Midgard: Europe of Myth OOC (OPEN)

by **Personal Freedom** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 10:59 am

"Gather ye travelers and hear ye the talk o' tymes pasted."

IC: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=263135
Map:http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/3005/km9w.jpg (Needs Updated)

Hello, and welcome to my interest thread for a fantasy world that uses the real world geography of Europe. This is set in the dark ages; however, some societies may be much cleaner than they were in Medieval Europe, and though most human kingdoms may resemble historical Europe , for the most part we are living a fantasy world with fantasy tech and all races may have mages. This world is also sparsely populated and full of monsters. Most large cities are 20-40,000 with a few huge city's having more than 100,000. Kingdoms with large cities have low population through the rest of thier claims.

A few areas have been pre-determined by me to have a specific population inhabiting them.

Germany- Werewolves (Black Forest), Vampire Aristocracy over a human population (South/Central Germany)

Ireland: Tutha De Dannan (The People of the Goddess Danna: Almost Camelot-like Elvish Kingdom[s]) Formorii (Misshapen Monstrous Humanoids)

The Norselands: Dwarves, Frost Giants, and Vikings

Code: Select all: APP: NS Name: Society Name: Species: Claims: Population (the largest populations are about half a million): *Military Percentage (this includes all that can be put in action such as militias): Government/Culture: History: Other: RP Sample: *Maxs= Small Pop. 15%, Large Pop. 7% , Medium 10%

My APP:

NS Name: Personal Freedom
Society Name: Leanaí de Math (Children of Math) Known to non-Tutha as Avalonia
Claims: A thickly forested Wales surrounding an artificial lake (The Glimmersea) with a a huge city (Avalon-100,000-125,000)
Species: Elves
Population: 250,000
Military Percentage: 5%
Government/Culture: Elven Magocracy with independent allied lands constituting all its population outside of Avalon. There are two main cultures in this kingdom. The Kindred Folk (Avalon and the surrounding hinterlands of the side of the Glimmersea) have 100,000 to 125,000. These folk live an urban lifestyle and speak a language closely related to the one spoken by those in Ireland.

The remaining population is of other races both within and outside of the Glimmersea area that are subjects of the Magocracy.

The Forest Peoples (Wood Elves to most 40-60,000) defend the forests and live a nature revering lifestyle of hunting with some minimal agriculture. They were here before the arrival of the Children of Math and are technically free and independent. They also speak their own language.
History: The magic of the Tutha De Dannan was gifted upon them by Math, a god-like magician, nearly a thousand years ago. Upon its arrival in society only some were found to exhibit the trait of magic and it was found to run through families. When King Mathwre III was found to have not inherited magic and his young sister Olwen had shown promising ability (approximately 600 hundred years ago), an armed rebellion of many aristocratic families and mages against the ruling dynasty occurred seeking to have the ruler always be a mage.

At the end of the fighting, Owlen had been killed at the hands of those who were attempting to kill her brother (she was about 14 at the time and never had supported the rebellion), the majority of the lower classes and several prominent mages continued to support the king, and Mathwre III had forced the majority of aristocratic families in submission (a few have formed other kingdoms in Ireland). At the re-coronation ceremony held at the end of the war the rebels nobles were brought before the king and exiled.

These families and their mage allies arrived in Wales and found that using magic they were able to terraform the land. They soon constructed the Glimmersea and the Island of Avalon in the centre and went to work on a new society. Believing that it was Math's will that mages should rule they called themselves "Children of Math" and were divided on what type of government to form. In the end they decided on a mage-centred, aristocracy-controlled, oligarchy which was destroyed within a year by more powerful nonaristocratic mages.

These mages established the council of 9. Nine wizardry schools would be established that welcomed anyone with magic ability. Every three years all mages would vote for one representative from each school to form an oligarchy that is all powerful. This continues to this day and was able to ally with the wood elves, but they still harbor a strong dislike for any of the Irish Kingdoms.

Accepted:
Avalonia (Personal Freedom/OP)

The Xaxonite Tribal Federation (Transoxthraxia)

The Exiled Northern (Cymbru)

Fils du Ciel (Les Fideles Al-Hajji)

The Eastwights (Khanastan)

Sarelisian Imperium (Lunas Legion)

Vyldimar Imperrin (Neo-Assyrian Empire/Co-op)

The Baltic Brotherhood (Granadeseret)

The Dwarvish Empire (Rygondria)

Pragrian Alliance (Pragia)

The Nimnauts (Shark Isle)

The Democratic League and the Pact of Power (Photana)

The Iron Domain of the West (The Empire of Pretantia)

Empire of Doden (Warp Asylum)

The Merchant Theocracy of Iberia (Ariado)

Reverent Clansmen of the Hidden Scale (Caecuser)

The Mortal Conglomerate (Caltarania)

by **Harbertia** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:02 am

APP:
NS Name: Harbertia
Society Name: Galion
Species: Human Majority
Claims: Courland
Population (the largest populations are about half a million): -I would like a small population-
*Military Percentage (this includes all that can be put in action such as militias): 14%
Government/Culture: Monarchy, Commercial, Agruarian
History: WWL
Other:
RP Sample:
*Maxs= Small Pop. 15%, Large Pop. 7% , Medium 10%

by **Personal Freedom** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 11:44 am

Bump?

by **Atorea** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 12:04 pm

APP:
NS Name: Atorea
Society Name:
Species: Humans, Demi Gods and Elves, and Viking English people
Claims:All of the British isles and Normandy
Population (the largest populations are about half a million): 400,545
*Military Percentage (this includes all that can be put in action such as militias): 10%
Government/Culture: King Arthur the II pulled Excaliburr out of the Merlins rock. King Arthur than was King and killed all of his fathers enemies. His General's are the Knights of The Round Table
History: The stories of King Arthur are the only known stories, though rumors of Romans are frequently told.
Other:
RP Sample: Do I havveeee tooooo. Ok I will post in the IC, and If its good can I stay in?
*Maxs= Small Pop. 15%, Large Pop. 7% , Medium 10%

by **Personal Freedom** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 2:18 pm

Atorea wrote:APP:
NS Name: Atorea
Society Name:
Species: Humans, Demi Gods and Elves, and Viking English people
Claims:All of the British isles and Normandy
Population (the largest populations are about half a million): 400,545
*Military Percentage (this includes all that can be put in action such as militias): 10%
Government/Culture: King Arthur the II pulled Excaliburr out of the Merlins rock. King Arthur than was King and killed all of his fathers enemies. His General's are the Knights of The Round Table
History: The stories of King Arthur are the only known stories, though rumors of Romans are frequently told.
Other:
RP Sample: Do I havveeee tooooo. Ok I will post in the IC, and If its good can I stay in?
*Maxs= Small Pop. 15%, Large Pop. 7% , Medium 10%

I going to have to deny this. It doesn't really have a property filled out app.

by **Les Fideles Al-Hajji** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 3:47 pm

APP:
NS Name:Les Fideles Al-Hajji
Society Name: Fils du Ciel
Species: Humans, Elves, faeries , and populaire de symboles (Water spirits, forest spirits, ect)
Claims:France please
Population (the largest populations are about half a million): 378,936 apx*
*Military Percentage (this includes all that can be put in action such as militias):7%
Government/Culture: Theocratic Monarchy. The Fils du Ciel have a rich cultural history shrouded in myth and heavily intertwined with religion. More concerned with the pursuit of piety and knowledge the Fils du Ciel lack a standardized military, but have a confederation of defense forces in case of invasion.
History: There are many different and sometimes conflicting versions of the beginning of the Fils du Ciel. Many scholars have pieced together the most likely versions with the most evidence and it goes something like this:

The first Fils du Ciel were small tribes in the northern part of the country that began 8000-10,000 years ago. A common pagan religion unified the tribes against the vampire kingdoms of the east. A common reverence for nature, and the mystical gave the populace of the region a banner to stand behind and their diversity made them strong. Cities sprang up around temples and universities all over the north and eventually spread far to the south. In there quest for knowledge the Fils du Ciel made demands of the gods themselves, through sacrifices, practicing mystical arts, and a dash of black magic the Fils du Ciel grew powerful, and wealthy. As time passed the Fils dynasties grew decadent, and drifted away from the gods that had blessed them with knowledge, and magic. In retaliation Jeanne D'arc, the queen of spirits, created a king to rule over the largely autonomous tribes. Henri Delacroix was the first in noble line of divine kings that would rule the country up until the present day. Through barbarian raids, wars, plagues, and other hardships the Fils du Ciel remain a powerful kingdom devoted to piety and the pursuit of knowledge.
(OOC sorry. I am not good at writing backgrounds)
Other:
RP Sample:

None with this nation, but here are some from my previous nation
http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=14916849#p14916849
http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=15141016#p15141016
http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=11658465#p11658465
*Maxs= Small Pop. 15%, Large Pop. 7% , Medium 10%

by **Personal Freedom** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 3:51 pm

Les Fideles Al-Hajji wrote:APP:
NS Name:Les Fideles Al-Hajji
Society Name: Fils du Ciel
Species: Humans, Elves, faeries , and populaire de symboles (Water spirits, forest spirits, ect)
Claims:France please
Population (the largest populations are about half a million): 378,936 apx*
*Military Percentage (this includes all that can be put in action such as militias):7%
Government/Culture: Theocratic Monarchy. The Fils du Ciel have a rich cultural history shrouded in myth and heavily intertwined with religion. More concerned with the pursuit of piety and knowledge the Fils du Ciel lack a standardized military, but have a confederation of defense forces in case of invasion.
History: There are many different and sometimes conflicting versions of the beginning of the Fils du Ciel. Many scholars have pieced together the most likely versions with the most evidence and it goes something like this:

The first Fils du Ciel were small tribes in the northern part of the country that began 8000-10,000 years ago. A common pagan religion unified the tribes against the vampire kingdoms of the east. A common reverence for nature, and the mystical gave the populace of the region a banner to stand behind and their diversity made them strong. Cities sprang up around temples and universities all over the north and eventually spread far to the south. In there quest for knowledge the Fils du Ciel made demands of the gods themselves, through sacrifices, practicing mystical arts, and a dash of black magic the Fils du Ciel grew powerful, and wealthy. As time passed the Fils dynasties grew decadent, and drifted away from the gods that had blessed them with knowledge, and magic. In retaliation Jeanne D'arc, the queen of spirits, created a king to rule over the largely autonomous tribes. Henri Delacroix was the first in noble line of divine kings that would rule the country up until the present day. Through barbarian raids, wars, plagues, and other hardships the Fils du Ciel remain a powerful kingdom devoted to piety and the pursuit of knowledge.
(OOC sorry. I am not good at writing backgrounds)
Other:
RP Sample:

None with this nation, but here are some from my previous nation
http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=14916849#p14916849
http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=15141016#p15141016
http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?p=11658465#p11658465
*Maxs= Small Pop. 15%, Large Pop. 7% , Medium 10%

Looks good to me, man. Accepted.

by **Les Fideles Al-Hajji** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:11 pm

Sweet, thanks!

On a side note, will there be a map?

by **Personal Freedom** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:17 pm

Les Fideles Al-Hajji wrote:Sweet, thanks!

On a side note, will there be a map?

I don't have the ability to. I use a mobile to post. My brother has the computer. WA reasons.

by **Les Fideles Al-Hajji** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:24 pm

If you want I could make it.

by **Personal Freedom** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:37 pm

Les Fideles Al-Hajji wrote:If you want I could make it.

I would graciously accept your offer. Thank you. We need some more players first though.

by **Granadeseret** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:51 pm

APP:
NS Name: Granadeseret
Society Name: The Baltic Brotherhood
Species: Humanity, Nykštukas (Gnomish people), Laukų dvasios (Spirits of the fields and fertility)
Claims: Lithuania and East Prussia
Population (the largest populations are about half a million): 310,000
*Military Percentage (this includes all that can be put in action such as militias): 7%
Government/Culture: The Brotherhood consists of a traditional feudalistic system of leadership: The Grand Prince, from the Line of Jurtis who rules the capital (located around modern day Koningsburg) and its surrounding territory, is the sovereign of the nation, with the various vassals controlling other territory for him in exchange for tribute, services during war, and an adherence to The Romuva Church (Which has a psudo-Catholic structure of authority and power, but is a little flexable so far as orthodoxy goes). Since The Grand Prince is approved as a representative of all the various gods and goddesses worshiped in The Romuva Church by the Krivis (High Priest), he is in theory a (mostly) absolute Monarch, the only other person weilding national legal power being The Princess Consort (More on her latter). Since he can't micromanage all the estates, though, local landowners (who's titles vary) are allowed to make laws so long as they meet their responsibilities and follow the "Sacred Laws" instituted by the first Krivis.

These are 1. All men born in the Brotherhood are born Free: serfdom is only allowed as "services in lue of taxes paid" if somebody can't pay their tax burden for that year. 2. The gateway to the outside world is controlled by The Grand Prince: all agreements and treaties with foreign nations must be approved by him. 3. No works or laws can be passed which contradict the teachings of The Romuva Church: for the Gods are sovereign even over Princes).

Other then the local nobles, The Grand Prince, and The Romuva Church, the only other entity that has any other powers assigned by law is The Princess Consort, who has perhaps the most unique selection system and position in the nation. The Consort (Which is always female: Grand Princesses are not allowed by law and the crown will always retreat back up a generation to search for male heirs), is supposed to provide The Grand Prince: who is supposed to be a paragon of nobility, might, and intellect (operative word supposed), protection from a monarch's fatal flaw: a dismissal, in his high-minded ideals, of the needs and knowledge of the least among them.

Before we can discuss the Princess, though, we need to understand how lower nobility works in the Brotherhood. For sons of lower nobles, it is relatively simple: the eldest son is the heir to his father's estate (unless he did something to anger The Grand Prince or The Church, who can declare him "spiritually dead" so far as inheritance is concerned... though not without possibly angering his father), and all other sons are able to choose their own path, usually a bureaucratic, religious, or military one. Daughters, however, are treated slightly different. A daughter can, if she has no competing brothers, become the "lady" of her estate, but when a girl reaches the age of her first bloodletting, or was the eldest daughter and surpassed it but later had a brother born, they and their mother must select one of two paths to follow: spirituality or femininity. The first has the daughter become a sister of the Romuva church, which generally means serving a domestic servant in a Dvasiagidas (Guide of the Spirits) or in one of the Romuva church's temples or groves. (And, of course, the Church likes families who do this.) The second, femininity, means the girl will be raised to be a noblewoman and be groomed for marriage, and can now be courted by Church standards (and this means marriages with other nobles, or powerful merchants on occasion, which is good for the strength of the family). Now, only girls who have decided on spirituality can be selected for the position Princess Consort, and the Consort is decided upon the coming-of-age of each potential heir to the throne, through majority vote of the heir himself, his father, and The Krivis (meaning the selected Consort for the eldest son will not be Consort if he, say, falls of his horse and dies: the Consort for his younger brother will be Consort.)

The Princess Consort, alongside the obvious duties of being married to a Monarch, has certain powers on she can envoke. If she disagree with one of her husband's laws, she can envoke a Liaudies pagrindas (People's plea) and obligate him to listen to the words of up to 10 non-nobles related to the subject before he decides. Secondly, she has the right of Deivė prieštaravimas "Goddesses's Plea" and, if she feels a decision unpious, can prevent it from being enacted until The Grand Prince convenes with The Krivis or another high-level religious authority. Finally, she and she alone has the authority to elevate commoners to the level of nobility, if there is an open spot of land to appoint them over ( Say, through a recent conquest or a noble family was removed from power due to treason or withdrawing from The Church).

Culturally-speaking, the people of the brotherhood generally speak Lithuanian ( which is the language of The Grand Prince and his home territories in Lithuania and the proper holy language of The Romuva Church: from that base, it has spread fairly far.) and, outside of the castles, generally live a naturalistic, backwoods lifestyle, hunting or fishing or farming in small villages. Connected by a fairly extensive road system (Or, really, the trampled dirt of a lot of horses or feet going over the same path over and over again). Deep forest areas are treated with a mix of fear and reverance: half of them being treated as holy places where good spirits and gods dwell and the other half being treated the spawning places of dark spirits, and are generally avoided except by Dvasiagidas (Who's job it is to lead the spirits who come from their into the world, and to collect holy items from within) and the occasional hunter. The the castles and the few trade towns (the Capital of Varteh especially, as the nation's major trade center with the outside world and producer of the nation's most valuable exports: amber-work, glass, and beeswax candles) have a more high-class feel about them, with all the amenities of modern civilization like workshops, inns, brewers (alcohol is just as popular here as anywhere else), and build-up: however, the communities always tend to look like oversized villages rather then compact towns: spread out to avoid congestion and tall buildings, and tend to build around nature as opposed to flattening it.

The Nykštukas (Gnome) population (making up about 30,000) are mostly native to the southern parts of the Brotherhood, living mostly around the region's many lakes. Famous for their nibble and skilled hands, Nykštukas have made a name for themselves as perhaps more urban then humans, valuing craftsmanship and delights over dull farm work and boring piousness. Those who do live in the cities have a high tendency to be merchants, brewers, craftsmen, and an unusually high rate of "Creatures of the night", while those who remain in their ancestral homelands remain fishermen and small farmers, content with their own brand of fun which involves playing tricks on the creatures of nature.

Laukų dvasios (Field spirits) on the other hand, are extremely rare but extremely well-known. With only about 2,000 of them throughout the entire Brotherhood, most villages only see them about once a year, when they pass through their fields, guided from their winter sleeping places in the deepest forests by their Dvasiagida. All of them are dryad-like creatures: attractive young females with some plant or animal-like characteristic, and beaming with life and energy, and have no real concrete society or culture of their own: this is because they spend their waking months from March to October (Usually, sometimes slightly longer or shorter) wandering the nation alone or in pairs, visiting fields to bless them and bring the crops to grow. When they visit the village, it is tradition to always throw them a party for the one night they stay, indulging them in the finest food, drink, and talent you have to offer, so they have something to dream of during the winter months. Of course, a few ( about a dozen) don't actually sleep for some as of yet unknown reason: these few usually (Since they can't survive in the snow for very long) inside castles of nobles: and to host one of these is the highest of honors, the Church exempting you of your tithes for the year to help you pay for them and the ladies of the house almost always being gifted with smooth, not-lethal multiple births the following year due to all the fertility energy floating around.

History: The ancient history of the Baltic tribes is a very vague one, having been passed down solely by oral tradition. What is well known is this: the Baltic tribes have long since sat the far edge of the civilized world, separated from their civilized brothers by the impenetrable wall of the Vampire clans. Indeed, many of the people in the western part of the nation consist of refugees from the vampires, forming a shaky human confederacy in the area of East Prussia, after pushing out the native tribes, the Warmians and Sambians, by exploiting a major religious conflict between the two. Here, they met with the natives who'd been warring in the area since time immortal: the gnomish-lake states (The Lenka), the Sudovians just to their east, the Courlanders who pushed the northern border, and the strongest of them all: the Lithuanians, who'd actually developed a semi-modernized government structure (like those the refugees understood) in the central-eastern parts of the region. The new confederation opened out its hands to the Lithuanian Duke, Ullinerius I, to provide them with a home and protection in exchange for their fealty, the system that followed becoming the feudal system that would one day manage the Empire.

At this, Ullinerius took the title of Prince, declaring himself sovereign ruler of Žemėsperk (Land of the Displaced) and Lithuania, and sent his holy men there to instruct the newcomers on the people's orthodoxy (The main differences between the regions in the area being which parts of the local pantheon they worshiped). The natives, being used only to the bloodthirsty, human-demeaning gods of the vampires, quickly took hold of their new faith, and began the learn the language of Lithuania. Then, to fully bind the realms together, Ullinerius moved his seat closer to the mouth of Neris river, where his people and the new refugees were most mixed, and founded a city there: the city of Varteh. And, for a time, all seemed right with the world... until one fateful day about 330 years ago.

The Vampire clans of the Germanies set an attack into the Sudovian tribes, seeking to gain fresh feed-stock after a particularly nasty plague had wiped out much of their human population. Attempting to fight on their own, the Sudovians found themselves unable to compete, and threw themselves at the mercy of the Lithuanian prince. Giving them the same offer his grandfather had given to the Žemė (as they were now called), the Sudovian nobles became vassals of the Lithuanians, and the Lithuanian armies launched an attack on the vampires, driving them back across the Vistula and away from his people.

With the threat gone, the current Lithuanian Prince, Tautmilas II, made the highly controversial decision to call the priests, shaman, spirt-guiders,and other holy men and women or the various Baltic faiths into a great Susitikimų Susitaikymo (Reconciling Conference) to form a United Church of Romuva which honored all the gods, goddesses, and spirits of the region as they deserved, without the favoritism that the various regions had given up until now. The obvious reason behind this was the tightly bind Sudovian to the new nation, but despite only hoping for a lackluster result, he found the holy men/women highly willing to compromise: it was the secular nobles who were the more rowdy ones. Eventually, after a year and a half of debate, the Dvasiagida all instructed the spirits to come to the grove in which the debates had taken place, to conferm in them that the divided between the deities had been resolved: and asked them to select, in their wisdom, one of them to be the first Krivis Of All the Baltics. (The Courland representative was the only one to walk away from the agreement, as some of her gods were not included in the approved pantheon).

With the churches united, the nations in the region stopped their incessant warring and began to focus on building themselves up and learning all the new ideals of the new faith: the heirs of nobles being especially educated to try to remove any chance of the old faiths reemerging. Gradually, the people grew closer and closer, with the Gnomish Lenka and the smaller tribes all eventually joining into Lithuania peacefully, the Baltic Brotherhood name eventually being adopted to emphasis the religious as well as secular origin of the state. Since then, the Brotherhood as reached out into the sea to try to relocate the human and elvish populations they've been cut off from for so long: eventually succeeding and building trade relations through the Baltic Sea.

RP Sample:
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=260361
*Maxs= Small Pop. 15%, Large Pop. 7% , Medium 10%

by **Personal Freedom** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 4:59 pm

Granadeseret wrote:APP:
NS Name: Granadeseret
Society Name: The Baltic Brotherhood
Species: Humanity, Nykštukas (Gnomish people), Laukų dvasios (Spirits of the fields and fertility)
Claims: Lithuania and East Prussia
Population (the largest populations are about half a million): 310,000
*Military Percentage (this includes all that can be put in action such as militias): 7%
Government/Culture: The Brotherhood consists of a traditional feudalistic system of leadership: The Grand Prince, from the Line of Jurtis who rules the capital (located around modern day Koningsburg) and its surrounding territory, is the sovereign of the nation, with the various vassals controlling other territory for him in exchange for tribute, services during war, and an adherence to The Romuva Church (Which has a psudo-Catholic structure of authority and power, but is a little flexable so far as orthodoxy goes). Since The Grand Prince is approved as a representative of all the various gods and goddesses worshiped in The Romuva Church by the Krivis (High Priest), he is in theory a (mostly) absolute Monarch, the only other person weilding national legal power being The Princess Consort (More on her latter). Since he can't micromanage all the estates, though, local landowners (who's titles vary) are allowed to make laws so long as they meet their responsibilities and follow the "Sacred Laws" instituted by the first Krivis.

These are 1. All men born in the Brotherhood are born Free: serfdom is only allowed as "services in lue of taxes paid" if somebody can't pay their tax burden for that year. 2. The gateway to the outside world is controlled by The Grand Prince: all agreements and treaties with foreign nations must be approved by him. 3. No works or laws can be passed which contradict the teachings of The Romuva Church: for the Gods are sovereign even over Princes).

Other then the local nobles, The Grand Prince, and The Romuva Church, the only other entity that has any other powers assigned by law is The Princess Consort, who has perhaps the most unique selection system and position in the nation. The Consort (Which is always female: Grand Princesses are not allowed by law and the crown will always retreat back up a generation to search for male heirs), is supposed to provide The Grand Prince: who is supposed to be a paragon of nobility, might, and intellect (operative word supposed), protection from a monarch's fatal flaw: a dismissal, in his high-minded ideals, of the needs and knowledge of the least among them.

Before we can discuss the Princess, though, we need to understand how lower nobility works in the Brotherhood. For sons of lower nobles, it is relatively simple: the eldest son is the heir to his father's estate (unless he did something to anger The Grand Prince or The Church, who can declare him "spiritually dead" so far as inheritance is concerned... though not without possibly angering his father), and all other sons are able to choose their own path, usually a bureaucratic, religious, or military one. Daughters, however, are treated slightly different. A daughter can, if she has no competing brothers, become the "lady" of her estate, but when a girl reaches the age of her first bloodletting, or was the eldest daughter and surpassed it but later had a brother born, they and their mother must select one of two paths to follow: spirituality or femininity. The first has the daughter become a sister of the Romuva church, which generally means serving a domestic servant in a Dvasiagidas (Guide of the Spirits) or in one of the Romuva church's temples or groves. (And, of course, the Church likes families who do this.) The second, femininity, means the girl will be raised to be a noblewoman and be groomed for marriage, and can now be courted by Church standards (and this means marriages with other nobles, or powerful merchants on occasion, which is good for the strength of the family). Now, only girls who have decided on spirituality can be selected for the position Princess Consort, and the Consort is decided upon the coming-of-age of each potential heir to the throne, through majority vote of the heir himself, his father, and The Krivis (meaning the selected Consort for the eldest son will not be Consort if he, say, falls of his horse and dies: the Consort for his younger brother will be Consort.)

The Princess Consort, alongside the obvious duties of being married to a Monarch, has certain powers on she can envoke. If she disagree with one of her husband's laws, she can envoke a Liaudies pagrindas (People's plea) and obligate him to listen to the words of up to 10 non-nobles related to the subject before he decides. Secondly, she has the right of Deivė prieštaravimas "Goddesses's Plea" and, if she feels a decision unpious, can prevent it from being enacted until The Grand Prince convenes with The Krivis or another high-level religious authority. Finally, she and she alone has the authority to elevate commoners to the level of nobility, if there is an open spot of land to appoint them over ( Say, through a recent conquest or a noble family was removed from power due to treason or withdrawing from The Church).

Culturally-speaking, the people of the brotherhood generally speak Lithuanian ( which is the language of The Grand Prince and his home territories in Lithuania and the proper holy language of The Romuva Church: from that base, it has spread fairly far.) and, outside of the castles, generally live a naturalistic, backwoods lifestyle, hunting or fishing or farming in small villages. Connected by a fairly extensive road system (Or, really, the trampled dirt of a lot of horses or feet going over the same path over and over again). Deep forest areas are treated with a mix of fear and reverance: half of them being treated as holy places where good spirits and gods dwell and the other half being treated the spawning places of dark spirits, and are generally avoided except by Dvasiagidas (Who's job it is to lead the spirits who come from their into the world, and to collect holy items from within) and the occasional hunter. The the castles and the few trade towns (the Capital of Varteh especially, as the nation's major trade center with the outside world and producer of the nation's most valuable exports: amber-work, glass, and beeswax candles) have a more high-class feel about them, with all the amenities of modern civilization like workshops, inns, brewers (alcohol is just as popular here as anywhere else), and build-up: however, the communities always tend to look like oversized villages rather then compact towns: spread out to avoid congestion and tall buildings, and tend to build around nature as opposed to flattening it.

The Nykštukas (Gnome) population (making up about 30,000) are mostly native to the southern parts of the Brotherhood, living mostly around the region's many lakes. Famous for their nibble and skilled hands, Nykštukas have made a name for themselves as perhaps more urban then humans, valuing craftsmanship and delights over dull farm work and boring piousness. Those who do live in the cities have a high tendency to be merchants, brewers, craftsmen, and an unusually high rate of "Creatures of the night", while those who remain in their ancestral homelands remain fishermen and small farmers, content with their own brand of fun which involves playing tricks on the creatures of nature.

Laukų dvasios (Field spirits) on the other hand, are extremely rare but extremely well-known. With only about 2,000 of them throughout the entire Brotherhood, most villages only see them about once a year, when they pass through their fields, guided from their winter sleeping places in the deepest forests by their Dvasiagida. All of them are dryad-like creatures: attractive young females with some plant or animal-like characteristic, and beaming with life and energy, and have no real concrete society or culture of their own: this is because they spend their waking months from March to October (Usually, sometimes slightly longer or shorter) wandering the nation alone or in pairs, visiting fields to bless them and bring the crops to grow. When they visit the village, it is tradition to always throw them a party for the one night they stay, indulging them in the finest food, drink, and talent you have to offer, so they have something to dream of during the winter months. Of course, a few ( about a dozen) don't actually sleep for some as of yet unknown reason: these few usually (Since they can't survive in the snow for very long) inside castles of nobles: and to host one of these is the highest of honors, the Church exempting you of your tithes for the year to help you pay for them and the ladies of the house almost always being gifted with smooth, not-lethal multiple births the following year due to all the fertility energy floating around.

History: The ancient history of the Baltic tribes is a very vague one, having been passed down solely by oral tradition. What is well known is this: the Baltic tribes have long since sat the far edge of the civilized world, separated from their civilized brothers by the impenetrable wall of the Vampire clans. Indeed, many of the people in the western part of the nation consist of refugees from the vampires, forming a shaky human confederacy in the area of East Prussia, after pushing out the native tribes, the Warmians and Sambians, by exploiting a major religious conflict between the two. Here, they met with the natives who'd been warring in the area since time immortal: the gnomish-lake states (The Lenka), the Sudovians just to their east, the Courlanders who pushed the northern border, and the strongest of them all: the Lithuanians, who'd actually developed a semi-modernized government structure (like those the refugees understood) in the central-eastern parts of the region. The new confederation opened out its hands to the Lithuanian Duke, Ullinerius I, to provide them with a home and protection in exchange for their fealty, the system that followed becoming the feudal system that would one day manage the Empire.

At this, Ullinerius took the title of Prince, declaring himself sovereign ruler of Žemėsperk (Land of the Displaced) and Lithuania, and sent his holy men there to instruct the newcomers on the people's orthodoxy (The main differences between the regions in the area being which parts of the local pantheon they worshiped). The natives, being used only to the bloodthirsty, human-demeaning gods of the vampires, quickly took hold of their new faith, and began the learn the language of Lithuania. Then, to fully bind the realms together, Ullinerius moved his seat closer to the mouth of Neris river, where his people and the new refugees were most mixed, and founded a city there: the city of Varteh. And, for a time, all seemed right with the world... until one fateful day about 330 years ago.

The Vampire clans of the Germanies set an attack into the Sudovian tribes, seeking to gain fresh feed-stock after a particularly nasty plague had wiped out much of their human population. Attempting to fight on their own, the Sudovians found themselves unable to compete, and threw themselves at the mercy of the Lithuanian prince. Giving them the same offer his grandfather had given to the Žemė (as they were now called), the Sudovian nobles became vassals of the Lithuanians, and the Lithuanian armies launched an attack on the vampires, driving them back across the Vistula and away from his people.

With the threat gone, the current Lithuanian Prince, Tautmilas II, made the highly controversial decision to call the priests, shaman, spirt-guiders,and other holy men and women or the various Baltic faiths into a great Susitikimų Susitaikymo (Reconciling Conference) to form a United Church of Romuva which honored all the gods, goddesses, and spirits of the region as they deserved, without the favoritism that the various regions had given up until now. The obvious reason behind this was the tightly bind Sudovian to the new nation, but despite only hoping for a lackluster result, he found the holy men/women highly willing to compromise: it was the secular nobles who were the more rowdy ones. Eventually, after a year and a half of debate, the Dvasiagida all instructed the spirits to come to the grove in which the debates had taken place, to conferm in them that the divided between the deities had been resolved: and asked them to select, in their wisdom, one of them to be the first Krivis Of All the Baltics. (The Courland representative was the only one to walk away from the agreement, as some of her gods were not included in the approved pantheon).

With the churches united, the nations in the region stopped their incessant warring and began to focus on building themselves up and learning all the new ideals of the new faith: the heirs of nobles being especially educated to try to remove any chance of the old faiths reemerging. Gradually, the people grew closer and closer, with the Gnomish Lenka and the smaller tribes all eventually joining into Lithuania peacefully, the Baltic Brotherhood name eventually being adopted to emphasis the religious as well as secular origin of the state. Since then, the Brotherhood as reached out into the sea to try to relocate the human and elvish populations they've been cut off from for so long: eventually succeeding and building trade relations through the Baltic Sea.

RP Sample:
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=260361
*Maxs= Small Pop. 15%, Large Pop. 7% , Medium 10%

Accepted and interesting. Very good writing.

by **Photana** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 5:17 pm

Just reserving an area.

APP:
NS Name: Photana
Society Name: The Canis
Species: Werewolf, in the humanoid wolf form all the time.
Claims: The Alps
Population (the largest populations are about half a million): 50,000
*Military Percentage (this includes all that can be put in action such as militias): 15%
Government/Culture: The Canis are ruled by a chieftain, who is elected by a simple majority vote in the candidate's camp. Whomever has the most people show up gets to rule for life. The Canis culture is based around hunting, with the highest honor being in the pack that hunts humans.
History: TBD
Other: TBD
RP Sample: TBD
*Maxs= Small Pop. 15%, Large Pop. 7% , Medium 10%

by **Rygondria** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 5:22 pm

Can i make a dwarvish empire in norway?

by **Personal Freedom** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 5:24 pm

Rygondria wrote:Can i make a dwarvish empire in norway?

Sure can. The extreme North is probably frost giants though.

by **Rygondria** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 5:25 pm

Personal Freedom wrote:
Rygondria wrote:Can i make a dwarvish empire in norway?

Sure can. The extreme North is probably frost giants though.

It will probaly be more south ward and most of the major cities are underground.

by **Personal Freedom** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 5:26 pm

Rygondria wrote:
Personal Freedom wrote:Sure can. The extreme North is probably frost giants though.

It will probaly be more south ward and most of the major cities are underground.

That sounds about right for Dwarves.

by **Neo-Assyrian Empire** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 6:04 pm

APP:
NS Name: Neo-Assyrian Empire

Society Name: Vyldimar Imperrin

Species: A majority are Vampiric Humans (Aren't killed by sunlight, but are injured by it), especially the Upper Class, whilst the
peseants and serfs are Humans

Claims: Northern Germany (Between the Danish-German Border and Brunswick)

Population: 300,000

*Military Percentage: 15,000 Trained Soldiers, 6,000 Militiamen

Government/Culture: Government: The government is an absolute monarchy. If the leader dies, the sucessor is chosen in the same way that the next king or queen is typically chosen. The next descendent in line to the throne is becomes king or queen. If there is no known sucessor of the throne, the aristocrats duel for the crown. Whichever one is able to survive, or just gets to the crown first, they become King or Queen.

Culture: The culture of the Imperrin is very gothic. Most of the structures built resemble that of the Cathedrals that are seen in real life Europe. However, these types of buildings belong to the rich. The poor and the Human Serfs typically live in small huts, typically made out of wood or stone, if they could afford it.

Due to the majority of the population being Vampires, the Human minority are treaty terribly. They are always serfs, they are unable to rank up the social ladder, and are typically accused of crimes and no one denies it. If a Human attempts to over throw the monarchy, the military comes and seizes a majority of the land Humans own and toss a majority of them in to prison or execute them. Those that are lucky to live after that point are hiding in the shadows.

History: The Imperrin was started hundreds of years ago, when Vlad the Beheader lead an uprising in Northern Germany, over throwing their Human rulers. They had lived in the shadows until this point, but now they finally had a territory to call their own. As time moved on, their small society expanded across much of Northern Germany and allowed for the Imperrin to become powerful, more powerful than Vlad could ever imagine.

In their expansion, however, they did encounter humans who they had enslaved and turned in to serfs. While the two are practically the same thing, the Imperrin hated using the word 'slave'. They thought it made them even lower than the humans. Anyways, they made them serfs and built up a decent military in order to protect the land they had taken over.

The military would prove useful when a human society in Denmark attacked the Imperrin. The group, under the command of Harold Ylskavar, raided villages along the border of the two societies and continued southward, towards the center of the Vyldimar Imperrin. If they had reached there, then the entire society would collapse. The Human advance would be stopped by Edvard Kyrlae, the commander of the military at the time.

The two militaries met at a field where the Elbe and Havel rivers met (Where Werben is IRL), where the Battle of Ylskavar, as it would later be known as, occured. After several days of fighting, most of the Human army was killed or enslaved, including Harold Ylskavar. The few who had survived fled back to their land while the Imperrin tried to recover from the war.

After the war ended, the location where the final battle took place, at the Elbe and Havel Rivers, the capital of the Imperrin, Ylskavar, was constructed. A large, luxorious castle was built on the banks of the Elbe as the rest of the city sprouted around it. Large cobblestone walls protected the inner city, where the Royal Family is living. The rest of the city, although it was not walled, had guard towers here and there.

And now, this is where our story begins. It has been twenty years since the war between the Humans and the Imperrin occurred, and the Imperrin is beginning to become stronger than it once was.

Other: Nope.

RP Sample: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=259377
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=261128

*Maxs= Small Pop. 15%, Large Pop. 7% , Medium 10%

by **Shark isle** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 6:17 pm

Can i make a group of Religious humans who live at the Swiss alps?

by **Personal Freedom** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 6:28 pm

Shark isle wrote:Can i make a group of Religious humans who live at the Swiss alps?

Yes.

by **Personal Freedom** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 6:30 pm

Neo-Assyrian Empire wrote:APP:
NS Name: Neo-Assyrian Empire

Society Name: Vyldimar Imperrin

Species: A majority are Vampiric Humans (Aren't killed by sunlight, but are injured by it), especially the Upper Class, whilst the
peseants and serfs are Humans

Claims: Northern Germany (Between the Danish-German Border and Brunswick)

Population: 300,000

*Military Percentage: 15,000 Trained Soldiers, 6,000 Militiamen

Government/Culture: Government: The government is an absolute monarchy. If the leader dies, the sucessor is chosen in the same way that the next king or queen is typically chosen. The next descendent in line to the throne is becomes king or queen. If there is no known sucessor of the throne, the aristocrats duel for the crown. Whichever one is able to survive, or just gets to the crown first, they become King or Queen.

Culture: The culture of the Imperrin is very gothic. Most of the structures built resemble that of the Cathedrals that are seen in real life Europe. However, these types of buildings belong to the rich. The poor and the Human Serfs typically live in small huts, typically made out of wood or stone, if they could afford it.

Due to the majority of the population being Vampires, the Human minority are treaty terribly. They are always serfs, they are unable to rank up the social ladder, and are typically accused of crimes and no one denies it. If a Human attempts to over throw the monarchy, the military comes and seizes a majority of the land Humans own and toss a majority of them in to prison or execute them. Those that are lucky to live after that point are hiding in the shadows.

History: The Imperrin was started hundreds of years ago, when Vlad the Beheader lead an uprising in Northern Germany, over throwing their Human rulers. They had lived in the shadows until this point, but now they finally had a territory to call their own. As time moved on, their small society expanded across much of Northern Germany and allowed for the Imperrin to become powerful, more powerful than Vlad could ever imagine.

In their expansion, however, they did encounter humans who they had enslaved and turned in to serfs. While the two are practically the same thing, the Imperrin hated using the word 'slave'. They thought it made them even lower than the humans. Anyways, they made them serfs and built up a decent military in order to protect the land they had taken over.

The military would prove useful when a human society in Denmark attacked the Imperrin. The group, under the command of Harold Ylskavar, raided villages along the border of the two societies and continued southward, towards the center of the Vyldimar Imperrin. If they had reached there, then the entire society would collapse. The Human advance would be stopped by Edvard Kyrlae, the commander of the military at the time.

The two militaries met at a field where the Elbe and Havel rivers met (Where Werben is IRL), where the Battle of Ylskavar, as it would later be known as, occured. After several days of fighting, most of the Human army was killed or enslaved, including Harold Ylskavar. The few who had survived fled back to their land while the Imperrin tried to recover from the war.

After the war ended, the location where the final battle took place, at the Elbe and Havel Rivers, the capital of the Imperrin, Ylskavar, was constructed. A large, luxorious castle was built on the banks of the Elbe as the rest of the city sprouted around it. Large cobblestone walls protected the inner city, where the Royal Family is living. The rest of the city, although it was not walled, had guard towers here and there.

And now, this is where our story begins. It has been twenty years since the war between the Humans and the Imperrin occurred, and the Imperrin is beginning to become stronger than it once was.

Other: Nope.

RP Sample: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=259377
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=261128

*Maxs= Small Pop. 15%, Large Pop. 7% , Medium 10%

Accepted.

by **Neo-Assyrian Empire** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 6:43 pm

Personal Freedom wrote:
Neo-Assyrian Empire wrote:APP:
NS Name: Neo-Assyrian Empire

Society Name: Vyldimar Imperrin

Species: A majority are Vampiric Humans (Aren't killed by sunlight, but are injured by it), especially the Upper Class, whilst the
peseants and serfs are Humans

Claims: Northern Germany (Between the Danish-German Border and Brunswick)

Population: 300,000

*Military Percentage: 15,000 Trained Soldiers, 6,000 Militiamen

Government/Culture: Government: The government is an absolute monarchy. If the leader dies, the sucessor is chosen in the same way that the next king or queen is typically chosen. The next descendent in line to the throne is becomes king or queen. If there is no known sucessor of the throne, the aristocrats duel for the crown. Whichever one is able to survive, or just gets to the crown first, they become King or Queen.

Culture: The culture of the Imperrin is very gothic. Most of the structures built resemble that of the Cathedrals that are seen in real life Europe. However, these types of buildings belong to the rich. The poor and the Human Serfs typically live in small huts, typically made out of wood or stone, if they could afford it.

Due to the majority of the population being Vampires, the Human minority are treaty terribly. They are always serfs, they are unable to rank up the social ladder, and are typically accused of crimes and no one denies it. If a Human attempts to over throw the monarchy, the military comes and seizes a majority of the land Humans own and toss a majority of them in to prison or execute them. Those that are lucky to live after that point are hiding in the shadows.

History: The Imperrin was started hundreds of years ago, when Vlad the Beheader lead an uprising in Northern Germany, over throwing their Human rulers. They had lived in the shadows until this point, but now they finally had a territory to call their own. As time moved on, their small society expanded across much of Northern Germany and allowed for the Imperrin to become powerful, more powerful than Vlad could ever imagine.

In their expansion, however, they did encounter humans who they had enslaved and turned in to serfs. While the two are practically the same thing, the Imperrin hated using the word 'slave'. They thought it made them even lower than the humans. Anyways, they made them serfs and built up a decent military in order to protect the land they had taken over.

The military would prove useful when a human society in Denmark attacked the Imperrin. The group, under the command of Harold Ylskavar, raided villages along the border of the two societies and continued southward, towards the center of the Vyldimar Imperrin. If they had reached there, then the entire society would collapse. The Human advance would be stopped by Edvard Kyrlae, the commander of the military at the time.

The two militaries met at a field where the Elbe and Havel rivers met (Where Werben is IRL), where the Battle of Ylskavar, as it would later be known as, occured. After several days of fighting, most of the Human army was killed or enslaved, including Harold Ylskavar. The few who had survived fled back to their land while the Imperrin tried to recover from the war.

After the war ended, the location where the final battle took place, at the Elbe and Havel Rivers, the capital of the Imperrin, Ylskavar, was constructed. A large, luxorious castle was built on the banks of the Elbe as the rest of the city sprouted around it. Large cobblestone walls protected the inner city, where the Royal Family is living. The rest of the city, although it was not walled, had guard towers here and there.

And now, this is where our story begins. It has been twenty years since the war between the Humans and the Imperrin occurred, and the Imperrin is beginning to become stronger than it once was.

Other: Nope.

RP Sample: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=259377
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=261128

*Maxs= Small Pop. 15%, Large Pop. 7% , Medium 10%

Accepted.

Great, thanks for accepting me

by **Personal Freedom** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 6:54 pm

No problem. Maybe we will have a successful RP.

by **Neo-Assyrian Empire** » Sun Sep 22, 2013 6:55 pm

Personal Freedom wrote:No problem. Maybe we will have a successful RP.

I hope so. I don't want to see this one die, it looks pretty cool...

Midgard: Europe of Myth OOC (OPEN)

Midgard: Europe of Myth OOC (OPEN)

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