Levic Marches Hex Map

With the end of another month comes another hex map for the Year of the Gazetteer! Each hex equals six miles.

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The Order of the Hammer

The Levic Marches are often held as the last bulwark of true civilization between the lands of the Northmen and the more settled lands beyond. But with such close proximity - not to mention the great wealth of the League cities, which naturally draws unscrupulous eyes - the Northmen are as much a threat to the people of the Marches as they are trading partners. Raids on coastal villages are practically a yearly inevitability, and even sieges of the great harbors are not uncommon. Such threats call for study defenses - and that is how the Order of the Hammer came to carve out its presence in the Levic lands.

The Order is a Vardessian monastic tradition devoted to Torvald, the god of protection, walls, and boundaries. Its members are almost all of Vardessian origin, and its headquarters are in the Vardessian city of Eulen. However, it is most prominent and powerful in the Levic marches, for the knights of the Order have carved out an empire of their own there.

The Order of the Hammer is a martial order - that is, its membership is composed largely of paladins who train in combat as much as they devote their lives to prayer and meditation, though some of its members are half-brothers; non-combatant monks who assist their brethren with day-to-day chores and other support positions. Secluded in their cloisters, the members of the Order live an ascetic existence. Their conditions are austere, for they do not believe in honoring the gods with grand icons or ceremonies, deeming such frivolities to be distractions from the pursuit of a life in keeping with Torvald's will. They do not even celebrate feast days or fraternize with one another at meals, living a simple life of prayer and training.

It goes without saying that when their whole lives are sworn to defense, the knights of the Order are fierce fighters. They traditionally don great helms and surcoats bearing their arms; often, these helmets are adorned with great horns or wings to intimidate their foes on the battlefield. They have a reputation as stoic, silent, and fearless killing machines, showing no quarter, no mercy, and an almost inhuman courage that defies reason. Some say that it is Torvald himself who guides their blows, and that the knights do not consciously make any decisions in battle - though they are reluctant to speak on the matter (or on most things).

Generations ago, the Order of the Hammer was hired to support the League of Three Crowns against Northmen incursions, with the League paying them handsomely to move to the Levic Marches and establish castles there. Seeking to advance their standing after failed attempts to entrench themselves elsewhere, the knights agreed. Even after the threats were dealt with, though, the knights chose to stay, in a decision that was controversial at the time and has indeed led to the Order establishing a foothold so firm as to rival the authority of the League.

Not only does the Order still send a delegation to the League Council in Hynden, they govern a number of strongholds, at once fortresses and monasteries, throughout the Marches, exerting authority as feudal lords to support their upkeep from the tithes of their vassals. As such, there are swathes of the Levic Marches where neither the League nor the crown of Kvesland can overturn the rulings of the knights - but then, the knights are keen to remind them of why their presence is a desirable one when the next Northman raid comes. And many League merchants have relied on the knights to provide protection for their ships and caravans against bandits and worse things.

In turn, the knights of the Order have helped to shape Vardessian settlement of the Levic Marches. When hired by the League, they brought with them mercenaries and other disenfranchised knights to support their ranks, and many of their officers were rewarded for their service with land conquered in their wars. Some of their monasteries have even developed into towns and cities of their own. These settlements show the stoic and unflinching character of the Order - they are meticulously planned according to organized grids, surrounded by sturdy walls, and often found where forests were cleared and swamps drained, their very presence standing as an assertation of the Order's refusal to budge.

As an organization, the Order of the Hammer is formally led by Hendrik von Eulen, the Grandmaster, who resides in Vardessy. However, the knights active in the Levic Marches have by necessity formed their own hierarchy thanks to their distance from their homeland. The position of Landmaster designates the official in charge of all Order operations in the Levic Marches. This position is currently held by Sigismund von Kohlstein, who rules from Castle Mitgenburg. The Landmaster is a cold and merciless man devoted to asserting the Order's presence in the Levic Marches by whatever means are necessary. Firmly devoted to his goals, he sees nothing as unacceptable or excessive in the pursuit of protecting trade routes and settlements, and he is rightfully feared both in battle and in personal dealings.

The Levics

Though under the dominion of Kvesland, the native peoples of the Levic Marches are a group all their own, with a distinct culture and heritage unlike that of their Togarmic and Northern neighbors. With the rise of the League of Three Crowns and the development of great cities, many Levics have assimilated into the settled life of the Kvessians, Vardessians, and Togarmans that make up the League. However, the Levics are a reclusive and insular people, and deep in the woods and wilds of the Marches, there are still many villages where they hold true to the traditions of their ancestors.

The Levics are a rustic people, fair of skin and eyes, living primarily as hunters and subsistence farmers in small villages and homesteads on the cold and windswept moors. Visitors to these villages often describe them as austere in character, for the Levics are not artistic sorts, preferring simple, functional goods with little in the way of ornamentation. Though they are known as great traders of amber - in fact, much of the amber in the Lunar Lands comes from the Levic Marches - they do not make much use of it themselves; they do not even know where it comes from, only that it washes up on their shores and rivers.

However, they are known for finding whatever excuses they can to celebrate, and often times an entire village will come together to drink and sing long into the night. Among the common people, the drink of choice is mead, while Levic nobility traditionally prefer kumis - fermented mare's milk; a delicacy among the tribes, and one that is held as a mark of high status. They will even consume an entire roast horse at their feasts. Some suggest that this may point to a common origin with the Zelskys of Togarmah, but the two cultures are otherwise very different - indeed, the Levics are far more sedentary than the well-traveled Zelskys, and it is rare for them to leave their homes, fearing the night as a time of darkness and danger.

There may be some truth to this - the Levics are close neighbors of the Northmen, and long have they found the need to defend themselves against their raids. Though the western Levics, most notably the Rogdii tribe, are a warlike people, honoring warriors and conducting raids of their own (in no small part due to both influence from the nearby Northmen and by necessity to defend themselves against them), the more populous eastern tribes are more defensive, preferring to be left alone and keep to themselves. They will, however, fight fiercely if they feel they are threatened. In battle, they wear armor of leather and iron chain, and prefer sturdy wooden clubs and axes to swords. Since the coming of settlers from Vardessy, Togarmah, and Kvesland, such a stalwart way of life has only been bolstered by the periodic clashes between settlers and natives. The Levic tribes have fought many a war against the Order of the Hammer and other armies from the south, trading territory back and forth, and while the Levics are largely open to trade with League merchants, many elders fear that their way of life may be threatened by such outsiders.

In fact, the Levic need for defense has shaped their political structure. Although they are considered by southerners to be a barbarian people, the unique needs of the Levics has forced them to independently come up with something very similar to feudalism. The basic unit of Levic life is the village, often built on a hill with embankments and guard towers to watch for threats. Within a single village, decisions are made by a vote from a body of the housefathers - that is, the male heads of every household. To sit on such a council, and to enjoy other privileges such as the right to have multiple wives, a man must have his own home and his immediate family must be self-sufficient, without needing to rely on parents or in-laws. Groups of allied villages and their surrounding homesteads often band together, and these confederations are governed by both a king (who deals with all domestic business, including the maintenance of roads and ensuring production from the fields) and a warchief (who oversees defenses and is in charge of arming and directing the soldiers).

Art by Cao Viet

But no Levic council would be complete without the oversight of a druid. The Levics are Old Faith believers. Instead of discrete and personified gods, they worship their ancestors and the land itself. The druids tend to sacred groves and offer sacrifices (usually of crops, but sometimes of prisoners captured in battle) to the ancestors through immolation to ensure good fortune and rightful guidance; these groves are never to be set foot in by anyone other than a druid, or disaster will befall the people. Druids assist in governance by ensuring that policies are in accordance with the wants of the spirits, serving as judges in disputes, and attending to the Levic funerary rites, in which the body of the deceased is burned and their ashes placed in an urn, which is then buried in the ground.

Where the Levic Old Faith differs from other, similar customs practiced among hillfolk and Sonderlundings is in its degree of organization. The Levic tribes have a complex and codified priesthood, as formal as that seen among the Pantheonist cults. Each village has its own druid, and these druids all report to the Archdruid - a man who dwells in a sacred grove on an island in the Semna River in a state of permanent communion with the spirits, half-in and half-out of the Land of the Dead, in council with the ancestors. His entranced mumblings are interpreted by his apprentice, a powerful druid chosen to replace the Archdruid when his ancestors call to him and he leaves this mortal coil by burning himself alive. The current Archdruid is Segeband, and his apprentice is Rameka - a druid who has begun to fear his own mortality, believing that he is growing old with no sign of his master slowing down, and secretly plots to ensure he will become Archdruid before he dies one way or another...

Rogues of the Bartel

The Sea of Bartel, with major ports on its shores and rich trade routes going through its waters, is one of the most well-traveled waterways in the northwest. For just the same reasons, it has its fair share of pirates, thieves, and other criminal scum. Here are a few of the most wanted names in the Levic Marches.

Johann Storzenbecher

Perhaps the most storied of the Lionsails - the privateers hired by the Levic Marches to defend their trade routes in a past war, only to turn to piracy afterward - the tales of Johann Storzenbecher's exploits on the high seas can be heard in many a tavern. Though many of the legends are quite embellished, there is some truth to them - even to those that might seem outrageous. All agree that Storzenbecher is a very large man, of great appetites and of great mirth (his name comes from one of his favorite tricks, in which he can empty an entire mug of ale in a single gulp), but one who possesses a firm code of honor, treating his men as though they are his brothers. This, in fact, ties into what is perhaps Storzenbecher's most bizarre quality. When he was captured by authorities from the League of Three Crowns and sentenced to death, he secretly made a pact with a demon while awaiting execution, promising his soul in exchange for the ability to survive a beheading. Before being placed on the chopping block, he asked the executioner to set free any men who he could walk past after being beheaded - something the executioner, seeing it as a clearly foolish request, agreed to, only to be baffled when the pirate's headless body stood up and walked past the rest of his men. Now, Storzenbecher operates out of the city of Trudebeck, which shields him thanks to his reputation as a folk hero, and continues to terrorize the coasts from his ship, the Horn of Plenty, raiding League ships and distributing the wealth among the rural poor, who his crew are devoted to standing in defense of. He has reclaimed his head, but uses a girdle to attach it to his neck - if the girdle is loosened, both head and body will remain alive and conscious, but separate. Storzenbecher, of course, would never allow this to happen, and if it does, his crew would go to the ends of the earth to retrieve their captain's head.

Gunnar Half-Troll

Owing to their proximity to the lands of the Northmen, the Levic Marches are a frequent target of raids, and their longboats are a common sight in summer months. It is rarer, however, for Northmen to decide to settle. But Gunnar Vidarsson, better known by his title Gunnar Half-Troll, is one infamous exception. Already celebrated as a great warrior in his homeland, and boasting of many heroic deeds - his title is in fact a mistranslation; he is not actually half troll, but instead once cut a troll in half with a single blow of his mighty axe - he commanded many incursions into the Levic Marches, burning entire villages and bringing back great wealth to his clan. But this all changed when, in one raid gone wrong, his ship was sunk and his entire crew perished beneath the waves. Only Gunnar survived, clinging to a piece of driftwood that escaped the attention of the navy until he washed up on shore. Surviving by his wits and force of will, Gunnar wandered the Levic Marches until he came upon a village of orcs and decided to storm in and challenge their chieftain to a duel. The orcs, amused by the sight of a wet and unkempt man daring to challenge them, mocked him - until Gunnar disemboweled their leader right before their eyes. Under orcish custom, this meant Gunnar was the new chieftain of the clan, and they swore their loyalty to him as a greater warrior than their last. In the years since, Gunnar has managed to secure a new ship, the Wolfshead, and commands a crew of orcs to terrorize the seas. However, the Northmen back home believe him to be dead, for he has not set foot on the shores of his native land ever since his defeat - he knows that if he does so, he would be shamed for his failure in battle and for bringing his men to their deaths. Instead, he and his orcs lay claim to a number of caves and fortresses along the coast, which he travels back and forth between to hoard his treasure and evade the attention of the law - of course, even if discovered, one would have to contend with his ferocious orcish warriors.

Alwilda the Pirate Princess

The pirates of the Sea of Bartel come from all walks of life. Many are disenfranchised peasants or runaway slaves who have no other option. Many others are merchants who decided that taking the wealth of others by force was a quicker way to fortune than following the longer path of commerce. Others were mercenaries who, when spurned payment for their services, took matters into their own hands. But Alwilda, the so-called Princess of the Pirates, came from a much different origin - she is, in fact, the long-lost Princess of Kvesland. When arranged to marry a foreign king she did not love in order to further their families' ambitions, Alwilda instead set off on her own, together with a cadre of her handmaidens. They disguised themselves as men and snuck aboard a ship, taking it around the Sea of Bartel to several ports, until they came upon a pirate crew who had lost their captain and now languished without someone to guide them. Though she had turned her back on royal life, Alwilda still possessed a fine grasp of manners and had a mind for strategy, and the pirates quickly grew to recognize her as a natural-born leader, taking her as her new captain. She commands the Iron Helm, a ship known for the ironclad battering ram mounted on its bow, but, inspired by the name, she and her handmaidens donned iron helmets that covered their faces, both protecting their identities and giving them a fearsome appearance in battle. Fearing both the law and discovery by the Kvessian royal house, they travel back and forth between whatever ports will accept them, carrying most of their treasure on their ship so that they can flee on short notice if it becomes necessary.

The Black Adder

The Sea of Bartel is rightfully feared as a sea of pirates, but things further inland are not much safer. Even the wealthy League cities are rich with histories of thieves and cutpurses - and for nearly a hundred years, even the great city of Hynden has been struck with periodic heists performed by a phantom thief known as the Black Adder. The Black Adder has struck the treasuries of many nobles and temples throughout the city, stealing everything from priceless paintings to the relics of saints and leaving only a scroll with the image of a serpent in place of their quarry to make their activity known. No one has seen the Black Adder in the flesh, but such thefts have been going on for far longer than anyone could possibly be alive and active. Rumors abound - some believe the Black Adder must in fact be a guild of thieves that have been operating through the years, while others suspect a vampire is behind the crimes. The truth is not as elaborate - the original Black Adder made such an impact on the city that they became cemented in local folklore, and through the ages, many would-be burglars have styled themselves after the phantom thief as a means to add more mystique to their operations. Currently operating as the Black Adder is Esmerelda Rosavald, the daughter of a noble family housed in the city, who grew bored with a life of etiquette and idle pleasures and trained herself to keep the legacy of the phantom thief alive. She dresses in a black cloak and carries a rapier with her, but she hopes to rely on her reputation to back her up - she is not trained in swordplay and hopes that merely dramatically announcing herself as the Black Adder if caught will be enough to scare off any prying eyes. So far, she hasn't had the need to do such a thing, but only time will tell if she can carry on the legendary mantle she's assumed.

The Lionsails

Lost Ark

The League of Three Crowns is an alliance of trade guilds, banded together to promote their mutual interests of trade in the Sea of Bartel. But each affiliated city is home to its own guild, with its own leadership - and those guilds do not always agree. Perhaps no better example of this is that of the Lionsails - regarded by some as the fiercest pirates in the Sea of Bartel and a menace to society, and by others as the truest heroes of the people.

The group that now calls themselves the Lionsails - so called because of their use of a lion emblem on their ships' sails - originated as a guild of privateers drawn from the League-affiliated guilds of the Levic cities of Annedal, Hassla, Smilgi, and Trudebeck - now dubbed the Four Shameful Cities by Hyndeners. The Lionsails were tasked by the Kvessian crown with running naval blockades and resupplying cities during a succession war between Kvesland and Togarmah. However, while most of the League supported Kvesland (as a victory by Togarmah risked cutting off trade routes), Hynden - the unofficial capital of the League of Three Crowns - favored Togarmah, and disapproved of the measure. Despite Hynden's authority, they were ultimately outvoted, and the motion was made to organize the Lionsails.

However, this arrangement left the Lionsails with plenty of support - in both coin and weapons - from the Kvessians, but little goodwill from the rest of the League. This was not a recipe for success. Deciding that if they wouldn't be recognized for their service they would take their arsenal elsewhere, the Lionsails turned to piracy.

The Lionsails saw their golden age two years ago, when they secured strongholds in several cities along the Bartel coast and disrupted many important trade routes, stymieing League operations. Their greatest victory, however, would come when they took control of the island of Hyegel, effectively turning it into their base of operations and launching raids from there. However, their dominance would prove short-lived. In an effort to restore order, the crown promised the knightly Order of the Hammer control over Hyegel as a fief if they would drive the Lionsails out - and, in a bloody battle, the knights were able to wrest control of the island, scattering the remaining ships.

Though their numbers and their resources have fallen from their glory days, the threat of the Lionsails is not over. They primarily operate out of the Four Shameful Cities, which remain fiercely loyal to them even against the authority of Hynden. As of yet, this has not been enough to lead to any schism thanks to the decentralized nature of the League, but some have mused it's only a matter of time. But there are ships and even fleets loyal to the Lionsail cause all up and down the Bartel coast, and the Four Cities can easily call on reinforcements if they feel the need.

One of the Lionsails' greatest assets comes from neither their coffers nor their cannon, but from the fact that they hold the support of the people. The Lionsails have taken to distributing an equal share of the treasure they win in their raids to the rural poor, and through this, they have won the favor of serfs, homesteaders, and Levic tribesmen who feel disenfranchised by the power held by the wealthy urban elite. Many a villager will think twice about reporting Lionsail activity to the authorities when it is the Lionsails that have done more for them than the League of Three Crowns ever has. In fact, with the native Levics feeling increasingly marginalized by the League, an alliance between them and the pirates could threaten Hynden's grasp on the Marches.

Hynden

If the League of Three Crowns could be said to have a capital, that capital would be Hynden. Though nominally a part of Kvesland, and indeed its second largest city after the capital of Kveshenholm, it is far more famous as the center of League activity. It was here that the operations of the League were established in the League Charter, and here that the League Council meets each season.

As the largest city in the Levic Marches, Hynden is held by many to be the center of civilization in that region. Built on the eastern bank of the Galta River, and was originally founded as a stopover point by Vardessian traders ferrying wood, amber, and furs before blossoming into a major center of trade, connecting the lands of the north to the more settled kingdoms to the south. As such, much trade with the Northmen and the Levic clans passes through Hynden at some point.

Due to its location, Levics and Kvessians make up a large portion of Hynden’s population, but there are considerable numbers of Vardessians and Togarmans as well, and even a few Northmen have settled in the city. Dwarves and halflings are also numerous, and there is a sizable elvish population in the Southern Quarter. However, the city’s status as a capital of trade means that people of all sorts call it their home.

Officially, Hynden is governed by an elected Burgomaster, who leads a town council of officials from numerous guilds, including the Wheelwrights’ Guild, the Jewelers’ Guild, the Dyers’ Guild, the Most Careful Order of Skilled Smiths and Metalforgers, the Fellowship of Carters and Coachmen, the Watchful Order of Magi, and the Guild of Boar’s Heads (a guild of merchants ineligible to join the city’s League-affiliated guild due to not being citizens of Hynden by birth or marriage). However, the Archmagistress also sits on the town council, and has considerable sway, so the League ends up making the final decision on most matters. The current Burgomaster is Mateas Lundebeck, an old and world-weary sailor who has seen most corners of the known world in his youth, now retired from the merchant life. Although he has been a source of guidance for the Archmagistress, he takes full advantage of the fact that the League's influence means he doesn't have to do a lot of actual governing, and is content to spend his life's earnings on the finer comforts in life.

Any travelers staying in Hynden for more than a week, and any caravans or ships arriving in the harbor, are required to register with a League magister. The city’s north, east, and south gates are the most widely used; the east gate, which opens onto the Galta, is untended and used mainly by fishermen and clamdiggers selling their wares in town. As a major trade city, Hynden’s roads are carefully maintained to accommodate traffic. Many traverse by foot, but carriages are also available for rent.

Hynden is built on the eastern bank of the Galta, by the side of the Castlestone, a hill so named for the castle that sits atop it, simply known as Castle Hynden. Originally built to defend against raids by Northmen, it now serves as a redoubt in the event the city is attacked, and as a nucleus from which the city’s defensive walls extend. The actual governance happens below the Castle, at the Palace of the League and the House of the Burgomeister located in the Castle Ward. Other districts of Hynden include the wealthy River Quarter in the west; the Northern Quarter; the Trade Quarter in the east (home to the city’s markets); the Southern Quarter, which boasts the city’s elven district; and the Dock Ward, the city’s port and boasting the greatest reputation for crime.

Notably, the law of Hynden defines a native citizen of the city as being anyone born within line of sight of the Castlestone, or married to someone who is. This is important, as only those of such privilege may join the city's branch of the League of Three Crowns. In practice, this usually translates to anyone born within the city walls or just outside them, given the usually cloudy weather of the Levic Marches - however, on clear days, the Castlestone may be seen from greater distances. In fact, the famed Archmagister Vladas Karklinus was born in a village far from Hynden, but at such an altitude that the Castlestone could be seen - something he would, famously, demonstrate to the League Council to prove his legitimacy in one amusing historical anecdote.

It is an open secret that Hynden is built over an extensive system of tunnels and catacombs. Rumors tell of everything from thieves’ guilds to dwarven vaults to villages of rat-men living beneath the streets. Official word denies any suspicious activity, and many would prefer to live their lives unaware of any machinations below.

The League of Three Crowns

In some ways, the League of Three Crowns can be called the preeminent naval power in the Sea of Bartel. The number of trade routes in the sea, going between several wealthy powers, made it an attractive location for merchants, and with the lands of the Northmen close at hand, many of these merchants saw fit to band together for the purposes of mutual protection. Over the years, the nascent League grew powerful from both its wealth and its security, and was able to become a force in its own right.

In the simplest of terms, the League is a confederation of cities located in the region. More precisely, it is a confederation of the mercantile guilds that control both overland and maritime trade routes between these cities and beyond - but often, these guilds effectively control their cities. Many cities in Vardessy, Togarmah, and Kvesland claim membership in the League, and indeed, this reach between the three powers lends the organization its name.

However, the reference to crowns is a bit of a misnomer. Although the Emperor of Vardessy, the King of Togarmah, and the Queen of Kvesland all send delegates to the League Council in Hynden, many cities in the League are, by and large, free from the overreach of their feudal masters and answer only to the guilds, powerful enough to maintain their own armies and delegate their own laws. Despite this, the League is not a nation in and of itself so much as an alliance of cities within other nations.

In fact, League cities do not agree on all matters, even in their management, and what exactly makes a city a League city is difficult to define. The organization is a loose one - each League-affiliated guild nominates representatives to the League Council, who collectively decide on matters of management, and there are certain laws all cities abide by, but by and large every city has its own guild, which has its own structure and is managed separately. In most cases, there is still some measure of feudal authority over a League city. Some, however, are fully autonomous, with the guilds having enough wealth and power to essentially veto any royal decrees they wish and not fear reprisal - they are vassals of the crown in name only.

One thing that links all League cities, however, is that they all have the privilege of erecting a statue of a knight with a sword drawn, holding in the other hand a shield bearing the city’s coat of arms. Though the exact details vary from sculptor to sculptor, the image, usually displayed outside the town hall or in a market square, stands for both the bold independence of the city and - through its standardization - the city's deference to the League charter.

The League Council consists of representatives from the different League cities, with each individual representing one or more member settlements. It is governed by an Archmagister, who can be viewed as the head of the entire League. The current Archmagistress is Lydia Sidaranka. The scion of an influential merchant dynasty in Hynden, she was recently elected to the role, by a vote among the senior council members, after the previous Archmagister, Danne Aldrigamber, was ousted in disgrace for embezzling the League's coffers. Although a shrewd and capable businesswoman, she wasn't expecting to take on the role so suddenly, and struggles under the weight of expectations, maintaining a circle of trusted advisors to keep her on track. She is still early into her tenure, and many are hopeful that she will keep the League's prosperity alive.

Perhaps out of this hopefulness, others in the League Council tentatively put their stock in her. But when merchants are made and broken by the flow of commerce and the survival of their enterprises, the right conditions could easily cause the tides to change, and more ambitious eyes may yet see an opportunity in the Archimagistress. It is not lost on anyone that she is inexperienced and depends on others to tell her what to do, after all...

Seat of the League

The Kingdom of Kvesland, held by some to be the last true bastion of civilization before the northern realms give over to the domains of orcs, trolls, and Northmen, is a land that many peoples call their home. The majority of the population is of Togarmic stock, but the ruling class claims descent from Northmen - the kingdom was founded by settlers from the North that conquered Togarman lands, and to this day, the ruling dynasty - the Daggorids - exalt their Northern roots as a point of prestige, even if they have little in common with their pillaging ancestors. Then there are substantial communities of Vardessians who settled from the south, of dwarves who came down from the mountains, and in the east, the nomads of the Ukian March.

But in particular, the northwest corner of Kvesland, on the Sea of Bartel, marks the Levic Marches, home of the Levic peoples, and theirs is a culture distinct from that found anywhere else in the Kingdom.

Though contact between Levic, Togarmic, and Northern peoples happened with some degree of frequency through the centuries thanks to their geographic proximity, as Kvesland's influence grew, the insular and agrarian tribes of the Levic regions were not able to compete, and they soon became subjects of the crown. Though the Marches pay fealty to Kvesland, they enjoy a considerable degree of autonomy thanks in part to cultural differences among the population - and, increasingly so, in part due to the League of Three Crowns, a powerful merchant association that controls many ports in the area. Though officially the League Cities belong to Kvesland, Togarmah, and Vardessy, in practice, their great wealth and influence means they can muscle out authority for themselves, and the League itself, in the eyes of many, may as well be an empire all its own.

The Levic region boasts many marshes and forests, and the northerly climes are known for harsh winters and long nights, though unlike in the lands of the Northmen, there are no periods of 24-hour darkness. Many Levics have clung to the traditions of their forefathers, and they subsist as farmers in tribal villages, more loyal to family ties than to the authority of any king. They have largely adopted Pantheonism thanks to decades of trade with the outside world - though they obey folk traditions and revere many saints and local deities that speak to their history with the Old Faith, and some villages, revering their ancestral ways, are reluctant to adopt foreign gods. Unlike other so-called barbarian peoples of the west, like the Northmen and Sonderlundings, the Levics do not have a strong warrior culture, preferring to be left alone and to mind their own business, though they do have a reputation as a stoic and stubborn people who are set in their ways.

The Marches are a land of contrasts. Inland, the tribesmen live in scattered villages on lonely moors or in the clearings of deep forests, honoring the same blood oaths that their ancestors have for generations, while on the coast, the cities of the League are among some of the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan for miles, ruled by companies whose reach stretches far across the seas. The coastal elite regard the Levic tribes as slow-witted barbarians (even if their resources are appealing); the tribesmen consider them effete fools who are sticking their noses where they don't belong. So far, the conflict hasn't escalated into outright hostilities. But for how long?

The Brotherhood of Blackheads

If there's any trope in fantasy gaming I have little love for, it's the adventurers' guild. You know what I mean - an organization of itinerant mercenaries, operating in parties that take on tasks together - and wouldn't you know it, those parties just so happen to have the same breakdown of backgrounds, skillsets, and specializations as a typical group of PCs - either soliciting jobs from those incapable of helping themselves or seeking their own fame and fortune, who are willing to slay monsters, explore dungeons, and loot treasure hoards, and more often than not all in the name of wanderlust and/or profits.

To me, there is no greater flashing neon sign saying "this is a game." The typical adventurers' guild assumes that the PCs (or more accurately, the stereotypes of PCs) are not outliers; the sorts of people they are and the kind of work they do are so commonplace as to form its own immediately recognizable socioeconomic class. This, in turn, suggests that the rules of whatever game system you're playing are not abstractions of something more nebulous and harder to define, but a direct model of how this world actually functions.

Now, for some people, that's fine. There have been settings built around exploring RPG tropes and mechanics as the observable reality of the world, and some of them are quite enjoyable in their own right. However, I find it a barrier to becoming immersed in the stories we're telling at the table, and in the setting as a living, breathing world, if it seems that story and that world exist only to prop up the rules, rather than the other way around. The adventurers' guild stands out as a particularly egregious example because it's something so commonplace in games, yet something with nearly no historical or literary precedent that isn't directly traceable back to TRPGs...

With at least one notable exception.

We don't know as much about the Riga branch,
but their hall looks amazing.

The Brotherhood of Blackheads was a guild and fraternal organization that existed in the Baltic region during the Middle Ages, and whose traditions continued for many years. To understand the Blackheads, we first need to understand the context of the time. This was around the era in which trade in the Baltic Sea was largely controlled by the Hanseatic League (which is probably worthy of a post in and of itself), and thus associations of merchants and traders in this area grew very wealthy and powerful. But in Tallinn (now the capital of Estonia), the Great Guild - the most powerful of the merchant associations - was open only to married merchants who resided in or had established business in the city. Enter the Blackheads.

The Brotherhood of Blackheads (so called because their coat of arms depicted the head of their patron, the African Saint Maurice) was initially composed of the sorts of people who couldn't join the Great Guild - foreigners, unmarried merchants, and the like. The Brotherhood gave these merchants an opportunity to associate with another, and to attend the meetings of the Great Guild to keep up to speed on what the local market was like. It also gave them a chance to throw parties after work and on holidays, which they did a lot of, meeting in their halls each night for what no doubt involved a lot of drinking and merriment.

It wasn't all fun and games, though. The Blackheads had to abide by rules. Junior members of the guild had to serve established members. Those feasts were mandatory, and one could be fined for not attending them. There were also fines for insulting or striking another member of the guild - especially in public. Records speak of a fine of five pounds of wax (by medieval standards this is a lot) for grabbing another Blackhead by the hair and throwing beer in his face, which tells me this had to have happened at some point if there was a rule for it - the "Please Do Not Feed Hallucinogens to the Alligators" of the medieval world. In addition to their obligations to each other, the Blackheads also had responsibilities to the cities they resided in; at times, the guilds were tasked with tending to the altars at the local churches. In both Tallinn and Riga, the Blackheads were also responsible for buying the town Christmas tree.

But more importantly, the Blackheads were obligated to defend their cities against invasion. As the story goes, the guild was first formed when a group of foreign merchants banded together to aid in resisting the siege of Tallinn in 1343, and they were rewarded for their service with official recognition by the city. As such, military service was an important part of the Brotherhood, and at least the Tallinn branch supplied their city with catapults, cannon, and a cavalry detachment that patrolled the city walls.

Seeing it yet? We have a group of largely foreign contractors, not quite citizens, who are granted a guild in a city and serve its people, including in battle; whose members have their own business and pursue their own financial betterment but who hold their own traditions and retire to their halls to drink together. If you're looking for a historical adventurers' guild, this one ticks many of the boxes. Maybe it isn't a one-to-one match, but it's the closest I can think of.

A while back, I ran a Dragon Heist campaign with the setting transplanted to the city of Hynden in the Levic Marches - my setting's analogue for Hanseatic Livonia. In researching the history of this region, I discovered the Blackheads, and I knew I had to include them. In the Lunar Lands, they exist as the Company of Boars' Heads, a guild of those merchants and travelers who were unable to join the League of Three Crowns due to being foreign, unmarried, or both, who operate their own organization in return for serving in the defense of Hynden and performing other, more ceremonial duties (like helping decorate for Midwinter festivities). And, yes, their members might even take on some odd jobs once in a while.

Regardless of how you feel about adventurers' guilds, though, the Brotherhood of Blackheads is undoubtably a fascinating piece of history that reminds us of how colorful the past can be. It's ripe with inspiration for DMs, and something like it could fit into many a fantasy city. I'd love to see more settings take note.