Realm Number: 3
Realm Name: Grand republic of Röken and the Kopper march
Realm Banner: A golden hammer and and (wheat) ear crossed over a copper coin before black background. (Unlike the noble realms, the republic uses this flag more then the family banner of the current ruler)
Realm Description: The free city of Röken was eager to join the Empire in the times of Titus in return for dominion over the surrounding feral lands populated mostly by orcs and goblins. By now, the human city has firmly established this grip. Human settlement politic outside the great walls however did only marginally civilized the countryside. At least it established a very effective trade and taxation system.
What is Realm's view on the Empire?: The empire is great. Especially looking at the scary neighbors to the south, the Burgmasters are happy to have such a big liege lord for protection. It would just be great, if the next Emperor understood, that Röken and the Kopper march should be tax-exempt.
Description of Head of House Province: The first Burgmaster governs the city with an executive college of two others, elected from the council of 20 Councilmen. Each Burgmaster is "first" for 2 years, the Council and executive college are elected from the merchant families every six years. The Burgmaster title is limited to one period, the Councilmen title to less then three (If a councilmen dies and is replaced during one election period, the replacer can be elected into council another two times)
Court Position Request: Chamberlain #3, filled with the head of one of the merchant families chosen by Lord High Chamberlain for life, veto-able by the Röken council three times. Current holder: Walther von Stecken: 61 years old, Head of the von Stecken Family and former two period councilmen of Röken. Walter has liberal views for his age and a strong advocate for the civil rights of Orcs and Goblins as well as low taxes (But coming from Röken the last thing goes without saying)
Capital City: City-state of Röken
Population: (To be realistic, I would need a scale on that map) 330.000 in Röken and the greater urban area, 1.99 million total (Although goblins should hardly count for one each
)
Race Composition (Percentage of each sentient race): Humans 45%, Goblins 30%, Orcs 25%, Trolls with citizenship: <0,1% (Waits approval from
Master elected primus, due to less then 65% human)
Status of the races other than men: In Röken, nonhumans are regarded as second-class citizens. They have no representation in the 20 merchant families and are as such not electable into the council. They are also rather rare (Goblins: ~15%, Orcs ~3% of the city population)
In the countryside, it depends upon the barony: There are Orc-dominated once, where humans are regarded inferior, human dominated ones and a good deal of egalitarian parts without racial prejudice. There are a number of orcish barons/chiefs and even a few goblins and they are kind of respected by their peers.
Majority Religion: The realm is overall truthful to the Faith. especially in the countryside, old Pagan believes were absorbed into the faith and the result would probably be regarded as a heresy if looked upon to closely by the church but the Cardinal of Röken has covered that up so the unorthodox doctrines are generally not known beyond the Kopper march.
Description of the people and culture: ToDo. For now: Röken is a mix of Hanseatic and Venetian aspects, based upon the Law of Lübeck but with slightly more patrician focus akin to Venice. (But not all the way to a position like the Doge). The surrounding areas are very Saxon/Wendish.
Description of Economy: As a merchant city state, Röken is an economic powerhouse with embassies/trade ports (called Kontors) in all mayor coastal cities of the empire and a few beyond. Some merchant families make a fortune importing exotic goods from the south and selling it at ten- or twenty-fold prices to the nobility of the empire. Other merchants loose their lives trying to establish similar contacts. Specializing in trade vessels, Röken ships are known to be the most save, with great cargo capacity and the fastest with the wind. Their military ships are average. The countryside produced food including some delicious specialties including very strong licor. And the Kopper marches have their name for a reason: there is also a good deal of mining going on there, especially but not exclusively for coal and copper. The Kopper-quartz is the Empires most common (semi-precious) gemstone.
- Exports: Naval supplies, exotic goods, fruits, spices, copper, cheap jewelry, liquor, dyes, cloth, glass, precision tools
- Imports: Grain (during dry years), horses, cattle, lumber, exotic goods
Languages: The City speaks a mostly accent-free High Fulrian, even the lower classes.
The other original language of the realm is Urspreck, the orcish language of the area, still proudly spoken in the Firnlands and in some remote mountain areas. Most people however have adopted a pidgin of the two languages called "Low Fulrian" by the locals, a name that does however lead to confusion with other dialects in the empire, thus when talking with outsiders, it is referred to as Kopper-Fulrianspreck.
Many Urspreck words have found their way to the names of places or landmarks. (If it sounds German, in-world it's probably Urspreck in origin
)
Major Cities (max six): Röken really fufills all the province's urbanized needs with it's population of 1/3 of a million. Minor towns:
Nosbrücken (8,000): The northern town is a center of land based trade into (6) and sometimes (5) and features some of the better plantations. Between the West-Charyben Federation, and the Northern and Eastern Hillmen, the Nosland-Area is a rather civilized spot with cottages and estates for the Röken nobility that wants to flee the busyness of the city for some time.
Haven (12,000): A Trade port for goods of more common demand shiped by moderate and smaller ships (which is not really that good of a combination), Haven resided a day by food north of the Charyben mouth. It is the center of fishing and Administrative master for the coastal area to the north, that features a good deal of wealthy villages and cottages.
Firhall (10,500): Maybe the greatest orc-dominated city in the empire (let's see what further applications bring), Firhall is not a friendly place to visit. It's a meeting place for various tribal people who have embraced technological advances copied from Röken but lacking modern social structures, they tax and land based trade to the south heavily, making the sea-based trade so lucrative for the merchant families of Röken.
Corunden (13,000): The central hub of most mining activities in the Kopper march, Corundians know their way around with metals, especially copper but they produce enough iron for the republic, too, although the iron is not known to be of the best quality. It balances urban citizenship and tribal culture.
Major Citadels/Fortresses (max six): Trutzburg: An anchient fortress in the north from Pre-Imperial times. It is a colossal citadel far greater than any other in the March. Today it watches over a rather peaceful area of mostly human and sometimes goblin dominated tribes to the southwest and civilized cottages, farms and plantations to the northeast and serves little military purpose. It is however a place of festivals, tournaments and similar events.
Münden: The republic's most important fortress is that at the mouth of the Charyben river. It features multiple plateaus equipped with siege engines overlooking the river and a large military port.
Friedburg: Guarding Stone in the south, Friedburg is an ugly, imposing Orc fortress at the western edge of the ... mountains. It's founding stones date back to ages before the Empire but it had a troubled past and most parts currently standing are from the last hundred years. It's location makes it easily defendable but difficult to supply in case of a siege.
Valburg: In Röken's ambition to tax everybody in the area today known as the marches, Valburg was the last attempt of the resisting tribes in the Southeast, a joined project to erect a massive base of operation for their warriors that would deny Röken's troops control over the area but they were to slow. With the help of cavalry from the Empire and allied tribes in the west, Röken attacked the city during the last weeks of it's construction, allowing them to use the construction machines before the walls as makeshift siege towers. This allowed them to take the walls from the understaffed defenders. However, Röken liked the design and after the subjugation continued the construction. Today the fortress main purpose it to guard the Empire towards the southeast.
Bergwacht: The ... mountains make a natural border for the marches towards the east. However northeast of the Nosland the mountainrange is a mit lower and less steep and a determined, small army could pass it at reasonable losses. Bergwacht is a rather young and (compared to the other fortresses here) small fortress guarding the northeast.
Map: Tribes and Regions:- Greater Röken urban area: This is where the capitol is. Around it is an area of rather save and peaceful cottages and farms owned by wealthy families from the city.
- Nosland: The lowlands near the Charyben spring are civilized and wealthy.
- Schwarzzinnen: The lowly populated northern mountains is tribal and mostly uninteresting
- Blutkoppen: The east-north-eastern mountains are less explored and more raw than Korundien, the tribesmen do however know a good deal about animals and make a good source of leather and furs for the Republic. Their regiment is known for their unbreakable moral.
- Korundien: The Corunden-province is defined by it's mining output.
- West-Charbyben Federation: A series of tribes that are exceptionally peaceful. Yet as a federation, they have enough power and political influence to withstand any attempts to make them see, that their legal system is outdated and they should at least adapt a modern feudalism, if not outright plutocratic elections.
- Scyllans and Stymphalians: Tribes east and northeast of Röken. Very forestry area
- Küstenlands: The civilized lands along the northern parts of the coast, governed from Haven. Comparable densely populated.
- Skeletens: Tribes-people southwest of Röken. Very good farmers, who slowly adopt modern structures of society due to immigration from the city.
- The Firnlands: At the far southwestern part of the republic lives a brutal tribes-people, yet quite sophisticated in the sciences. They do not need to pay per-head taxes but instead provide a greater then normal regiment for the republic.
- Bruchmountains: The tribes in the southern mountains have only basic infrastructure but their quarries produce marble not found in the eastern mountains, that is highly valued by better architects in Röken.
- The Valelands: The Vales are a federation of tribes with great autonomous rights towards their grand chief, in fact, they republican taxes go directly to Röken and it's only their powerful regiment, that creates some sense of unity. They are located in the southeast and go all the way from Röken to the border.
Peerage in Röken and the Kopper march: Despide the fact, that they are a republic, there is nobility in Röken and the march. In fact, there is a lot of low nobility, since Knighthood can be bought be enough coin (On the other hand, a family might loose the noble status upon suggestion if the become impoverished and in debt). This nobility is generally looked down upon by the noblemen of the other realms of the empire. Some families do however have very old and successful family trees deserving the term "noble".
There is another kind of Nobility among the tribes. Despite their successions not as firmly established as among the feudal realms, the chieftain title is usually passed from father to son and the chieftains enjoy some respect from the nobility. A chieftain is usually considered a baron in peerage by the nobles of the empire. The same counts for a small number of nobles with larger land-holdings in Nosland, Küstenland or Skeleten.
Their are also 8 greater Tribal chieftains, who enjoy the prestige normally associated with a count of the empire, the same counts for the first Burgherren of Corunden, Nosbrücken and Haven and the two Burgmasters of Röken currently not "first". The first Burgmaster of Röken is considered equal to a Duke in peerage.This leaves the realm overall underrepresented in prestigious positions. However, this is only natural for a vassal republic.
Military Description:Strengths: Strong in mixed infantry tactics employing lots of crossbows from simple yet precise hand crossbows to the massive portable ballista (think Roman scorpion), a backbone of infantry with tower shields and spears and some pike and pole-arm companies. Ferocious tribal warriors. (The line between the soldier and warrior is blurred)
Weaknesses: Lack of Cavalry (except for a few nobles and some mounted scouts and/or messengers), poor in heavy armor, poor in high scope strategy.
Total Numbers: 24.000 in city regiments and family guards + 25.000 in provincial retinues + 10.000 mercenaries usually hanging around in the area but working for whoever pays.
Navy: The showpiece of Röken naval supremacy is an elite fleet of 12 warships armed with 6 huge hard-mounted ballistas and several smaller siege weapons each, plus large copper fire cauldrons, firmly mounted in the center of the deck to enable the weapons to shoot flaming projectiles. The high deck level and bulwark makes it hard for lower ships to board them. However the main power comes from nearly 2.000 trade and escort vessels owned by the various merchant families that can quickly be repurposed for war. In naval combat, the Röken Doctrine features ship to ship archery and ramming maneuvers but boarding action is generally avoided, if somehow possible. There are no dedicated marine-soldiers but sailors are tough guys and the common soldiers usually does not get sea-sick either.
House Name: Lichtenburg
House Banner: Party per cross, light blue and white, the upper left is white and features a black, stylized tower.
Description of House: The Lichtenburg family tree can easily be drawn on a small piece of paper. It goes back to Frank, a soldier who, 90 years ago, showed great valor against the Yoguten Tribe invading (or rather raiding) the march from the south. He broke through the enemy lines with a small band of Soldiers and slew the enemy chieftain. In return the first Burgmeister awarded him with a small watchtower and a small piece of (empty) land near the southern border. However along with this came the right to bear a family name and a banner (The burgmeister even payed one of the city's vexillologist to design one according to Franz's wishes). Later Frank turned the tables and gathered around him a small group of mercenaries and from the Lichtenburg they organized regular raids on the triebs across the border, making enough money to buy a small cottage near Röken after about a decade. At age 40, Frank married a woman who brought a very respectable dowry into the marriage and they had a single son. Otto continued to improve the business and was a family man, having 2 sons (Franz and Conrad) and 4 daughters. Upon his death, the holdings were split. Franz still owns the Holdings near Röken and Otto those in the south but the true shooting star is Franz's son Otto, who brought a trading ship and succeeded on a trade voyage to Augrilac. This brought him a fortune overnight. The family not only entered the council of Röken but Otto also got elected as third Burgherr, starting his term as first just a month ago.
What is House's view on the Empire?: They do not have any opinion on politics beyond the borders of the republic and are rather reserved. Still, they know, that the Empire offers a strong military alliance and think that since the imperial tax is only calculated from the republic's public tax and toll income, it is a reasonable tax (they do not say that loud in Röken, however).
Description of Head of House: Franz (age 56) is proud father and does not mind standing in the shadow of his son. He has a son and two daughters from his first marriage but the wife died. He found a new wife but the marriage was childless and she is past childbearing age now (neither of the two minds).
Description of Relevant House Members: Otto (age 39), current first Burgmeister of Röken and the Kopper marches is reserved and seams almost shy for a politician. He speaks calm and quietly but by now most people know that it's worthwhile to listen closely. The few merchants that thought a weakness in Otto's behavior learned that he in fact endure a good deal of hostility but once he takes action it's decisive, fast and if necessary brutal. Otto is married and has two sons and a daughter (two other children died of Pneumonia 10 years ago).
Court Position Request: (Family member, position) -
Seat of Power: Röken, Kontors, Palace of the Burgmeisters
Other:RP Sample: (From my last story:
viewtopic.php?p=22808202#p22808202 )
Did you read everything?: From the initial post? Yes.
Time Zone: GMT+1 (Germany)
#TFAE3.0 (Leave this here, this is for identifying apps.
Do not remove.)
Note, that the given house may be the current ruler but I will use a character from a different family (and possibly the ruler after the next election) as my primary character in the RP.