Dulcit
Cultural Level
Medieval (8)
The Land
Full Ecology (temperate woods and hills)
Dulcit is a green land of light to dense woods covering rolling hills. It is temperate with rainfall all year but heaviest in spring. That and floods that originate in the mists create vast flat meadows that bloom with a profusion of flowers in spring and summer. The woodlands are filled with life all year round but is note worthy for the hundreds of brightly coloured species of finches and
, as well as song thrushes, black birds, and wrens. Robins abound and oddly, grow to small size.Other beasts live here too, mundane ones such as pumas, razorbacks, badgers, snakes, deer, and wolves, as well as more fantastic creatures, such as lycanthropes, draggones, (green) dragons, and lamias. There are never many and are subjects of constant tales. Nearer the towns you find the occasional Dread Troll.
Much of the land is suitable for farming, so tracks are a patch work of fields that turn golden in autumn. Small holding, inns and hamlets abound. There are many villages and a single main town. Travel is common and brisk trade goes on for food stuffs. It is indeed a friendly land of plenty.
The land rises steadily to the west, where the woods become thicker, bramble choked and virtually impassible to most folks. Those who have penetrated these woods claim that the mists have opened up to reveal a land of mixed woods and varied elves. They also claim the woods are inimical to people and the haunt of fey hags, 'giants' and other creatures of fairytale.
Settlements
Population---14,500, 93% human, 5% halflings, 1% gnomes, 1% elves
Walpot---7,500, Reach---4500, Craven---400, Lent---400, Braskin---300, many smaller settlements.
The Folk
Tanned from working in the fields and fat from the plenty of the land, these people are a happy friendly seeming bunch that like nothing more than sitting down and telling a good tale. In winter they gather in their inns and tell each other ghost stories and spin yarns with prestige going to those who horrify and terrify each other the most. In summer there are fairs and troupes moving around as well as lone bards, merchants, fortune tellers, shysters, con men and highway men. Summer stories deal mainly with fairy tales, such as evil witches, stolen children and goblins feasting on human flesh. Naturally no one believes such a tale to be true and adults laugh off the effects of a good scare easily.
They tend to all come from large families, though few children survive to adulthood. For some unknown reason all children in Dulcit suffer nightmares and many die in their sleep, screaming. This is widely known and is never spoken about. A few brave souls risk a lonely old age and refuse to bring children into such a place, but a common habit is for the childless to live together for company. The dead are never buried in dulcit (though the habit must have existed once, for barrow mounds abound). Their bodies are instead ground down with meal, beef fat and berries and laid out in the woods for the birds to eat. By the time they are finished nothing remains. It this for this reason Dulcit is not a mass of grave yards where the young are buried.
Naturally, knowing this the laughter in Dulcit rings hollow. Perhaps there is an air of forced jocularity, the attention doted on children to frenetic, the smiles at bed time too strained. Whatever, very occasionally the stress is too much and cruelty breaks out. Once again, never spoken about, there are screams in the night.
Thus the happiness you see in Dulcit is a lie, every family knows tragedy. Every family knows loss.
The Law
The land is divided into manors with each area having a 'lord'. This aristocracy nominates a council (if required) and they rule. A local police force enforce local laws but will pursue criminals across manors. Because they are so autonomous you shouldn't expect consistency in punishment or even in crimes. The police force is made up of volunteers mostly, but sometimes people are forced to do the job through circumstance, especially if puny, a child or very old, as a joke.
Prisons are rare, people are usually put on hard labour and beaten roundly. Some are just put in stocks for a while ready for casual brutal assault. Street justice is common and but frowned upon, just another level of double think from the Dulcites. Revenge attacks are harshly punished if caught because most lords think you don't need many laws, just enough to avoid total anarchy, and they need to be enforced.
Trade And Diplomacy
Its' a land of plenty. So all food stuffs, though there is never much fish.(except some brought by ox cart fresh for Karkass). All other meats, most fruits, grains and legumes can be bought. Dairy is plentiful, so milk and derived products are common, with variations in form, texture and flavour being surprisingly great. Copper, tin, and nickel can be found near the border to Lada, but the region is ill equipped for exploitation so they export the raw product and import the finished product.
Characters
Fighter, Rouge, Bard, Wizard, Sorcerer, Mesmerist, Dream Caster, Aristocrat
Darklords Caveats
All will be fat and funny
Children will believe me
My Stories Will Come True