Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Atela: The Setting

Atela is a fantasy medieval setting. The country is large with the majority of the population residing in the west, on the Plains of Aeda. The only city in the country is the capital, Alda. The remainder of the country consists of small towns, villages and hamlets. The further east one travels, the smaller and more fortified the communities become.  Humans live on the fringes of the woods surrounding the Dark Wood, but avoid entering those woods after dark. The western settlements are heavily fortified to defend against giant attacks.

Atela is ruled by the Kingpriest. The Kingpriest is the hereditary monarch of Atela and the head of the Church. As such, secular and religious law are closely intertwined.

Beneath the Kingpriest are the Nobles and the Clergy.

Nobles oversee large estates. They provide resources and men to the Kingpriest and well as acting as judges in secular matters.  Nobles are referred to generically as 'Lord So-and-So.'  Their wives are referred to as 'Lady So-and-So.' Noble children have no formal title. Noble titles are always passed to the eldest son. Women cannot inherit a noble title; their title is dependent upon marriage. Nobles tend to marry among themselves and weddings are usually carefully arranged to benefit both families. Noble marriages must be approved by the Crown. Nobles who break their oaths to the Crown can face serious repurcushions up to and including death.

In addition to landed nobles, Atela also has knights. Knights are usually common soldiers, or the later-born sons of nobles, who have served the Crown and been granted noble status for their actions. Knights swear lifelong fealty to the Kingpriest and act to enforce the Crown's edicts and directives. They also defend the people from various threats and are usually assigned to oversee military garrisons. The son of a knight does not inherit his father's title, but most marry into noble families. Very rarely a knight is raised to the status of a noble, at which point his eldest born son can inherit the title of  'lord.'

As noted earlier, the daughters of noble have no inherant title they can claim. Instead, to become a 'lady' or 'dame' they must marry either a noble or a knight. Noblewomen are trained in the social graces, as well as the practical matters of administering a household and/or estate.  Many noblewomen exert tremendous influence behind the scenes.

The clergy in Atela serve the Church.  They include bishops, priests, monks and nuns. The clergy are responsible for the moral and spiritual welfare of the people.  Aside from monks and nuns, clergy in Atela are not expected to be celibate. It is common for a priest to have a wife and children. However, unlike nobles, the children of clergymen cannot inherit their father's title or authority.  They are considered peasants, unless they formally join the Church. 

Bishop is the highest title that a clergyman can attain. Bishops report to the Kingpriest and oversee the priests, monks and nuns in a specific region. Bishops are appointed exclusively by the Kingpriest.

Priests are commonly encountered in Atela and every village will have at least one, possibly more, to serve the needs of the community. Priests use divine magic to ease and protect the lives and souls of their charges. The Church considers priests their first line of defense against the Devil and his minions. In effect, priests often act as the eyes and ears of the Church, reporting suspicious activities to their superiors.  More than one warlock or heretic has been ferreted out and executed because of priestly astuteness.

Monks live apart from the people, dedicating themselves to God through worship and service. They take oaths of celibacy and often carry out administrative tasks for the Church. In addition, some monasteries and nunneries oversee vast estates that contribute to the physical wealth of the Church. Monks of a more militant bent often develop martial skills that are useful in the defense of the Church and its followers.

Like monks, nuns also live apart from the people, dedicating themselves to God through worship and service. Like monks, nuns also take lifelong oaths of celibacy. Nuns tend to function as teachers and healers to the people, but many are also learned religious scholars.  Many intellectual women find that joining a convent gives them an acceptable outlet for their intellect. Nuns are also afforded greater physical freedom than most other women in Atela, as serving God's interests can require them to operate outside normal social restraints.

Beneath the nobility and the clergy are the peasants. The majority of Atela's population falls into this social stratem.  The majority of peasants live in villages and hamlets, overseen by a local lord or a knight.  More rarely a peasant might be overseen by an abbot, abbess or a bishop. Every peasant swears fealty to the Kingpriest on their fifteenth birthday.

Most peasants work the land and are uneducated and illiterate. Some are talented craftsmen, such as blacksmiths or potters. Those of an adventurous bent join the army and become soldiers. Truly ambitious peasants may manage to start a business, such as a shop or a tavern. The most ambitious make their way to Alda, hoping to make their fortune serving the needs and desires of the nobility and the clergy.

A WARNING
Atela is not a politically correct setting. It is a conservative patriarchal society led by a theocratic authoritarian ruler on a world succumbing to an ice age.  Anything that threatens the status quo, either religious or secular, will be viewed as a threat, at best, or evil, at worst.

Most women are treated like second-class citizens. They're expected to obey their husbands and produce children.

Any kind of sexual deviance from the norm is not tolerated.

Anyone who professes or advocates a different view of religious scripture would be branded a heretic and most likely burned alive.

Anyone who questions the Kingpriest's rule would be branded a traitor and most probably executed.

This should be explained to your players before you begin a campaign in this setting.  Some players may not be comfortable with the setting. Some DMs may not want to run this setting. However, the whole point of Atela is to get away from the sort of generic high-fantasy sacharine settings that have become prominant throughout roleplaying.

That said, an interesting twist for this setting might be for your players to play the 'villains.' Perhaps their characters want to overthrow the Kingpriest? Help the giants? Ally with the elves? Perhaps they are heretics? Or warlocks?

Or, if you want, they can be the first foreign visitors to Atela in over a decade, with strange customs and outlooks that send rumbles through the entire society? They might find allies among the dispossessed, hungry for knowledge of the world beyond the Last Kingdom? They'll definitely find enemies, among the nobility and the clergy.

Or perhaps they are loyal citizens of the Last Kingdom, going forth to battle the enemies of humanity. They battle giants in the west and venture into the Dark Wood, seeking to rescue children from the clutches of a warlock coven? Perhaps they're persuing a heretic spreading dangerous ideas through peasant villages that make the entire kingdom vulnerable?

The choice is yours.

The Last Kingdom awaits.

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