#the queen of schmiedland

[awritingcaitlin]

Introductions...

Have some short snippets of each major character introduction under the cut. Because why not!

Killian

Twelve tiny vials were lined up in a neat row, well-protected inside the leather briefcase on Captain McCormack’s lap. Each was luminescent, shining a clear blue light which bespoke the power each was supposed to contain, power enough to heal a nation. Or its rulers, which, to the Captain’s mind, was close to the same thing when it came to the Queen, if not necessarily the King. If Finn willed it, there would be enough to heal someone else important. At least important to the Captain.

With a sigh of resolution, he stopped his daydreaming. It was his job to deliver these vials. Staring at them, unprotected, with the case open was not a part of it. He checked the power crystal – his excuse for opening it in the first place. Its aura was strong and there was more than enough power in it to protect the case in a stasis field for the next several years. Captain McCormack snapped the case closed, locked it and handed it to Staff Sergeant Weimez, the Mage-Technician whose job it was to maintain the case.

“Everything looks in order, Staff Sergeant, carry on.”

.

Nathaniel

Corporal Nathaniel Adler woke up underwater, his drowning body dragged down by the robe disguising him as a foreign merchant. 

His Marine training kicked in, overriding the panic. He wriggled out of the coat and waited to see which way the currents pulled him. Once he knew, he propelled himself upwards with broad strokes. Against every instinct, he forced himself to blow out a thin stream of air. Getting the bends at the surface would not help him. His lungs burned. His ears rang.

When he finally emerged at the top of the freshwater sea, he gasped in precious new air and took a few moments to feel relief for being alive, tilting his head against the lapping waves of the surprisingly warm water before assessing his situation.

They’d crashed. In the Balios Sea. In the middle of the night. Fuck.

.

Rinnie

Rinnie’s boots squeaked as she walked down the marble hall of the Edansa Embassy to Schmiedland, the sound overpowering the usual swish of her skirts. Damn. Squeaky shoes were unbecoming of her position. The waterproofing enchantment must’ve worn off after getting caught in one of Himmelmauer’s scheduled rains yesterday. She wasn’t surprised. The boots were old, and all enchantments wore out eventually. She deliberated if it was worth it to re-enchant them, or if she should buy new boots.

She did contemplate the effectiveness of a soundproofing charm for the time being.

She was meeting with the Ambassador today to get her new assignment settled. She knew what she wanted, and she hoped things would work out…

“Doctor Edgewing.” Rinnie knew that voice.

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Riela (from Nathaniel's POV)

Doctor Thiggins had barely turned off the vehicle when a woman wearing a green skirt and white shirt under a brown leather bodice came outside. She was young-looking, with olive skin and brown hair pulled off her face showing sharply pointed ears. She might be older than she looked then, as was typical of those with elven blood.

“Mama said you were coming,” she said, approaching Doctor Thiggins. “Do you need any help?”

“I’ve got help with the patient,” Doctor Thiggins said. “But if you want to grab my bag?”

“Of course,” she said.

She caught sight of Adler and the two of them locked eyes for a second. He couldn’t place the look on her face, but was painfully aware of how disheveled he looked. He smelled, too.

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Riela (her own POV)

Riela stepped out of the shower and buried her face in a towel before she could look in the mirror. She hated her own reflection first thing in the mornings. She toweled off completely before braving it.

On her right cheek, tracing along her cheekbone to her temple was a garish spidery tattoo with thick lines. It was a brand, really. Nidtrin mages had applied it to her face when she was nine years old. They’d done it in front of her parents before taking her away to be indoctrinated into their religion. She’d escaped a couple years later with a dozen other kids.

The brands made it hard to run. The kids were more obvious, marked as being from non-conforming parents, now obviously runaways. There was witchcraft in the ink, too, whispering to them in their dreams how wrong they were for running.

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Taryn (from Rinnie's POV)

Right as Rinnie was paying her tab, someone crashed into her and a cold wetness seeped into her lap. A glass hit the floor, but it bounced, enchanted not to break.

“Goddess Aenehra, I am so sorry!” the elf woman said in Edan.

Rinnie turned to look at her. She had short brown hair and a heart-shaped face. Her white blouse was crisp but she’d rolled up the sleeves. She looked casually disheveled in her drunkenness. Rinnie reasoned this woman must be in the first century of life. She stood and brushed the ice cubes out of her lap and onto the floor. The other woman steadied herself on the barstool, and looked at Rinnie with an apologetic expression on her face.

“Are you alright?” Rinnie asked, slipping easily into her native language. She wasn’t angry at her—she’d spent many years getting sloshed and making a fool of herself in bars not unlike this one, then waking up the next morning with, unfortunately at times, every memory. She and her cousin had been good at that. If one could be considered “good” at getting wasted.

The woman nodded. “People keep feeding me drinks.” She giggled and turned in the direction of the other sailors in the back corner. “Fuck, shit, Marrik! This is your fault!”

.

Mica

The halls of the ship shook with turbulence again. Mica hissed under her breath and steadied the flame on her small burner. She sat on her bunk in the small room that functioned as a lab and her quarters. She hadn’t slept in the crew quarters since shortly after her initial kidnapping.

She’d been celebrating Schmiedland Day in the town of Trotsberg, near her family’s farm, when it had happened. She’d been complaining about her mother, as usual, with her face neatly shaven, hair in a cute style with two bows in it—one gold and one green, her country’s colors—about how she would never be the perfect dwarven daughter Mother wanted and proceeded to become further inebriated long into the night. The drunker she’d gotten, the more she’d bragged about her alchemy, and the unconventional methods she used, which in hindsight was what’d attracted the pirates to her.

Consequentially, as she was leaving the bar, a cudgel thumped her on the back of the head. When she’d come to, she was forty miles over the Crater Sea heading east, and she couldn’t say with exact certainty that she’d been disappointed.

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Taryn (her own POV)

Taryn Woodlance had been briefed on Doctor Edgewing’s arrogant and reckless nature. This woman was supposedly high-maintenance and troublesome.

Taryn had done her research into the Personnel Protection Order and Rinnie’s files. She was supposed to report on and potentially recruit her to Commodore Crossweave’s top secret project.

Such preparations did nothing to stop the blood from rising to her cheeks when the woman Taryn had spilled a drink on a week prior came to stand in front of her for formal introductions.

“Doctor Edgewing,” Taryn said, finding her voice, nonetheless. “Pleasure to meet you.”

[pinespittinink]

There's an in-universe game called Royal Will, which is like if you smashed Axis and Allies, Risk, World of Tanks, Warhammer 40k, and Magic the Gathering all together. The game re-releases periodically with new information and details about every country.

Except the legacy sets, which update magically as changes are reported to the developers. They also connect to other legacy sets for remote play.

The cards update changes in command/commanders. Also rulers. Like, to place the Queen of Schmiedland, you also must place the Queen’s Guard (with accurate company counts.)

The game is played by casuals, professional tournament people, and literal world leaders who use it as a means of predicting how war might play out IRL.

Also, there are World of Tank-level leaks because some people want an edge that they would have in the real world that they don't have in the game because the "top secret project" wasn't reported to the game devs. The King of Berthingtonn is known for doing this. Unfortunately for him and his country tbqh.

Caitlin this is a bonkers level of worldbuilding, I’m always so impressed by this amount of detail

[forevermagik]

Worldbuilding June Day 17

Medicine!

I’m really happy with the order of these things here. Medicine and magic are intrinsically linked, so it’s nice to be able to do them back-to-back. 

I only focused a little bit on theramancy yesterday, so please allow me to expand on both theramancy, and the rest of the medical field today.

Medicine in most areas is very advanced in Tyrysius. Schmiedland has very advanced and modern medicine. Edanshe has fairly advanced medicine, they also have the addition of their doctors having been in school longer. (It’s common practice for Edansa universities to take twice as long as a university anywhere else because they’re counting on the longer life-span of elves, and therefore allot more time for learning.) Berthingtonn’s medicine is a bit stunted at the moment because they have only had one new theramancer come through in the last decade. Granted, this naturally allows for different things like technology and alchemy to come together to make up for the lack of theramancy, theramancers do certainly drive the direction of medicine. 

Edanshe also requires all of their doctors, magical and not, to be in the military reserves. Though only some of them will actively serve in the Navy, Marines, and local militias, the point is that any doctor can be called on to serve during war times. 

Healers aren’t always known from birth. Generally sometime in their childhood, they’ll experience an injury and out of a desire to make it better, they will. However, the lack of training generally means a trained doctor or theramancer has to look at it anyway. These kids are encouraged to go into medicine where their theramancy can be best put to use. Many will, though others will choose not to because they’re full-fledged mages and want to specialize elsewhere. [The current Queen of Schmiedland, for example.] Sometimes, they’ll learn enough to keep themselves healthy and whole and leave it that. Another exception to this is Edansa kids, who aren’t encouraged to go into medicine until they’ve done something else first. 

Given the existence of theramancy, however, people aren’t as concerned about smaller injuries, which I talked about a bit yesterday. For example, duels (that aren’t to the death) go to the second or third blood under the assumption that there is a theramancer nearby. Parents are much less concerned with their kids getting bumps and bruises because if something is bad enough, there’s a theramancer somewhere close. So long as the kid doesn’t fatally injure themselves, their fine.

Given this, weaponry is made to kill quickly, or cause damage to the most amount of people in order to run out the stamina of the theramancer because magic is based on the stamina of the user. Related, this has made rapiers really popular because they cause a lot of not visible internal damage. This fools medics into thinking the damage isn’t too bad and they move on. Calibers are huge, guns shoot explosives. 

In response to this, many theramancers learn diagnostic spells: spells that project a magical aura of injuries over the patient. The problem then becomes the amount of of time they have to perform the spell and also heal injuries. It’s one thing in a controlled hospital setting, it’s another on the battlefield. 

Training, for both the theramancers, and for the infantry, is full-contact, force-on-force to do everything they can except kill each other. It inures the infantry to pain and the medics/corpsmen get a workout healing all of the damage. 

Fight Clubs are also a popular thing as a result of this. Tyrysius doesn’t need fake wrestling. They might still have leather caps though to prevent some head injuries. Pilots for sure wear helmets and armies still have armor--they have to stay alive until they can be treated. 

Medical technology on Tyrysius is very advanced. There’s a longer span of time someone can go after getting injured and still survive. There’s a bigger span of wounds that can be healed. Still, people still drown, planes still crash, people still go into shock. Post-healing shock is especially a problem if something gets healed too fast. Theramancers running out of stamina is also a problem, so is them running out of food to feed their patients. 

It’s normal for doctors to run triathalons to keep their stamina up. The more stamina they have, the more people they can heal. But when they run out, they’re the ones needing the IVs. 

This is why regular doctors are still important. There’s probably somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 theramancers on the planet and a fraction of that number aren’t actively practicing. Regular doctors can also do plenty of things to allow the theramancers to focus on the worst of the injuries. Theramancers are encouraged to become surgeons and go work in trauma. Some don’t. 

In hospitals, some theramancers will run a holographic projection of vitals entirely through their own magic. It’s becoming common practice, however, to replace that with spiritech to save the stamina of the theramancer. 

Many alchemists go into the pharmaceutical business. Who better to figure out drug interactions with the body than an alchemist. Especially considering they can easily create tailored prescriptions on little notice.

A good medical team involves a theramancer, a non magical doctor, an alchemist, and a couple of nurses. Though ideal, this isn’t actually what’s seen every time. 

[awritingcaitlin]

✍🏻Find the Word Tag✍🏻

I was tagged by @juls-writes for Find the Word! My words are: word, character, letter, writing, and page

So we'll get to those in just a sec but first I'll tag: @saphoblin, @legiomiam, @mjjune, @sentfromwolves, and @baroquesse for the words: three, look, reason, open, and know

Snippets are from Cure for the Queen under the cut!

🗣WORD🗣

“The little shit’s tried to kill me at least three times recently.”

“Three?” Adler asked.

“These pirates, who were told to bring back my body,” Killian said, holding up one finger. “Back at the Schmiedish Embassy.” He held up a second finger.

“What happened there?” Adler asked.

“His abuse of a code word turned into his attempts to suffocate me,” Killian replied darkly.

“And you didn’t mention this sooner?” Rinnie asked.

“We were a bit busy,” Killian told her.

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💻CHARACTER(S)💻

Major Melanie Cameron stared at the teleslab projection, looking over the string of characters delineating the new parameters for the shield going back up.

“That won’t work,” Thursár said in what she could only ascribe as a musing tone.

She rubbed her temples and looked over at the spirit. They stood off to one side of the terminal she was on, hands clasped in front of them, eyes focused intently on her. While the posture would be weird if it was another mortal, she’d grown used to the weird spirit mannerisms.

“Why not?” she asked. “I’m accounting for the lack of anchor pylons because I’m running it to be used beyond the shield.”

“It will be inefficient without anchor points.”

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📝LETTER📝

“I’m sure you’ve reasoned why you’re here,” Thea said.

“The letter said, ‘for our actions in the field,’” Olivia replied.

“They are quite impressive,” Daeir said. “Would you care to elaborate on your thought processes getting into the Wall in the wake of the shield coming down?”

Olivia swallowed. “It was Breckner’s idea, actually,” she said.

Breckner stiffened.

“And once he explained his reasoning, I supported him wholeheartedly,” Olivia said. She left out the part where she’d initially panicked that he was putting their heads on the line. It had only been a few brief seconds.

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✍🏻(HAND)WRITING✍🏻

She watched as Thundersong tried to open the briefcase but then pull back as if he was shocked.

“Of course it’s warded,” he muttered. “But what does the Queen of Schmiedland have to do with Riona Edgewing?”

Taryn’s eyes went wide and she wasn’t able to stop herself before she leaned over to get a look for herself.

The note was written in Ilani Edgewing’s handwriting.

To be delivered to Eileen Cresthower’s hands. Alternatively, Riona Edgewing.

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📕PAGE📕

“Do you think I can read this in a day?” Riela asked, holding the book to her chest.

“You can buy it, you know,” Adler told her.

“I mean, I usually just bought things for the Tom’s library.” There was a hint of sadness in her voice.

“Yeah, so? Donate it to a library in Himmelmauer once we’ve both read it? Or start another library of your own.”

Her eyes went wide and she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. “I might just do that!”

Adler flushed red and took a moment to clean his glasses just to have something to do with his hands. He perused the rest of the table, but didn’t see anything that particularly interested him enough to purchase it. Riela stood there reading the book without caring about anything else around her.

He thought, for a moment, about picking up another copy since he’d been waiting for that Seacliff novel longer than she had, but there really was no point. He’d read it when she was done.

There were some chairs in the bookstore which Adler led them too. Riela was almost lost to the world and he was a little surprised to see her already on page forty-eight. He picked up a space novel that he’d already read to read while she was reading. It wasn’t like they had anywhere else to be unless someone called the stone.

There was something really peaceful and reminiscent sitting next to Riela surrounded by books as they both read.

[awritingcaitlin]

writers self love day 6

for @writeblrfantasy‘s prompt: clothing

This one requires a bit of set up:

Riela stepped out. Her dress had the fashionable corseted look, a square neckline, elbow-length sleeves, and a gentle flair to the skirt. It looked gorgeous on Riela and she wouldn’t need to get it tailored either. Rinnie almost felt jealous.

Riela turned to show the back. “I probably could have laced it tighter.”

“You did a good job,” Mica said.

“It looks great,” Rinnie said.

“I don’t usually wear red,” Riela said, biting her lip. “Do you think I stand out too much.”

Rinnie laughed. “Not anymore than anyone else will. Trust me.”

Riela smiled. “I figured you would know.” She looked at herself in the mirror and ran her hands down the fabric. “It’s not too frivolous?” she asked. “I might not even be able to go.”

“Buy the dress,” Rinnie said. “It looks too good on you not to.”

Riela smiled in the mirror. “Okay,” she said. She smoothed the skirts one last time, then ducked back into the dressing room to change.

The above scene is from Siege of Berthingtonn (Book 2) where Riela’s buying the dress to wear to a gala she never got to go to. The dress almost got left behind when they fled Berthingtonn, but Mica grabs it last minute:

Rinnie’s room had been cleared of everything of value. Same with Nate and Paul and Killian’s rooms. Mica went to Riela’s room last, but wasn’t sure what to pack from there .The room already looked like it had been gone through. Then Mica noticed the red dress hanging on a peg by the door, almost as if Riela had tried it on recently.

“Ooh, she’ll be so mad if that gets left behind,” Mica said, taking it off its hanger.

She folded it loosely and put it in the bag. Satisfied she was being helpful, she trounced back downstairs.

Then in Cure for the Queen (Book 3) we get this:

Riela happened to be wearing a green shirt already. It wasn’t “Schmiedland-green,” but it was still green, just lighter.

“Pity that nice dress of yours is red,” Mica mused.

“Mica, I left that dress at the Tom.” Riela shook her head with a small pang of regret. “It’s long gone now.”

“No it’s not!” Mica said. “I packed it!”

“What?” Riela asked.

Mica started rummaging around in the bag. “Yeah, when I went back to the Tom because I’d forgotten something, I did a quick check of all of our rooms to see if anyone else had forgotten anything. And I saw your dress just hanging there and figured that since I didn’t have to worry about space…”

She pulled the dress in question out. Riela gasped.

Which then gets us to this scene later in the chapter:

“Holy shit,” Nathaniel breathed.

“What?” Zeh’ave asked.

He didn’t respond, but she followed his gaze back to Riela. It took Zeh’ave an extra second to realize what was special. Riela was wearing a flowing red dress that looked a bit more formal than what was really called for, but if her intent was to get a reaction out of her boyfriend by doing so, she was getting it.

Lol, so that’s super elaborate and everything, but I just love that this all came together like this.

[awritingcaitlin]

warm coffee

for @nosebleedclub‘s writing prompt: warm beverage

“I’m tired,” Rinnie said.

“I’m sure that’s partially because you don’t have your coffee in your hands,” Ciara said, grabbing Rinnie’s coffee off the table and heating it up for her.

Rinnie snorted and took it. “I should introduce all of you to the rest of my friends,” she said. “Proper introductions, I know last night was a lot of Marines.”

“So you’re actually going to help save the Queen of Schmiedland?” Taryn asked.

“I mean, that’s the plan,” Rinnie said. “From the sounds of it my part is less helping storm the castle and more shielding the Queen and her daughter until the cure can be administered.”

“And I’ll help once you get her to me,” Aravae said.

“You, me, and Mica should sit down and talk a little bit more about that cure. There were twelve vials but he’s down to one.”

“Um,” Taryn said, scratching her head. “Did you happen to see what the vials were in originally?”

“No,” Rinnie said. “Why?”

“There’s a silver case at the Embassy that says to only give to you or the Queen of Schmiedland,” Taryn said. “Your mom wrote the note and it’s warded beyond what any of the Spooks can get past.”

Something clicked in Rinnie’s head. The image her mother had drawn. The case Kiyo had told her about.

“I think I need to go back to the Embassy.”

[awritingcaitlin]

Tyrysian Politics

Under the cut 'cause it's long.

Berthingtonn is a constitutional monarchy. Nobles are hereditary, parliament is elected. The line of succession is clear and Parliament goes on cycles. It's ruled by King Quentin Teel and his wife Marie.

They've been on the throne since Quentin's father died. It's been a bit since a parliamentary election but that oncoming war is going to make for some political turmoil.

Berthingtonn nobility is via lineage with a direct succession, sometimes they have to employ a regent. The parliament via election.

The King and Queen of Berthingtonn are well-liked, though everyone could do without the Prime Minister since he has done absolutely nothing he said he was going to do on his election platform.

The King of Berthingtonn has a small set of trusted advisors but has to listen to Parliament too.

The Berthingtonn Crown mints their currency. Gold coins are even delineated by weight and called Sovereigns and Crowns. Silvers have "heavy silver" and "light silver" (plus regular silver). There's also "coppers" and "half-coppers."

Berthingtonn's military is a combination of their police force, militia, and army-which fold together during war times. It's controlled by the government.

Beyond the king and elected officials, shield technicians are important and require specialized training. The shield protects Berthingtonn from everything from assaults by other countries to particularly bad weather. Technicians require a lot of specialized training. And security clearances!

Voting requirements for elected officials and policies are citizenship and being 18 years old, no special exceptions for military. And, if you're an astral (angel or demonic) you must earn additional citizenship credits.

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Schmiedland is an elected monarchy + Reichstag. The royal pair is elected and rules until one or both of them die. If one passes before the other, elections must be held again while the remaining monarch rules incumbent. If both monarchs of the pair die, the Reichstag rules during a rushed election.

To qualify to be king and queen, the pair must be married and be a blend of human and elf. Is this fair to literally any other race in Schmiedland? No. But here we are.

The Reichstag is family-based for the upper house, someone has to sit in the seat. The lower house is done somewhat via election, but some families can get as entrenched as they do in the upper house.

It should be noted that Esternia, which is a subset of Schmiedland, has its own mini-government within it because that's High Elves for you. They tend not to pay too much attention to greater Schmiedland politics. They do have a few seats in the high house though.

Schmiedland is currently ruled by Gervase and Eileen Cresthower. They've been ruling for about 150 years.

They are well-loved by the general populace and the military. Both Gervace and Eileen served in the army and navy respectively. While not a requirement, it certainly does help their reputation. There are some opposing houses who would like them gone, but assassinations are a game in Schmiedish Politics.

While the Kings and Queens of Schmiedland don't have to interact with the populace at all, this set actually does a fair bit of it, which makes them popular.

Eileen regularly would go out in disguise to see how the people in the capital city lived. While this technically did not help anyone outside the capital, she was able to shift policy for the common folk rather than the loudest voices in the Reichstag.

Okay, currently, on paper they're still ruling, but neurological poison has both of them very ill and the country is basically being run by the country's spymasters instead.

The Reichstag is aware that something is wrong...But there's enough corrupt officials in the government who like the changes that no one is speaking out particularly loudly. The military is planning a coup though.

Unrelated to current events, the Schmiedish government regulates currency, but as Schmiedland has both paper and coin currency, it's largely managed locally or regionally.

The Schmiedish government controls the larger structures of the military-the King commanding the Army and the Queen the Navy. However, because Schmiedland is large, counties, parishes, and larger cities control a lot of the subsections.

Schmiedland is actually supposed to be faction-less (have no political parties). That could not be further from the truth.

There's basically as many factions as there are noble houses, some of them are public, and some of them sneak around in the shadows, with back room deals, backstabbing, assassinations, and a bunch of other court intrigue.

To take someone down, it needs to be another member of the government who accuses them. Enough public outcry might be enough to circumvent that. Schmiedland specifically has everyone so locked into their roles with certain permitted "crimes" (House Politics) that it almost doesn't matter.

Schmiedland runs elections for their monarchy and citizens can vote on laws as well. Requirements for voting are citizenship, and being at least 18 years old (or have joined the military, which you can do at 16.)

There are technically no age restrictions for government in Schmiedland, but it's rare to see people younger than 40 succeed with the amount of networking and other work that goes into it.

Schmiedland hasn't always been a unified country. Before that, they were a smattering of different countries and cultures that fought for what would be best. This is what they eventually came up with.

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Edansa is a monarchy, but is currently being ruled by a regent because the monarch is an adolescent. Other government officials are appointees or got there via being an Admiral in the Navy.

Edansa is ruled by Lady Regent Maile Waterflower, who will abdicate power at some point in the next decade to Princess Kenna Oceancliff who is still only a teenager. Kenna was orphaned as a child to a severe illness that plagues the land.

Edansa nobility is via lineage. The rest of the government is the Admiralty and then elected officials.

Both the Princess and the Lady Regent are well-liked. The Lady Regent is doing a good job keeping things running smoothly on bahalf of the young princess. And she is starting to get a handle on the politics as well.

Edansa's government controls the Navy and Marines. Local towns control their own militias.

In Edansa, you cannot promote to higher ranks in the military until you are at least 50, and sometimes over 100 because the elves expect a certain amount of experience.

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Timernis is a democracy with their 20 representatives being elected via lottery. Every Great Family is in the lottery. A person serves for five years. The lottery rotates with elections running once a year, replacing representatives on a rotating basis.

However, the master of contracts is elected. He's the guy who controls all of the mercenary contracts.

The Timernis government handles both their army and mercenary groups.

There are issues and laws up for public vote. Anyone who has passed the citizenship trials can vote, regardless of age. (The youngest person to pass the citizenship trials was 9.)

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Perinathia is an oligarchy, with the top ranked people actually functioning as avatars for their pantheon of gods. The government in Perinathia is all chosen by their gods and appointed by people working for the gods.

As such, good luck seeing a Perinathian royal ever if you're not part of the upper echelons of society.

Perinathia's government largely controls their military, with some branches of militia handled by far-reaching towns.

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Eswaisil is a theocracy run by the Queen Matron and a Council. They control the military, the Temples, the schools, and pretty much everything else.

The Queen Matron supposedly can talk directly to their goddess, Nidtrix. She is the head of the Council, though she does not frequently make rulings as the Council is designed to have an odd number of people so there are no ties.

The Queen Matron is also an astral and has been in power for many, many years. She does not look old, however. She isn't planning on going anywhere soon.

Generally speaking, she only makes herself seen to the High Council and high-ranking military officials.

The Senior High Council is made up of 9 priestesses who no longer work for the Temples or the military, which is where they would have worked before to qualify for the position.

They serve ostensibly until they die. Though they could retire. Replacements are made through either the rest of the Council, or a Temple or military appointment.

Whether the Queen Matron in Eswaisil is liked or not, no one says they don't like her because that's a great way to end up dead.

Eswaisil's military is controlled by their government/church.

Prior to Eswaisil being Eswaisil, they were the South Efrium Confederacy, with a somewhat Democratic Republic in place.

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The Yurels are currently a set of semi-united city states. They cycle through governments depending on city states and unification status.

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Most governments stay out of churches, except Eswaisil where the church is the government. Primary schools are state run in countries like Schmiedland, Berthingtonn, and even Timernis.

Upper education tends to be more privatized, though Berthingtonn's government does control both of the universities.

Hospitals are a mishmash of government and private. Some hospitals are run out of Temples, others are state sanctioned, others are run by donors and families.

The military has more control in Edansa rather than the government. They run hospitals and schools. The military also runs a lot of schools in Schmiedland as well.

Various countries have unofficial "state-approved" religions: gods about justice, purity, harvest, the sea, etc. Most of this is done through social stigma.

Eswaisil, again, being the biggest exception where the religion is also the government.

Also, Perinathia does basically have a cult running their government.

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Most countries have a pretty balanced systems of power. Timernis is probably the most balanced, but Schmiedland and Berthingtonn aren't bad off either. Eswaisil is not balanced but that's by design.

.

Trade is pretty open across the world. Notably, Edansa does not trade with Eswaisil unless they absolutely have to. Thadenopolis supplies most of the world's grain in exchange for oddities and curios.

.

In general, Schmiedland, Berthingtonn, and Edansa have an accord that means they will come to each other's aid without much question. It's been like that for decades. Perinathia and the Yurels have a bit of an alliance, but it's more of a 'we both dislike Schmiedland, so...'

Timernis does not have alliances with anyone, but will send mercenaries everywhere but Eswaisil, because Eswaisil violated a previous contract.

[awritingcaitlin]

Job Offering

“Do you think I should take the job?” she asked.

“Well, generally speaking, if the Queen of Schmiedland offers you a job, you should take it. Sure, the Reichstag’ll flip shit since you’re not a citizen. But she’s told them to go fuck an icicle before.”

Rinnie raised her eyebrows, wondering if the Queen had, in fact, used that exact phrasing.

“You want me to take the job, don’t you?” she asked, a wry smile growing on her face.

“I said nothing of the sort,” Killian said. “You’re a highly competent woman who works well under pressure. The Queen demands the best.”

[awritingcaitlin]

Message

She threw up a second ward, around herself and the stone. She pulled out the piece of paper with Killian’s two coded messages on it. Then she took a deep breath, put her hand on the telestone, and called the Office of the Queen.

She could still hear Killian, although he was muffled—she was only blocking sound one way. He was going on about something he’d apparently told Kaniel while in Berthingtonn. Killian and Eigen must have both been present for that.

A dark-haired half elf answered the telestone.

“Good morning how may I help you?” she asked.

“I have a message for the Queen of Schmiedland,” Rinnie said.

[awritingcaitlin]

Eileen

👑Queen of Schmiedland 👑Speaks 8 Languages, Fluent in 4 👑Former Navy Admiral 👑Formidable mage 👑Loves strategy games 👑Falconer 👑Disguises herself in plain clothes for days on the town on the regular

(Picrews under the cut!)

[awritingcaitlin]

Character vs the Snippet

Rinnie Edition

THE BREWING WAR

Rinnie’s boots squeaked as she walked down the marble hall of the Edansa Embassy to Schmiedland, the sound overpowering the usual swish of her skirts. Damn. Squeaky shoes were unbecoming of her position. The waterproofing enchantment must’ve worn off after getting caught in one of Himmelmauer’s scheduled rains yesterday. She wasn’t surprised. The boots were old, and all enchantments wore out eventually. She deliberated if it was worth it to re-enchant them, or if she should buy new boots.

SIEGE OF BERTHINGTONN

It was the earliest Rinnie had voluntarily been awake in weeks. She stared up at the ceiling as she mused at this revelation. Today was the first day of Berthingtonn’s Independence Week and she had a full agenda. She’d been mentally preparing herself for the politics for the last several days now.

CURE FOR THE QUEEN

“Hmm,” Rinnie mused, twirling a too-short curl around her finger. “This is the first time I’ve been boarded in the air. It’s not much different than getting boarded on the ocean.”

[awritingcaitlin]

Berthingtonn has Independence Week, which does feature appearances by the King and Queen at certain galas and dinners and whatnot. Schmiedland Day involves a parade and the Royal Family does make an appearance, but they personally do not have to host anything.

[awritingcaitlin]

The Queen of Schmiedland's Director of Intelligence is definitely overstepping his bounds.

It's absolutely for his own gain. He doesn't want to rule, but he wants to change who is in power.

Politically, he cannot rule, actually. While he hates that Schmiedland is ruled by half elves and thus he cannot rule without making major changes, he understands that making that drastic of a change too soon will end in a revolution that probably leaves him dead.

That said, he would like to put a puppet ruler on the throne. Where it's basically him ruling in all but name. Where he has control but not necessarily the responsibility for when things go wrong

[awritingcaitlin]

Edansa's regent was selected because the princess was a toddler when her parents died. The Admiralty selected the regent from a list of appointees the royal family made.

Schmiedland is ruled by the Reichstag in the event that the Royal Pair is incapacitated. However, the Reichstag can only make emergency decisions during the election process, which must conclude in less than a month.

This is only if the Pair dies. If one of the two remains, he or she rules during the election period.

Perinathia and Berthingtonn both have lines of succession, with chosen regents just in case the line of succession goes to someone too young.

Because Timernis is ruled by several branches of government, no one person has the power. This, they will simply hold more elections in the event of death before term is up.

Eswaisil has been ruled by the Queen Mother since the beginning. She's probably not dying anytime soon. If something were to happen to her, the High Priestesses would commune with their goddess to choose the next Queen Mother.

[awritingcaitlin]

King Gervase and Queen Eileen of Schmiedland are well-loved, though politics and opposing parties would naturally disagree. Unfortunately, they're both dying of what is presumed to be neurological poisoning because *someone* wanted them out of office.

King Quentin and Queen Mari are the rulers of Berthingtonn, with Draybin as the Prime Minister. The king and queen are well respected. Draybin has lost a lot of popularity over the years due to empty promises.

The Lady Regent Maile Waterflower, who is presiding over Edansa while Princess Kenna Oceancliff reaches an age where she can take over, is a very conservative ruler in that she is keeping Edansa largely to itself. However, this has allowed the Admiralty to take more liberties.

The Queen Matron of Eswaisil is respected and feared. Mostly feared. She is an imposing person and a force to be reckoned with. People don't *dislike* her, at least not openly. But also she's been ruling for as long as anyone can remember.

[awritingcaitlin]

Berthingtonn is a small country on a mountain. It used to be the center of a large empire and the only thing keeping it independent of anything else is the giant wall around the city/country. It's a constitutional monarchy with a king and queen plus a parliament.

Schmiedland is a very large country that is a conglomeration of various older smaller countries and people. They have a dual monarchy where the king and queen have to be elected together. If one does, the other has to step down. Contentiously, the royalty is all half elves.

Because the humans, the elves, and the half elves agreed that this was acceptable-completely ignoring the dwarves, catfolk, elementals, and anyone else. Schmiedland also has a House of Nobles (those who are a combination of human/elf) and a house of Commons. (Everyone else).

Edansa (or the Islands) is an Island chain ruled by a monarch but the rules are enforced by the Admiralty. Currently, the Queen is a teenager so the country is presided over by a regent. The former King and Queen died from a bad illness that has since been managed.

Eswaisil is a theocracy/autocracy. The Queen Matron is the highest person in both the religion and the government. The Council is the government branch and the High Priestesses are the religious branch. Also the commissariat board has control in the military.

The Yurels are a collection of city states that alternative between being untied against a common enemy and inner squabbling. Currently there are two major factions warring with each other. The Yurels are also notably made up of all dwarves.

Perinathia is ruled by a magister that is also currently under the control of a demon lord. Other countries are suspicious of this, but Perinathia has been technically stable since the demon lords took over. All successful cities must pay tribute to the Magister or risk death.

Timernis is a clan society. The Great Families became the central government. There are three branches, the Administer is selected by elective lottery. The military is also a combination of the military to protect Timernis, and the mercenaries whom other countries hire.