Various snapshots of life, stretching across roughly 1000 years of history
Rulle imported by way of Grefehafen, 60 Daalers usually gets you a bottle of decent quality, if the trade is good. There's a Spirits Tax on anything higher than 45%, but you can get them cheaper by the shot on those Rejtmurker barges anyways.
Who the hell wears a shako anymore, with the Wedr Rebellion not so long ago. Bisserer Constables have reputations of hardasses, but the force has been underfunded for years, just don't irk them and they'll mostly ignore you, not gonna scold you for littering, unlike in the past.
BWHG is like what chemical compound makes the tires on a Autocarriage. Most people don't know anything about it, except that it's important. It's not officially a state institution, and you get weird looks if you call it a nationalized company, still, it's so tied to the history of infrastructure and industry here on the western seaboard it might as well be one.
There's not a thing in living memory that's stopped the celebrations on Stynne. Not the Tyeloval Blockade, not the wars, not even the death of Niccad Reubijn, believe it or not. Everyone dresses up, drinks, and dances on on the streets as folk have centuries ago. I think it's quaint, but make fun of it and you'll get weird looks. You don't make fun of the celebrations on Stynne, it's always a refreshing breath from whatever hell's going on.
The Hakk, the Hakkerii VG-6 properly, isn't being manufactured anymore - with every colonel, gangster, cop and collector having one, you could never tell. Rumored there were 2.000.000 made, and you can always spot them in the posters and movies from after the war, if you keep an eye out.
Speculated to be the lover mentioned in Brammrok's letters and widely considered to be the creator and pioneer of the 4-verse and 6 verse Lowsongs.
Cosinian Nationalists reject her legacy, they say Leni Cruts's name is too foreign, too Sinniard.
It's stupid.
Cruts's impact on Cosinian Literature is immeasurable, she's as much a part of Cosinian culture as House Wilkhe or the Dawn Horse.
17th year of Noven. Aniko e Tujenn, field medic from a border town of Hacmark, seen here the aftermath of the Battle of Sodeif. Her two years in the University of Tnoss has given her more medical knowledge than most. In the employ of the Sixth battalion, paid 5 sheads per day.
One of my eames, he was an Iaski, lived in Maris. My pa said he was a bird butcher, sold Shortfeathers and Vergollens for a living, until the Southern White Goose took over the land and the market. He then, turned also to the geese - geese couldn't be that different, could they?
The Northern Seven, logistical companies of the Viridian and the stretch of the Northsea till Marzinpoint. Call them coalitions, associations, monopolies, whatever - if you see a flag off any Loadcraft in those waters I'll bet you it'll be one of the Seven.
go
Professor of History Coen Rejk, from the University of Bainbridge
Valonia
The grand duchy of valonia is ruled by Grand Duke Paulin, Fifth Duke of Valonia, King of the Daconnians and Cazaali, Lord of the Trottwold, and Defender of the Valon. His seat is Leval, which sits along a bottleneck of the Valon.
There's a common legend of how when the Valon runs dry, the lands of Valonia will wither and die. It's accurate, to an extent; the Valon is the lifeblood of Valonia, evidenced by the name. Ore, oak, and trade goods run up and down the Valon, from the mines at Saulet to the ports at Beautoise.
It's no secret even with the Valon full and fair, Valonia is falling apart at its seams. Shipbuilding's all but moved to the Triellen cities down south. No ship on the Inland Sea can match a Triellen Barge or Biancian Galley in war, and with those deepwater ports and Grisia's Island Forts, Grisia, Biancia, and Claudia have prospered a long time, and they'll prosper longer too. Their freeport status means its Lords, or hell, even Myriam Bouhier, are pulling the weak chains Paulin has on them as taut as they go.
Professor Adjunct Tadrid reckons they'll go independent before Paulin dies, but I disagree - they have too much stake in the supplies and security Paulin provides now, but once Paulin (heirless, mind you) kicks the bucket it'll be anyone's game.
Roal Creau may sing his song about freedom and political representation for the Auldacconni, but everyone knows his real power base is in the craggy inlands, and the only real reason the Triellen Lords keep him around is that he'll be useful when they decide to finally give Valonia the finger and break away.
And there's Beautoise. Oh sweet Beautoise, port of silver shores. I spent my younger years as a archivist in the University of Byssion. Every Valonian says Beautoise is the jewel of Valonia; every Beautaisse says Beautoise stands alone from Valonia. Even though it's ruled by 5 Guildmaisters, who elect a Mayor every 6 years, three separate families have held the post for the past 250 years. The current mayor is Maéva Bourbeau, from the Good Company of Tinkers and Artificiers.
The political scales are balanced by the Cult of Sol, Sun worshippers lead by Archbishop Allard. They're the largest sect in Valonia, and although they don't get a say in the council they hold sway among the commonfolk. They rile up the citizenry once in a while to achive political goals, whether reducing the taxes the church pays or granting them exclusive use of St. Crepin's Bridge. Fanaticism runs ripe along the coast, and roving bands of "Inquisitors" terrorise the headland, demanding a tithe by coin or blood - a lot's changed in Beautoise in the past 40 years.
The crown's influence isn't completely absent in Beautoise. The crown taxes two of the bridges across the Valon into Beautoise, and Marteau, in part of the crownlands, is the original sea-port which Beautoise was modelled after. The Valonian Navy also has protected rights of access to Beautoise's ports, which the majority of the navy is moored at.
Spau Trar
Lead by King Segolm of House Osbrae, Spau Trar is a Kingdom best summarised in three words: Legends, Rocs, and Green.
The land, or rather, lands, of Spau Trar can be generally divided geographically into two; the mountainous, rocky peninsula ("Mjer Saiil") and the flat, fertile, and occasionally marshlike lands west-northwest of the peninsula ("Jard Trar"). Cultural and economic borders also follow this division, save minor exceptions.
Brokvar's Natural Histories estimates Spau Trar to be 2000 years old, modern scholars put the real range at somewhere between 900-1800 years. Iaskip form the most populous ethnic group, concentrated around the west and the coastlines, although Marsh Iask, Lugraiters, Cazaali, and Rhanners number among the nation.
Popular folk stories tell of Enar, who lept from the sparks of a raging grassfire. She saw the crumbling of the great cliffs, forming the Great Inland Sea. She journeyed to the land of endless sky, and from its deepest crèches bridled a Eagle of immense size, whose name was Spau (we, in the learned tongue, would call this bird a Roc). Whence Enar rode upon Spau, whose nest forms the lands of Jard Trar, and the first Iaski feasted upon Spau's Eggs. Enar took two men as house-bands, and when she bore each of them a child, Enar rode upon Spau once more, and flew to the highest peak in the world, Mount Drkaen (which appears to exist only in myth), where Spau will nest until the sea swallows the world.
A more factual historical account can be seen from the scriptures of Kopetz, which records Spau Trar beginning as a triumvirate of tribes, uniting under Kotra Osbrae. Back then the peninsula was ruled by a petty king whose name has been lost to history, and through an attempted invasion, Spau Trar came to control the peninsula as well, with Kotra moving the capital to Rivarill from what is now Marinesse.
The Roc still holds immense significance in Spau Trar, as the yearly festivals and the crest of House Osbrae will attest.
Vaesloa Green may be Spau Trar's most recognisable sign, aside from the Roc. More commonly known as Chalen Green in the south, Vaesloa Green is a dye produced from the Aguld Plant, which grows in abundance in Jard Trar. It occupies a unique place in Iaski Culture, almost becoming a national colour of sorts. Everyone, even poorer folk, have a set of clothing dyed in Vaesloa Green. The army all wear green, and Vaesloa Green banners fly from Spau Trar ships. Haughty Iaski take offence to foreigners wearing Vaesloa Green (rumoured Iverle Tenja-Lie's famous duel with Ebe Venmiers was provoked by Ebe's Vaesloa Green sash), and a common joke I've heard from Rhanner traders goes like this (the rhyme it has can't quite be translated from Rhannic, but you, dear reader, I hope get the gist): "Wipe your hair with a Vaesloa Green cloth on the street, the one who doesn't shout at you is the Rhanner, the one who shouts at you is the Iaski, the one who shouts at you to wipe harder is the Cazaali."
Spau Trar also had multiple clashes with Valonia in the past few centuries, with the conflicts being anything from minor skirmishes to complete mobilisation and war, and more often than not Valonia comes out the victor. Currently relationships are somewhat neutral, if not frosty at times. The last full-blown war concluded 41 years ago, and Astal's Treaty has pushed the borders past the Bay of Jolun, past Denleveh, all the way to the banks of the Tumaer and Borale. More than half of what was historically Jard Trar now lies within Valonia's borders, and that includes the old historical captial Jarlang, now named Marinesse. The Spau Trar banks of the Tumaer have been lined with forts and the army, unsurprisingly, guards it heavily.
Beautoise, believe it or not, began as a Spau Trar settlement, Bauhaer. It was when House Osbrae ruled over the headland and the lands north of the Valon, and built in an attempt to draw trade and wealth away from Marteu, which was a comparatively bustling port. House Osbrae then lost those lands in a spectacular defeat in the War of Ennis Ford not two decades after the complete construction of Beautoise's first ports, and it was Valonian trade which raised Beautoise to what it is today.
Doesn't stop King Segolm claiming Beautoise rightfully belongs to Spau Trar, of course. He is a feisty, yet popular king, and common court opinion sees him as rearing to march his armies across Jard Trar to clash with Valonia once more. Given Valonia's weakened state, many in Rivarill support such a proposition. King Segolm drools over Beautoise like a dog glaring at a bone, and many suspect nothing will change until either Beautoise is under Osbrae rule again, or it is burned to ash and ruin.
Spau Trar's Navy is neither the most numerous nor the best, yet it has proven itself time and time again in it's defence of Spau Trar's outerlying islands. Morthshau holds incredible geostrategic value, and allows for much greater patrol of the seas around Spau Trar (and without Morthshau, the increased Spau Trar naval presence noticed around Beautoise would not be there at all.)
