Brecht Regency

[Morg]

Hello & Happy Ho - Ho!

A few things to throw through the old brain stem:

What is everyone's opinion regarding the Count of Muden & Melisande
Reaversbane? The Havens book is slightly vague on the division of the
provincial regency, but in the Muden source book, it clearly outlines
that Melisande has control over the coastal provinces, while Richard
rules the inland ones. OK, fine. But this is were the troubles start.

Since Richard is *THE* Count, he should still be able to move & muster
troops throughout Muden right? But according to the rules, he would
have to ask Mel's permission to move troops into any of the coastal
provs (since she is invested with them) or declare war and make war
moves against his own people. Likewise, he could not actually build any
ships since all the coastal lands are controlled by the Captain. What's
the take on this??

This also brings up the question of provincial Loyalty. When tracking
loyalty, is Muden actually divided between the two regents seperately &
independent from one another, or is it a 'shared' loyalty level?
Agitate & espionage moves would affect loyalties for who??

Now, if Melisande & the Count share regency of a single domain, who has
tax rights? The Muden source book says that Richard gets law claims
from Melisande, but what self respecting player is going to allow this
to happen on a regular basis? If Mel & the Count both 'play straight'
and only tax their own lands, then they are in for some hard economic
times unless they disband some of that military & tax heavily.

And what's the thinking behind giving Kallen Pickbiter regency over
those Grevesmuhl provinces? (Thanks Tripp... missed that little bit of
info. See page 82 under Caliene Llwelyn). Why would humans willingly
submit to dwarven rule? Also, why then would Mjollinar, Ruelsfeg &
Tyrtep be considered a part of Grevesmuhl, and not Daikhar Zhigun? Ed,
any 'official' thoughts on this matter?

And while I'm at it, how is Grabentod divided? Parneil, Harlmut (IIRC),
Delma, and Graben all have provincial regencies within Grabentod, but
who rules what? Is it a simple matter of giving them regency over the
provs where they each have the majority of law holdings, or is it more
complex than this? And just out of curiosity, is Delma Nauren Albrechts
wife or cousin? In the Hag's Contract, she is his estranged wife I
believe, though I have heard arguments that she is actually his cousin.
Of course, if cousins were to marry, Grabentod is as good a place as any
to practice this....

As a final thought, what's the deal with the Swordhawk? Even if he is
afraid of water, surely he could care less about the welfare of his
troops. Why not just load a bunch of troops on ships, then sail them
over to Muden, while he takes 'other methods' of travel? (I.E. The
ever popular 'travel' blood ability, teleport spells, or just jump on a
trusty horse...) I mean, the guy had the gumbo to threaten the Gorgon,
but we're to believe that he won't attack Muden by sea???? Not sure I
buy that....

Anyway, merry X-mas!

Keith

[Solmyr]

>What is everyone's opinion regarding the Count of Muden & Melisande
>Reaversbane? The Havens book is slightly vague on the division of the

Well, I would go with the provinces being controlled be both Rich and Mel (it also implies that way in both HotGB and the Muden book). They have separate regency pools, treasuries, and armies. They probably have some sort of agreement making Muden formally a single country (similar to the situation in Rheulgard). Note that the title of "Count" isn't as strong in Muden as, say, in Danigau - there are several "ruling houses" listed in the Muden sourcebook, and the mayors' council has some say in who is to be the Count.

>Since Richard is *THE* Count, he should still be able to move & muster
>troops throughout Muden right? But according to the rules, he would
>have to ask Mel's permission to move troops into any of the coastal
>provs (since she is invested with them) or declare war and make war
>moves against his own people. Likewise, he could not actually build any
>ships since all the coastal lands are controlled by the Captain. What's
>the take on this??
>
Well, I'd say one can bend the rules a bit and assume that the Count has the ability to muster troops in the coastal provinces as the overall ruler. However, there's nothing preventing the captain from denying that permission. After all, it is hinted in the Muden sourcebook that a civil war is possible, and HotGB also says that the Count and the Captain have occasional frictions. It's the players' problem :)

>This also brings up the question of provincial Loyalty. When tracking
>loyalty, is Muden actually divided between the two regents seperately &
>independent from one another, or is it a 'shared' loyalty level?
>Agitate & espionage moves would affect loyalties for who??
>
Yes, I'd say the loyalty is tracked separately for each regent.

>Now, if Melisande & the Count share regency of a single domain, who has
>tax rights? The Muden source book says that Richard gets law claims
>from Melisande, but what self respecting player is going to allow this
>to happen on a regular basis? If Mel & the Count both 'play straight'
>and only tax their own lands, then they are in for some hard economic
>times unless they disband some of that military & tax heavily.
>
Well, the Captain's troops seem to be adequately covered by her average tax income. The Count may have some problems, but since HotGB says that he commands his troops "through lesser commanders and noble family leaders", I'd say that the rules could be bent a bit and some of the units could actually be maintained by the noble families (perhaps the 4 cavalry).

>And what's the thinking behind giving Kallen Pickbiter regency over
>those Grevesmuhl provinces? (Thanks Tripp... missed that little bit of
>info. See page 82 under Caliene Llwelyn). Why would humans willingly
>submit to dwarven rule? Also, why then would Mjollinar, Ruelsfeg &
>Tyrtep be considered a part of Grevesmuhl, and not Daikhar Zhigun? Ed,
>any 'official' thoughts on this matter?
>
Ah, the perpetual question :)
I'd say that Kallen controls the provinces. Whether he has a right to do so is another matter, though. The provinces are "considered" part of Grevesmuhl, and the present ruler likely doesn't care about the fact that he doesn't actually hold the provinces (as long as the dwarves don't just blatantly declare them part of Daikhar-Zhigun). If a new, more caring ruler were to take the throne, there might well be some difficulties (as you are no doubt aware :)

>And while I'm at it, how is Grabentod divided? Parneil, Harlmut (IIRC),
>Delma, and Graben all have provincial regencies within Grabentod, but
>who rules what? Is it a simple matter of giving them regency over the
>provs where they each have the majority of law holdings, or is it more
>complex than this?

Just use the KISS principle :) Simply divide the province control between the three regents based on their law holdings,

>As a final thought, what's the deal with the Swordhawk? Even if he is
>afraid of water, surely he could care less about the welfare of his
>troops. Why not just load a bunch of troops on ships, then sail them
>over to Muden, while he takes 'other methods' of travel? (I.E. The
>ever popular 'travel' blood ability, teleport spells, or just jump on a
>trusty horse...) I mean, the guy had the gumbo to threaten the Gorgon,
>but we're to believe that he won't attack Muden by sea???? Not sure I
>buy that....
>
Well, perhaps since he is afraid of the sea, he doesn't have much knowledge in how to build and operate a navy. Thus he gives stupid instructions, ultimately resulting in a weak and/or inoperative fleet. Sure, there might be people with better ship-building skills, but I'd like to see the shipwright who says to Bissel, "Sorry sir, but your instructions are wrong, it's supposed to be done *this* way..." (phrase culminates into a scream of agony as the shipwright's brains are splattered on the wall) :)

******************
Aleksei Andrievski
aka Solmyr, Archmage of the Blue Star
aka Azure Star Dragon
solmyr@kolumbus.fi
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/2198/index.html

[Lee]

Regarding Muden: I would assume that Melisande controls the provinces,
holdings and so forth in "her" provinces, but as a vassal of the Count. What
either of them cann and cannot do would have to be spelled out in the
vassalage agreement, which I guess is up to the DM in this case.

Lee.

[Morg]

Well the little bearded trolls in Dauren didn't really have a choice (at least
in the beginning) IMO. They were fleeing the Gorgon, and would have been
destroyed in Dauren as well I believe had Smoothface (??) not surrendered
herself. I am under the impression that the Dauren dwarves worked with the
miners only to further their own interests ( which at the time was survival).
It is also hinted that not all is well in the mines. The dwarves & humans live
separate most of the time, and in order to keep the peace, trouble makers are
cast onto the (presumably) barren surface. (Do these guys live like
troglodytes most of the time or what?)

As for the Pickbiter not showing his rule, that's my point. If he doesn't keep
any law holdings, or enforce his laws over the provinces, then how can he be
bringing order to the chaos? Other than gaining RPs from those provs, I don't
see how his mere presence is enough to cast law over the lawlessness. He would
need law holdings, tax collectors, sheriffs and all those other good
bureaucratic niceties in order to do so wouldn't he? Even a level 1 law
holding isn't much of a force of law in a province level 3 or 4. The majority
of the region would still be wild and out of control no? (I don't have the book
in front of me, so I'm not sure if Pickbiter has any law holdings or not...)
Thus, Pickbiter isn't really doing anything spectacular to tame the thieving,
money grubbing ways of Grevesmuhl & dear, sweet Shames. The humans would very
likely not even know the difference between Pickbiter & Shames on a day to day
basis would they?

Keith

Pieter Sleijpen wrote:

> Just take a look for Colier to see that dwarves accept the rulership of
> non-lawful humans. This country just shows how proffiteble it can be if
> the races work together. I think it is one of the richest countries in
> whole Brechtur (and it is located north of Muden as is Danigau). As for
> the lawfullness remark, I agree that that is the reason people accept
> him as a ruler. A lot of people prefer a dwarf as a ruler above anarchy,
> tyranny and banditism. Besides if the dwarf almost never show his rule
> (so no dwarven laws) unless to protect his 'subjects' there will be no
> one complaining.
>

[Pieter Sleijpen]

Morg wrote:
>
> Well the little bearded trolls in Dauren didn't really have a choice (at least
> in the beginning) IMO. They were fleeing the Gorgon, and would have been
> destroyed in Dauren as well I believe had Smoothface (??) not surrendered
> herself. I am under the impression that the Dauren dwarves worked with the
> miners only to further their own interests ( which at the time was survival).
> It is also hinted that not all is well in the mines. The dwarves & humans live
> separate most of the time, and in order to keep the peace, trouble makers are
> cast onto the (presumably) barren surface. (Do these guys live like
> troglodytes most of the time or what?)
>
> As for the Pickbiter not showing his rule, that's my point. If he doesn't keep
> any law holdings, or enforce his laws over the provinces, then how can he be
> bringing order to the chaos? Other than gaining RPs from those provs, I don't
> see how his mere presence is enough to cast law over the lawlessness. He would
> need law holdings, tax collectors, sheriffs and all those other good
> bureaucratic niceties in order to do so wouldn't he? Even a level 1 law
> holding isn't much of a force of law in a province level 3 or 4. The majority
> of the region would still be wild and out of control no? (I don't have the book
> in front of me, so I'm not sure if Pickbiter has any law holdings or not...)
> Thus, Pickbiter isn't really doing anything spectacular to tame the thieving,
> money grubbing ways of Grevesmuhl & dear, sweet Shames. The humans would very
> likely not even know the difference between Pickbiter & Shames on a day to day
> basis would they?

A ruler of a province can claim light taxes without law holdings (or
even more, but that is risky), so I can assume his pressence can be felt
more or less. He also pay for the upkeep of the provinces, so he has got
officials there. His pressence merely isn't strong or apparent. Probably
something along the Wild West in USA of the movies.