Game Information
The Southlands have a short history, as most people see it. Elves came here about four centuries ago. Humans followed them, with the first arriving a little less than two centuries ago. This was at the request of the Elves, who needed help in a war. Now, settlements are scattered across the eastern seaboard, where the extensive waterways are the main avenues of travel and commerce. The West is a wild and unsettled place.
Pomera is colony of a powerful overseas monarchy. It was one of the first Human colonies established, with ships arriving at Belande 178 years ago. From the Belande settlement, Pomera spread rapidly westwards along the Seaway, and south along the east coast until the Pintlebuck River, across which was the independent colony of Fenwyk. Pomera is one of several Southlands colonies maintained by the great old kingdoms across the sea, but it is the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful land in the Southlands. It was developed because it provided wealth and prestige, because the rival Ushalkans were doing the same nearby and had to matched, and because it provided a very useful place to locate the most difficult noble families- distancing them from local politics.
Naturally, entirely new politics appeared.
Pomton was the original capital of this colony, founded eight years after the initial landings at Belande. However, about a century ago, King Herman IV decided it was too industrial, dirty and unplanned to be a truly impressive colonial capital. He built a new capital across the river Aux, and it became Auxene. Since then, Auxene has fused with Pomton, Fort Triumph to the north, the agricultural town of Loamfields south of Pomton, and Westferry nestled along the river between Auxene and Fort Triumph, to form a sprawling mess of two cities and three sizable towns, which together are the second largest urban area in the Southlands. Away from this area, “Auxene” generally means the whole thing. Inside it, Auxene is the specific city of Auxene.
Auxene Proper and Greater Auxene are used to prevent ambiguity.
A fortune was invested (or wasted, depending on your politics) into Auxene to make it a center of high culture. This was for prestige, to compete with rival powers in a game of “who can have the best colony city” and also as a way to control the nobility: because Auxene is “the place to be” they spend a lot of time here. This is better than having them spread out over their own estates. They can be watched, and they are separated from their private armies.
But there was a cost. Local politics is, more or less, a mess. The city has no unified system. Instead, it is a haphazard jumble of feudal holdings, where Dukes and Counts have the traditional duties of law enforcement and tax collection (a very desirable duty!) and land owned by the crown, and administered by the Viceroy. But the Viceroy must oversee the entire sprawling colony of Pomera, he cannot focus his attention on one city, even though it’s the most important one.
Greater Auxene is the cultural, artistic, and economic hub of Pomera. Thousands of people live here. There are powerful merchants guilds, decadent nobles, overburdened temples, rat infested docks, Elven war refugees, an opera house, a museum, a university, public gardens, bath houses, the largest compost heap in the Southlands, beaches, fairgrounds, ferry boats, bronze smelters, some really good chocolate makers, horse races, a stockyard, fortifications, theaters, and all the vices one expects from a large, crowded colonial population that is sadly lacking in competent adult supervision.
It also has a constabulary: small, overworked, and still considered a somewhat radical, experimental idea.
Pomera was used as a dumping ground for troublesome nobles. Of course, generations have passed since the initial founding, and just because Duke Jerethoam was a despicable drunken lout doesn’t mean his great grandchildren are. But.. family dysfunction has a way of perpetuating itself in creative ways.
Getting the nobility to invest in Pomera required a carrot and stick approach. The carrot was the promise of greater freedom and power (for them) in the form of charters that spelled out their rights and duties on their properties, and the limitations of the crown.
This means that they do not make the laws, but enforcement of the laws on their properties belongs to them. The Constables are limited to Royal and Public domains. This includes Royal fortresses, institutions, royal roadways, public markets and plazas, harbors and waterways, and some other places. It’s really just a small fraction of the property in Pomera but so much of everything happens there that a few constables can make a big difference. Of course, much of Auxene proper (as well as chunks elsewhere) is royal territory, and places like “harbors” includes the buildings and land included in the harbor districts.
So let’s review the power structure in Greater Auxene and Pomera in general: There is the crown, there are the nobles, and then there are the guilds. The nobles own vast amounts of property and so agriculture is largely under their control. But the rest of the economy, with merchants and artisans and various specialists, does not need so much land, and they generate an awful lot of wealth. They are typically organized into Guilds which vary considerably in power and influence. A guild can be fairly small and very wealthy and powerful, such as the Artificers of Harmony who represent a good portion of the musical instrument making talent in the Southland, or it might be poor and weak such as the Respected Society of Criers, Clowns, Hourkeepers, Mimes, Actors and Hawkers. (It’s ironic that the loudest people in Auxene, the Criers, belong the same guild as the Mimes, but there you are.) Other unusual guilds of note include the Import Merchant's Guild, The Society of Knowledgeable Guides and Porters who must pass an exam to prove they know what's where in the city, and the Order of Revelmen, who plan and host parties.
Those are the big three. There are lesser entities, like the Temples, but they mostly keep in their lane and let Guilds, Nobles, and the Crown (represented by the Viceroy most of the time) play the political games.
Some basics concerning law, rights, etc:
The Temples are sanctuaries. Constables can freely come and go- naturally excepting private and sacred spaces- but violence is forbidden, except in cases of violence already occurring. That is, if someone is attacking priests, constables can fill the offender full of crossbow bolts, but if a thief has escaped into a temple, and is quietly sitting there, that thief is untouchable.
The nobles hold most of the property. This includes their estates and farms, generally called manors, and other property that they typically rent out. Nobles have the right and duty to enforce laws on their property. Different levels of Nobility have different levels of power and authority.
Dukes and Duchesses rule Duchies and are the most powerful nobles. Then come the Marquis/Marquessas and the Counts. At the bottom are Lords and Ladies. A noble at each level might grant land to a level below- in this case, who has the responsibility for security is by agreement. It might be both. The Duchess of Pompton maintains the right to send her guards onto the properties of her vassals, even as the vassals have their own guards.
Nobles own entire districts of the city. Despite this, much of the land they own is "public", that is, anyone can walk along the streets, while the buildings are rented from the landholders. Other places, mainly the manors, are private property even if manor workers live there. In general, public districts are in shades of gold, tan, and brown on the map.
In wartime, the troops of these nobles are organized into the national army.
On the other hand... the Crown, through the viceroy, can overrule restrictions and provide a warrant allowing constables to do things on noble land. This is something done with extreme caution. The nobles supply most of the troops available, the Crown does not wish to see an insurrection by the nobles, even if that means some nobles do bad things. If the Viceroy has good reason to believe a noble is part of some evil scheme and there is no other way... then he will do what he must.
Any district with a BOLD label on the map is under Crown Authority. The constables (with exceptions like the temples) may act freely here. At this time TWO of the manors have bold print: Solterre Manor (C-30) and Nantier County (A-30). These two noble families have decided that maintaining large guard forces for their relatively minor holdings in the city isn’t worth the bother. They save money, and make a show of their support for the Crown, by signing an agreement giving the Crown legal enforcement duties on these properties. The Viceroy hopes to get more nobles to do this.
Slavery is forbidden in Pomera. There are no slave auctions, no slave markets. However, the noble families get much of the poor population to agree to employment contracts that can be pretty oppressive... and if someone goes into debt, they can become trapped in a life little better than slavery. There is very little private property even though Pomera has vast tracts of unsettled land, and the Southlands is huge. The equivalent of Zoning laws, favoring the noble houses, means that the population is confined to specific areas of settlement.
Gambling is legal but restricted to licensed parlors. It is often used to push to foolish into debt, and as a result of that debt, contracts of service that... see Slavery.
Prostitution is illegal.. but generally ignored as clamping down on it can make things even worse. Besides, some of those engaged in this trade are quite clever and will find ways to work around laws. The Polyandrous League, for example. These are women who have, legally, multiple husbands- but the husbands tend to be sailors who are in port only sporadically. Thanks to the city's herbalists, the ladies of the Polyandrous League generally avoid having children while living this life, and the biggest issues occur when they mess up the scheduling and have multiple husbands in port at the same time.
Alcohol and other intoxicants are legal and very present.
Violence on the part of the public is illegal except in self defense. Dueling between nobles is forbidden... though they will dodge this by arranging duels on their property far from prying eyes. Sure, like everyone believes Lord Morlek died in a tragic hunting accident.
The possession and carrying of weapons is NOT illegal. This was considered, but so many common trade tools make fine and lethal substitutes that it was determined to be pointless. There's a law against the carrying of loaded crossbows, though.
The sale of rights and licenses is a major source of income for the Crown. People may not think operating an unlicensed hair salon is a big deal, but the Crown sees it as tax evasion. Holders of rights and licensed also get pretty upset over unlicensed competition. This is also a way to regulate the economy. For example, there are huge catfish in the region caught because they have lots of easily recoverable high quality natural oil. This resource is protected by limiting the number of licenses. Don't catch a giant catfish if you don't have a license.
The majority of the city inhabitants are Human. It's believed to be about 90% but no one has done an accurate census and there do seem to be more Elves and Goblins around lately. It is strictly forbidden to carry racial, ethnic or political feuds or assumptions from elsewhere into Pomera... provided that the non-Pomeran individuals or group have sworn an oath of allegiance to the Crown. Thus, if a Red Dragon flies over the land, it can be considered hostile and attacked. If it lands and takes and oath to the Crown, it's a citizen. It is believed that the gods deal with oath breakers harshly.
These oaths can be given to any judge, count, duke, marquis, or the viceroy. Written copies are filed in the archives. That's all it takes to become a citizen here.
Note that non-human immigrants commit TWO crimes whenever they commit one, though: the crime itself, and breaking their oath to the crown. Punishments for that can be brutal. As a result, they commit fewer crimes than others. If you are going to pass out drunk on the Auxene docks, the safest place to do it is with a group of immigrant Goblins.
Some non-Humans have risen to the rank of nobility, being given land grants and associated titles, duties, authority. In fact, out of 38 landed houses with property in Greater Auxene, five houses belong to non-Humans. The Molkers are Dwarves, House Enredol is Elven, and House Telotha is Euftan- the Euftes are an race of newt-like amphibians. However, none are in the upper ranks, so the great bulk of political power in the city and the colony belongs in Human hands.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:39, Mon 22 Mar 2021.
