LIFE IN ANUIRE
Medival Manners | Rank | Honour | Life on the Land | Life in Towns
Medieval Culture in Anuire. (Or Pseudo-Medieval)
Since birthright games are full of social and political intrigue, how to behave properly (and more importantly, how to misbehave properly) according to late medieval customs is a matter of interest to all players. This brief guide is intended to give players advice on how to interact with each other, and also how to respond to the interactions of others.
Players should not be daunted by the prospect of acting out the manners and morals of an era in the past. Indeed, the manners and morals of the aristocracy in late 15th century for example can be compared easily to a better-known and more recent set of cultural values and norms of behavior: popular conceptions of how Mafia Dons comport themselves. In both cases, lavish displays of wealth indicate social status. In both cases, social leaders achieve and maintain their positions through violence carried out by private armies of soldiers personally loyal to their particular lord ("don" after all, is simply the Italian term for "lord"). In both cases, strong religious belief and sometimes flamboyant acts of devotion and charity frequently characterize the behavior of the elite; and nobody sees any contradiction between the violence and the faith—or if anyone does, he or she prudently keeps his mouth shut. In both cases, everybody is scrupulously polite to everybody else, taking great care to respect everybody's honor and rank, because slights to a person's honor—real or perceived—are taken very seriously.
Rank is very important to keep in mind when roleplaying in social situations. Grades of importance were much more formalized and structured by noble titles. Everybody knows how everyone else ranks in relation to everybody else—this is known as precedence—and nobody ever lets anybody else forget it. Of course, if one is a great wit or a great beauty, or possessed great wealth, those of rank usually would be happy to accept that person. In the case of wealthy merchants, for example. Many nobles are chronically short on cash, and merchants with money to lend were often welcome at their courts. But if the wit ran sour, or the beauty faded, or those with cash began to take on airs above their station, a person of lesser rank could find himself dropped, or worse. Also, aristocratic rank is considered to be chosen by the Gods. If Haelyn wills it, it must be so.
It is considered the natural way of the world that some people are superior in birth to others. Nobody, except perhaps a few thinkers consider largely insane, thinks that people are fundamentally equal. One should always address other people by their proper titles.
Being a member of royalty, of course, allows one some leeway in society. The more important you are, the higher your rank, the more you can often get away with.
First and foremost, one's reputation for honor is considered sacrosanct. To impugn another's reputation with accusations of dishonorable behavior is a very serious matter indeed.
For gentlemen, there are three big accusations that are unacceptable: failings in family honor, cowardice on the battlefield, and treason to the monarch. For ladies, the suggestion that a woman is promiscuous or unfaithful to her husband, regardless of how true it might be, is never made directly—unless, of course, one is deliberately trying to provoke a fight. If any man were so foolish as to make such insulting accusations about another, he risks involving himself in a feud, which likely will involve attacks by hired goons on himself, his property, his family, or all three.
The penalties for a woman who insults someone else's honor, or transgresses her own, tend to be less publicly violent: she might be beaten by her husband or father, to teach her manners; or she might be locked up for a time, in her home or even in a convent/temple, with access to all resources taken away from her. As a general rule, a woman's closest male relative—husband, father, or brother—is expected to keep her under control or to punish her appropriately if she misbehaves socially. Usually husbands do not murder unfaithful wives, just beat them and lock them away (forever); but if a husband should catch his wife in the very act of cheating on him, he is considered within his rights to kill both his wife and her lover, and nobody will think any the less of him. Even if a woman gets caught committing treason, she will escape the lethal punishments dealt out to men in such a case; instead, at worst, she will be deprived of all her resources and locked up somewhere, such as a convent/temple, for life.
Obviously female regents are able to get around many of these rules be comporting themselves appropriately in public, and keeping their naughty, illicit or evil behavior out of the public eye.
Peasants
Nine-tenths of the population of any given realm are peasants, people who make a living through agriculture. They live in small villages of a couple of hundred or so people each, scattered fairly evenly across the countryside. There are few places in Anuire where you could walk for a day without passing at least two villages. Only in a very few, very sparely populated provinces would you find less.
Agricultural Life
Grains, mainly wheat, are the most important food source, although other vegetables are grown. Barley, apples, onions and beans are important secondary crops. Horses, cows, sheep, pigs and hens are the main animals raised. Horses are kept for riding and labor, cows for milk, sheep for wool, and hens for eggs. All of these animals are eaten when they have outlived their usefulness, but only pigs are kept primarily for meat because they can forage in woodland, rather than using the resources of arable fields.
Peasants are busiest between mid to late spring and the beginning of winter, planting, weeding, and harvesting crops.
Most peasants live in crude houses and own very few portable goods. Many own animals, from a few chickens for the poorest to the cattle for the most wealthy. Most peasant families raise enough food to support themselves, pay their tithes, rent and taxes. Most woman make clothes for their family. Thusly, peasants buy very little and often have little or no contact with money. They are more likely to trade their goods for other things at local markets, or to trade their goods for enough coin to buy what they need. There is little or none left over.
The consequences of offending somebody powerful can be, quite literally, fatal. Be it by being called out for a duel, or by it becoming a feud, carried out not merely by the offended person himself, but by all his kin, his hired thugs, all his allies, and their hired thugs.
Towns
Although less than a tenth of the population lives in towns, they are still
of great importance. They are centers of trade and of government.
Most Castles and Cathedrals are surrounded by towns which have grown up to serve
the nobles or clerics that reside there. The practical difference between an
town and a village is that, in a town, many residents do not make their living
from agriculture.
Towns are small, ranging from five hundred people up to ten thousand, with most of the large towns having around five thousand inhabitants. This small population is often crammed into an even smaller space, usually surrounded by a wall, with minimal, or no, sewers. Towns are crowded, stinky, and often unhealthy places to live.
Most towns are ruled by the local lord, just like any other part of his domain.
A few have charters from days gone by, such as Ilien and Endier, allowing them
to govern themselves.
In some cases, the town is required to pay a fixed sum of money every year,
keep order, and supply certain military forces as required, and in return in
gets a fairly free hand in governing most of its internal affairs, and in many
cases the local lord keeps a very strict eye over the governance of the towns,
and the residents get no say in its governance.
Many towns have a castle. The Castle is there to defend the town as well as control it. Thus the castle is always easily defended from attackers from within the town as well as from the outside.
Trades and Crafts
As residents of towns do not support themselves by agriculture, many support themselves by some trade or craft.
Amongst these Important craftsmen are: carpenters, stonemasons, leatherworkers,
tanners, cobblers, harnessmakers, metalworkers,etc.
Bakers and other food suppliers are also important, and can be among the wealthiest
citizens of a town, Brewing is a notable trade that is often practiced by women.
The most important crafts though, are the textile crafts. These include spinning, weaving, dyeing, tailoring, sewing. Cloth is one of the fer products that is produced in significant quanties and is suitable for long distance trade. This makes it an important part of a towns economy.
Woman in villages often carry out the spinning, peasant woman can do this while looking after their families. The further stages in the textile crafts are usually carried out in towns, where the markets are.
Guilds are formed usually from groups of craftsmen seeking to regulate their affairs and restrict competition, and most guilds are comprised of all the crafts.
Fairs are much like temporary towns, where the merchants and guilders gather from miles around to trade. The amount of raw commerce that goes onn at such events is staggering, with many uncommon goods availiable to for the comman man to purchase.