The thing with 30 armed men in triamore is that they are very powerful. Nearby manors will have 2 fighters at most, and they will look at 30 armed men the way we all would look at a fortification of Al Qaeda dudes 2 blocks away. Most castles (let alone manors) did not have permanent soldiers in time of peace. Only the inhabitants were "guarding" it. So a buch of around 10 armed men will still be considered considerable military power.
We can have them being armsmen. I wrote "mercenaries" to distance them somewhat from the local population, but that can be corrected easily.
Triamore certainly does NOT have other manors as vassals. That is the whole point: it is not a landlord, but a single manor that happens to have a freakin' castle in it. The idea of granting the castle to the magi was to remove the castle from the local politics. It failed as a strategy since it is still there and people are VERY aware of its existance, as it should be, but at least the castle is not in the hands of the local magnates.
Great stuff!!! I didn't know that and I find it very interesting. It can be the reason of WHY you are being invited to the covenant: we can either have you invited BEFORE one o the mundane lords takes advantage of the situation to advance on Triamore, or just AFTER the crisis because the Augustans fear that in the future this will repeat and they will not be able to deal with the crisis alone.
Armsmen for the warriors. I stand corrected. Thanks.
I am learning a lot about particularities of the German political and knightly stuff here. Thank you guys.
Feudal obligations are not the beautiful spiral orb webs, but the messy tangle webs.
The manorial charter is imperial and thus does not owe fealty to the King of Germany, but does answer to the local Duke who is a vassal of the King of Germany who in turn is a vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor (and in our case also a vassal of the King of France).
Actually no. The charter of Triamore answers only to the Emperor bypassing all the intermediaries. Triamore only owes the count of Namur taxes on agricultural produce.
I was unaware of the distinction between emperor and king of Germany. Makes for a nice messy distinction as you point out.
That's what I meant with "answer to the local duke." The emperor also granted the local duke the right to collect agricultural taxes.
The future Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, is the reigning King of Sicily and the elected King of Germany, a title that was contested by Otto IV. As the title of Holy Roman Emperor is connected to the Kingdom of Italy, which in turn is attached to the Kingdom of Germany, Frederick is technically the emperor, but not in actual fact. In November 1220 his son Henry will be crowned King of the Romans (King of Germany) while he retains the imperial title of Holy Roman Emperor (King of Italy)
Yes, the King of Germany was actually called King of the Romans.
In short, to become Holy Roman Emperor one has to be 1) elected to the position of King of the Romans (King of Germany) and 2) go to Rome to be anointed Holy Roman Emperor.
Just found a definition in wikipedia of what the status of Triamore is:
Imperial immediacy ( Reichsfreiheit or Reichsunmittelbarkeit , adjectives reichsfrei, reichsunmittelbar ): Immediacy was a privileged feudal and political status, a form of statehood, which a city, religious entity or feudal principality of minor lordship could attain within the Holy Roman Empire. An immediate city, abbey or territory was under the direct authority of the Holy Roman Emperor and the Imperial Diet, without any intermediary Liege lord(s). Advantages were that immediate regions had the right to collect taxes and tolls themselves, and held juridical rights (including the Blutgericht , 'high' justice including capital punishment) themselves. De facto immediacy corresponded to a semi-independence with a far-reaching autonomy.
Sounds like our charter including the high justice part (the magi of triamore have put peasants to the sword in the past). what happens here is that the validity of triamore's charter is contested.
Gaumont also is entitled to money paid by Triamore - which is very unusual for a reichsfrei place.
But many covenants of the old golden time of the real Order of Hermes were kept as allods, and Triamore may strive for that status - though with little chance of success.
Ok. After reviewing the books, I think I went overboard, so I am removing anaxagoras and ulisterius and going for the official magi and timelines since it seems they can hold water anyway and you are not that interested in the mess that is Otto's reign.
Daria will be a fairly young Augustan. Remi I am unsure yet.
Description-wise he also fits a 5th edition Flambeau.
Ulisterius, remi's master, had a tower as his sanctum, so he might have been an astrologer. Looking at his official character sheet he is one of those "Grimgroth characters" of 3rd edition fame: extremely unfocused with a smattering of arts and utility spells, with a slight focus in combat. A natural magician is possible, but he sounds more outdoorsy than your average scholar Maybe a Nightwalker with Divination skills and a penchant for really bringing the real fight to the infernal witches?
OK, I will write this when we run the scene, but I am posting it here so that we are all aware of this (in I forget).
Given the volatile situation in the Holy Roman Empire, the magi of Triamore have introduced several changes in the covenant.
The unfinished parapets are now being reinforced by an 8-10 foot high wall of timber using tree trunks. Rough but effective. The unfinished parapet foundation that runs inside the timber wall is used as a walkway. Since it is not a permanent structure, they do not think they are violating their charter. The trees being used to do this are being cut from the area in front of the barbican.
There are 2 huge pentagrams drawn just in front of the main door of the keep and another that occupies the whole foyer. Both seem to have been inserted in the ground and to any one of you that has second sight or cares to investigate it is obvious that they are mystical.
There is a some kind of Structure spell or enchantment in the last floor of the castle to repel mundane rainwater so that it enters the drains. It is still a bleak, damp and cold place, but it is drier than it used to be.
I was honestly wondering why nobody in Triamore spent time developing a spell to make the makeshift roof waterproof, or just turn the darned floor into a proper slate roof
Yup. Bothered me a lot when it was populated by hermetics as well since it was a very easy spell, and they have a freaking library to protect from humidity!
Some small attention to defenses also seem desirable, like removing trees from the frontal part of your wall or building some actual parapets, even if you are not completing the castle. As described the outer perimeter is unusable for defence, only the keep is, and it has two ground level doors (main gate + hall) that are very vulnerable. I just made small visible changes that somewhat correct those problems in a way that a bunch of Augustans could do.
I'm still working on converting it to 5th ed Covenants, but essentially the manorial charter does not include a writ of crenelation, thus I think the Covenant is not allowed to complete the wall nor complete the unfinished keep, but maintaining the existing walls,keep, gatehouse and towers are well within their bailwick.
I can see Wilhem defending that a TIMBER wall is not A REAL, PROPER wall in court. He is not created yet and he is already overworked, poor Wilhem xD
Yes, maintenance is OK. It is even mentioned explicitly in the triamore book. In fact if someone wants a mason companion they are supposed to come by triamore on a regular basis.
Do either Daria or Remi have any magic that can grow plants? Because it might be possible to grow Hawthorn trees close together, with blackberry bushes planted in between instead of building a wooden wall.