Brette

Brette (breh-TUH) is a mostly docile and amiable state, known for its agriculture and picturesque countryside. Due to their genetic connection and The Brettens’ use of the gjald for trade, they are a vassal state of The Nordur Imperium.

Capital: Port-De-Meer (Port-Duh-Mirror)

Other major cities: Arristel (are-ih-stell), Hengen (hen-jen), and Haardth (hearth).

Flag: red and blue diagonal stripes

Symbols: cow, buttermilk jar, and barley

Main exports: foodstuffs, beers/ales, brandy, fruit wines,

### Government

Like other Mystaran nations, Brette is ruled by a monarch. The Bretten monarchy, however, is different from its Jadar and Nordur counterparts in that its rule is limited, rather than absolute. A ruling council called The Diet sits beneath it, with power to pass its own laws and check the power of the monarch if necessary. The Houses that currently make up The Diet include: Braam, Smit, Daalman, Visser, Bakker, and Janson). It consists of 12 seats, and usually consists of the current Steward/Stewardess of The House and his/her eldest child.

Guilds also hold significant political power within Brette, primarily The Farmer's Guild, The Distillers, and The Brewer's, but there are others as well: locksmiths, apothecaries, blacksmiths, silversmiths, scribes, builders, cobblers, bakers, leatherworkers, masons, painters, wheelwrights, printers, and carvers.

Current monarch: Bram De Groot
Brette’s military forces are broken up into three distinct units:

* The Bretten Guard: a force of roughly 50,000 men based primarily at border crossings, and in its major cities Their armor is silver with beige and gold accents, with simple steel helmets and red and blue striped capes. The main weapons of The Bretten Guard include crossbows and long swords, which are bought from The Nordur. There is technically another contingent of The Guard which consists of a militia of those Bretten men dotting the countryside. They organize and mobilize by villages should Brette come under attack, and number close to 120,000.
* The Marine: a small naval force of roughly thirty ships stationed along the coast. The Brettens rely upon The Imperial Navy for maritime protection.
* The Watchmen: a small force which guards Brette’s main cities and The Bourgoise. They wield halberds, which are, of course, bought from The Nordur. Their uniforms consist of blue doublets, puffy red pants, and a silver helmet with a short red and blue striped plume. Chainmail is worn underneath.

Even though they are formally under The Imperial Banner, Brette enjoys special protection in diplomacy, being as many kingdoms import their foodstuffs en masse. Brette’s use of red and blue, however, is the source of a minor, long standing controversy between them and their Jadar brethren, primarily the Trisekians, for whom red and blue are defining colors. They are seen as too ornate for the simple Brettens, and a means for them to appear more decorative than their civilization really is.

### Cities

#### Port-De-Meer

The capital city, Port-De-Meer, is known for its colorful buildings and trees. Bridges cross each of them in various places. The city itself is relatively flat in layout. The city center, Stadsplen Circle, is a circle, parted in the middle by a waterway. There are a series of canals which run in half circles around the city on either side of the main waterway. Around it, there are multiple neighborhoods, including: Whaegervat Street, Frai Gardens, Podlap, Downtown, Uptown, Phoenix Crossing (home to Phoenix Fire brewery), The Farmer’s Market, and more. There is a laughable, but present criminal underground within Port-De-Meer. Petty thievery and intoxicant consumption are among the most common, but it is also a meeting point of spies, mercenaries for hire, rangers, and explorers.

It sits on the Bretten coastline, roughly three hundred miles from its northern border, and has a population of 350,000.

Brette’s other major cities, Arristel (population: 150,000) and Hengen (90,000) sit at the center of the southern and western border, respectively. Haardth (population: 113,000) is on the southeastern coastline, also bordering Triseke and near its coastal city of Slodilna. They are smaller cities, but quite large overall, bearing similar resemblance to Port-De-Meer. Each is also built upon a waterway which directs irrigation towards the farmlands and villages that dominate the rest of the country’s landscape.

Arristel has multiple waterways running through it, flowing from The Jadar and its tributaries and crisscrossing in random patterns through the city. It is nicknamed The City of Bridges for how many bridges it has erected to connect parts of the city over the canals--30 in total.

Hengen’s main waterway is along the eastern edge of the city, with the city extending back towards the border with Triseke.

### Culture

While The Jadar play at being traditional and conservative, the Brettens actually are.

Romantic love in Brette is considered private. Public displays of affection are not common, and generally frowned upon. Though sexuality is not openly expressed, behind closed doors, it is an interesting subject. Women are generally taught they are to please their husbands whenever requested. It is not seen as lady-like for them to visit brothels or engage in affairs outside of wedlock. The men, however, are free to do as they please. They visit silken dragon’s regularly, have affairs with foreigners and the like. The Bourgoise, however, are under no such restraints. Couple swapping (in secret) has become a popular practice.

Bretten women are highly sought after. Due to the country’s conservative nature, most girls are virgins until marriage.

Outside of their main cities, most Brettens live in villages that dot the countryside. They produce the vast majority of food exports in Mystara. These villages are usually made up of groups of families that intermarry, pooling resources together for common benefit. There are roughly 300 villages of 80-150 people and 50 cities of 1,000-6,000.

The traditional Bretten greeting is a simple salutation and smile. Beer and bread is a common guest offering. It is very disrespectful to be intrusive into someone’s personal life or ask them lots of questions when they aren’t volunteering the answers. The style of dress is usually conservative, with earthy or pastel colors. Women wear long, flowing dresses, and men typically wear simple doublets, tunics, and pants.

Generally, Brettens are thrifty, disciplined and hardworking in their affairs, conservative, practical, down to earth, and very private.

#### Social Classes

The Bourgeoise: members of the ruling council, current and former royalty + their relatives, and the head of each major guild.

Farm Owners and landlords

Merchants: especially owners of taverns, shops, and proprietors of small businesses within Brette—many are members of each guild.

Commoners: general workers and tenant farmers—many are members of each guild.

Peasantry: mostly field workers and laborers

#### Food

Bread and beer soup, brown bread with warm butter,

Stöfput: a vegetable and meat stew, often made with lamb or goat and eaten with brown bread

Bread and cheese

Bread and beer

Waffel: similar to a waffle but crunchier and usually made with stuff inside it like fruit and cheese

Inglegde: pickled fish with goat cheese, bread, and simmered peppers,

Stamput: a vegetable and potato soup

Taart: fruit pies, made with a flaky, buttery crust

Fruit salad

Pies

Roast duck, pheasant, dove, and rabbit

Hucks of meat, sausages, and waffels are sold as street foods, along with numerous fruit and nut vendors.

Brette is known for its high concentration of taverns, all with unique names like The Dancing Pig, The Jester’s Staff, The Risen Phoenix, The Jumping Jailer, The Drowned Rat, The Grinning Serpent, The Dunk Duck, The Warrior’s Cellar, and The Weeping Willow. They are gathering places for food and drink, as well as a source of lodging. Each tavern generally has at least a dozen rooms. Taverns are a common gathering place for spies and a common stopping point for travelers, explorers, and the like. They are also known for their beers, fresh and from the source, their food, and for finding information—or simply an interesting conversation.

Brette also has the most breweries of any nation, containing the three most popular producers of beer in Teleria: Phoenix Fire, Dwarven Forge, and Gnome’s Grogg.

Phoenix Fire

* Wild Red Lager—clean, crisp, and earthy with a hint of cherry
* Freya’s Enchanted Ale—full, sweet, and fruity
* Mellow Malt—smooth, balanced, and hazelnut
* Halsband's Ale

Dwarven Forge

* Forefather
* Battle Axe

Gnome’s Grogg

* Porter—rich, frothy, and chocolatey
* Malt—creamy, pecan, and caramel
* Porter—rich, thick, smooth, and vanilla-caramel-chocolate

Brette is also home to The Breadbasket, a university-like school for farmers. It is based in Port-De-Meer, generally untouched by politics due to the Farmer’s Guild and the industry’s importance to The Continents.

#### Art

Statuettes of ancestral figures, paintings (usually landscape or portraits), pottery (usually earth-colored with pocked geometric patterns), poetry, literature, music, and dance.

Poetry and literature usually have to do with fertility, stewardship of Teleria’s bounty, harvest, animals, and Vooroundreving.

Music: accordion, barrel drum, violin, clarinet, and the lyre. Bretten music is decidedly upbeat and lively.

Dances are done as a group, rather than in couples. They involve mostly motions with the feet done in straight lines, moving forward, back, and side-to-side, hand in hand or hand on shoulder. It is a lively affair and everyone is encouraged to participate. It is said that even if you do not know the steps, you will be swept up in the dance nonetheless, and the steps will become second nature.

#### Agriculture

Brette is nicknamed The Breadbasket of The World by Telerians due to their ability to produce consistently bountiful harvests from The Fertile Plain. This is due primarily to their connection with The Four, Bjorn The Bretten's four eldest children who ascended and became one with their respective elements of the earth upon completing their mortal lives. Brettens hold fast to a form of ancestor worship called Vooroundreving which is centered around The Four, and continually blesses their soils, crops, seasons and harvests.

They hold numerous holidays and festivals throughout the year in connection with Vooroundreving, which are not practiced anywhere else in Teleria:

* Harvest Festival & Lugh’s Feast: held in midsummer to celebrate the harvest and honor the spirits of the land with the firstfruits. A special offering is made to Freyr, Ierde, and Lugh as a thanks.
* Brewer’s Delight: a festival held simply to drink beer and dance
* Springtide's Rising: a celebration of song, dance, flowers, and drinking to celebrate rebirth.
* Summer Solstice: music and bonfires
* Autumn Return: candle vigils are held with chanting, songs, and prayers geared towards protecting the soil, crops, and children against the dark spirits of winter
* Jul

Brettens are also the most prolific starwatchers and weather trackers within Teleria.