Tolossia

The Kingdom of the Tolossians (Tolossian: Tolosshes reik, 𐍄𐍉𐌻𐍉𐍃𐍃𐌷𐌴𐍃 𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺) is a kingdom in southern Ovaicaea, and is a human successor state to the territory of the Old Empire, ruled by the Tolossians. It is, like most other human kingdoms, dominated by one particular tribal or ethnic group, having formed as the tribal state of that people. The Tolossians are one of the most populous and influential human tribes in Ovaicaea, and the kingdom of Tolossia has served as their homeland and source of power for the past seven centuries.
The kingdom formed when human tribes migrated westward out of the Great Waste in the 4th century, seeking fertile farmland and safety from the rampaging orcs. The kingdom became a client state of the Old Empire, and were the first line of defense when the Orc Khaganate arrived in 401. The orcs overran the human kingdoms at the same time that the imperial Dragonriders disappeared, which caused the Empire's collapse within a decade. Tolossian kings consolidated authority, and gradually adopted dwarven feudal social structure as a way to empower local lords to flexibly handle threats at the frontier. Tolossia waged war with its neighbors off-and-on from the 400s up through 820, when it allied with them to resist a new Orcish attack. The Tolossians came to have a significant role in the alliance's victory in 842.
Tolossia is a member state of the New Empire, and its king is one of the most powerful noble lords in the realm, having the right to vote in the election of a new emperor.
== History ==
== Society and government ==
The Kingdom of the Tolossians is a semi-hereditary elective monarchy. The kingdom has evolved from a tribal state to a feudal state, retaining many aspects of customary law and tribal clientage overlaid with dwarven traditions of military service and feudal obligation. This pyramidal social system extends from the King on down to the lowest peasant.
In ancient history, Tolossia and other human kingdoms struggled to provide for the defense of their lands, and so kings came to rely on clan leaders to ruled in their stead in remote areas. There existed a long tradition of kings giving gifts to their supporters. By the 7th century, Tolossia adopted aspects of the more complex dwarven models of feudalism, where the king's gift came to include land tenure. These local lords hold land by the king's grant, called a barony, and are in turn obligated to provide military service in times of war and call up a number of men-at-arms. Barons have often sub-enfeoffed their land to notable warriors, gathering them as a retinue of knights. This chain of feudal obligation cascades down to the peasants, who work the knight's land as tenant farmers and owe the lord of the manor military service, cash rent, rent in kind, or any of the three. This system remains in place today, and forms the backbone of Tolossian society.
=== Government ===
Tolossian government is decentralized, with much of its territory held by barons through feudal land tenure. The royal government is centered on the King, called in the Tolossian common language as Reiks or Thiudans (lit. people-leader), who is formally elected by the assembly of the realm's peers and knights. In practice, the inheritance of the royal demesne by the king's eldest son ensures that they are elected to the Kingship due to having the largest army and the largest landholding. Very often, a king will arrange their heir's election as co-king to ensure a smoother succession.
Despite the feudal underpinnings of Tolossian society, the royal government has been progressively growing stronger. The King is nominally the chief lawgiver, chief judge, and master of the army, but historically these roles have been exercised as first-among-equals of the kingdom's nobles, as befit human tribal tradition. The nobility of the kingdom pledge their fealty to the king, but in practice this has been contingent on the king recognizing certain privileges of the baronage and making certain concessions. Early kings were powerful, but they gradually gave away land and power to the nobility. Since the early 10th century, however, kings have steadily increased the royal demesne, and been able to enforce their decisions in matters of law and governance over the will of the baronage. In some cases, this has led to armed conflict with local lords, but the consistent support of the Emperor in feudal matters has enabled the kings to confiscate land from unruly barons, and retake lands left heirless.
The greatest steps to increase royal power have been taken by the current king, Roderic II the Lion, who has used legal wrangling to return lands to the royal demesne, has maintained a sizeable standing army, and has worked with dwarven engineers to construct roads, monuments, aqueducts, and castles.
From time to time, the royal council called forth an assembly of the Estates of the Realm, composed of the clergy, nobles, representatives of the cities, and representatives of the shires. This is an extension of the traditional Tolossian concept of the king as first among equals. A permanent assembly of the Estates was established by King Godric in the year 811.
=== Law and courts ===
Tolossian law is based on codifications of the customary tribal law, and has influenced the trajectory of statute laws in many other human kingdoms. In 509, King Chlodmar ordered a commission of jurists to review and codify the use of customary laws, which had previously been kept as oral law by tribal elders, so the laws could be synthesized into something usable for the entire kingdom. This has formed the basis of the Tolossian legal code, and has been periodically revised to add newly enacted laws, revise laws that have been amended, and delete laws that have been repealed. The Tolossian code is divided into the civil code and the criminal code, and includes several titles detailing property law, civil disputes, crime and punishment, legal and social status, ecclesiastical privileges, and other matters. Other titles detail the customary law of the other human tribes in Tolossia, and the ways their law differs from the main body of the Tolossian code.
The kingdom has employed monks to assist in the transcribing and codification process since the beginning, and two of the members of the original commission were monks. This relationship was formalized with the royal charter granted to the Order of Brothers of the Law, a monastic society of legal scholars dedicated to the god Torm, which decreed that the Order would be an independent board to advise the King on legal matters. Around a third of all trained lawyers in Tolossia are members of this Order, primarily dedicated to scholarship rather than practice of the law.
Tolossian law is applied first by lords of the manor, who are tasked with keeping the King's Peace and dispensing justice in their estates. The local lord delegates such matters to an official titled Vogt, typically a member of the yeomanry. An unsatisfactory ruling can be appealed to that lord's feudal overlord. From there, appeals can be made to the Assizes, traveling courts for a particular district of the kingdom, and finally to the King himself. Tolossian courts make little distinction between matters of law and equity, unlike dwarven court systems.
One of the most transformative amendments to the law code was the nationwide institution of inheritance by agnatic primogeniture in 701, following a civil war between three princes who each claimed the throne. Prior to this change, many baronies had split into progressively smaller estates as a baron had to divide their lands among their sons. The agnatic law consolidated succession into strict inheritance by firstborn sons, and then descending in the male line.
=== Social status ===
In Tolossia, as it is in most feudal states, social status is constrained by law and custom, and determines one's place in the overall social order. Social status is hereditary, but some social mobility is theoretically possible through merit and recognition. A commoner can become a knight, and a knight can become a peer, but this is usually under extraordinary circumstances.
Tolossian society was originally slaveholding, with the lowest social strata composed of slaves owned as chattel by a warlord or baron. The slaves were declared freed from being personal property by King Lodram upon his accession in 540. He had relied on servile uprisings to unseat his rival Rothbart, and had promised their freedom. However, a period of tumultuous migration followed, which made taxation and census recording difficult and nearly brought the kingdom to the brink of ruin, compelling Lodram to issue an edict that adopted the Dwarven model of serfdom: the freed peasants would be legally bound to the land as thralls, which increased the value of land taxes and poll taxes which fed the royal coffers. Over time, some thralls were able to acquire their freedom, and some have moved along the social hierarchy to form a diverse array of free commoners.
The Tolossian social class system sees all of its inhabitants legally classified into the following categories:
* Peers of the realm, those who hold feudal tenancy-in-chief as barons, earls, or thegns. These have certain rights over their holdings, such as the ability to collect rents, impose taxes, exploit its resources, and levy their tenants into military service.
* Clergy, those who are consecrated to the service of the gods, and take religious vows, who serve a temple, conduct public rituals, or live in monastic communities. The clergy as a class hold certain privileges, though prelates and hierophants are usually considered equal to Peers of the realm, while ordinary priests and monks are closer to knights in rank.
* Knights, the landed military aristocracy who provide military service to higher feudal lords.
* Yeomen, the highest class of commoners. These are part of a landed gentry who live off the rents their land provides, but are not military aristocrats. Yeomen usually do owe military service, but as part of the feudal levy rather than as knights.
* Ceorls, middle-class free commoners who typically own some property. Many ceorls are also burghers, citizens of cities or towns, but others are landowners that do not life off the rents of their land, such as subsistence farmers or artisans.
* Cottars, peasants who are legally free but do not own land, and instead rent from and work on the land of a feudal lord.
*Thralls, unfree peasants who are tenant farmers bonded to the estates on which they work and live. Thralls are serfs, subject to a variety of legal constraints and are unable to appeal beyond their local lord.
=== Demographics ===
Tolossia is a diverse country with a large population. It is one of the most populous imperial states, with a total population of around nine million. Most of these are humans of various ethnic groups, with significant minority populations of dwarves, elves, and half-elves.
The kingdom keeps meticulous record of tribal affiliation, as each tribe is subject to different customary law, as outlined in the titles on tribal law in the Tolossian Code. The majority of humans, around 6 million people, are ethnic Tolossians. There are around a million and a half humans of other tribal groups, mostly Ripanians, though there are small minorities of Suathans and Clovians. There are around a million dwarves in the kingdom, who are uniquely exempt from the strictures of agnatic succession due to recognition of dwarven customary law in the Tolossian Code. Elves and half-elves account for around half a million people, most of whom live in free cities or chartered towns.
Tolossia has a low level of urbanization, with only a few major castle towns and free cities, though these tend to be major trade hubs and are the locus of certain minority populations, such as elves. The vast majority of people live in rural settings, and are engaged in agricultural work as tenant farmers.
== List of kings ==
The kingship has been held by several houses, as it started out as an elective office. After an early power struggle, the Gundrings clan came to hold the throne and established a semi-hereditary succession. The current ruling house is a cadet branch of this clan, the House of Berglund. All kings have held the title King of the Tolossians, or in the Tolossian common tongue Tolosshes reks.
The first tribal kings led their people out of the Great Waste in the 4th century. The earliest kings are legendary figures, as many of the written accounts of the Barbarian era were destroyed during the Orc War.
=== Early period ===
* Gundomar I (late 3rd century – c. 311), united the Tolossians and led them out of the Great Waste. He settled them at the source of the Tolossus River, which gave his people their name.
* Giselric the Evil (c. 311 – 326), brother of Gundomar who assassinated his brother to take the throne, assassinated by Gundomar's son Widukind.
* Sigmar (c. 326 – 336), famed warrior who fought by Widukind's side.
* Marko (c. 336 – 355), son of Sigmar.
* Drustan (c. 355 – 369), former chamberlain for Marko. Led the Tolossians north through the mountains, into the fertile plains between the Athua and Dorei rivers.
* Chilperic (c. 369 – 378)
* Rodilo (c. 378 – 397)
There is an interregnum of two years, in which several claimants vie for the throne. In the end, a warrior named Gunderic was elected king after defeating his rivals.
=== Gundring dynasty ===
* Gunderic I (399 – 407), first recorded king, claimed to be a grandson of Widukind.
* Gundahar/Gunther the Great (407 – 436), son of Gunderic, founder of the Gundring clan. Defended the Tolossians during the incursion of the Orcs.
* Gundomar II, (436– 473), son of Gundahar.
* Chlodwig (473 – 489), son of Gundomar II.
* Chlodmar the Wise (489 – 515), son of Chlodwig I. Promulgated the Tolossian law code.
* Chlothar (515 – 527), second son of Chlodmar.
* Chlodio (527 – 533), son of Chlothar. Assassinated.
* Rothbart the Wicked, (533 – 540), uncle of Chlodio, younger brother of Chlothar.
Rothbart behaved tyrannically, and committed many crimes against his people. He killed many of his own family, leaving only a distant cousin of Chlodio alive. This cousin, Lodram, rose in rebellion and unseated Rothbart to found a new dynasty.
=== Lodraming dynasty ===
* Lodram the Liberator (539/540 – 563), cousin of Chlodio.
* Gunther II (563 – 595), son of Lodram.
* Guntram (595 – 613), son of Gunther II, instituted feudalism.
* Chlodmar II (613 – 620), second son of Gunther II
* Gundomar III (620 – 640), son of Chlodmar II
* Dagobert I (640 – 659), second son of Chlodmar II
* Arnulf (b. 625, r. 659 – 691), son of Dagobert I, first king for which a birthdate is recorded.
* Arno the Posthumous (b. 690, r. 691), grandson of Arnulf.
Arnulf's son Vindomar predeceased him, and his grandson Arno was born a month after he died. The interregnum council elected Arno king and declared a regency. However, Arno died before he was a year old. The royal demesne was divided among the three sons of Arnulf's younger sister Agatha (b. 630, d. 688), who were the closest relatives. They each claimed the throne and waged a ten-year long civil war.
* Guthrum (b. 660, r. 691 – 699)
* Giselher (b. 663, r. 691 – 699)
* Alphonse (b. 665 – 700)
Between 699 and 700 the three brothers were defeated when the nobles rose up under a common banner, led by Roderic, Count of Berglund, who was related to the royal family by marriage. He was elected by the assembly in 700, and in 701 promulgated a law that restricted inheritance to agnatic primogeniture, preventing any further division of the royal lands or contested claims to his throne.
=== Berglund dynasty ===
* Roderic I the Victorious (b. 641, r. 700 – 711), restored order after civil war. He began the tradition of electing his heir during his reign to ensure the succession.
* Gundomar III (b. 670, r. 705 – 730), son of Roderic I.
* Gunther III (b. 702, r. 730/730 – 778), son of Gundomar III.
* Gundomar IV (b. 722, r. 750/778 – 782), son of Gunther III, died in battle.
* Godric (b. 741, r. 780 – 814), son of Gundomar IV.
* Gunther IV the Valiant (b. 778, r. 810/814 – 840), son of Godric. Oversaw Tolossian war of liberation from Orcish hegemony
* Robert I (b. 788, r. 820/840 – 855), son of Gunther IV. Negotiated Tolossia's inclusion in the New Empire.
*Jasomir (b. 809, r. 848 – 888), son of Robert I.
*Gunderic II (b. 843, r. 866 – 912), son of Jasomir
*Robert II (b. 866, r. 900/912 – 923), son of Gunderic II.
*Gunther V (b. 890, r. 923 – 936), son of Robert II.
*Dagobert II the Young (b. 920, r. 936 – 954), son of Gunther V, died in a riding accident.
*Lothair (b. 900, r. 954 – 987), uncle of Dagobert II, brother of Gunther V.
*Amalric (b. 936, r. 970/987 – 996), son of Lothair.
*Roderic II the Lion (b. 972, r. 900/996 – present), son of Amalric, current King. Has expanded royal power significantly.