer and at the same time older imperial power on the
continent. Only recently they were admitted by the Middle-realm, which
is still the dominating power. But there empire rests on the very beginning
of the settelement of people in Arkania, which was once stopped by the
gods themselves because of their blasphemous actions. Both states are structured
classically, i.e. according to the normal medieval vassal system in which
a farmer pays taxes to a baron who pays taxes to a count who pays taxes
to a duke and so on.
This society is the base for the heroes. Their rank can be all important for an adventure chronicle. A noble warrior will seek honor and glory for himself and his king, a thief will look for the most noble of the noble to rob them because they carry more money. By gaining glory and honor everybody even a magician or an elf may gain the respect of the noble and rise in rank by receiving a medal, the knighting oder even some land to call their own. (At the moment about 200 honorable players are owners of a barony or a noble estate. They proceed as they wish with their land and work together with the authors.) Arkanian history is still developping further and further. Regularly the world is informed by The Arakanian Courier about the ways of the powers and people. Some adventure chronicles available are set in the marking points of Arkanian history. The newest example for that is the Borbarad-Chronicle which starts with the adventure "A neverending nightmare" and will probably be translated into english. The authors try to respect all wishes of the players, but they do sometimes collide and there are the own wishes of the authors. (Unfortunately the solution they find is not always the best, but nobody is perfect.). |