The Village

You live in the small town of Birchstead, a manor in the Northwestern Reaches, a border area of the kingdom of Emmisthein (pronounced “emmis-thane”). To the northwest lie the White Mountains in whose foothills the town lies. Westwards there are tenuously held frontier manors and then the badlands; east and south are other, generally more well-established manors of the kingdom. The heart of the kingdom is to the southeast; some way to the north is the sea.

The Kingdom

Emmisthein is a feudal kingdom. The overriding alignment – of both the rulers and the population – is Lawful Neutral. People know that law and order make the kingdom function and guarantee security for all within its borders. Those who seek to disrupt this order, whether from without or within, are viewed as enemies.

“Feudal” conjures up images of oppressed peasants slaving under tyrant overlords. Emmisthein is not like that. The bond of duty between a peasant and his lord is equal in both directions and with some exceptions lords understand that a happy peasant is a productive one. There are no slaves in Emmisthein. The people are not serfs but most would not dream of leaving their manor.

People

The lord of Birchstead manor is Lord Aldo. He is rather old and is well-liked by the peasants. You have probably seen him about but you certainly don’t know him and he definitely doesn’t know you (unless your background states that you work in his household). His ‘avatar’ about the village is the bailiff, Derwein.

The PCs all know each other and have lived on the manor all their lives, or at least all their recent years. You are all friends and have various jobs about the place: ploughmen, carters, shepherds, dairymaids, cowmen, pigmen, household servants and so forth.

Names within Emmisthein tend to be occupation-based. The bread maker might be known as Baker, John Baker, John the Baker or so forth. If he traveled to another manor he might be called John of Birchstead. If he was very well-known as John and had an undistinguished son, the son might be called Johnson – John’s Son. You get the picture. Extravagant fantasy names like “Braveshield Axewielder” will make you a laughing-stock unless you have the reputation to back them up.

Races

The majority of the population of Emmisthein – 60% – is human. Halflings, dwarves and half-elves are fairly common, each making up about 10%. Elves and gnomes are rarer at about 5% each but even so most villages have a few. Half-orcs are almost unheard-of except in the manors near the borders of the kingdom where they are rare. Other races are not present, or at least not visibly.

Race has no bearing on status unless you’re a half-orc traveling into the heartlands. Halflings, gnomes, half-orcs and half-elves tend to live mingled with the humans; elves and dwarves usually live slightly separately though still as part of the community.

This population balance refers only to the kingdom of Emmisthein – in the wider world there may be less racially mixed lands and communities.