Magelaw

Alshari Wilderlands

## History

The Magelaw is a new County Palatine set up for the Magi to defend Alshar and the rest of the kingdom from the gurvani, Korbal and his Nemovorti. It covers the eastern portion of what was once the Alshari Wilderlands north of Vorone, a vast mountainous area, east of the Wildwater river. Even though it had originally been sparsely populated, after the gurvani invasion it was nearly empty of people with the majority of castles reduced to rubble and whole towns and villages destroyed. What few people remain in the area cling to a meager existence huddling in the woods and dodging gurvani raiders.

The Magi had proven that they were needed to contend with those that would wipe out all humani, so Duke Anguin granted the lands to Minalan with nearly absolute control and light oversight.

## Overview

Magelaw is a county in northern Alshar, established at the end of Necromancer by Duke Anguin, including the Barony of Vanador in the shadow of the mountain known as The Anvil, just east of the edge of the Penumbra.

> There would be no revenues from the Magelaw for the forseeable future. There were no lush agricultural estates here, as there were in the Riverlands... The Magelaw was comprised of the Alshari Wilderlands north of Vorone and east of the Kulines. The western frontier reached at least to the Wildwater River, but beyond that, much was in dispute. It was a vast country of forests and meadows, rocky outcroppings and unnavigable rivers. Flat lands suitable for large-scale agriculture were rare and coveted. Most farms were isolated freeholds scraped out of the wilderness by small communities, usually only large enough to feed a few families... In Vanador, I had abandoned fields and unarmed freedmen enduring a subsistence diet on imported aid to work with. - narrative
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### Organization

Count Minalan's Staff and their portfolios:

* Lord Marshall: (Terleman) Military Commander of the entire Magelaw
* Constable: (Mavone) Securing the frontier, military intelligence, and enforcing the Count's edicts
* Marshall: (Sandoval) General troubleshooter initially tasked with building an army for the Magelaw
* Chancellor: (Lawbrother Bryte) – Task with creating the laws for the new county
* Alshari Wing of Skyhawks: (Nattia – Sky Captain) – Originally used for protecting Vandor, but eventually becomes part of the Count's household with a mews built at Spellgarden.

## Economy

### Non-monetary tokens

> "We have plenty of funds on parchment, and that's the problem. We have more money on parchment than we do in coin, and it's having an effect. We need more local coin in circulation than we have right now, so that we can stop keeping track of how much who-owes-who, because no one has enough actual pennies in their pockets. Letters of credit are dandy, until you realize they're often for more than the local temple actually has on hand. In the meantime, we've been improvising.' Gareth's interim solution to feeding the refuges was simple, he explained. Each man was given a hastily contrived lead token at the end of a day's work clearing fields, gathering brush, digging latrines, or other duties around the vast encampment, which could be exchanged at the camp's kitchen for a set amount of food, either cooked or uncooked. The tokens had been hastily made in Enultramar and stamped with the seal of the ducal almoner on the obverse, keeping the tokens from being used for payment of taxes or other debts. " - Gareth to Minalan
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Women were also given tokens for their work, usually spinning, sewing, or cooking for the camp.

Vanador's lead food tokens
 "Trees"

A simple linen tunic could be purchased for 3 trees (or 15 nuts).

### Currency & Coinage

As a count palatine, the lord of Magelaw has the right to mint his own coins. Early in Thaumaturge, Minalan establishes the currency of the region, with help from Banamor, using gold, silver and copper bullion from a previous trade deal with the Vundel and the skill of Karshak Alon lapidaries. The new coins were enchanted to reduce wear or tarnish from use and resist re-melting and minting at a lower quality. They replaced the non-monetary lead food tokens Gareth had distributed to the early workers of Vanador.

Magelaw Coinage
 "Knot"
 "Hammer" or "silver penny"
 "Tower"
 "Dragon"

These coins also replaced what remaining currency outlasted the fall of Western Alshar:

> I knew from setting up shop as a Spellmonger in Boval Vale that the Wilderlands had always suffered a dearth of good coin. What little there was came from Vorone or Tudry, or the domains closest to Gilmorra. Before the invasion, the most common coin was an iron 'slug' that was theoretically worth 1/10th of one copper penny. The actual exchange depended on who was doing the accounting. Larger transactions were counted in half-ounce copper coins known as 'starlings' for no particular reason. A heavier, 1 ounce copper coin known as a 'bell' was supposedly equal to one silver penny, but again, it depended on who was counting. Silver was far rarer, and gold coin almost unheard of in regular transactions. That had lead to many deals being brokered in uneven coin, or in direct barter. That led to fluctuating markets, usury, and more than one of the famous Wilderlands feuds. - Minalan narrative
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Previous Wilderlands Coinage
 "Starling"
 "Copper penny"
 "Bell"
 "Silver Penny"

Following some predictable volatility, the new monetary system stabilized and quickly provided trustworthy specie for Magelaw inhabitants; further, it established equitable compensation for laborers within the domain:

> I'd pumped so much coin into the economy that Gilmorran peasants—who'd never had more than a few coppers in their entire lives—were now making 4 pennies a day, as day laborers, and far more if they had specialized skills. Experienced thatchers were commanding 10 pennies a day, for instance, and the makeshift lumberyards that sprung up across the plateau were paying 7 pennies a day for sawyers and carters, and 3 for porters.
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### Labor & Organization

The early residents of Magelaw and Vanador were considered freeholders, not serfs or villains bonded to the land. Lords may negotiate and then enter into agreements with groups of freemen, called "the Hundreds" to lead and defend the community, but only a mutually beneficial manner.

### Settlements

The early residents of Magelaw and Vanador were considered freemen, not serfs or villains bonded to the land. Lords could negotiate and then enter into agreements with groups of freemen, called "the Hundreds".  Gareth organized the refugees in groups of 100 to settle lands and work communally,

Each Hundred is given a pool of funds and livestock to hold in common, for a few years, as well as rights to the land.

## Industry

The Wilderlands were noted for their superior iron and forests.  The raw ore was in demand throughout the five dutchies and the wood was in demand in the sea-going districts for building new ships.

The wool from the sheep raised in the Wilderlands was considered superior to anywhere else; because of the colder climate, the fleece would come in much thicker and was of higher quality.

Count Minalan wisely encouraged (and invested) in forges, mills, and looms. It made little sense to ship the raw materials outside the Wilderlands and then import the finished products at a much higher cost to meet the demands of his subjects.

### Iron

Minalan jumpstarted the Magelaw's dominance of all markets for iron by contracting Alon Dradrien and their superior methods of working ore into high-grade steel.

Master Suhi and his nephews were rescued from Olum Seheri and in returned pledge their service to Minalan.

The Dradrien recruited a few of the Rudak Alon (miners) to assist getting the best iron ore out of the hills. A few additional Dradrien were recruited to assist with the forging.

The old village of Yltedene, just north of Vanador was assigned to Master Suhi for his foundry works. There, he created superior steel directly from the foundry without it having to be worked first.  Suhi eventually alloys the steel with ainakurkas, a material that Minalan received from the Vundel, resulting in a generation of remarkable mage blades capable of holding very powerful enchantments.

The armorer, Sir Angruff of Danzby, oversaw the production and purchase of bows, arrows, axes, infantry swords, shields, helms, hauberks, and every other gear the army needed.  The Magelaw eventually had the finest weapons of the entire kingdom.  Minalan gifted his fellow Wilderlands Count Palentine, Count Marcadine, with the many fine weapons.

### Wool

When The Wilderlands League, a shady cartel that tries to corner markets, came to Vanador to try to get a monopoly on wool, Minalan and Gareth negotiate for looms and a loomwright to move to Vanador along with a few others that could build the tools for spinning and weaving.  Minalan’s goal was to ultimately infiltrate and take over the league.

### Forestry

There was so much building going on that all of the trees that could be felled each day were hauled to the lumberyards where magi kilned and cut them within hours using the wands that Sevendor pioneered.

In Vanador the Malkas Alon oversaw the lumberyards.

## Military

> Unlike most Narasi domains, the Magelaw had no restrictions on commoners carrying weapons. - Narrative
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The people of the Magelaw needed to become a martial people just to survive the imminent invasions of Korbal's hoards.

All of the men were considered militia and part-time army in defense of the county.  They are required 2 weeks training and 2 weeks deployment and then return home and send the next man.  Additionally, they are required to continue training while working their fields.  Most of the part-time army was already familiar with using the Great Wilderland Bows, they just need to learn to shoot under military command.

The part-time army is supported by a competent officer corps.  Additionally, professional soldiers were recruited from outside of the Magelaw. A corps of professional soldiers became the Counts personal guard would become the only standing military group.

The Vanador Guards was also created to protect the plateau and to lead militia squads in times of war.

Tyndal was recruited to re-settle the Domain of Callierd, an expanded domain beyond the previous borders, and to raise horses for the military.  He took that idea and expanded it to include creating his own form of Megelini Knights, a mounted calvary that he trained and housed in his own lands.

## Law of the Magelaw

Brother Bryte was instrumental in creating a whole new framework of law for the Magelaw.  Laws that took into consideration the Magi of all levels.

But Brother Bryte didn’t just create laws for the Magi, he created a whole new body of laws that covered everyone the magi, aristocracy, merchants, the peasantry, the artisans, the clergy – that defined their rights, civil and military responsibilities, taxes. He included urban law, rural law, torts, inheritance, civil procedure, criminal procedure and much more.  And not just for the humans, but for all of the other races that made the Magelaw their home.

> In my system, the recognition of rajira entitles a man to some basic protections and responsibilities, but does not automatically entitle him to the aristocracy.- Bryte to Minalan
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Brother Bryte also included that there would be no bondsmen in the Magelaw, that all men were “freemen” included apprentices under contract.

> Under Brother Bryte’s proposed laws, the resident non-humans were to be considered free subjects, entitled to the same rights and subjected to the same duties and penalties as humans.  There would be no restriction on them sitting in our councils, our juries and standing in court due to their species. - Bryte to Minalan
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But the non-humans could rule themselves within their own districts as long as it didn’t conflict with the Magelaw.

## Summary

### Necromancer

The new County is established as a Palatine.  Duke Anguin recognizing the contributions that the Magi have made to saving what they could of the Alshari Wilderlands, establishes the county for the magi with Minalan the Spellmonger named as the first Count Palatine.

### Thaumaturge

The City of the Magi, Vanador is shaping up into a real city, when Minalan arrives as the Count Palantine.

One of the early problems that Minalan has to settle is the demands of Lords of Gilmora expecting their villeins to be compelled to return to them after they were freed from the Guvani. Minalan decreed that

> So . . . under the legal custom and principle of ‘town air is free air, any villein or serf or other bondsman who has lived within Magelaw’s districts for more than a year is henceforth absolved of previous bonds,- Minalan’s New Policy
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Which becomes the basses of the new body of laws that Brother Bryte writes for the Magelaw.

### Arcanist

One of the depopulated domains is given over to the Tal Alon to see what they can do with it without humani or Alka Alon oversight.

## References

1. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Thaumaturge: Book Eleven of the Spellmonger Series (ch. 1). Kindle Edition.
2. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Thaumaturge: Book Eleven of the Spellmonger Series (ch. 3). Kindle Edition.
3. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Thaumaturge: Book Eleven of the Spellmonger Series (ch. 3). Kindle Edition.
4. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Thaumaturge: Book Eleven of the Spellmonger Series (ch. 8). Kindle Edition.
5. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Thaumaturge: Book Eleven of the Spellmonger Series (ch. 4). Kindle Edition.
6. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Thaumaturge: Book Eleven of the Spellmonger Series (ch. 21). Kindle Edition.
7. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Thaumaturge: Book Eleven of the Spellmonger Series (ch. 21). Kindle Edition.
8. ↑ Mancour, Terry. Thaumaturge: Book Eleven of the Spellmonger Series (ch. 21). Kindle Edition.