The Elderberry Tales - Part 2 - The Folk and People Here

 A Day in the Life

 

In the land of Adamar, most people lead lives that are intimately tied to the land and the divine order. The daily rhythm of life is dictated by the needs of the soil, the seasons, and the expectations of their lords.

Morning

The day begins before dawn for most villagers. As the first light of the sun begins to creep over the horizon, families gather for a simple breakfast, often consisting of bread, cheese, and porridge. After a brief moment of communal prayer to thank the divine creator for the new day, they set out to their various tasks.

Peasants and Serfs: These individuals are bound to the land, toiling from sunrise to sunset. They work in the fields, planting, tending, and harvesting crops. The primary crops are grains like wheat and barley, which are crucial for sustenance. In addition to crop farming, peasants also raise livestock, including chickens, pigs, and sheep.

Tradesmen: Skilled workers such as blacksmiths, carpenters, and weavers begin their day by opening their workshops. They provide essential goods and services to the village, from tools and clothing to repairs and constructions.

Children: Young ones either assist their parents with simpler tasks or attend informal lessons with the village priest or elder, learning about their heritage, basic literacy, and the teachings of the divine creator.

Midday

As the sun reaches its zenith, the villagers take a break from their labor. The midday meal is heartier than breakfast, often including stews made from vegetables and whatever meat is available. This is a time for rest and socializing, sharing news, and discussing any pressing matters.

Steward: The highest-ranking individual in the village, responsible for managing the lord’s estate and ensuring that taxes and tributes are collected. The steward often oversees the daily operations and mediates any disputes that arise.

Bailiff: Oversees the material duties of the village, ensuring that the agricultural activities are running smoothly and that the lord’s demands are met. The bailiff works closely with the steward to manage resources and labor.

Afternoon

After the midday meal, work resumes. The afternoons are often hotter and more grueling, but the work must continue to ensure the village’s survival.

Church Attendance: Many villagers take a moment in the afternoon to visit the church for prayers. The village priest holds a position of power and respect, guiding the spiritual well-being of the community. The priest is also the one who grants permission for trials and quests, serving as a mediator between the divine and mortal realms.

Domestic Duties: Women and older children often return to their homes to handle domestic tasks, such as cooking, cleaning, and mending clothes. They also tend to kitchen gardens, growing herbs and vegetables for household use.

Evening

As the day cools, the villagers return home. Evening meals are usually lighter and shared with the family, followed by relaxation and storytelling around the hearth. This is a time to bond, reflect on the day, and plan for tomorrow.

Community Gatherings: Occasionally, the village gathers for communal events, such as fairs, feasts, or religious festivals. These gatherings strengthen social bonds and provide a break from the daily grind.

Guard Duty: Some villagers take turns standing guard, especially in troubled times. The local militia, often composed of able-bodied men and women, ensures the safety of the village from external threats.

The Village Structure

The village is a close-knit community, largely self-sufficient and bound by mutual obligation. Key roles include:

·       Steward: The highest-ranking individual responsible for overall management.

·       Bailiff: Oversees agricultural and material duties.

·       Tradesmen: Skilled workers providing essential goods and services.

·       Priest: The spiritual leader and mediator for divine quests.

·       Serfs and Peasants: The backbone of the village, working the land and tending livestock.

·       Social Order and Rebellion

The villages operate under the Frank Pledge system, where everyone is responsible for the community's safety and justice. However, the nobles have become corrupt, neglecting their duties and exploiting the people. This has sparked a great rebellion, with peasants, townsfolk, and freemen rising against their superiors to reclaim their freedom and restore justice.

Summary

Life in Adamar is arduous yet fulfilling. It is a life of hard work, faith, and community, with each day bringing its own challenges and rewards. The villagers' resilience and unity are their greatest strengths as they strive to survive and thrive in a world of divine influence and ancient trials.

Procreation

One thing of note is that in this land, one does not procreate by normal means.  All couples that want children need to go on quests to get them.  The people of this land are truly people of the earth.  These usually are a ritual where the go into a birthing barrow and submit themselves to trials.  While it is possible to solo it with extreme hardship, most such trials are done in pairs to ensure the child is raised in a partnership. These are often delivered by stork after the trials.

These children range from being very similar to their parents, to being of different ethnicity or even race.  It does not matter as the child has been earned by worthy parents.  Still it does cause contention when a child is brought into the world but usually the more exotic the child, the more likely they have great things to be thrust upon them.

Humans:

Until recently, Humans were the dominant species of the planet.  They were the children of the divine compact and part of that compact was that they fit into their lot in life and embraced their zeal. 

However, because of the breakdown of order, humans have been transforming into other species. 

For the purposes of the compact, humans are as diverse as in our world, and it can vary by generation as there is no biological connection between parents and children.

Elves:

Elves are the fey that have lost their divine immortality.  They are a somewhat bitter species as they try to learn the ways or mortals and the rules of the divine compact.  They often end up as the foresters and grounds keepers of the world.

Dwarves:

The dwarves are the keepers of the challenge caves that all people may go into to seek their fame and fortune.  They control the population and decide due to divine mandate who is allowed into them to seek out children in the depths of the earth.  They are also in control of burial rights and determination of relics from the dead, making them have a unique, but powerful niche.  Dwarvern PCs would most likely be either retired or exiled from their lofty task.

Goliaths:

The Last Survivors of the Necrophim

In the world of Elderberry Tales, the Goliaths stand as towering remnants of an ancient and cataclysmic past. Long ago, during the planet's last great cataclysm, the race known as the Necrophim faced near extinction. These beings of immense strength and resilience were blessed—or cursed—with the lifeblood of the earth itself. Through sheer will and the enigmatic powers they harnessed, a faction of the Necrophim survived the apocalypse, their bodies transforming and adapting to the new world. These survivors became known as Goliaths. Now, they wander the rugged highlands and craggy mountains, their skin marked with the stony imprints of their tumultuous past. Goliaths are stoic and hardy, carrying the weight of forgotten histories and the strength of the earth within their very bones. They are guardians of ancient secrets and living testaments to the world's enduring spirit, embodying both the resilience of their Necrophim ancestors and the hardships they have overcome.

Gnomes:

Gnomes are not born, they are made.  They are a grotesque brought to life by a single fragment from the land of earth.  When they awaken, they consider themselves obligated to help the family and community.  However, when their family no longer has need of their services, they travel the world looking to assist others.

Halfling:

Halfling seem to be a transformation that occurs when the land is stretched to capacities.  It is completely possible to go to be human one day and wake up a halfling.  Sadly, it does seem to be one way.  However, it does seem to be an intergenerational change creating villages of halflings along the riverside.

Orcs:

The nobles would claim that peasants become orcs when they betray their duty to the divine compact.  This is of course a lie.  The transformation happens when the nobles have betrayed the people and the people need a strong defender to even the odds against these murderous peacocks.  The increase in strength and savagery is often that of legends and heroes.

Goblins:

Townsfolk are to Goblins what peasants are to Orcs.  By becoming a small, green and clever species, they learn to fight the betrayer’s using treachery and magic.  They often are known as cobblers for they often are paragons of their trade.  In fact, most sorcerers are goblin as they are blessed with magic from the divine.

Hobgoblins:

In some cases, the more militant townsfolk, namely those of guards and soldiers, often are transmuted into the Hobgoblin.  They are disciplined where the Orcs are strong.  Both are needed in the times ahead.

New Races

Living Reliquaries:

Death is not the final chapter.  If properly treated and kept together, Skeletons often animate and try to go about their lives.  In fact, many PCs start their adventuring careers with their own death.  While many would consider them wise for their experience, most are confused and more twisted.

Salamander,

These small snake humanoid creatures are believed to be born from the flames.  The truth is it’s more that their eggs are laid across the world and hatching require a pyrotechnic birthing process.  While they are strange, the truth is they often imprint on the people that they first see and become part of the village using their unique properties to help.

Sylph,

These creatures of the air and are considered part elemental and part fey.   They are filled with whimsey and often act as mediators if raised in the local village.

Undine,

These local nymphs and lads of water seem to appear as local water spirits and have a connection to the water.  They are often raised by the local village and are considered a blessing.

Languages

In Adamar, language plays a crucial role in communication, culture, and magic. After the incident at the Tower of Babel, people speak various tongues, reflecting their origins, races, and professions. Some languages are common and used for everyday communication, while others are ancient and reserved for magical incantations or religious rituals.

Adamaxon: 

The Common of this world.  There are heavy regional distinction that varies from village to village.

Dworse: 

The underground language and the language of the dwarves and the language used by the raiders of the north.

Elrish: 

The language of the fey where they still have a few strongholds are left.  This is the language of the Elves.

Freyton:

 The places where the fey used to have strongholds mixed with the local population and created a hybrid language mixing with Adamaxon and Normish.

Highland:

A hybrid language where Dworse and Elrish intermixed creating a culturally distinct tone.

Normish: 

The language of the Bastard and those of the high nobility.

Romana: 

The high language from on high and used for religious text everywhere.

 

The Divine Compact Broken.

The world of Adamar is a land of pastoral beauty and enduring tradition. Under normal circumstances, subsistence farming, though arduous, ensures survival and a modest prosperity. The faithful and diligent find favor in the eyes of the Lord Creator, who sustains them through his divine servants. This delicate balance of labor and faith is enshrined in the divine compact—a sacred covenant between the Creator, the rulers, and the people. The compact maintains that the right to rule is divine only as long as the ruler adheres to the Creator's laws and protects the land and its people.

However, this sacred covenant has been shattered by the malevolent actions of a tyrant known only as The Bastard. Once a legitimate claimant to power, his deeds have plunged Adamar into chaos and desolation.

Writer’s Note: This figure is a dark echo of William the Conqueror, his ambition and cruelty reflecting the worst excesses of conquest and tyranny.

 

The Actions of The Bastard

The Bastard's reign of terror began with the brutal seizure of a surrendered keep. Rather than honoring the terms of surrender, he set the keep ablaze, killing those who had yielded to his authority. This act of treachery was just the beginning of his campaign of destruction.

Razing Villages: The Bastard’s forces swept through the countryside, burning villages to the ground. Homes, crops, and livelihoods were reduced to ash, leaving the land barren and the people destitute. His strategy of scorched earth left a legacy of fear and ruin, reminiscent of the Harrying of the North.

Spreading Disease: With deliberate malice, The Bastard introduced a wave of dysentery, decimating the population. The disease spread rapidly, killing thousands and weakening the survivors, making them easy prey for his forces. This biological warfare broke the spirit of resistance among the peasantry.

Sowing Discord: The few nobles who survived the initial onslaught were consumed by infighting. The Bastard skillfully manipulated their rivalries, ensuring they were too preoccupied with their petty disputes to mount a coordinated resistance. This divide-and-conquer tactic mirrors the political machinations of historical tyrants.

Devastation of the Land: The land itself has become sterile, a reflection of the broken divine compact. Once fertile fields now lie fallow, and the natural order has been disrupted. Monsters and dark creatures have emerged from the earth, driven by the imbalance and corruption brought about by The Bastard’s misrule.

The Legacy of Tyranny

The Bastard’s actions have led to widespread suffering and unrest. The social and moral fabric of Adamar has been torn asunder. The once harmonious relationship between the people and their land has been replaced by fear and mistrust. The rebellion against his rule is driven by the desperate need to restore the divine compact and reclaim the lost prosperity.

Drawing from the real-life history of William the Conqueror and blending it with the fantasy elements of Adamar, The Bastard stands as a cautionary tale of ambition unbound by morality. His fall from grace and the subsequent unraveling of the world he sought to dominate highlight the enduring truth that power, when divorced from justice, inevitably leads to ruin.

In this broken world, heroes must rise from the common folk, bound by their faith and courage, to challenge The Bastard and restore the sacred balance of the divine compact. Their journey is not just a struggle against a tyrant, but a quest to heal the very soul of Adamar.

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