First Story: Fire

Name of Kingdom: Speilglase
Basic Description of Kingdom: A confederation of seven city states between two powerful and warlike kingdoms. They have hints of viking and Japanese culture in their societies. They are located on the eastern coast of the largest and primary continent on Sylte (aka the Green world).

Government: Weak fuedal monarchy.

Social Structure: There are four basic social levels...five if you include the king.

The King: First among equals of the Thranes. Traditionally a hereditary position but the position is elected once every thirty years, therefore a weak king or a weak house can be changed with relatively little bloodshed.

Thrane: Essentially a hereditary dictator for one of the city states. They have theoretical control over all aspects of life not protected by powerful institutions (such as Hushers, Wizards and Destiny Prophets) or powerful castes (see below). In practice, they are almost all pretty live and let live except in times of war, simply because the unspoken cultural norm is that you let people do what you want.

Of course, conversely, the unspoken cultural norm is that there are certain expectations for most aspects of daily life and you're expected to conform to them unless you have a darn good reason.

The Castes: There are five honorable professions amongst the Speilers.

The general philosophy with each case is a balance between specialization (which gathers respect) and generalization (which also gathers respect). There is a guild like series of peer review to reward merit in each, with general levels of Apprentice, Journeyman and Master, with a Master having a certain number of Laurels which they get for doing noteworthy or cool things, which are especially useful in pissing contests with other masters. There is a minimum level of proficiency that is expected for each specialty in a casteman to know in their chosen caste.

Sailor: Obvious, but it includes raiding, fishing, trade, navigation etc.

Soldier: Footman, Archer, Calvary, Knight etc. All soldiers have some leadership training, obviously all are not good at it. By tradition, in times of war, ranks are divided by Caste Rank and Laurel unless otherwise ordered by the Thranes. There is a Shadow Rank system, however, which is controlled by Guild Masters at large, which puts compotent officers in charge and which is generally used by the Thrane in times of war.

Farmer: Not only agriculture and livestock but all of the various things that make a house hold work including carpenters, home makers etc.

Craftsmen: They make things. If you can think of something worth making, then you're considered a craftsmen. Technically speaking, all Castesmen are merchants, but in practice this mainly applies to Craftsmen. Of course, Castemen technically do not think of themselves as Merchants, but rather Entrepenurs, which is to them an entirely different thing. A merchant doesn't actually DO anything and merely moves money around or moves goods from place to place, which is something a thrall is good for. That means, generally, by definition, all foreigners who come to trade are Merchants, not Entrepenurs. This is a source of tension with Speilglase's neighboors.

Skald: Bards and entertainers of every kind of performance imaginable from poets to jugglers to painters. Technically, all of the other castes consider themselves dabblers in this caste, but selling their works or services is considered bad form unless they are of the Skald case. This also includes knowledgeable specialists such as lawyers and teachers. It technically would include scholars if the Hushers didn't tend to crush such things.

Thralls: The fourth and lowest rank. Anyone who doesn't choose a caste becomes a thrall, either in the service of castemen or the Thrane. Thralls are sworn for a year and a day at a time, after which they must become a thrall again, become a Casteman or leave.