Dragon Eye Atlas - User contributions [en]

Dragon Eye Atlas:RPG Rules

2024-08-04T20:47:01Z

Tom:

Below is a free download for the rules books for the '''Dragon Eye''' pen&paper roleplaying game.

This is the complete game. It is not a demo version or anything. Feel free to download, read and play. All files are in PDF format and A4 paper size.

* [https://cloud.lemuria.org/index.php/s/6GtJYbwzEdfRJPK Core Rules] (2 MB) - the main rules book
* [https://cloud.lemuria.org/index.php/s/CpkkkewnCNLg8oz Magic Rules] (1 MB) - rules for magic, spellcasting, rituals, etc. - 90% complete but has a few pieces still missing
* [https://cloud.lemuria.org/index.php/s/MRMoTiwKsWGYo6K Magic Rules] (158 KB) - character sheet

Incomplete additional material:

* [https://cloud.lemuria.org/index.php/s/jdnod6ExL9M3nGA Bestiary] (274 KB) - very incomplete, but contains a few additional rules for monsters and a small selection of both natural and supernatural enemies.

Discord Bot for rolling dice:
* [https://gitlab.com/lemuria.org/dicedragon Dice Dragon] is a Python discord bot you can use if you want to play on Discord.
* development on [https://gitlab.com/lemuria.org/dice-dragon-2 Dice Dragon 2] has started. This is a re-implementation in Go that will be more feature-complete.

Neudorf

2023-12-08T11:37:34Z

Tom:

{{#Widget:Map
| lat=37.738057923169
| lon=12.113401943376
| zoom=11
}}

{{VillageIntro
| type = hamlet
| desc = a small village
| province = Colle
| realm = Biesen
| pop = 40
}}

This calm village is sitting at the end of a local countryside road, forgotten by all but the travelling merchants who visit it occasionally. The forest around is relatively peaceful, with only the occasional disturbance.

Neudorf has been there for about three centuries, starting as a logging camp and slowly growing into a hamlet. The forest provides wood and food for the peasants, and they have been careful to not cut too much of it. Because of this and its out-of-the-way location, Neudorf has not grown much and remains quite small.

One unusual feature of the hamlet is its fishing pool, which is an artificial structure built a hundred years ago and used by the villagers to breed fish for some added variety to their diet.

[[File:Neudorf Map.jpg|frame|map of Neudorf]]

[[File:Neudorf.jpg|frame|impression of Neudorf]]

[[Category:Hamlets]]

== Appearance in Other Games ==
{{PAGENAME}} is one of the villages you can play in the [[also in::Black Forest Computer Game]].

File:Neudorf.jpg

2023-12-08T11:35:53Z

Tom:

impression of Neudorf

File:Neudorf Map.jpg

2023-12-08T11:35:29Z

Tom:

map of Neudorf

World Overview

2023-12-06T22:36:30Z

Tom:

{{tocright}}
The world of '''Dragon Eye''' has been constructed to ensure that no matter what kind of adventure or campaign you want to run, you can find a fitting place. This page gives a very rough overview of what you can find and where. It is by no means exhaustive, but if you are looking for something specific or want an idea of what the world has to offer, keep reading:

== Environments ==
If you are looking for a standard medieval fantasy setting with knights and peasants, towns and castles, not too much magic and largely at peace, you are at home in [[Vericum]], the core of the continent.

A theocratic dicatorship with strict punishments and suspicious of magic can be found in [[Schap]]. Its neighbour [[Biesen]] goes a step further and has outlawed magic for everyone not working for the king.

If you are looking for a more relaxed atmosphere, [[Grasalia]] is a republic with a code of laws that gives even peasants some rights. You can also visit [[Mun]], which is famous for the large amount of freedom its citizens enjoy. Or you can visit [[Sila]] which is a federation of small states with an Ancient Roman atmosphere, including slavery.

If you want more pressure, turn to either Palan or Hampy. [[Palan]] is a dark realm ruled by mages who use human sacrifices to fuel powerful spells and engines of war. [[Hampy]] meanwhile is a friendly, Caribbean-style coastal nation, except that it opens to the open ocean and is occasionally thrown into turmoil with tsunamis and massive storms breaking over the land. These can be so severe, damaging and long-lasting that the region even has a special set of laws that go into effect whenever disaster strikes.

Finally, [[Fonticia]] is a kingdom in decline, plagued by intrigues and lost in its own ghosts of history (it is built upon the ruins of the ancient [[centaurs]] civilization). It has a slightly eastern feel to it, and elements of the Ancien Regime of France. [[Njombia]], on the opposite site, has a touch of Africa, and a curious relationship to the dragons living in the nearby mountains.

Now if your taste is more towards non-humans, you can find that, too.

Dwarves live in [[Ebronland]] and [[Alheimia]], in their mountain kingdoms, trading with the surrounding human realms and generally keeping to themselves. You can also find them in [[Hanzatia]], a mixed human-dwarf realm where they are more active and many more live on the surface as well.

Elves can be found in several places as well, depending on your taste. [[Oujda]] is a forest realm forbidden to outsiders, where the elves hunt and kill anyone who enters without permission. They are not on good terms with their neighbours, in fact they aren't on any terms at all as they largely refuse to even talk to the childish humans.

The elven realm of [[Aluraba]] is also a strong and proud nation, but more peaceful and open. Powerful magic defends their land. Aside from [[Palan]], this is a place to go to for high fantasy adventures.

The opposite is [[Guera]], an elven realm in decline that is slowly being taken over by humans. Every decade or so, another sliver of forest is abandoned by the elves and humans move in. It used to be a great realm covering much of the south, now there are only a few elves left. They are peaceful in general, and distant but friendly to humans, but there is no denying that in another two or three hundred years, they will all be gone.

The last elven realm, [[Afarwaha]] is stable and prosperous. It is the most open of the elven realms, with active trade relations to all its neighbours, and even with non-elven minorities in most of its cities. There is even an active elven navy.

== Dungeons ==
Over the centuries and millenia, and the ups and downs of the dwarfs, many of their prior mines and underground cities have been abandoned. Some of these caved in, but many have since been taken over by less friendly creatures. A few other races have also dug tunnels into the ground.

The largest dungeons can be found in and around [[Ebronland]]. Some of these go miles deep into the earth. Other mountain ranges also include dungeons, and a few of them can even be found away from the mountains.

Above ground you can also find ruins to explore. [[Fonticia]] is full of old [[centaurs|centaur]] ruins, and the lands around [[Guera]] which used to be elven territory and have now been taken over by humans still contain some of the old elven tree-towns.

Aside from these, there are many individual sources of further ruins, dungeons, underground lairs and similar places to explore.

You can find a list of already developed dungeons on the [[:Category:Dungeons|category page]].

== Monsters ==

Auseka is filled with non-humanoid life, including many creatures that have natural magical abilities. Some of the most common or well-known are:

* [[Dragons]] - of course, what would a fantasy world be without?
* various types of [[:Category:Greenskins]], nasty evil creatures
* The [[Undead]] also can be found in Auseka and have a special link to magic. They are a fairly rare, except for a few exceptional events, such as the [[Qualong Undead Invasion]].

{{TODO}}

also see [[Races]] for intelligent critters.

== Special Places ==

The map also marks many other remarkable places such as inns, battlefields, ruins and other places of interest. There are many minor places of such kinds additionally, with the map only showing the most important ones.

See [[:Category:Points of Interest|Points of Interest]] for details.

World Overview

2023-12-06T22:30:35Z

Tom:

{{tocright}}
The world of '''Dragon Eye''' has been constructed to ensure that no matter what kind of adventure or campaign you want to run, you can find a fitting place. This page gives a very rough overview of what you can find and where. It is by no means exhaustive, but if you are looking for something specific or want an idea of what the world has to offer, keep reading:

== Environments ==
If you are looking for a standard medieval fantasy setting with knights and peasants, towns and castles, not too much magic and largely at peace, you are at home in [[Vericum]], the core of the continent.

A theocratic dicatorship with strict punishments and suspicious of magic can be found in [[Schap]]. Its neighbour [[Biesen]] goes a step further and has outlawed magic for everyone not working for the king.

If you are looking for a more relaxed atmosphere, [[Grasalia]] is a republic with a code of laws that gives even peasants some rights. You can also visit [[Mun]], which is famous for the large amount of freedom its citizens enjoy. Or you can visit [[Sila]] which is a federation of small states with an Ancient Roman atmosphere, including slavery.

If you want more pressure, turn to either Palan or Hampy. [[Palan]] is a dark realm ruled by mages who use human sacrifices to fuel powerful spells and engines of war. [[Hampy]] meanwhile is a friendly, Caribbean-style coastal nation, except that it opens to the open ocean and is occasionally thrown into turmoil with tsunamis and massive storms breaking over the land. These can be so severe, damaging and long-lasting that the region even has a special set of laws that go into effect whenever disaster strikes.

Finally, [[Fonticia]] is a kingdom in decline, plagued by intrigues and lost in its own ghosts of history (it is built upon the ruins of the ancient [[centaurs]] civilization). It has a slightly eastern feel to it, and elements of the Ancien Regime of France. [[Njombia]], on the opposite site, has a touch of Africa, and a curious relationship to the dragons living in the nearby mountains.

Now if your taste is more towards non-humans, you can find that, too.

Dwarves live in [[Ebronland]] and [[Alheimia]], in their mountain kingdoms, trading with the surrounding human realms and generally keeping to themselves. You can also find them in [[Hanzatia]], a mixed human-dwarf realm where they are more active and many more live on the surface as well.

Elves can be found in several places as well, depending on your taste. [[Oujda]] is a forest realm forbidden to outsiders, where the elves hunt and kill anyone who enters without permission. They are not on good terms with their neighbours, in fact they aren't on any terms at all as they largely refuse to even talk to the childish humans.

The elven realm of [[Aluraba]] is also a strong and proud nation, but more peaceful and open. Powerful magic defends their land. Aside from [[Palan]], this is a place to go to for high fantasy adventures.

The opposite is [[Guera]], an elven realm in decline that is slowly being taken over by humans. Every decade or so, another sliver of forest is abandoned by the elves and humans move in. It used to be a great realm covering much of the south, now there are only a few elves left. They are peaceful in general, and distant but friendly to humans, but there is no denying that in another two or three hundred years, they will all be gone.

The last elven realm, [[Afarwaha]] is stable and prosperous. It is the most open of the elven realms, with active trade relations to all its neighbours, and even with non-elven minorities in most of its cities. There is even an active elven navy.

== Dungeons ==
Over the centuries and millenia, and the ups and downs of the dwarfs, many of their prior mines and underground cities have been abandoned. Some of these caved in, but many have since been taken over by less friendly creatures. A few other races have also dug tunnels into the ground.

The largest dungeons can be found in and around [[Ebronland]]. Some of these go miles deep into the earth. Other mountain ranges also include dungeons, and a few of them can even be found away from the mountains.

Above ground you can also find ruins to explore. [[Fonticia]] is full of old [[centaurs|centaur]] ruins, and the lands around [[Guera]] which used to be elven territory and have now been taken over by humans still contain some of the old elven tree-towns.

Aside from these, there are many individual sources of further ruins, dungeons, underground lairs and similar places to explore.

You can find a list of already developed dungeons on the [[:Category:Dungeons|category page]].

== Monsters ==

Auseka is filled with non-humanoid life, including many creatures that have natural magical abilities. Some of the most common or well-known are:

* [[Dragons]] - of course, what would a fantasy world be without?
* various types of [[Greenskins]], nasty evil creatures
* The [[Undead]] also can be found in Auseka and have a special link to magic. They are a fairly rare, except for a few exceptional events, such as the [[Qualong Undead Invasion]].

{{TODO}}

also see [[Races]] for intelligent critters.

== Special Places ==

The map also marks many other remarkable places such as inns, battlefields, ruins and other places of interest. There are many minor places of such kinds additionally, with the map only showing the most important ones.

See [[:Category:Points of Interest|Points of Interest]] for details.

Ziegwald

2023-12-06T22:08:57Z

Tom:

{{#Widget:Map
| lat=37.673966187193
| lon=10.453226438817
| zoom=11
}}

{{VillageIntro
| type = village
| desc = mountain village
| province = Colle
| realm = Biesen
| pop = 100
}}

Ziegwald is nestled at the foot of forested mountains and at the shores of a tranquil lake. It has an air of timeless serenity, as if it were a haven untouched by the relentless march of time.

Next to the fields and animals, the lake provides a bountiful source of fish. Fishermen, hands calloused from countless hours spent mending nets and hauling in their catch, cast their lines into the tranquil waters.

Ziegwald does not have an inn or tavern, and as it stretches along the road running through the village, no central square either. In fact, it is rather spread out, with homes some distance for each other and plenty of room for fields and animals inbetween them.

[[File:Ziegwald map.jpg|frame|map of Ziegwald]]

[[File:Card Ziegwald big.jpg|frame|Impression of the Ziegwald lake]]

[[Category:Villages]]

== Appearance in Other Games ==
{{PAGENAME}} is one of the villages you can play in the [[also in::Black Forest Computer Game]].

File:Ziegwald map.jpg

2023-12-06T22:08:41Z

Tom:

map of Ziegwald

File:Card Ziegwald big.jpg

2023-12-06T22:07:01Z

Tom:

Impression of the Ziegwald lake

Ziegwald

2023-12-06T22:05:42Z

Tom:

{{#Widget:Map
| lat=37.673966187193
| lon=10.453226438817
| zoom=11
}}

{{VillageIntro
| type = village
| desc = mountain village
| province = Colle
| realm = Biesen
| pop = 100
}}

Ziegwald is nestled at the foot of forested mountains and at the shores of a tranquil lake. It has an air of timeless serenity, as if it were a haven untouched by the relentless march of time.

Next to the fields and animals, the lake provides a bountiful source of fish. Fishermen, hands calloused from countless hours spent mending nets and hauling in their catch, cast their lines into the tranquil waters.

Ziegwald does not have an inn or tavern, and as it stretches along the road running through the village, no central square either. In fact, it is rather spread out, with homes some distance for each other and plenty of room for fields and animals inbetween them.

[[Category:Villages]]

== Appearance in Other Games ==
{{PAGENAME}} is one of the villages you can play in the [[also in::Black Forest Computer Game]].

Endraville

2023-12-06T20:59:15Z

Tom:

{{#Widget:Map
| lat=38.02362961971
| lon=10.407913225457
| zoom=11
}}

{{VillageIntro
| type = hamlet
| desc = small hamlet
| province = Colle
| realm = Biesen
| pop = 40
}}

The village has a rough history, being abandoned and re-settled several times over the past centuries. Rumours have it that the last time it was destroyed, a dragon burned down half the huts, but of course such tales are probably superstition. Dragons have been seen occasionally in the mountains, but only rarely in the foothills.

It is also an isolated place, with no proper roads connecting it to the outside world, so travellers and foreigners are rare and usually welcome with caution.

With all of these hardships, the forest and hills around Endraville still provide enough for the villagers and they have accumulated enough prosperity for a comfortable, if somewhat lonely, life.

[[Category:Hamlets]]

== Appearance in Other Games ==
{{PAGENAME}} is one of the villages you can play in the [[also in::Black Forest Computer Game]].

Black Forest Computer Game

2023-12-06T20:52:49Z

Tom:

'''Black Forest''' is a computer game about defending a village from wildlife and monsters of the surrounding forest. It is played in an RTS style top-down camera view with the player being responsible for construction, task assignment and resource management.

It is set in the [[Black Forest]] of Biesen.

The game is available on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/523070/Black_Forest/

=== In-Game Screenshot ===
[[File:Kroburg.png]]

=== Villages Appearing in Both Games ===
Note that population numbers and other details do not always reflect the computer game contents as the levels in the game represent different periods during the villages history, while this wiki describes the world as it is in 67 AV. Also, population numbers in the computer game do not include very small children (age 5 or below).

{{#ask:
[[also in::Black Forest Computer Game]]
|mainlabel=Name
|?population
}}

Category:Hamlets

2023-09-06T07:40:00Z

Tom:

A hamlet is a small settlement without much local infrastructure. It is often a collection of a few [[Category:Farmsteads|farmsteads]] or simply a place not prosperous enough to grow into a proper [[Category:Villages|village]]. Unlike villages, a hamlet typically has no local economy aside from agriculture (or in some rare exceptions, something else such as woodcutting, mining, etc.) and relies on nearby villages or [[Category:Town|towns]] for tools, clothes, etc.

[[Category:Settlements]]

{{#ask:
[[Category:Farmsteads]]
|?Population
|?part of realm
|?part of province
|?Category:HasMap
}}

Fallen Empire

2023-08-21T07:48:58Z

Tom:

Fallen Empire is an experimental, alternate setting for the Dragon Eye light rules.

== EXPERIMENTAL CONTENT ==
The links below are to experimental, unfinished content. Please do not distribute (so people don't have outdated versions!), but instead point to this page.

Use with caution, please give me feedback, if it breaks you get to keep both parts.

Check back often for updates

* [http://lemuria.org/~tom/fallenempire/introduction/table-of-contents.html Rules]
* [http://lemuria.org/~tom/fallenempire/Fallen_Empire_CharacterSheet.pdf Character Sheet]

{{TODO}}

Fallen Empire

2023-08-21T07:18:04Z

Tom:

Fallen Empire is an experimental, alternate setting for the Dragon Eye light rules.

== EXPERIMENTAL CONTENT ==
The links below are to experimental, unfinished content. Please do not distribute (so people don't have outdated versions!), but instead point to this page.

Use with caution, please give me feedback, if it breaks you get to keep both parts.

[http://lemuria.org/~tom/fallenempire/introduction/table-of-contents.html Rules]

[http://lemuria.org/~tom/fallenempire/Fallen_Empire_CharacterSheet.pdf Character Sheet]

{{TODO}}

Fallen Empire

2023-08-21T07:17:56Z

Tom:

Fallen Empire is an experimental, alternate setting for the Dragon Eye light rules.

== EXPERIMENTAL CONTENT ==
The links below are to experimental, unfinished content. Please do not distribute (so people don't have outdated versions!), but instead point to this page.

Use with caution, please give me feedback, if it breaks you get to keep both parts.

[http://lemuria.org/~tom/fallenempire/introduction/table-of-contents.html Rules]

[[http://lemuria.org/~tom/fallenempire/Fallen_Empire_CharacterSheet.pdf Character Sheet]

{{TODO}}

Fallen Empire

2023-08-21T07:17:33Z

Tom:

Fallen Empire is an experimental, alternate setting for the Dragon Eye light rules.

== EXPERIMENTAL CONTENT ==
The links below are to experimental, unfinished content. Please do not distribute (so people don't have outdated versions!), but instead point to this page.

Use with caution, please give me feedback, if it breaks you get to keep both parts.

[http://lemuria.org/~tom/fallenempire/introduction/table-of-contents.html Rules]

[http://Fallen_Empire_CharacterSheet.pdf Character Sheet]

{{TODO}}

Gwang

2023-08-13T15:45:32Z

Tom:

{{TownBox
| type = city
| pop = 3200
| race = human
| culture = Koryo
| religion = Seogism
| realm = Hampy
| province = Gwang Island
| elevation = 0
}}

The capital of [[Gwang Island]] is a surprisingly small city, more of a town in fact. While its harbor is that of far larger cities, the small amount of arable land in the vicinity makes supplying a larger population impossible.

The city is located on a few kilometres of solid ground between the wetlands to the west and the [[Masiston|Masiston river]] to the east, with a single road connecting it to the rest of the island.

Much of Gwang is built on stilts as the land is barely above sea level and gets flooded once or twice a year on average either by a storm pressing the sea water inland, or by the Masiston swelling after heavy rain.

Nevertheless, Gwang is located on one of the few spots on the island suitable for a deep-water port, and an important stop on the long journey across the inland sea. With trade routes going eastwards to the larger [[Hampa]] island and [[Hampy|Hampyan Republic]], westwards to southern [[Vericum]] and [[Sila]], and northwards to eastern [[Vericum]] and [[Fonticia]], Gwang is a melting pot of different cultures, religions and ethnicities despite its modest size. In fact, it is the only city in [[Auseka]] where four religions - [[Seogism]], [[Koryo Beliefs]], the [[Faith of Nesra]] and the [[Faith of Ikoyo]] - co-exist, with their shrines, priests, institutions and followers all tolerating each other, at least most of the time.

{{#Widget:Map|lat=24.66|lon=5.13|zoom=7}}

{{TODO}}

Gwang Island

2023-08-13T15:43:58Z

Tom:

{{ProvinceBox
| pop = 55700
| area = 4432
| race = human
| culture = Koryo
| religion = Seogism
| realm = Hampy
| capital = Gwang
| ruler =
}}

{{TODO}}

{{#widget:Map|bounds=[[3.5856, 23.3856], [6.3504, 25.146281019526]]|show=province|filter=Gwang}}

Cultures:
Koryo (100 %)

Religions:
Seogism (76 %)
Koryo Beliefs (24 %)

Biomes:
Temperate rainforest (64 %)
Wetland (36 %)

{{ListPOIs}}

{{ListSettlements}}

[[Category:Provinces]]

Gwang Island

2023-08-13T15:43:43Z

Tom:

{{ProvinceBox
| pop = 55658
| area = 4432
| race = human
| culture = Koryo
| religion = Seogism
| realm = Hampy
| capital = Gwang
| ruler =
}}

{{TODO}}

{{#widget:Map|bounds=[[3.5856, 23.3856], [6.3504, 25.146281019526]]|show=province|filter=Gwang}}

Cultures:
Koryo (100 %)

Religions:
Seogism (76 %)
Koryo Beliefs (24 %)

Biomes:
Temperate rainforest (64 %)
Wetland (36 %)

{{ListPOIs}}

{{ListSettlements}}

[[Category:Provinces]]

Gwang

2023-08-13T15:43:15Z

Tom:

{{TownBox
| type = city
| pop = 3200
| race = human
| culture = Koryo
| religion = Seogism
| realm = Hampy
| province = Gwang Island
| elevation = 0
}}

The capital of [[Gwang Island]] is a surprisingly small city, more of a town in fact. While its harbor is that of far larger cities, the small amount of arable land in the vicinity makes supplying a larger population impossible.

The city is located on a few kilometres of solid ground between the wetlands to the west and the [[Masiston|Masiston river]] to the east, with a single road connecting it to the rest of the island.

Much of Gwang is built on stilts as the land is barely above sea level and gets flooded once or twice a year on average either by a storm pressing the sea water inland, or by the Masiston swelling after heavy rain.

Nevertheless, Gwang is located on one of the few spots on the island suitable for a deep-water port, and an important stop on the long journey across the inland sea. With trade routes going eastwards to the larger [[Hampa]] island and [[Hampy|Hampyan Republic]], westwards to southern [[Vericum]] and [[Sila]], and northwards to eastern [[Vericum]] and [[Fonticia]], Gwang is a melting pot of different cultures, religions and ethnicities despite its modest size. In fact, it is the only city in [[Auseka]] where shrines of [[Seogism]], the [[Faith of Nesra]] and the [[Faith of Ikoyo]] co-exist.

{{#Widget:Map|lat=24.66|lon=5.13|zoom=7}}

{{TODO}}

Gwang Province

2023-08-13T15:33:32Z

Tom: Tom moved page Gwang Province to Gwang Island

#REDIRECT [[Gwang Island]]

Gwang Island

2023-08-13T15:33:32Z

Tom: Tom moved page Gwang Province to Gwang Island

{{ProvinceBox
| pop = 55658
| area = 4432
| race = human
| culture = Koryo
| religion = Seogism
| realm = Hampy
| capital = Gwang
| ruler =
}}

{{TODO}}

{{#widget:Map|bounds=[[3.5856, 23.3856], [6.3504, 25.146281019526]]|show=province|filter={{PAGENAME}}}}

Cultures:
Koryo (100 %)

Religions:
Seogism (76 %)
Koryo Beliefs (24 %)

Biomes:
Temperate rainforest (64 %)
Wetland (36 %)

{{ListPOIs}}

{{ListSettlements}}

[[Category:Provinces]]

Gwang

2023-08-13T15:33:20Z

Tom: Removed redirect to Gwang Province

{{TownBox
| type = city
| pop = 3200
| race = human
| culture = Koryo
| religion = Seogism
| realm = Hampy
| province = Gwang Island
| elevation = 0
}}

(basic description here)

{{#Widget:Map|lat=24.66|lon=5.13|zoom=7}}

{{TODO}}

Gwang

2023-08-13T15:32:34Z

Tom: Tom moved page Gwang to Gwang Province

#REDIRECT [[Gwang Province]]

Gwang Island

2023-08-13T15:32:34Z

Tom: Tom moved page Gwang to Gwang Province

{{ProvinceBox
| pop = 55658
| area = 4432
| race = human
| culture = Koryo
| religion = Seogism
| realm = Hampy
| capital = Gwang
| ruler =
}}

{{TODO}}

{{#widget:Map|bounds=[[3.5856, 23.3856], [6.3504, 25.146281019526]]|show=province|filter={{PAGENAME}}}}

Cultures:
Koryo (100 %)

Religions:
Seogism (76 %)
Koryo Beliefs (24 %)

Biomes:
Temperate rainforest (64 %)
Wetland (36 %)

{{ListPOIs}}

{{ListSettlements}}

[[Category:Provinces]]

Yeong

2023-08-13T15:19:03Z

Tom:

{{TownBox
| type = city
| pop = 12400
| race = human
| culture = Koryo
| religion = Koryo Beliefs
| realm = Hampy
| province = Jeonguk Province
| elevation = 0
}}

(basic description here)

{{#Widget:Map|lat=24.079156039654|lon=3.3570263561649|zoom=7}}

{{TODO}}

Jeonguk Province

2023-08-13T15:17:09Z

Tom:

{{ProvinceBox
| pop = 27283
| area = 1576
| race = human
| culture = Koryo
| religion = Koryo Beliefs
| realm = Hampy
| capital = Yeong
| ruler =
}}

{{TODO}}

{{#widget:Map|bounds=[[1198.8, 1198.8], [-1198.8, -1198.8]]|show=province|filter=Jeonguk}}

Cultures:
Koryo (100 %)

Religions:
Koryo Beliefs (68 %)
Seogism (32 %)

Biomes:
Temperate rainforest (84 %)
Wetland (16 %)

{{ListPOIs}}

{{ListSettlements}}

[[Category:Provinces]]

Jeonguk Province

2023-08-13T15:16:33Z

Tom: Created page with "{{ProvinceBox | pop = 27283 | area = 1576 | race = human | culture = Koryo | religion = Koryo Beliefs | realm = Hampy | capital = Yeong | ruler = }} {{TODO}} {{#widget:Map..."

{{ProvinceBox
| pop = 27283
| area = 1576
| race = human
| culture = Koryo
| religion = Koryo Beliefs
| realm = Hampy
| capital = Yeong
| ruler =
}}

{{TODO}}

{{#widget:Map|bounds=[[1198.8, 1198.8], [-1198.8, -1198.8]]|show=province|filter={{PAGENAME}}}}

Cultures:
Koryo (100 %)

Religions:
Koryo Beliefs (68 %)
Seogism (32 %)

Biomes:
Temperate rainforest (84 %)
Wetland (16 %)

{{ListPOIs}}

{{ListSettlements}}

[[Category:Provinces]]

Yeong

2023-08-13T15:15:28Z

Tom: Created page with "{{TownBox | type = city | pop = 23400 | race = human | culture = Koryo | religion = Koryo Beliefs | realm = Hampy | province = Jeonguk Province | elevation = 0 }} (basic desc..."

{{TownBox
| type = city
| pop = 23400
| race = human
| culture = Koryo
| religion = Koryo Beliefs
| realm = Hampy
| province = Jeonguk Province
| elevation = 0
}}

(basic description here)

{{#Widget:Map|lat=24.079156039654|lon=3.3570263561649|zoom=7}}

{{TODO}}

Black Forest Computer Game

2023-05-29T09:36:55Z

Tom:

'''Black Forest''' is a computer game about defending a village from wildlife and monsters of the surrounding forest. It is played in an RTS style top-down camera view with the player being responsible for construction, task assignment and resource management.

It is set in the [[Black Forest]] of Biesen.

The game is available on Steam:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/523070/Black_Forest/

It is currently in Early Access but mostly complete and the full release is planned for Q3 2023.

=== In-Game Screenshot ===
[[File:Kroburg.png]]

=== Villages Appearing in Both Games ===
Note that population numbers and other details do not always reflect the computer game contents as the levels in the game represent different periods during the villages history, while this wiki describes the world as it is in 67 AV. Also, population numbers in the computer game do not include very small children (age 5 or below).

{{#ask:
[[also in::Black Forest Computer Game]]
|mainlabel=Name
|?population
}}

Fallen Empire

2023-05-29T09:04:42Z

Tom:

Fallen Empire is an experimental, alternate setting for the Dragon Eye light rules.

More to come

{{TODO}}

Fallen empire

2023-05-29T09:04:07Z

Tom: Redirected page to Fallen Empire

#REDIRECT [[Fallen Empire]]

Fallen Empire

2023-05-29T09:03:30Z

Tom: Created page with "test"

test

Elven Arrows

2023-05-05T08:31:14Z

Tom:

[[Elf|Elves]] have more varied and more well-developed arrows than any other race. Though most of these types are known to some humans somewhere, the elven traditions, longevity and ancient civilization has made them the only race where all of these are widespread and used commonly.

Most elven arrows use tips cut from bone, as metal is rare in elven lands (with the exception of [[Aluraba]]).

Here are just a few examples:

== Dual-Tipped Arrows ==

Many elven arrows have a U-shaped tip that has two points facing the target. This design prevents the arrow from going deep into bushes or grass when it misses, and also cause larger, more shallow wounds, making a target bleed out even if no vital organs are hit. They are much less effective against armoured targets and are used for hunting more often than in warfare.

== Whistling Arrows ==
Used for various purposes, these arrows have arrowheads resembling a flute and when shot the air rushing past (and through) the head creates sound, typically similar to whistling.

Elves use them as communication devices within the forest, by shooting them over the tree canopy, but also as means to instill terror into their foes during battle. Some whistling arrows can be set to a number of different sounds by pressing wooden parts in or out before shooting, in order to convey different messages.

(real-world source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabura-ya)

== Bouncing Arrows ==
These arrows are fitted with a wooden bulb near the tip and when shot at a low angle across a lake or still river, will bounce off the surface instead of entering the water. Their main use is to hunt water fowl swimming on the lake, as the arrow will stay near the water surface, neither going under the waterline nor flying up high.

(real-world source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owy6sAPusoc)

Elven Arrows

2023-05-05T08:31:00Z

Tom:

[[Elf|Elves]] have more varied and more well-developed arrows than any other race. Though most of these types are known to some humans somewhere, the elven traditions, longevity and ancient civilization has made them the only race where all of these are widespread and used commonly.

Most elven arrows use tips cut from bone, as metal is rare in elven lands (with the exception of [[Aluraba]]).

{{TODO}}

'''''this is a draft-in-progress page'''''

== Dual-Tipped Arrows ==

Many elven arrows have a U-shaped tip that has two points facing the target. This design prevents the arrow from going deep into bushes or grass when it misses, and also cause larger, more shallow wounds, making a target bleed out even if no vital organs are hit. They are much less effective against armoured targets and are used for hunting more often than in warfare.

== Whistling Arrows ==
Used for various purposes, these arrows have arrowheads resembling a flute and when shot the air rushing past (and through) the head creates sound, typically similar to whistling.

Elves use them as communication devices within the forest, by shooting them over the tree canopy, but also as means to instill terror into their foes during battle. Some whistling arrows can be set to a number of different sounds by pressing wooden parts in or out before shooting, in order to convey different messages.

(real-world source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabura-ya)

== Bouncing Arrows ==
These arrows are fitted with a wooden bulb near the tip and when shot at a low angle across a lake or still river, will bounce off the surface instead of entering the water. Their main use is to hunt water fowl swimming on the lake, as the arrow will stay near the water surface, neither going under the waterline nor flying up high.

(real-world source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owy6sAPusoc)

Contribute your Content

2023-05-05T08:24:45Z

Tom:

If you run a gaming group in the world of '''Dragon Eye''', you can also contribute content that you developed during gameplay to this project and make it an official, permanent part of the world. Villages your group explored, dungeons discovered, secrets learnt, details of places expanded upon.

In this preliminary stage, we do not yet have an official venue for contribution. Contact tom@lemuria.org if you have something and we will figure out a way. User accounts and editor rights will be added to the wiki later.

{{TODO}}

Farmstead

2023-05-05T08:21:40Z

Tom:

{{#Widget:Map
| lat=39.0249890306
| lon=10.916136628371
| zoom=10
}}

{{VillageIntro
| type = farmstead
| desc = an isolated farmstead
| province = Colle
| realm = Biesen
| pop = 15
}}

And yes, it is indeed called "farmstead". About three generations ago, the place went through five families during two bad years, and since then the surrounding villages have decided that it is bad luck to use the name of whichever family resides there currently and are simply calling it "the farmstead", or just "farmstead".

The farmstead is nestled within a small clearing, surrounded by towering trees that seem to form a protective barrier around the humble abode. The farmhouse is a simple yet sturdy structure, made of weathered wooden planks and thatched roofing, giving off an air of rustic charm. The windows are small and covered with linen curtains that billow gently in the breeze, as if inviting me to take a closer look.

Around the farmhouse, the land has been cleared for farming, with rows of crops covering the area between the houses and the trees. A small barn stands off to one side. The farmstead is a self-sustaining community, with each inhabitant playing a crucial role in maintaining the farm's daily operations.

The few men tend to the fields, hoeing and planting crops, while the women take care of the farm animals, milking cows and shearing sheep.

[[Category:Farmsteads]]
[[Category:AI generated]]

== Appearance in Other Games ==
{{PAGENAME}} is one of the villages you can play in the [[also in::Black Forest Computer Game]].

Farmstead

2023-05-05T08:21:18Z

Tom:

{{#Widget:Map
| lat=39.0249890306
| lon=10.916136628371
| zoom=11
}}

{{VillageIntro
| type = farmstead
| desc = an isolated farmstead
| province = Colle
| realm = Biesen
| pop = 15
}}

And yes, it is indeed called "farmstead". About three generations ago, the place went through five families during two bad years, and since then the surrounding villages have decided that it is bad luck to use the name of whichever family resides there currently and are simply calling it "the farmstead", or just "farmstead".

The farmstead is nestled within a small clearing, surrounded by towering trees that seem to form a protective barrier around the humble abode. The farmhouse is a simple yet sturdy structure, made of weathered wooden planks and thatched roofing, giving off an air of rustic charm. The windows are small and covered with linen curtains that billow gently in the breeze, as if inviting me to take a closer look.

Around the farmhouse, the land has been cleared for farming, with rows of crops covering the area between the houses and the trees. A small barn stands off to one side. The farmstead is a self-sustaining community, with each inhabitant playing a crucial role in maintaining the farm's daily operations.

The few men tend to the fields, hoeing and planting crops, while the women take care of the farm animals, milking cows and shearing sheep.

[[Category:Farmsteads]]
[[Category:AI generated]]

== Appearance in Other Games ==
{{PAGENAME}} is one of the villages you can play in the [[also in::Black Forest Computer Game]].

High and Low Magic

2023-05-05T08:12:31Z

Tom:

The flow of magic is not even throughout the world of [[Auseka]]. In some areas it flows more freely, in others less so. These are called areas of high and low magic, respectively.

The two largest high magic regions are roughly the realms of [[Palan]] and [[Aluraba]]. The reason for these realms being near identical to the high magic reasons they occupy is political: They make it almost a principle of state to control that area.

There are several large low magic regions throughout the world, though none reach the size of an entire realm. The very north of [[Biesen]] and [[Schap]] are low in magic, as are the [[Njorun]] mountain range, covering large parts of the dwarven realm [[Ebronland]].

== Life in Low Magic Regions ==

As far as low magic regions are concerned, life there is simply more similar to the real world middle ages. There is still magic around, but it is less common and less powerful. The kings still have their court wizards, but out in the countryside, many villagers have never seen a real mage with their own two eyes. In other places, there are magic users, but their powers are small compared to the higher magic regions. If you would take the superstition and fairy tales of the real world middle ages at face value, it would be pretty much like that.

=== Hedge and Folk Magic ===
Magic becomes more mystical and rare in low magic regions, and the ability of common folks to tap into it goes to almost zero. While superstitions still exist, and folk lore swaps over from nearby regions with higher magic flow, common people engage in magical acts at about the same rate as they did in the real world's middle ages. Small charms here and there, tokens for good luck, folk traditions that are also rituals (fertility spring dancing, etc.) - the same stuff you can find in history books if you open your eyes.

== Life in High Magic Regions ==

At the other extreme, life is very much different both from real history and from other places in [[Auseka]].

[[Palan]] is the shining example, and at night in the literal sense - the streets of its largest cities are illuminated by magical street lamps, which re-fill their mana stores during the day.

=== Daily Life ===
Even in high magic regions, mages are relatively rare and magic is not available to everyone on a daily basis. Most peasants and even low nobles live a daily life not unlike that of their real-world medieval counterparts. Hedge magic is far more common, and it much more often actually works, but its effects are still limited to an occasional lucky break or fortunate recovery or the cows giving unusually much milk this week.

However, both hedge and true magic being more common and easy makes it possible for regular folks to get magical help such as healing in times of need. A healing potion or healing spell is still a serious expense for peasants, but it is possible to get and afford it when really needed. This leads to a considerably reduced number of cripples and slightly reduced death rates from accidents and child births. The problem for the later two is often that outside of cities it simply takes too long to find and fetch the nearest mage.

Other things such as harvest, animal husbandry, manufacturing, etc. are mostly untouched by true magic due to the scales involved, but the more prevailant use of hedge magic does lead to a slightly higher yield, except that the mathematical field of statistics hasn't been invented yet so nobody can really say for sure.

While a mage can use magic to craft items, skilled craftsmen are more numerous and can do most of what a mage could do. There is a small market for magically crafted items where magic can accomplish what craftsmen cannot, in materials and design.

=== Court Life ===
For those who can pay for magic, the higher magic flow brings massive changes. For the past ten years, magically crafted diadems for the court ladies, with impossibly intricate patterns or melds of materials impossibly to fasten together with common means, are a fashion statement. For the men, owning at least one magical artifact is a question of status. While lower nobles often cannot afford it unless one has been passed down the family line, fakes or items enchanted just enough to be detected as magical on simple detection spells are popular. The high nobility, the lords of provinces and upwards, almost always possess a magic sword or shield or item of armour. At this level, these items also start to be actual artifacts, which do not require a mage to recharge. The highest lords and the kings often have a full collection, easily on the level of even advanced adventurers.

In [[Palan]], there is an additional factor - the magocratic ruling class that replaced the nobility is by themselves mages. They themselves as well as their palaces are often stuffed with magic items of all kinds, sizes and power levels.

=== Communication & Transportation ===
One of the main impacts of easier magic is that teleportation spells move from the extremely difficult into the merely difficult, and for small items such as packages and letters, actually manageable.

''Teleporting a small bundle of letters to the next city (up to about 100 km) requires a 2 and 15 on the Sorcery roll. With one heroic die, and the +1 bonus per die in high magic regions, any die will satisfy the target dimension (1+1=2) while you need only a 13 (+2) for the range. Since you can put your lowest die to the target, the chance to get 13 or higher is quite good and with a small Casting bonus or by making a small ritual to gain one more die, such a spell becomes relatively reliable.''

Transportation of people or larger objects is also possible for experienced mages or with rituals. However, keep in mind that teleportation of people, especially important people, is subject to the '''trust problem''' - a person about to be teleported cannot be protected with general counter-magic, so the mage doing the teleporting could just as easily teleport them to certain death.

For this reason, in [[Palan]], portals are much more common than teleportation. However, portals are also more difficult to cast as they require a duration, and typically require a ritual. Therefore, there are no permanent magic portals, but there are many ready-to-use portals that are set up with all the proper magical markings (see the "Marking" spell) and can be activated with the proper ritual. Unlike teleportation spells, a portal can be tested by sending a servant through first.

The effect on politics within the two high-magic realms [[Palan]] and [[Aluraba]] is considerable, even if nobles are not teleporting around daily and most letters are still sent by courier (especially in Palan, with its [[Courier Service]]). However, managing a realm becomes considerably easier when rapid emergency communication is possible, and both realms can react to emergencies, invasions and other events much more rapidly and effectively than other realms can. Not only is the information available to the central government faster, it is also possible to quickly send an important person or a small group to handle the emergency.

This makes the government work in these two realms somewhat less feudal and more modern, with more power, expertise and decision power centralized and local regions less independent.

=== Military ===
The effect on military and warfare in high-magic regions is considerable. While in most of Auseka magic on the battlefield is overwhelmed by sheer numbers, [[Palan]] and [[Aluraba]] are the exception to the norm. Both field units of battle mages that have can turn the tides of battles and have a considerable impact on wars.

Not only are there more mages in these realms, the advantages to casting magic make a difference as well. In game-mechanical terms, most combat magic requires three or four dimensions, and with a +1 or +2 to all of them, the total effect is considerable, allowing mages to cast more powerful spells more often.

An even bigger effect, however, is the result of the amount of magical artefacts that these armies bring to the battlefield. From small personal items, often protective magic webbed into armour, to the famous flying ships of Palan that bombard the battlefield below, these artefacts give the armies supplied from high-magic regions a considerable advantage.

Finally, what has been said above about communication also affects warfare on both the small and large scale. Palan and Aluraba consistently have the ability to have up-to-date knowledge of the strategic situation in a war and several battlefield commanders have coordinated battles with the help of scrying spells and magical communication.

Most Developed Pages

2023-05-03T11:48:30Z

Tom:

This page contains some of the most developed pages on the Wiki so that you do not need to hunt for content. At this time, many pages are stubs, marked TODO or even completely missing. So here is what is there:

== Local Regions with Details ==

The following regions have several places, villages, etc. developed with enough details that a party can stroll around for a bit:

* In [[Vericum]], the region between and around [[Phonas]] and [[Sumegaidau]].
* In [[Njombia]], [[Nanalanda Territory]] and [[Lahralutra County]] with its capital [[Lahralutra]].
* In [[Palan]], the area around [[Mekezisi]].
* In [[Mun]], [[Chagseong County]] and [[Sasanguk]].
* The [[Fonticia]] / [[Schap]] border area and some places within the two realms such as [[Morcera]] or [[Alsbach]] and nearby places.
* In [[Biesen]], the [[Basco]] region and especially the area between [[Casuvo]] and [[Saronale]].

== Important People ==

* House [[Secamur]], the family of the first Emperor, for [[Vericum]]
* The [[Council of Twelve]] for [[Palan]].

== Villages Heatmap ==
Here is a heatmap of villages on the map, which gives you an impression of which areas of the world are how well detailed. Note that this does not mean the villages have descriptions.

[[File:Villages Heatmap.png]]

Most Developed Pages

2023-05-03T11:48:04Z

Tom:

File:Villages Heatmap.png

2023-05-03T11:47:52Z

Tom:

Heatmap of village distribution.

Sachang

2023-05-03T11:33:24Z

Tom:

{{#Widget:Map
| lat=21.260064130181
| lon=-14.955997557263
| zoom=11
}}

{{VillageIntro
| type = village
| desc = medium-sized village
| province = Akingea
| realm = Palan
| pop = 340
}}

[[Mekezisi]] is a few hours on foot away and with the bridge and gate tolls, the people of Sachang don't make the way very often.

The village is nestled in a valley surrounded by low hills, with the forest stretching out in all directions. Aside the hills, the landscape is largely flat, and a small stream that has its source nearby meanders through the village. It is thin enough to jump over, but where paths are the villagers have made simple bridges from a few wooden boards, mostly for carts or the elderly. The children often play in or near the stream and occasionally dam it up using twigs and muds, not always to the amusement of the adults. The villagers have built a small dam at the south end of the village to create a small pond, which they use to irrigate their fields and water their animals.

To the south, the Maldon River flows peacefully, but it is too far and difficult to reach through dense forest, and the villagers do not use it for fresh water or transport. Instead, the villagers rely on a well in the heart of the village that provides fresh water for the community. The well is surrounded by a small garden filled with fragrant herbs and flowers. The water from the well is clear and cool, and it is drawn up using a simple pulley system that has been in use for generations.

The people of Sachang have developed a strong sense of community over the generations. The village layout is centered around the central square, which serves as a gathering place for the locals. The winding roads are lined with a few small shops, stalls, and homes, and most of the buildings are constructed from locally sourced materials such as wood, stone, and thatch. The villagers have developed a strong economy based on agriculture and animal husbandry, with many of them tending to their fields and livestock on a daily basis. Most of the fields and pastures are to the east of the village, outside the forest. The reasons for locating the village within the forest are lost to history, but it is not much of a hardship as there are plentiful fruits, berries and mushrooms around, as well as wild animals and of course easy access to wood for fires and construction.

The professions found in the village are varied, with many villagers working as farmers and animal herders. The fields are tended using traditional methods, and the animals are raised for their milk, meat, and wool. The villagers also have a strong tradition of weaving, and they create beautiful tapestries and rugs from the wool of their sheep. Additionally, there are a few skilled tradespeople in the village, such as blacksmiths and carpenters, who create essential tools and goods for the community.

The history of the village is rich and colorful, with tales of brave knights and fierce battles on the nearby grasslands that have been passed down from generation to generation. Several feasts throughout the year celebrate important days in the village history. The villagers are proud of their history, and they work hard to preserve their traditions and way of life.

Despite the challenges posed by the location of the village, the community thrives. The villagers have developed a strong sense of self-sufficiency, relying on the resources available to them and working together to overcome any obstacles that come their way. In the evenings, the villagers gather in the central square to share stories, music, and food, creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere that is felt throughout the community.

During the day, the atmosphere within the village is equally livid. There is the bleating of sheep or the lowing of cows, and the sounds and sights of groups of villagers working together to tend to their fields. In the central square and the small shops nearby, villagers sell or exchange their goods, such as fresh vegetables, fruits, and honey.

There are few travellers making their way to Sachang, as the roads ends in the village. The few travellers that do make it are mostly travelling merchants and entertainers, and they find the village curious for news. Despite its remote location and lack of easy access to the Maldon River, the village thrives, and visitors are welcomed with open arms.

[[Category:Villages]]
[[Category:AI generated]]

Sachang

2023-05-03T11:21:27Z

Tom: Created page with "{{#Widget:Map | lat=21.260064130181 | lon=-14.955997557263 | zoom=11 }} {{VillageIntro | type = village | desc = medium-sized village | province = Akingea | realm = Palan | p..."

{{#Widget:Map
| lat=21.260064130181
| lon=-14.955997557263
| zoom=11
}}

{{VillageIntro
| type = village
| desc = medium-sized village
| province = Akingea
| realm = Palan
| pop = 340
}}

As you approach the village at the edge of the large grasslands area, you are struck by its natural beauty. The village is nestled in a valley surrounded by rolling hills, with the forest stretching out in all directions. The landscape is largely flat, and a small stream that has its source nearby meanders through the village. To the south, the Maldon River flows peacefully, but it is too far and difficult to reach through dense forest, and the villagers do not use it for fresh water or transport. Instead, the villagers rely on a well in the central square and the small stream that runs through the village.

The village is home to around 340 people who have developed a strong sense of community over the generations. The village layout is centered around the central square, which serves as a gathering place for the locals. The winding streets are lined with small shops, stalls, and homes, and most of the buildings are constructed from locally sourced materials such as wood, stone, and thatch. The villagers have developed a strong economy based on agriculture and animal husbandry, with many of them tending to their fields and livestock on a daily basis.

The professions found in the village are varied, with many villagers working as farmers and animal herders. The fields are tended using traditional methods, and the animals are raised for their milk, meat, and wool. The villagers also have a strong tradition of weaving, and they create beautiful tapestries and rugs from the wool of their sheep. Additionally, there are a few skilled tradespeople in the village, such as blacksmiths and carpenters, who create essential tools and goods for the community.

The history of the village is rich and colorful, with tales of brave knights and fierce battles that have been passed down from generation to generation. One of the most significant events in the village's history is the Battle of Maldon, which took place on the banks of the river several centuries ago. The battle is still celebrated in the village today with a reenactment and feast every year. The villagers are proud of their history, and they work hard to preserve their traditions and way of life.

Despite the challenges posed by the location of the village, the community thrives. The villagers have developed a strong sense of self-sufficiency, relying on the resources available to them and working together to overcome any obstacles that come their way. In the evenings, the villagers gather in the central square to share stories, music, and food, creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere that is felt throughout the community.

As you explore the village, you will encounter a variety of sights and sounds. You might hear the bleating of sheep or the lowing of cows, or see a group of villagers working together to tend to their fields. In the central square, you will find a market where villagers sell their goods, such as fresh vegetables, fruits, and honey. And if you visit the local tavern, you can enjoy a mug of ale and a hearty meal while listening to the villagers sing and play music.

In conclusion, the village at the edge of the large grasslands area is a place of natural beauty, strong community, and rich history. Its layout, economy, and population have been shaped by the resources and challenges of the surrounding landscape, and the villagers have developed a strong sense of self-sufficiency and tradition. The professions found in the village include farming, animal husbandry, weaving, blacksmithing, and carpentry. The village is home to around 340 people who work hard to make a living and preserve their way of life. Despite its remote location and lack of easy access to the Maldon River, the village thrives, and visitors are welcomed with open arms.

[[Category:Villages]]
[[Category:AI generated]]

Most Developed Pages

2023-05-03T11:11:50Z

Tom:

World Basics

2023-05-03T09:30:08Z

Tom: /* Inns */

The purpose of this page is to give us modern readers a few key points to understand just how different the world used to be. If you have engaged yourself in re-enactment or medieval studies, you can probably skip this page.

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>

= Daily Life =

== Age & Life Expectancy ==
To put a myth to rest first: People in the middle ages didn't die at 35.
The ''average life expectancy'' was somewhere that many years, but the main driver of that was high child mortality. If you have 2 children and one dies shortly after birth and the other lives until age 70, then their average life expectancy was - 35 years.
Better statistics are looking at the life expectancy of those who reached adulthood or otherwise account for child mortality. I recommend reading [https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181002-how-long-did-ancient-people-live-life-span-versus-longevity this excellent article]. It references [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jIMHCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=guy+sharpe%27s+peerage&ots=tZwob0HISg&sig=rQtW27BM_bBF0xgeme2kkBYhMmw&hl=en#v=onepage&q=guy%20sharpe's%20peerage&f=true this book and statistics] in stating: "from 1200 to 1745, 21-year-olds would reach an average age of anywhere between 62 and 70 years".

So in a typical Dragon Eye human settlement, you will find plenty of people of all ages, including senior citizens. There would be more children than in our modern world, especially many more young children - and at least half of them won't reach adulthood.

Age is largely a matter of health, and the difference in available health care, good food, etc. between peasants and nobles was considerable, so nobles had a much higher chance of reaching old age than peasants. On the other hand, plenty of nobles died by assassination or poison.

== Food ==
Almost all food consumed is both local and seasonal in nature. Especially the basic foods of peasants and served in low-cost inns will be whatever is available in the area at this time of year. In summer and autumn, fresh vegetables are plentiful, while in winter, the selection of available food is much lower.

== Livestock ==
Animals are all around, everywhere. Peasants often sleep in the same (the only) room with their livestock, chickens run around in the castle yard, dogs and cats roam the area. Not only is the scale of animal farming much smaller than today, living animals are also the cheapest and most convenient way of keeping their meat fresh. So armies on the march are often accompanied by herds of animals used for milk and slaughtered when meat is needed.

== Servants ==
With no dishwasher, washing machine and other machines, manual labor is everywhere. That also means that all but the very poor have servants. Even most farmers have a few servants, serfs or farmhands. Anything you are unable to do by yourself you hire someone to do for you. It is simply far more common to have servants. A noble's household would be bustling with servants everywhere, maids, cooks, people carrying things, stoking fires, cleaning up, helping the lord and lady to dress and bathe, taking care of the horses and carriage, guards, and, of course, the temporary service people like bards, minstrels, scribes and others.

== Nights ==
Nights can be really dark, depending on the cloud cover and moon phase.

Without electric or gas light, there is very little light outside during the nights, even within the cities. In a forest, when clouds cover the moon and the canopy blocks the starlight, it can be pitch black.

Within the houses, that means as soon as the sun sets, fires are lit. Commonly, wood fires. Fireplaces provide both light and warmth. Candles are too expensive to be just burning all the time, but are fairly common. They are somewhat affordable by the common folk at low quality, but the wealthy and nobility would use higher-quality candles. Oil lamps were also popular for those who could afford them. There are also many other variants, such as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rushlight rushlight] or grease lamps.

== Fire ==
Fire is a great killer. Both inside the house (cooking is often done over open fire) but also on the larger scale. Villages and towns can burn down from a single out-of-control fire, and often do. Not to mention that arson is a popular tool of war.

== Outhouses ==
In most cases, outhouses actually are outside, away from the main house. That includes outhouses at inns. At the edge of villages or at a roadside inn in the middle of nowhere, people often go when the sun goes down, need or no need, and then try to avoid going to the outhouse in darkness.

== Sewers ==
In the towns and cities, outhouses are not enough. In the north-eastern parts of [[Auseka]], sewers are fairly common and can be found in many cities, though sometimes they span only the more wealthy parts. A sewer system is an old dwarven invention, more than 500 years old, but humans have only built them for about 200 years, and in western Auseka, they are even more recent, with many cities having no sewers or only a very basic network spanning the main avenues and keeping at least the main streets relatively free of human waste.

== Washing ==
Unlike the (mostly false) prejudices, people do wash regularily. Heating water is a long and expensive matter, however, so much washing was done either communaly (bath houses in towns and cities, family bathing day in villages) or cold.

Washing clothes is hard labour and takes a long time. "Washing days" are exactly what they sound like - in many villages, one day a week the women gather and all go down to the river together to wash clothes - for the whole day.

= Travel =
In general, most people travel much less and shorter distances, due to the absence of cars or trains. Commoners, especially, often travel only within the general area of their birthplace and might take a trip to the nearest city once a year for important matters.

Those who do travel often travel most of the time. Mercenaries and merchants, sailors as well as craftsmen with rare skills, but also generals and high officials and even some kings and dukes spend most of their time in travel due to the sheer amount of time it takes. Many of these people do not even have a permanent residence.

Note that strangers are always the prime suspects in any crime and wrongdoing. If something happens while a group of travellers is in town, they will almost certainly be among the accused. This is because justice is based more on your reputation as a law-abiding citizen and the good words of your fellows than it is upon evidence and witnesses.

== Roads ==
Roads can be anything from trampled dirt (that turns to mud when it rains) to cobblestone. But even with a road, travel speeds would be around 20 km per day, 25 on a good road, as walking is the fastest long-distance travel speed available to most. Horses are good for short distances, but have less endurance than a human and can't keep up the speed for long. Over a whole day of travel, most people can actually walk faster than they could ride. Most carriages and waggons are without suspension and travel in them is far from comfortable.

Travel speeds depend a lot on how much is carried. With luggage, people slow down considerably, and having a pack animal is a good way to keep travel speed high.

The most comfortable travel option and also the one best suited for carrying large amounts of cargo, is by boat or ship. River boats in most inland areas, ocean-going ships at the coast.

== Hospitality ==

A key element to understand pre-modern society is the concept of hospitality. Having guests in the house was quite normal, and in fact the reason why nobles or wealthy townspeople had large houses. In a noble estate, at any given time, you would find some relatives, one or more famous artist, scholars or the like, possibly another distantly related noble and such as guests. It would be unusual for a large house to not have anyone staying over. The ability to house guests is a question of status, and refusing someone who is not a total stranger would make people wonder if maybe you can't afford it?

Even among the common folks, giving a relative who is in town a roof and a bed is expected.

In the countryside, travellers are often welcome as sources of news and have a good chance to receive a meal and a place to sleep in exchange.

== Inns ==
Many wayside inns offer a limited selection of food and drinks, and in simpler establishments it is not uncommon that there is only one dish on the menu.

As far as sleeping opportunities are concerned, most inns offer the so-called ''common room'', which is a shared sleeping room. It can be a room with bedrolls, but very often it is simply the bar room after closing time, where patrons can sleep on the benches, tables or floor for a few copper pieces.

Shared sleeping rooms are the most common accomodation in traveller inns. There will be a bedroll and a chest (that can be locked, for valuables) for each patron. Six, ten or twenty people sleep in such a room, often close to each other. In higher quality inns, the shared rooms will be smaller, down to four places, and bedrolls will be replaced with simple beds.

As far as food is concerned, even high-quality inns rarely have a menu. There is typically a dish of the day that is offered, varying depending on what the innkeeper bought on the market that morning. Only the most refined places in the larger cities sometimes have two or three dishes that you can choose from. In the vast majority of places, you order lunch or dinner and get served whatever is for lunch/dinner that day.
[[Perpetual stew]]s or similar meals are very common.

== Drinks ==
Alcoholic drinks are omnipresent, and beer, ale or mead are pretty much the go-to things an inn serves. Water (contrary to common prejudice) is also a common drink. Milk, on the other hand, is typically reserved for children or the infirm as it spoils quickly and must be consumed the same day.

Most of those alcoholic drinks are fairly light in alcohol. Anything above 10% would be considered a strong drink and only distilled spirits - all of which are considered hard liquours - go above 20%, though sometimes considerably. The exception are dwarven beers, which are at least 25% strong and many go above 40%. Not that precise measuring methods would exist, but that is strong.

Honey is the common sweetener in most drinks, especially in beer and mead.

== Water ==
Water, in general, is valuable because people have to draw it up from a well or haul it from the nearby stream or river. When you've carried that bucket for a kilometre or two, you don't just throw it out. Most water is re-used or conserved. Baths would be shared among the peasant family with each member taking a turn, not because they liked to be dirty but because filling the bath was quite a bit of work (both carrying the water and heating it).

Many houses would collect rain water as a relatively easy means of getting some supply of water, but this would depend on the season and general location.

= Communication =
Most common people can't read or write, or have basic skills at best. Letters are common between nobles, but peasants communicate by speech and news and tales are brought to the villages and towns by bards in the form of songs. Many peasants have no idea what their king looks like, except for the descriptions of him in those songs. Bards are essentially the newspapers of the world, one reason why they can often hope for a free meal and a corner to sleep in at both inns and castles.

= Economy =

== Taxes ==
Many parts of the world are as bureaucratic as the modern world, especially when it comes to taxes. There is a tax on everything, and tolls and fees on many more things.

= Society =
Belonging is an important fact in the harsh environment of a medieval world, and society provides a much stronger framework for an individual's life than it does in the modern world.

== Laws ==
In addition to crimes and punishments, laws are also used to regulate behaviour. Every place has sets of local laws that determine who may do what and when and what the fines are for breaking them. These laws sometimes regulate the weight of bread, or who may use the well. They can be strangely specific, such as a law that says that nobody may sell ale from his house unless he hangs a sign to that effect. Or that visitors are allowed to carry weapons within the town, but drawing them carries a fine of 5 copper coins, using them of 20 coppers and drawing blood with them a fine of one silver.

These laws change from place to place, and adventurers can easily run afoul of them, often without realizing it. They might break a law that states no horses may be on the market place on a specific day, or that certain goods may only be purchased by non-citizens during specific times of the day.

Many realms also have a hierarchy of laws, where local laws, regional laws and royal laws all are valid at the same time, even though they can be conflicting. Those who broke the regional or royal laws are either brought to the nearest town or city in front of a judge, or placed in a local gaol until a travelling judge passes by - which can be weeks or months.

Complicating things further is the fact that there are few law books, and those that exist are academic treatises. Oral tradition is often the only way for a commoner to know about the law, and when it comes to grey areas or unclear situations outside the everyday experience, many are unsure if a specific action is legal or not.

== Agriculture ==
The economy in this age is still very much an agricultural one. Most people work in food production, either as farmers or in a related profession such as miller, butcher, etc.

As such, society is pretty much built around things important to the food supply. Seasons influence daily life much more than they do today, and the weather is not just a nuissance or pleasure, but a matter of life and death.

Agriculturaly techniques and methods vary by area, but [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-field_system three field crop rotation] is very common throughout Auseka.

Unlike our modern agriculture, fields and farming are not optimized for large-scale machine use. Instead, fields are lined with hedges and dotted with small groves, animals are often grazed in or at the edge of the forest, and the variety of plants is much larger with fewer monocultures. Each of these things serves a purpose - hedges and groves break the wind, preventing soil erosion, while at the same time providing berries, fruits and firewood. Many animals, such as chickens, are less stressed when they can hide from birds of prey under trees or bushes, and so on.

== Cities ==
The role of cities is much, much lower than in the modern world. In western society, more than half of the population today lives in cities. In the age of '''Dragon Eye''', urbanisation is between 10% and 20%, depending on the region and realm. Cities are the exception, not the norm. Most people live in the countryside, close to and surrounded by nature. Cities are dirty, criminal, dangerous places - both in the minds of the majority of the population and in many cases in reality, too.

== Castles ==
The core points of both political and military maps are castles, not cities. Castles can control the land for miles around, and extend their control much further if they are located at chokepoints near rivers, passes or other locations not easily circumvented. They house the nobles and knights and can project military might around. No enemy controls the land without taking its castles.

Castles are also vital economically. The presence of nobles, knights and their households attracts other craftsmen and villages near a castle usually prosper. The castle also offers them safety in case of attack, and villagers will retreat there, often together with their most valuable livestock.

= Racism =
Life being harsh pushes people closer to those they know and trust - family and others "like me". Foreigners are often viewed with suspicion, at least until they've made it clear they are not threat. And the more alien a foreigner is, the more he will be mistrusted. Different skin colour or being a member of another race (dwarf, elf) will often be a considerable problem in social interactions. Even the gnomes, which are integrated completely into human society, are viewed as foreigners in the villages and other places where they are less common.

As a consequence, racism is real and normal in the world, and unlike our modern world, there are next to no voices against it.

''Note: This is not a political statement, just consistent world-building. If racism is a touchy subject for you, feel free to ignore racism in your games.''

= Technology =
Most of [[Auseka]] has a level of technology and understanding of the world roughly equivalent to the late middle ages in the real world, before the discovery of steam engines, modern medicine or the scientific method.

Dwarves and gnomes, as well as a few humans, are masters of mechanical devices, including complex contraptions and some semi-automation using water- or wind-power or animals. Springs and levers are well-known and transmutation and alteration magic allows for the construction of devices that would be difficult to build otherwise.

= Magic =
This topic has its own page at [[Magical World]].

World Basics

2023-05-03T09:27:20Z

Tom: /* Roads */

The purpose of this page is to give us modern readers a few key points to understand just how different the world used to be. If you have engaged yourself in re-enactment or medieval studies, you can probably skip this page.

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>

= Daily Life =

== Age & Life Expectancy ==
To put a myth to rest first: People in the middle ages didn't die at 35.
The ''average life expectancy'' was somewhere that many years, but the main driver of that was high child mortality. If you have 2 children and one dies shortly after birth and the other lives until age 70, then their average life expectancy was - 35 years.
Better statistics are looking at the life expectancy of those who reached adulthood or otherwise account for child mortality. I recommend reading [https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181002-how-long-did-ancient-people-live-life-span-versus-longevity this excellent article]. It references [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jIMHCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=guy+sharpe%27s+peerage&ots=tZwob0HISg&sig=rQtW27BM_bBF0xgeme2kkBYhMmw&hl=en#v=onepage&q=guy%20sharpe's%20peerage&f=true this book and statistics] in stating: "from 1200 to 1745, 21-year-olds would reach an average age of anywhere between 62 and 70 years".

So in a typical Dragon Eye human settlement, you will find plenty of people of all ages, including senior citizens. There would be more children than in our modern world, especially many more young children - and at least half of them won't reach adulthood.

Age is largely a matter of health, and the difference in available health care, good food, etc. between peasants and nobles was considerable, so nobles had a much higher chance of reaching old age than peasants. On the other hand, plenty of nobles died by assassination or poison.

== Food ==
Almost all food consumed is both local and seasonal in nature. Especially the basic foods of peasants and served in low-cost inns will be whatever is available in the area at this time of year. In summer and autumn, fresh vegetables are plentiful, while in winter, the selection of available food is much lower.

== Livestock ==
Animals are all around, everywhere. Peasants often sleep in the same (the only) room with their livestock, chickens run around in the castle yard, dogs and cats roam the area. Not only is the scale of animal farming much smaller than today, living animals are also the cheapest and most convenient way of keeping their meat fresh. So armies on the march are often accompanied by herds of animals used for milk and slaughtered when meat is needed.

== Servants ==
With no dishwasher, washing machine and other machines, manual labor is everywhere. That also means that all but the very poor have servants. Even most farmers have a few servants, serfs or farmhands. Anything you are unable to do by yourself you hire someone to do for you. It is simply far more common to have servants. A noble's household would be bustling with servants everywhere, maids, cooks, people carrying things, stoking fires, cleaning up, helping the lord and lady to dress and bathe, taking care of the horses and carriage, guards, and, of course, the temporary service people like bards, minstrels, scribes and others.

== Nights ==
Nights can be really dark, depending on the cloud cover and moon phase.

Without electric or gas light, there is very little light outside during the nights, even within the cities. In a forest, when clouds cover the moon and the canopy blocks the starlight, it can be pitch black.

Within the houses, that means as soon as the sun sets, fires are lit. Commonly, wood fires. Fireplaces provide both light and warmth. Candles are too expensive to be just burning all the time, but are fairly common. They are somewhat affordable by the common folk at low quality, but the wealthy and nobility would use higher-quality candles. Oil lamps were also popular for those who could afford them. There are also many other variants, such as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rushlight rushlight] or grease lamps.

== Fire ==
Fire is a great killer. Both inside the house (cooking is often done over open fire) but also on the larger scale. Villages and towns can burn down from a single out-of-control fire, and often do. Not to mention that arson is a popular tool of war.

== Outhouses ==
In most cases, outhouses actually are outside, away from the main house. That includes outhouses at inns. At the edge of villages or at a roadside inn in the middle of nowhere, people often go when the sun goes down, need or no need, and then try to avoid going to the outhouse in darkness.

== Sewers ==
In the towns and cities, outhouses are not enough. In the north-eastern parts of [[Auseka]], sewers are fairly common and can be found in many cities, though sometimes they span only the more wealthy parts. A sewer system is an old dwarven invention, more than 500 years old, but humans have only built them for about 200 years, and in western Auseka, they are even more recent, with many cities having no sewers or only a very basic network spanning the main avenues and keeping at least the main streets relatively free of human waste.

== Washing ==
Unlike the (mostly false) prejudices, people do wash regularily. Heating water is a long and expensive matter, however, so much washing was done either communaly (bath houses in towns and cities, family bathing day in villages) or cold.

Washing clothes is hard labour and takes a long time. "Washing days" are exactly what they sound like - in many villages, one day a week the women gather and all go down to the river together to wash clothes - for the whole day.

= Travel =
In general, most people travel much less and shorter distances, due to the absence of cars or trains. Commoners, especially, often travel only within the general area of their birthplace and might take a trip to the nearest city once a year for important matters.

Those who do travel often travel most of the time. Mercenaries and merchants, sailors as well as craftsmen with rare skills, but also generals and high officials and even some kings and dukes spend most of their time in travel due to the sheer amount of time it takes. Many of these people do not even have a permanent residence.

Note that strangers are always the prime suspects in any crime and wrongdoing. If something happens while a group of travellers is in town, they will almost certainly be among the accused. This is because justice is based more on your reputation as a law-abiding citizen and the good words of your fellows than it is upon evidence and witnesses.

== Roads ==
Roads can be anything from trampled dirt (that turns to mud when it rains) to cobblestone. But even with a road, travel speeds would be around 20 km per day, 25 on a good road, as walking is the fastest long-distance travel speed available to most. Horses are good for short distances, but have less endurance than a human and can't keep up the speed for long. Over a whole day of travel, most people can actually walk faster than they could ride. Most carriages and waggons are without suspension and travel in them is far from comfortable.

Travel speeds depend a lot on how much is carried. With luggage, people slow down considerably, and having a pack animal is a good way to keep travel speed high.

The most comfortable travel option and also the one best suited for carrying large amounts of cargo, is by boat or ship. River boats in most inland areas, ocean-going ships at the coast.

== Hospitality ==

A key element to understand pre-modern society is the concept of hospitality. Having guests in the house was quite normal, and in fact the reason why nobles or wealthy townspeople had large houses. In a noble estate, at any given time, you would find some relatives, one or more famous artist, scholars or the like, possibly another distantly related noble and such as guests. It would be unusual for a large house to not have anyone staying over. The ability to house guests is a question of status, and refusing someone who is not a total stranger would make people wonder if maybe you can't afford it?

Even among the common folks, giving a relative who is in town a roof and a bed is expected.

In the countryside, travellers are often welcome as sources of news and have a good chance to receive a meal and a place to sleep in exchange.

== Inns ==
Many wayside inns offer a limited selection of food and drinks, and in simpler establishments it is not uncommon that there is only one dish on the menu.

As far as sleeping opportunities are concerned, most inns offer the so-called ''common room'', which is a shared sleeping room. It can be a room with bedrolls, but very often it is simply the bar room after closing time, where patrons can sleep on the benches, tables or floor for a few copper pieces.

Shared sleeping rooms are the most common accomodation in traveller inns. There will be a bedroll and a chest (that can be locked, for valuables) for each patron. Six, ten or twenty people sleep in such a room, often close to each other. In higher quality inns, the shared rooms will be smaller, down to four places, and bedrolls will be replaced with simple beds.

As far as food is concerned, even high-quality inns rarely have a menu. There is typically a dish of the day that is offered, varying depending on what the innkeeper bought on the market that morning. Only the most refined places in the larger cities sometimes have two or three dishes that you can choose from. In the vast majority of places, you order lunch or dinner and get served whatever is for lunch/dinner that day.

== Drinks ==
Alcoholic drinks are omnipresent, and beer, ale or mead are pretty much the go-to things an inn serves. Water (contrary to common prejudice) is also a common drink. Milk, on the other hand, is typically reserved for children or the infirm as it spoils quickly and must be consumed the same day.

Most of those alcoholic drinks are fairly light in alcohol. Anything above 10% would be considered a strong drink and only distilled spirits - all of which are considered hard liquours - go above 20%, though sometimes considerably. The exception are dwarven beers, which are at least 25% strong and many go above 40%. Not that precise measuring methods would exist, but that is strong.

Honey is the common sweetener in most drinks, especially in beer and mead.

== Water ==
Water, in general, is valuable because people have to draw it up from a well or haul it from the nearby stream or river. When you've carried that bucket for a kilometre or two, you don't just throw it out. Most water is re-used or conserved. Baths would be shared among the peasant family with each member taking a turn, not because they liked to be dirty but because filling the bath was quite a bit of work (both carrying the water and heating it).

Many houses would collect rain water as a relatively easy means of getting some supply of water, but this would depend on the season and general location.

= Communication =
Most common people can't read or write, or have basic skills at best. Letters are common between nobles, but peasants communicate by speech and news and tales are brought to the villages and towns by bards in the form of songs. Many peasants have no idea what their king looks like, except for the descriptions of him in those songs. Bards are essentially the newspapers of the world, one reason why they can often hope for a free meal and a corner to sleep in at both inns and castles.

= Economy =

== Taxes ==
Many parts of the world are as bureaucratic as the modern world, especially when it comes to taxes. There is a tax on everything, and tolls and fees on many more things.

= Society =
Belonging is an important fact in the harsh environment of a medieval world, and society provides a much stronger framework for an individual's life than it does in the modern world.

== Laws ==
In addition to crimes and punishments, laws are also used to regulate behaviour. Every place has sets of local laws that determine who may do what and when and what the fines are for breaking them. These laws sometimes regulate the weight of bread, or who may use the well. They can be strangely specific, such as a law that says that nobody may sell ale from his house unless he hangs a sign to that effect. Or that visitors are allowed to carry weapons within the town, but drawing them carries a fine of 5 copper coins, using them of 20 coppers and drawing blood with them a fine of one silver.

These laws change from place to place, and adventurers can easily run afoul of them, often without realizing it. They might break a law that states no horses may be on the market place on a specific day, or that certain goods may only be purchased by non-citizens during specific times of the day.

Many realms also have a hierarchy of laws, where local laws, regional laws and royal laws all are valid at the same time, even though they can be conflicting. Those who broke the regional or royal laws are either brought to the nearest town or city in front of a judge, or placed in a local gaol until a travelling judge passes by - which can be weeks or months.

Complicating things further is the fact that there are few law books, and those that exist are academic treatises. Oral tradition is often the only way for a commoner to know about the law, and when it comes to grey areas or unclear situations outside the everyday experience, many are unsure if a specific action is legal or not.

== Agriculture ==
The economy in this age is still very much an agricultural one. Most people work in food production, either as farmers or in a related profession such as miller, butcher, etc.

As such, society is pretty much built around things important to the food supply. Seasons influence daily life much more than they do today, and the weather is not just a nuissance or pleasure, but a matter of life and death.

Agriculturaly techniques and methods vary by area, but [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-field_system three field crop rotation] is very common throughout Auseka.

Unlike our modern agriculture, fields and farming are not optimized for large-scale machine use. Instead, fields are lined with hedges and dotted with small groves, animals are often grazed in or at the edge of the forest, and the variety of plants is much larger with fewer monocultures. Each of these things serves a purpose - hedges and groves break the wind, preventing soil erosion, while at the same time providing berries, fruits and firewood. Many animals, such as chickens, are less stressed when they can hide from birds of prey under trees or bushes, and so on.

== Cities ==
The role of cities is much, much lower than in the modern world. In western society, more than half of the population today lives in cities. In the age of '''Dragon Eye''', urbanisation is between 10% and 20%, depending on the region and realm. Cities are the exception, not the norm. Most people live in the countryside, close to and surrounded by nature. Cities are dirty, criminal, dangerous places - both in the minds of the majority of the population and in many cases in reality, too.

== Castles ==
The core points of both political and military maps are castles, not cities. Castles can control the land for miles around, and extend their control much further if they are located at chokepoints near rivers, passes or other locations not easily circumvented. They house the nobles and knights and can project military might around. No enemy controls the land without taking its castles.

Castles are also vital economically. The presence of nobles, knights and their households attracts other craftsmen and villages near a castle usually prosper. The castle also offers them safety in case of attack, and villagers will retreat there, often together with their most valuable livestock.

= Racism =
Life being harsh pushes people closer to those they know and trust - family and others "like me". Foreigners are often viewed with suspicion, at least until they've made it clear they are not threat. And the more alien a foreigner is, the more he will be mistrusted. Different skin colour or being a member of another race (dwarf, elf) will often be a considerable problem in social interactions. Even the gnomes, which are integrated completely into human society, are viewed as foreigners in the villages and other places where they are less common.

As a consequence, racism is real and normal in the world, and unlike our modern world, there are next to no voices against it.

''Note: This is not a political statement, just consistent world-building. If racism is a touchy subject for you, feel free to ignore racism in your games.''

= Technology =
Most of [[Auseka]] has a level of technology and understanding of the world roughly equivalent to the late middle ages in the real world, before the discovery of steam engines, modern medicine or the scientific method.

Dwarves and gnomes, as well as a few humans, are masters of mechanical devices, including complex contraptions and some semi-automation using water- or wind-power or animals. Springs and levers are well-known and transmutation and alteration magic allows for the construction of devices that would be difficult to build otherwise.

= Magic =
This topic has its own page at [[Magical World]].

World Basics

2023-05-03T09:20:46Z

Tom:

The purpose of this page is to give us modern readers a few key points to understand just how different the world used to be. If you have engaged yourself in re-enactment or medieval studies, you can probably skip this page.

<div style="float:right">__TOC__</div>

= Daily Life =

== Age & Life Expectancy ==
To put a myth to rest first: People in the middle ages didn't die at 35.
The ''average life expectancy'' was somewhere that many years, but the main driver of that was high child mortality. If you have 2 children and one dies shortly after birth and the other lives until age 70, then their average life expectancy was - 35 years.
Better statistics are looking at the life expectancy of those who reached adulthood or otherwise account for child mortality. I recommend reading [https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181002-how-long-did-ancient-people-live-life-span-versus-longevity this excellent article]. It references [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jIMHCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=guy+sharpe%27s+peerage&ots=tZwob0HISg&sig=rQtW27BM_bBF0xgeme2kkBYhMmw&hl=en#v=onepage&q=guy%20sharpe's%20peerage&f=true this book and statistics] in stating: "from 1200 to 1745, 21-year-olds would reach an average age of anywhere between 62 and 70 years".

So in a typical Dragon Eye human settlement, you will find plenty of people of all ages, including senior citizens. There would be more children than in our modern world, especially many more young children - and at least half of them won't reach adulthood.

Age is largely a matter of health, and the difference in available health care, good food, etc. between peasants and nobles was considerable, so nobles had a much higher chance of reaching old age than peasants. On the other hand, plenty of nobles died by assassination or poison.

== Food ==
Almost all food consumed is both local and seasonal in nature. Especially the basic foods of peasants and served in low-cost inns will be whatever is available in the area at this time of year. In summer and autumn, fresh vegetables are plentiful, while in winter, the selection of available food is much lower.

== Livestock ==
Animals are all around, everywhere. Peasants often sleep in the same (the only) room with their livestock, chickens run around in the castle yard, dogs and cats roam the area. Not only is the scale of animal farming much smaller than today, living animals are also the cheapest and most convenient way of keeping their meat fresh. So armies on the march are often accompanied by herds of animals used for milk and slaughtered when meat is needed.

== Servants ==
With no dishwasher, washing machine and other machines, manual labor is everywhere. That also means that all but the very poor have servants. Even most farmers have a few servants, serfs or farmhands. Anything you are unable to do by yourself you hire someone to do for you. It is simply far more common to have servants. A noble's household would be bustling with servants everywhere, maids, cooks, people carrying things, stoking fires, cleaning up, helping the lord and lady to dress and bathe, taking care of the horses and carriage, guards, and, of course, the temporary service people like bards, minstrels, scribes and others.

== Nights ==
Nights can be really dark, depending on the cloud cover and moon phase.

Without electric or gas light, there is very little light outside during the nights, even within the cities. In a forest, when clouds cover the moon and the canopy blocks the starlight, it can be pitch black.

Within the houses, that means as soon as the sun sets, fires are lit. Commonly, wood fires. Fireplaces provide both light and warmth. Candles are too expensive to be just burning all the time, but are fairly common. They are somewhat affordable by the common folk at low quality, but the wealthy and nobility would use higher-quality candles. Oil lamps were also popular for those who could afford them. There are also many other variants, such as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rushlight rushlight] or grease lamps.

== Fire ==
Fire is a great killer. Both inside the house (cooking is often done over open fire) but also on the larger scale. Villages and towns can burn down from a single out-of-control fire, and often do. Not to mention that arson is a popular tool of war.

== Outhouses ==
In most cases, outhouses actually are outside, away from the main house. That includes outhouses at inns. At the edge of villages or at a roadside inn in the middle of nowhere, people often go when the sun goes down, need or no need, and then try to avoid going to the outhouse in darkness.

== Sewers ==
In the towns and cities, outhouses are not enough. In the north-eastern parts of [[Auseka]], sewers are fairly common and can be found in many cities, though sometimes they span only the more wealthy parts. A sewer system is an old dwarven invention, more than 500 years old, but humans have only built them for about 200 years, and in western Auseka, they are even more recent, with many cities having no sewers or only a very basic network spanning the main avenues and keeping at least the main streets relatively free of human waste.

== Washing ==
Unlike the (mostly false) prejudices, people do wash regularily. Heating water is a long and expensive matter, however, so much washing was done either communaly (bath houses in towns and cities, family bathing day in villages) or cold.

Washing clothes is hard labour and takes a long time. "Washing days" are exactly what they sound like - in many villages, one day a week the women gather and all go down to the river together to wash clothes - for the whole day.

= Travel =
In general, most people travel much less and shorter distances, due to the absence of cars or trains. Commoners, especially, often travel only within the general area of their birthplace and might take a trip to the nearest city once a year for important matters.

Those who do travel often travel most of the time. Mercenaries and merchants, sailors as well as craftsmen with rare skills, but also generals and high officials and even some kings and dukes spend most of their time in travel due to the sheer amount of time it takes. Many of these people do not even have a permanent residence.

Note that strangers are always the prime suspects in any crime and wrongdoing. If something happens while a group of travellers is in town, they will almost certainly be among the accused. This is because justice is based more on your reputation as a law-abiding citizen and the good words of your fellows than it is upon evidence and witnesses.

== Roads ==
Roads can be anything from trampled dirt (that turns to mud when it rains) to cobblestone. But even with a road, travel speeds would be around 20 km per day, 25 on a good road, as walking is the fastest long-distance travel speed available to most. Horses are good for short distances, but have less endurance than a human and can't keep up the speed for long. Over a whole day of travel, most people can actually walk faster than they could ride. Most carriages and waggons are without suspension and travel in them is far from comfortable.

Travel speeds depend a lot on how much is carried. With luggage, people slow down considerably, and having a pack animal is a good way to keep travel speed high.

== Hospitality ==

A key element to understand pre-modern society is the concept of hospitality. Having guests in the house was quite normal, and in fact the reason why nobles or wealthy townspeople had large houses. In a noble estate, at any given time, you would find some relatives, one or more famous artist, scholars or the like, possibly another distantly related noble and such as guests. It would be unusual for a large house to not have anyone staying over. The ability to house guests is a question of status, and refusing someone who is not a total stranger would make people wonder if maybe you can't afford it?

Even among the common folks, giving a relative who is in town a roof and a bed is expected.

In the countryside, travellers are often welcome as sources of news and have a good chance to receive a meal and a place to sleep in exchange.

== Inns ==
Many wayside inns offer a limited selection of food and drinks, and in simpler establishments it is not uncommon that there is only one dish on the menu.

As far as sleeping opportunities are concerned, most inns offer the so-called ''common room'', which is a shared sleeping room. It can be a room with bedrolls, but very often it is simply the bar room after closing time, where patrons can sleep on the benches, tables or floor for a few copper pieces.

Shared sleeping rooms are the most common accomodation in traveller inns. There will be a bedroll and a chest (that can be locked, for valuables) for each patron. Six, ten or twenty people sleep in such a room, often close to each other. In higher quality inns, the shared rooms will be smaller, down to four places, and bedrolls will be replaced with simple beds.

As far as food is concerned, even high-quality inns rarely have a menu. There is typically a dish of the day that is offered, varying depending on what the innkeeper bought on the market that morning. Only the most refined places in the larger cities sometimes have two or three dishes that you can choose from. In the vast majority of places, you order lunch or dinner and get served whatever is for lunch/dinner that day.

== Drinks ==
Alcoholic drinks are omnipresent, and beer, ale or mead are pretty much the go-to things an inn serves. Water (contrary to common prejudice) is also a common drink. Milk, on the other hand, is typically reserved for children or the infirm as it spoils quickly and must be consumed the same day.

Most of those alcoholic drinks are fairly light in alcohol. Anything above 10% would be considered a strong drink and only distilled spirits - all of which are considered hard liquours - go above 20%, though sometimes considerably. The exception are dwarven beers, which are at least 25% strong and many go above 40%. Not that precise measuring methods would exist, but that is strong.

Honey is the common sweetener in most drinks, especially in beer and mead.

== Water ==
Water, in general, is valuable because people have to draw it up from a well or haul it from the nearby stream or river. When you've carried that bucket for a kilometre or two, you don't just throw it out. Most water is re-used or conserved. Baths would be shared among the peasant family with each member taking a turn, not because they liked to be dirty but because filling the bath was quite a bit of work (both carrying the water and heating it).

Many houses would collect rain water as a relatively easy means of getting some supply of water, but this would depend on the season and general location.

= Communication =
Most common people can't read or write, or have basic skills at best. Letters are common between nobles, but peasants communicate by speech and news and tales are brought to the villages and towns by bards in the form of songs. Many peasants have no idea what their king looks like, except for the descriptions of him in those songs. Bards are essentially the newspapers of the world, one reason why they can often hope for a free meal and a corner to sleep in at both inns and castles.

= Economy =

== Taxes ==
Many parts of the world are as bureaucratic as the modern world, especially when it comes to taxes. There is a tax on everything, and tolls and fees on many more things.

= Society =
Belonging is an important fact in the harsh environment of a medieval world, and society provides a much stronger framework for an individual's life than it does in the modern world.

== Laws ==
In addition to crimes and punishments, laws are also used to regulate behaviour. Every place has sets of local laws that determine who may do what and when and what the fines are for breaking them. These laws sometimes regulate the weight of bread, or who may use the well. They can be strangely specific, such as a law that says that nobody may sell ale from his house unless he hangs a sign to that effect. Or that visitors are allowed to carry weapons within the town, but drawing them carries a fine of 5 copper coins, using them of 20 coppers and drawing blood with them a fine of one silver.

These laws change from place to place, and adventurers can easily run afoul of them, often without realizing it. They might break a law that states no horses may be on the market place on a specific day, or that certain goods may only be purchased by non-citizens during specific times of the day.

Many realms also have a hierarchy of laws, where local laws, regional laws and royal laws all are valid at the same time, even though they can be conflicting. Those who broke the regional or royal laws are either brought to the nearest town or city in front of a judge, or placed in a local gaol until a travelling judge passes by - which can be weeks or months.

Complicating things further is the fact that there are few law books, and those that exist are academic treatises. Oral tradition is often the only way for a commoner to know about the law, and when it comes to grey areas or unclear situations outside the everyday experience, many are unsure if a specific action is legal or not.

== Agriculture ==
The economy in this age is still very much an agricultural one. Most people work in food production, either as farmers or in a related profession such as miller, butcher, etc.

As such, society is pretty much built around things important to the food supply. Seasons influence daily life much more than they do today, and the weather is not just a nuissance or pleasure, but a matter of life and death.

Agriculturaly techniques and methods vary by area, but [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-field_system three field crop rotation] is very common throughout Auseka.

Unlike our modern agriculture, fields and farming are not optimized for large-scale machine use. Instead, fields are lined with hedges and dotted with small groves, animals are often grazed in or at the edge of the forest, and the variety of plants is much larger with fewer monocultures. Each of these things serves a purpose - hedges and groves break the wind, preventing soil erosion, while at the same time providing berries, fruits and firewood. Many animals, such as chickens, are less stressed when they can hide from birds of prey under trees or bushes, and so on.

== Cities ==
The role of cities is much, much lower than in the modern world. In western society, more than half of the population today lives in cities. In the age of '''Dragon Eye''', urbanisation is between 10% and 20%, depending on the region and realm. Cities are the exception, not the norm. Most people live in the countryside, close to and surrounded by nature. Cities are dirty, criminal, dangerous places - both in the minds of the majority of the population and in many cases in reality, too.

== Castles ==
The core points of both political and military maps are castles, not cities. Castles can control the land for miles around, and extend their control much further if they are located at chokepoints near rivers, passes or other locations not easily circumvented. They house the nobles and knights and can project military might around. No enemy controls the land without taking its castles.

Castles are also vital economically. The presence of nobles, knights and their households attracts other craftsmen and villages near a castle usually prosper. The castle also offers them safety in case of attack, and villagers will retreat there, often together with their most valuable livestock.

= Racism =
Life being harsh pushes people closer to those they know and trust - family and others "like me". Foreigners are often viewed with suspicion, at least until they've made it clear they are not threat. And the more alien a foreigner is, the more he will be mistrusted. Different skin colour or being a member of another race (dwarf, elf) will often be a considerable problem in social interactions. Even the gnomes, which are integrated completely into human society, are viewed as foreigners in the villages and other places where they are less common.

As a consequence, racism is real and normal in the world, and unlike our modern world, there are next to no voices against it.

''Note: This is not a political statement, just consistent world-building. If racism is a touchy subject for you, feel free to ignore racism in your games.''

= Technology =
Most of [[Auseka]] has a level of technology and understanding of the world roughly equivalent to the late middle ages in the real world, before the discovery of steam engines, modern medicine or the scientific method.

Dwarves and gnomes, as well as a few humans, are masters of mechanical devices, including complex contraptions and some semi-automation using water- or wind-power or animals. Springs and levers are well-known and transmutation and alteration magic allows for the construction of devices that would be difficult to build otherwise.

= Magic =
This topic has its own page at [[Magical World]].

Neamei City

2023-04-30T08:34:43Z

Tom: Created page with "{{TownBox | type = city | pop = 5200 | race = human | culture = Elladan | religion = Faith of Nesra | realm = Vericum | province = Neamei | elevation = 75 }} Neamei ist the c..."

{{TownBox
| type = city
| pop = 5200
| race = human
| culture = Elladan
| religion = Faith of Nesra
| realm = Vericum
| province = Neamei
| elevation = 75
}}

Neamei ist the capital of [[Neamei]] in the north of [[Vericum]]. It is a trade city with several market places and a large dwarven population due to its proximity to [[Ebronland]].

Located within a fertile grasslands area a safe distance away from the [[Ardabur]] river which occasionally floods its banks during meltwater season and has created wetlands along its course, the city is small but prosperous and important beyond its size.

Close to a thousand dwarves live in Neamei, though many of them are traders who stay for a season or a year and then return to [[Ebronland]], so there is a lot of coming and going in the dwarven quarters. Aside from the traders, there are also smiths and other craftsmen as well as taverns, inns and other shops primarily or exclusively for dwarves. (they are not officially exclusive, but the low ceiling height makes them uninviting to humans).

There are also a few hundred [[Gnomes]] in the city, who keep largely to themselves and provide additional crafts.

Trade flows southwards and eastwards from Neamei, as well as northwards into the dwarven realm of [[Ebronland]]. The [[Grasalia Main Road]] begins (or ends, depending on your perspective) in Neamei, but is only used in local trade to nearby areas, as [[Grasalia]] itself is too far away to make trade profitable.

{{#Widget:Map|lat=33.020148093987|lon=-6.9636049883519|zoom=8}}

Given the nature of the city as a trading center, foreigners are a common sight and the city has no less than six inns where travellers can rest (two of them in the dwarven quarters) as well as numerous taverns to spend the evenings.

The river port at the [[Scylbiapus]] river is busy most of the year, though the river can freeze over in cold winters, bringing trade along it to a halt. The city also has three gates, one in the west opening to the [[Grasalia Main Road]], the main gate in the east opening to the [[Imperial High Road]] and a small gate towards the north used by peasants to access farmland and pastures.