[OOC] The king is dead, long live the king! [Reboot] [5/7]

[POOHEAD189]

Well, keep me posted just in case! My bad.

[frapet]

So slightly altered version, might add things over time but the general gist is there.

Grenn Albraght

Grenn Albraght

Name: Grenn Albraght
Age: 37
Appearance: A broad (fat) and tall man usually wearing padded leathers and other clothes of utility rather than wealth, adorned with bear or wolf pelts at the collar. When on business he likes to wear an iron gauntlet covered in oiled wrappings, to enforce his image as a warlike brute.

Clothing

Known for: Brother of Markholder Cheorge Albraght. Leading the mercenary band the ‘Iron Sovereigns’, being ruthless and efficient in that regard. Generally considered a brute and not fit as an ambassador. What certainly doesnt help is his fondness for the 'velvet glove' an iron gauntlet he wears into battle on his left hand.
Dirty little secret: Occasionally brawls in some of the shadier fighting pits of the capital every now and then. Has given the order to torch several villages in the Driftmark.
Skills: Tactical commander of small company. Due to that function he knows how to set a trap and how to expect one. Ruthless pragmatist. Good fighter/brawler. Good at appearing stupid and taking advantage of that.
Motto: (personal)‘ Shake with your right hand, keep iron in your left.’
House Albraght motto: ‘Stability and progress’

Driftmark

Name of the Province: Driftmark
Name of your liege: Cheorge Albraght

Cheorge Albraght

Position: In the west, south of Belintash, north of Dieuporteille, west of the Capitol region.

Specialty: Driftmark is a region that was once the natural western border for the Emperiat, its marshes proved an obstacle for most armies of any size, and the same went for the river Tarugal that flows north to south in the Empire. The region is known as a staging and, more often, dying ground for several rebellions. Most of all it is bordered by vital roads and the Tarugal river that connect the Emperiats border regions and are used for trading of precious metals from Belintash throughout the Emperiat. Apart from that mercenaries from the Driftmark are (in)famous for their skill in battle and dubious loyalties.
Several sayings play into these notions:
‘Markloyal’ implies a person’s loyalty is bought, or that his loyalty can be bought.
‘Safe as the roads of the mark’ is one that stems from the days before Albraght rule. It is most used for implying naivety of another person or a general saying foreboding danger.
‘Drifter’ was often used for rebellious persons aside from its usual use.
‘Tarugerbuild’ is a term for houses that are narrow and high and usually leaning forward considerably, like the houses in Tarugerdam. Mostly used to imply poor workmansip (even though the houses in Tarugerdam are actually quite well build for utility purposes considering the circumstances and marshland).
History:
Driftmarshes, as the Mark was called before 3 generations ago, is a marshland where the Tarugal flows. Once this region bordered the original expansion of the Empiriat due to the dense woods and inhospitable terrain. It knew very few inhabitants at the time, as only small villages of determined (some say grim) farmers dotted the edges of the Driftmarshes. These farmers were constantly harassed by bandits and bands of brigands who preyed on merchants on the roads or traders that sailed the Tarugal. Many picked up and left for safer regions like Andaluja or Belintash when the region came the refuge for rebellious or insurgent armies. Central in the numerous insurgencies and rebellions was the city of Tarugerdam. A trading port on the banks of the Tarugal river, near the shortest road between Belintash and Dieuporteille, also the place where goods are loaded over and taxes are levied on traders. Several times was it sided with the enemies of the Emperiat, was it sacked or was it taken, but for 3 generations it is now in the hands of the Albraght family (the Mayors of Tarugerdam) that declared for the Emperiat in time of turmoil. In return for their aid in crushing the Baradal rebellion they were granted the regions around Tarugerdam and where declared the ‘Markholders of Driftmark’ Under the Albraghts the roads are made safe(r) by tireless patrols of mercenary bands (some say the very same brigands that might’ve raided the same roads in the past) and city militias. The other cities of the Driftmarshes have been coming in the grips of the Albraght family by marriage, embargos and blatant threats of so called ‘non-protection’. The Mark is still plagued by remnants of rebellious armies, separationist towns and the ‘unnatural wildlife’ that take subterfuge in the marshes but Cheorge Albraght is determined to change the Driftmark. This is both literal and figuratively as currently large sums are being invested in making parts of the marshes habitable, and providing better infrastructure (to exact toll upon).

[Flynn]

@Kho Don't worry. Yenin doesn't border a sea. It is simply an inland sea with little ways out. Andaluja is still king of the seas. :p

[Kho]

Just realised that I got the Andalujan calendar all wrong. *Goes to edit*

[Dion]

@Flynn I imagine the capital is Cour de Dieu, which means court of God, hehe. Should place it somewhere in the middle. There's not many other provinces I'd imagine since like Kho mentioned, we suffer from poor amounts of populace.

@Kho As per map; I can try but since he already drew mountains and shiz, it's gonna be hard. Also, I rather like the map he has.

As per your suggestion - - yes but it is something we should arrange IC.

[Kho]

Speaking of which, @Flynn, what is the total population of the Grand Kingdom?

[Flynn]

@Kho Pfff... That is a tough question. Let's go with 3-3.5 million. Population in medieval Europe about 1200.

PS: @The Narrator@Ryuzaki Still want capital names, colours and positions of you guys.

PPS: Go look at that swanky 'meet the court' edit on the first post. (it's not fully done, I know)

[Kho]

Hmm, 3.5 million divides neatly between the seven players (500,000 each), but there are also the minor provinces, and the capital. So, how will we divide?

This maybe?:

Minor Provinces: 240,000
Capital Province: 500,000
Andaluja: 640,000
Meda-Chaba: 410,000
Dieuporteille: 360,000
Yenin: 440,000
Belintash: 510,000
Driftmark: 400,000

[Dion]

@Kho I think the capital could reach 1 mil. pop on it's own entirely -- empires have a tendency to grow very large capitals as people from new provinces ultimately would move there for better chances.

[Kho]

@Buddha Hmm, really? I dunno, one third of the population in the capital province seems extreme. That would leave the rest with 2.5 million to play with AND I forgot Cyclone in the above. Populations in provinces would start getting very small compared to province size

[Dion]

@Kho

Nearly 3x as much, yes. Interestingly, Paris has more than the next 3 ranks combined.

[Kho]

@Kho

Nearly 3x as much, yes.

@Buddha

But that's a modern, post-industrial revolution capital. What would a 12th century European capital be like? Or an ancient capital? Are there stats for those by any chance?

[Kho]

@Buddha I found this :\

'At its peak, after the Antonine Plague of the 160s CE, it had a population of about 60 million and a population density of about 16 persons per square kilometer. In contrast to the European societies of the classical and medieval periods, Rome had unusually high urbanization rates. During the 2nd century CE, the city of Rome had more than one million inhabitants. No Western city would have as many again until the 19th century.' Source

Edit: Though, as I understand it, cities like Cordoba did in fact reach one million. Baghdad and Damascus in the east also. And who knows what was going on in India and China.

[Dion]

@Kho

The issue here in lies not in the fact that the cities are small or big but rather that we set up a pre-determined amount of populace and then decided to spread them around.

It would've been better if there was a part of the form that said 'populace:' and then allowed you to fill a number. And then we added it up and tada.

For instance I wasn't planning on having 360k people in my province. That's actually a lot, it's more than most big big capital cities had, and mine isn't intended to be like that. It's Cour de Dieu, which is the capital, and then there'd be some small villages and maybe a second town.

[Flynn]

Very well. How about we each determine how much population our province has if you find that necessary to clarify. (Head counts weren't always accurate in medieval times)

[Kho]

@Buddha Hmm, Andaluja is very different. It has five major settlements, and swathes of farming estates.
Maybe it would be best for each of us to just pick a number, and whatever is left is divided between the Capital and minor provinces?

Edit: ninjad

[Dion]

@Flynn The church did head counts, since back in those days everyone was registered with the church.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that therefore headcounts were very accurate because atheism wasn't a thing.

The problem was when people moved around. :/ And given we're in an empire, people are moving around all the time.

[Flynn]

@Buddha The church took only account of those who lived in cities and domains. Everything outside of those were often forgotten. But let's stick to Emperiat for now.

Let's just say that the number you choose is the 'latest head count'.

[Dion]

Population Dieuporteille;

Free farmers;

80,512

Serfs;

31,233

Craftsmen and artisans;

70,009

Soldiers;

12,653

Noblemen

5,897

TOTAL:

200.304

EDIT: This means I can theoretically field a small army of 16.000 +- soldiers based on soldiers and noblemen (but not every nobleman is a warrior obviously).

Conscription is definitely a thing, though, so I could always yell 'yo farmers, take this sword and board, and go fight'.

[Kho]

@Flynn Well, I edited my sheet and the pop is:

Crimsamara: 130,000
Major settlements: 175,000
Rural Farming Communities; Farming Estates, Villages: 450,000
Total: 755,000 (as estimated by local police forces)