Valkor

The Children of Light

The Children of Light is the collective name for those people in the Icesus valley who live in the Kingdom of Valkor, within the sphere of influence of the Church of Elements. It includes humans, elves and dwarves, though there are smaller numbers (less than 5%) of orcs and goblins.

There is a rigid social structure within the Church which comprises three classes: the Templars who are the ruling class, the Sectarians who preach the faith of the Church of Elements, and the common people who perform all the labour. In theory, the three groups are bound together by their faith in their elemental gods. In practice, the only unifying factor is that they all belong to the kingdom of Valkor. This treatise will look at each of the three groups in turn.

To understand the reach of the Children of Light, it is necessary to understand the geography and politics of the Kingdom of Valkor.

Geography (and Politics) of the Kingdom of Valkor

Provinces

Geographically, the Kingdom of Valkor, occupies the northwest area of the Icesus valley - the lands conquered by the Templars over the past 2 generations. But the Children of Light continue to live in the southern, more easily cultivated, lands and the Church and Templars hold the greatest power and influence close to the capital city of Vaerlon.

To the north, the new doctrines and customs give room to traditional Eskaran ways. The map shows that Valkor claims the northern provinces, but it is actually unclear where the lands of pagans begin. Certainly the Eskaran pagans living in the northern forests do not respect the division of land made by the Templars, and rebel groups from Eskara continue to fight even today. The other pagan groups of Gaestatis and Wilders move about as they please.

To the south, the Children of Light are threatened by a different foe - the Kingdom of Tyranus. Here the people worship their one-eyed Gods; some years they trade with Valkor, and other years they wage war.

Nearer to Vaerlon, a tense situation is developing. Recently, there have been problems with looting in the southeast provinces of Valkor (especially Clover and Heartlands). It is rumoured that many of these bandits are not ordinary bandits, but actually soldiers who have defected from the Templars and are now operating for the eastern czardom of Graemor. This gives rise to further rumours that the unified force of the Templars is disintegrating. In the two provinces, the Khatuns have hung several people alongside their families to stop the spreading of false rumors. But the stories whispered in streets continue to circulate.

The sectarians and common people of the Church of Elements do not put their faith in the rumors of the dissolution of the Templars. They are seen to be bloody conquerors, and terrible rulers, but the common folk believe the Templars guarantee social peace and protect their subjects from both the pagans and the eastern Czardom of Graemor. It is also very difficult for both the people and the members of the sects to imagine a world without Templars. So far, rumors of unrest have largely been ignored and life has continued according to the old model.

Social Order

Under the laws of the Templar Kingdom of Valkor, only a Templar can own land and that land is inherited by the eldest male direct descendant. He becomes Khan, and his son will become Khan on his death.

If there is no son, the land will pass to the eldest daughter (if she is of age), and to her husband upon her marriage. If the daughter is not of age, or if there are no children, the man’s wife will become Khatun until such time as a ‘proper’ heir is identified.

In the provinces, a landowner has the title of Khan or Khatun, and reigns as a complete monarch.

The laws of the Valkor kingdom require that Khans take care of all persons in their province, but they rarely do so. They give little consideration to reported crime, they are more likely to behead all persons involved, and levy increased taxes on the remaining family members. The punishments that the Khans (and Khatuns) distribute to the lower classes tend to be cruel, straightforward, and often collective.

So the common folk hesitate to bring matters to the khan's attention, they have learned instead to settle things with the village elders. Troublemakers and peace breakers are brought under control by "stocks and sticks" where the guilty party is confined to wooden stock and the villages offered the opportunity to take their revenge with their choice of thick and thin sticks.

Sectarians have slightly more leeway than the general population, but only so long as they do not interfere with secular politics. The Templars value the sects because they are useful for maintaining the peace of society. However, if sects do begin to intervene in earthly affairs, they will very quickly arrive at the end of their rope, which usually means that they will be hanging by the neck of it in some tall spruce.

Marriage and Family

The Church has a fixed and limited attitude toward sex: the purpose of sex is to produce children, and people are to choose one spouse with whom to spend their lives. The church has an equally negative attitude towards sexuality, but people do not live by this principle: the common people living in barns find their comfort, pleasure, and safety in each other's bodies. The Templars also seek their comforts, but they do so with silk bed sheets. As to the sectarians, there are many paths.

For the sake of society, all Children of Light are considered to be strictly monogamous. Where persons err (and the Templars are more likely to err than others) all children are born inside the marriage. Should it happen that a child is clearly not the child of the two parents, e.g. a half-elf child born to two humans, then the child will be considered to be an ‘outside child’ of the mother. Each father (birth, family) has the option to claim the child as his own; and they can determine whether or not to grant an inheritance (and land).

All property is inherited through the father. There are few inheritance disputes because the father ultimately determines the inheritance and the eldest son inherits everything. An eldest boy will easily find a willing spouse when he reaches a suitable age, while the younger ones will have to earn their place in the world.

At the marriage ceremony, the man's father brings his son to the prayer pole, where he hands his son to his future wife. Then the Church priest will give a short sermon, urging the spouses to love each other and to be faithful one another; he will advise the man to make wise decisions and the woman to obey her husband. Once the ceremony is completed, the woman moves to live in the man's house along side his parents and siblings.

Templars

The Templars originate from the eastern steppes and remnants of their past shape their culture today. All children are raised to be worthy riders and warriors. Where the older children (sons and daughters) are tied to the land and businesses, many of the younger offspring will join the Templar knights as a way to see the world.

Templars place complete control of emotions and unquestioning loyalty to the higher power as a measure of humanity. Their iron will and discipline, combined with superb organization skills (compared to those of many surrounding nations), have allowed them to conquer vast areas and unite the new provinces into what has become the invincible Valkor empire.

The Templars can be divided into nobles (land-owning tribes of khans and kahtuns), and the temple knights. Over the generations the noble families have developed court etiquette, customs and culture, which dictates their day-to-day behaviour, lifestyle, and dress. On the other hand, the temple knights are soldiers, they are the same ferocious and ruthless horsemen as originally rode in from the eastern steppes, and they have little tolerance for the finer elements of court life. Indeed, friction has begun to form between the two groups: the noble families regard the temple knights as foolish and uneducated, while the knights regard the noble families as weak and soft.

Government

All of the land in the Kingdom of Valkor has been divided into provinces by the Templars. Within the province, the landowner has the right to call him- or herself as a Khan or Khatun. Women may rule the province for some period of time, but the land always passes through marriage to the man and in turn it is passed to the eldest son, so this state of affairs is usually self-correcting.

The status of a Khan is determined by the number of temple knights he has the right to keep in his arms. An araw-Khan has the right to keep ten templar knights, a khan with status "zuut" has one hundred, and status “minghan” has one thousand knights. Valkor does not currently have a minghan-Khan or Khatun. Templars are by no means the only servants or even soldiers of the Khans, but it is the number of temple knights that indicates the power of the Khan or Khatun.

Khans are rulers in their province, but they swear allegiance to the ruler of the capital of Vaerlon. In turn, the ruler of Vaerlon pledges allegiance to the Horduk-khan Kendal Vinistek; a dwarven woman who is leader of the entire Templar order who has tens of thousands of Templar knights under her wing.

At the moment, the situation is somewhat confusing because Vaerlon's heir (Morgan Tensldor) is a girl of 15 years, and she will not become Khatun for another 13 years. Each of the Khans swore allegiance to her father and his heirs (and therefore to Morgan) but many are uncomfortable with the idea of a Khatun of Vaerlon. Some of the bolder Templar rulers in the south have gone so far as to suggest that they might be more appropriate to the task. In the north, there are Khans who resent that they do not receive enough support from ‘the girl in Vaerlon’, that it would be different if there were a ‘proper Khan’. The stronger zuut-Khans of the north are already skirmishing with each other, competing to be seen as the strongest force against the pagans (and therefore a possible ruler for Vaerlon and the entire kingdom). The administration of the Templars is confused across the kingdom and especially so in the north. The threat of a civil war rustles in the air.

There are still some army troops in the kingdom of Valkor, known as Army of Vaerlon, who work for the City. While their duty is to protect the heir of Vaerlon (who will one day be a Khatun) they are actually independent of the system Khans and Khatuns. The cost of supporting the Army is borne by the city of Vaerlon, paid from business taxes, import duties, fines, etc..

The army of Vaerlon is organized according to the same principle of "ten" as the Khans: an araw-Commander of the army commands ten fighters, paying for their maintenance and support; a "zuut" commands one hundred and the "minghan" would lead a thousand men to the battle. Again there are no minghans in the kingdom. Military leaders do not own land, as this is the exclusive right of the khan. Instead, they get their food and other supplies from the khan or khatun on whose land they are stationed.

Right and Wrong

The Templars believe that every human being is an integral representative of his family first and his khan second. Public behavior is of the utmost importance, and public disgrace is directed at both the individual and his family. Oddly enough, secret sins are not condemned as they are unseen, and therefore do not tarnish the reputation of the sinner or his family.

Templars respect power and detachment and despise weakness in all forms. In particular, they disregard any public display of emotion. Only the strong and the cold can survive in this world, the weak are a burden on their families and the khans.

Loyalty and courage are everything to the Templars. A templar must show absolute and unquestionable loyalty to parents, family, ancestors, and the Khan. Any templar is presumed to be ready to slit his own throat with his ritual knife at the whim of his khan or khatun. As head of the family, the khan may be selfish, corrupt, or stupid, but his subordinates would never say so. They are, at all times, loyal to him and will obey him without question.

The courage of the Templar must be shown in all situations; cowardice is the worst kind of weakness. Courage should not be confused with hot-headedness or stupidity, it is assumed that Templar will consider carefully the risks and consequences of his actions.

A Templar attaches particular importance to the presentation of a calm demeanor at all times, he will work to ‘keep the face’, meaning the face of his family. All family members will observe manners, will follow agreed rituals and at all times will remain calm. A person who fails to do so, by being publicly embarrassed or showing his feelings too clearly, is said to have ‘lost the face’ which is the face of the family.

Honour is of great importance to the Templars. Whether a promise is made in private or public, a Templar will keep his word. ‘Honorary debt’ is a special kind of promise or commitment, it happens when one templar assists another, and it must be repaid within the shortest time possible. Sometimes this debt can be so large (e.g. keeping a secret sin from being known, thus preventing the shame and destruction of the entire family) that the Templar will spend the rest of their lives searching desperately for the opportunity to provide a similar response to his helper or their family.

Templar Customs

Horses are especially important animals in Templar culture, and the relationship between Templar and horse begins as soon as a child has the balance to sit upright. They are essential to the Templar knights, and even an ordinary knight will own at least three. The knights prefer mares because the milk provides an extra source of food during long war rides and they are generally easier to train than stallions.

The Templar knights live and work as soldiers, they wear simple and functional clothing. Furs are leather and are preferred over fabric clothing which is less durable. The soldiers wear little jewelry and carry weapons almost everywhere. In their behavior they are generally silent, expressionless and straightforward to the point of brutality.

Noble Templars, on the other hand, strive to wear the finest clothes possible. The rich and mighty bring silk from far away lands for their pleasure; they also wear large amounts of gold and silver jewelry. To make it easier to ‘keep the face’ (and preserve their honour and the honour of their family), noble Templars will cover the lower part of their face with a scarf or cloth, except in the presence of their friends and relatives.

All Templars are very polite in their behavior, even with their enemies; they identify behavior as the decisive difference between humans and animals. A skilled templar can (and will) insult a competitor or enemy subtly and seemingly politely and do so unendingly. It is not at all uncommon in official circumstances for two longtime enemies to swap courtesies for several hours at a time, and do so with great devotion, each trying to goad the other into to losing his temper and thus ‘lose the face’.

As they greet each other, Templars politely bow their arms crossed over their chest or kneel in front of truly high-profile women.

Templars tend to exchange small gifts in many situations, such as when guests arrive or when they meet an old acquaintance after a long time. A good gift is elegant rather than functional, and comes with an interesting detail or story. However, the gift should not be too expensive or spectacular, because the receiving party must reciprocate with an equally marvelous gift and story, and do so within a reasonable time.

Warfare

Templar knights are intimidating opponents, both as individuals and as a military unit. They prefer to fight from horseback, and their skill is unrivalled.

They are divided into archer knights and lance knights. Archer knights wear light armours, and their main weapon is the Templar’s dreaded bone bow. Their favoured method of attack is to swoop in on horseback, shoot a volley of arrows at their opponents' necks and flee before the opponent has had time to react. Their skill is so great that they are able to shoot their arrows straight back as they flee the battlefield.

Lance knights wear heavy armours and carry wooden lances with an iron tip. They also carry a sword and shield which are used after the first attack. They typically attack in a wedge-shaped formation, but only after archer knights have first weakened an enemy.

Today, the Templars continue their expansion across the sparsely populated and rugged terrain of the north. Here there is no room for large cavalry tactics, and the Templars recruit large numbers of infantry from their newly conquered territories. The Templar knights are ready to fight on foot as well, using a long, slightly curved and narrow-edged sword that easily cuts through the pagan-made armors.

Well-known Templars

Katrina Lohengrin

Katrina Lohengrin, a human woman, currently controls most of the power in Vaerlon. Ten years ago, she was the chief of the guard of Gradon Tensldor, son and heir of Tegiv Tensldor, the former Khan of Vaerlon. When Tegiv was assassinated, alongside his wife and son, Katrina managed to save Morgan from the assassins. To prevent the kingdom from drifting into chaos, Katrina assumed command of the Army of Vaerlon and proclaimed herself a deputy governor until the heiress Morgan Tensldor has reached the age of majority.

Katrina has proven herself to be a determined, brave and strong-willed woman, though she is not very sophisticated as a ruler. Katrina has a reputation for being a loyal and honorable soldier, and her position has been recognized by most khans. Still many court members wonder if she really plans to relinquish power when Morgan reaches the age of twenty-eight in thirteen years.

Katrina is about forty years old; she is in top physical shape and her intelligence is sharper than ever. She has numerous scars on her face and hands, from battlefields and bar brawls (she is known to become nasty if drunk). She wears the simple clothing of a soldier, though covers her face as required by the noble court etiquette. She has made a statement indicating preparations are being made for war against the Eskarans, though some will whisper that it is only a blunder and the real target is Maelyrra Maerlith-Madris.

Maelyrra Maerlith-Madris

The Maelyrra Maerlith-Madris is a sophisticated Templar, elite from the brow of her elite elven brow to the soles of her elite elven feet. Even at the age of over 800, she easily breaks the hearts of young men (and possibly women) of the court.

Her every movement and word conveys a sense of aesthetics and beauty, whether it is her home, her company or her body. Her tall, dark-skin body is always dressed in the most fashionable clothes and stylish jewelry. Maelyrra has never married, but recently she said she has finally found the ‘one’. She has not gone so far as to identify her intended.

Maelyrra has sworn to her loyalty to Morgan Tensldor, Heir of Vaerlon, but has refused to recognize Katrina Lohengrin's role as deputy ruler. With Templar politeness, she has hinted that Katrina Lohengrin holds the heir hostage.

Maelyrra is said to have the widest and most skilled network of spies and blackmailers in the entire valley, and many khans are said to have secretly sworn allegiance to her. She is suspected of plotting against Tegiv Tensldor, the former khan of Vaerlon (father of Morgan Tensldor). Other people have believed she attempted to kidnap GradonTensldor (former heir, brother of Morgan Tensldor) with the intent of entering into a forced marriage. There are more than a few people who believe she is responsible for the assassination of Tegiv and Gradon Tensldor.

Bandits are a constant scourge in Maelyrra's world and she is looking for a way to defeat them, especially in her province of Knightsword (near Vaerlon). A less cunning Khan would probably use force and collective punishment, but Maelyrra does not want to risk the serfs' rebellion in the current turbulent political situation. So the unrest in Knightsword has been allowed to build.

Tuatha Khazakul

Tuatha is a member of the relatively powerful Khazakul dwarf family and is a controversial figure in Vaerlon. He is not humble in the way a dwarf representative of the court is expected to be, and otherwise violates the label blatantly and repeatedly. An example is that court etiquette requires that love matters be handled subtly. However, Tuatha flaunts his numerous (short- and long-term) romantic relationships with elves rather than hiding them discreetly.

Tuatha does not seem to have any political ambition of his own. He is possibly the best duelist in the whole of Valkor, and the Khazakul's family decision-makers are happy to use him as a tool against their enemies. More than once they have manufactured a situation where they claim defamation that can only be resolved by a duel. It is said that none of his opponents have been able to face the stare of his eyes in the duel, but they all have had to turn their gaze aside.

Tuatha himself dreams of a chance to test his skills against Fauldron the Bandit. He would also be happy to encounter pagan protagonists and heroines on the battlefield, but so far the chances have been low.

Tuatha is a short and heavy dwarf, a little over 200 years old, His face is, in a word, ugly, and his hands are big and coarse. He wears very plain and simple clothing, preferring a black scarf to cover the lower part of his face, often it has the image of a red screaming monster. Only rarely is his rough voice heard cutting through the air, and then his words are usually as sharp as his axe.

In battle, Tuatha is completely unrestrained. He does not follow traditional fighting styles or rules, but punches his opponent with the back of his axe, his elbow or knee, or even with his head. People have not actually accused Tuatha of ‘witchcraft’, but he is still known to have been subjected to the so-called seven strikes of pre-mothers while in battle.