The Provinces

Stateform : Kingdom in name, Merchant Republic in function

## Power Balance

Noble : medium

Wyld : medium

Church : low

Once dominated by the now-fallen Spanish Dragon House, these lower nobles and merchant princes revolted against overlordship, issued their Acte van Verlatinghe and proclaimed their own republic. While relatively small, they hold great economical power due to their crafty seamanship, arcane universities and reliance on market mechanisms. Whereas sadly, like in all parts of Europe the Jacobite tends to live in a lower position, in the Provinces there are quite a few notable exceptions as a few Jacobite merchant houses have established themselves among the powerful of the land. Politically speaking they are on the constant lookout for either Francian noble violence or Prussian noble violence coming their way. (it inevitably does, from time to time) and uses diplomacy and trade politics to play out their potential aggressors against each other. Wyld relations are somewhat stable but can still very much place a burden on operations. Most notably, the dreadful polder-flooding and breaking dikes of a few decades remind them not to push it too far. (or as the plebes say : ‘de Woudmoe niet vermaledyen’ ). Religion in the Provinces is a mixed bag, as there is the presence of all three Angelic Churches on a lower level, but not on a structural level, as they lost much influence when the Republic emerged.

## Birth of the Republic

As the years pass, it becomes harder to remember what life was like a few centuries ago, during the age that the Castillan house of Culebre was the most powerful of Europe. Controlling not only the Iberian peninsula, but claiming government over lands stretching from vast colonies in the New World, all the way up to the North Sea, where they governed the highly lucrative cities from Ghent up to Friesland, all submitted to Castillan crown, and with it the superiority of the Papacy in Rome. This ‘Holy Alliance’ between pope and (highly religious) Castillan kings worked very well for a century or maybe two, but ultimately came to a dramatic and cataclystic end. The beginning of this end may well have been the revolts of the Provinces, herald of much worse things to come. Though the king much approved of all the commerce and urbanification of the trade cities of the North (and of course all the taxes that yielded) , he did not much care for the progressive attitudes that tend to come with this process.

So, while merchant vessels imported goods from across the globe, travellers of all countries passed through the Castillan Dutch ports and dynamic Arcane colleges produced wizard after wizard, the King still insisted everyone behave like it was 1099. Serfs had no rights at all, city folk were regarded as condensely living serfs and were expected to grovel before nobles and church at all times. The worst deal of all befell the Jacobites who were notoriously repressed by the Castillans. It is here that the custom of ‘owning’ house-jacks emerged, an old Castilllan aristocratic habit (it was said that King Felippe’s ‘Jacquitos’ were the funniest you’d ever see) , but for those Jacobites who did not manage to ‘get into’ elite house service, an even more unpleasant fate awaited in the form of forced labor (and practical literal slavery) , often in the King’s workshops or on board of the King’s ships.

Together with this social rigidity, an equally rigid religious system imposed unity of worship, and took a very harsh stance to anyone interpreting even an inch outside of the accepted religious doctrines. All of these elements contributed to the inevitable explosion of dissent. As the Castillan king raised taxes once again, to fuel his many wars, several of the Northern cities went into uproad and -as things escalated- open revolt.

The Castillan kings would pay a heavy price for ignoring the problem too long, and for going into several conflicts at the same time. In the 16th century, the conflict between the Church of Samael and the Avalonian kings, keen to become lord and master over the Avalonian Church, caused the pope to apply pressure to his most loyal king : Felippe, who swore to smash Avalon into submission with a colossal army, and an Invincible Armada. This was a pretty bold claim by the Castilian King, in no small matter because this conflict coincided with the above revolts in his own ‘Dutch’ cities.

By now a handful of lesser nobles, led by the Fafnir ‘House of Oranje’ had risen up against the King of Castille and wrote a document declaring themselves separate from the crown, basically starting a country of their own. Though all the military calculations of the moment showed this cause to be chanceless and futile, fortune would decree otherwise. At the same time as the Avalonian druids destroyed the indestructible Armada, and a large part of the king’s expeditionary armies drowned in the Channel, his other armies met fiercer opposition in the Low Countries than anyone expected. The reasons for this are complicated, but largely come down to this :

* The Fafnir noble ‘Willem’ had taken a much more modern, pragmatic stance toward both the merchant classes AND the wizard academies. Whereas traditional Castillan aristocracy (at that moment in time, the leading cultural voice in Europe) disdained wizardry and classified them as ‘lesser’ arcane casters at every turn, Willem took an opposite approach. He ordained wizards in his armies ‘where nobles should stand’ even if these wizards were of ‘mere’ merchant descent.

* Much like the above attitude, he included merchant aristocracy at several places in his armies and system of government and much thrived by it. After the revolt was finished, the rebellious provinces would form a Republic, steered by the richest of the land, and not the ‘noblest’ per se. This gave great incentive for affluent merchants to invest heavily in Willem’s armies and certainly, fleets, the cities’ speciality.

* The Jacobites, living in misery, did not like the Castillan king much and once they learned that Willem’s regime would be more favorable to them, secretly joined sides with the ‘Orange rebellion’ and committed sabotage at every turn against their Castillan ‘masters’ , or even straight up fled to the Dutch territories to offer their services on one of Willem’s ships. Though the contributions of these valiant resistance warriors have, in no small measure, been one of the leading causes of Dutch victory, their yield was...moderate. After the wars were finished, Willem did not give them much public credit at all, preferring to laud ‘his wizards’ instead. However, he did abolish the harsh Castillan laws governing Jacobites in his territories, and would judge them as ‘ordinary human peasants’ from then on. And while a very few crafty Jacobites managed to attain actual property and fortune, even escalating into becoming very actual Dutch trade houses, the vast majority of them did not, and fell victim to the simple fact that they had nothing. And if you have nothing, it’s very hard to make money. This structural inequality now started to play against them, as the cold laws of commerce started to rule the land. Currently, while technically ‘free’, a great many Jacobites now live in abject poverty, not much better than it was before the entire revolution-thing started.

* The Castillan king would have a chance to learn valuable lessons here, but failed to do so, much to the detriment of the future of his House. As his armies marched into the Dutch territories to punish, pillage and rampage, they were about to discover that they were too close to the Black Forest to get away with this absent resistance. Because of their destructive orders, the Castillan armies soon became accosted by the creatures of the land, taking revenge for every acre or field that was burned.  And while the dominican priests who accompanied the King’s armies tried to repress this trend, it seemed to little or no avail, as harassment continued and many Castillan troops either drowned in flooding dykes, got pulled into bogs, lead astray by wisps or flat out starved due to lack of sustenance.

The endresult of all of this was the unthinkable : the defeat of powerful Castillon at the hands of a ‘rag tag band of lesser nobles and merchants’ and the emergence of a trade republic in the North, the times were definitely changing…

## Culture :

Due to their heavy involvement with international trade, the Provinces have a thriving cultural sector, driven by both funds and ambitions of the new powerful trade houses. Many aspiring artists find their way to the Dutch territories, hoping to find a wealthy merchant patron for their works. In addition, the Wizard colleges of Amsterdam, Leiden and Utrecht are in high prestige here and it is the ambition of every would-be merchant family to get a son or two through this (expensive) education. Consequently, arcane symbols are seen as a form of ‘chique’ , indicating your family has access to this much desired source of power. Visual status is extra important in the provinces, because of their trade republic ways. As traditional nobility means less here, it is important for those who want to wield any influence at all to show off some new wealth, rather than old prestige.

## Military :

Willem was a capable commander and laid out a system that would hold to the current day. While modern and competent (meaning line infantry, cavalry, cannon etc) in all the ways of European warfare, the armies of the Provinces are not large, nor do they really have any offensive function at all. Their purpose is ultimately to keep overenthusiastic noble conquering armies (be they from Francia or from Prussia) away as best as possible, while the fleet does what it can. Besides, few on Earth have deeper pockets than the combined Stadhouders of the provinces, which means that in military conflicts Dutch commanders can easily outspend any opponent in the acquisition of mercenary regiments to complement their own battle lines. After all, the Provinces have no land based military ambitions at all, they have no interest in conquering land in Europe, their ambitions lay in trade and consequently, upon the Seas.  So , just like Avalon, it is the fleets that constitute its real power.

It is very hard to say who holds the better sailor, the Avalonians or the Dutch, but both of them approach the subject in a distinctly different manner. Whereas the Avalonian system entirely depends on their ‘Order of Merlin’ and the fleet traditions built around this advantage, the Dutch have had to be more flexible, adapt to new technology and constantly improvise to stay ahead. While the Avalonians employ druidic magics to command the winds, the Dutch have no such option. They do have a lot of gold, and quite a few wizard academies to spend it on, so a great many arcane nautical inventions give the Dutch fleets interesting benefits of their own.

When facing Avalonian ships, you should expect the winds and waters to take side against you and push ‘His Majesty’s Ships’ in the right direction, with Dutch ships you’re not even sure what to expect but it's probably going to be nasty. Either broadsides will open with arcane cannonballs bringing extraordinary destruction, or you might misjudge their place on the horizon by use of craftily woven arcane-illusionary sails. Rest assured, the cunning Dutch captain will know exactly what he has, and has several plans to use it to maximum effect.

Whereas in a prolonged naval war, Avalon would still ultimately win by sheer force of numbers alone, this certainly does not mean they will win every naval confrontation. In fact, on several occasions the Avalonian fleets were taught a lesson in humility by gifted Dutch Admirals, turning cutting-edge naval technology, a dynamic sea-going tradition and expertise into a battle changing advantage.

A staple of Dutch ships are the ‘Sjakies’ (litt. Sea-Jacks) which is a term for professional Jacobite sailors who, through their condense size and innate dexterity are able to perform tasks usually delegated to inexperienced ship-boys on a much higher, professional level, giving Dutch vessels a keen advantage when it comes to ship reaction speed.

While the Dutch warfleet is an enemy to be dreaded at sea, it’s not the focus of the Dutch fleets. They are not Avalon, they are the Provinces and whereas the former holds the largest warfleet, the new seafaring nation at this point controls the largest merchant fleet.

### Noble families of the Provinces :

It should already be clear that noble dynamics are a bit different here, as it is a Republic and not a simple feudal state. And while this region holds a fewer amount of ‘blooded nobles’ than other nations of Europe, a few (like Willem himself) remained, and while ‘old lineage’ may not grant them the same type of privilege it does in other parts of Europe, the fortunes they have accumulated through sponsoring trade surely do, so in practical life, it’s not that different after all.

Most prevalent : Fafnir, Leviathan

Other bloodlines : Jörmungandr, Guivres