Kingdom of Irellion

A roleplaying resource for the VampyreInn

Maintained by Edward Keyes

Introduction

Our illustrious leader, Dramradhel, recently relocated the Inn from its nominal location on Earth to the planet Iroch, located on the fifth prime material plane. (insert confusing hyperdimensional roadmap here). Although the Inn remains as totally free-form as ever, in the interest of avoiding blatant contradictions between different characters, a few of us folks have started creating and documenting the elements of this new world.

At the present time, the way it works is that someone will lay claim to an aspect of the world -- or be nominated against their will -- and be designated an authority on it. The current authorities I know of are: Josh, on the inn's immediate environment and overall laws of the world, Jamie, on the country of Kedmall to the north, Lily-mun, on religions of the world and the meld-elves, Kevin, on the Order of the Crucible, someone-whose-name-I've-forgotten, on the community of naga-like creatures to the east, and myself (Ed), on the Kingdom of Irellion.

For the rest of this page, I'll lay out my own area of authority and try to touch only briefly on others', since of course what I say is not definitive in those cases. The whole point of this exercise is to get other patrons to get involved in the affairs of Iroch. So let's just jump in.

Geography

The Inn itself is located on a beach. The sea stretches out to the west (of course, because of the obligatory sunsets), and in fact is maintained as fresh water out to a distance of approximately a mile through Dramradhel's magic. On the other three sides, the Inn is surrounded by a semicircle of mountains of about a mile in diameter. This isolation puts the Inn in a very underpopulated region, which is why it was chosen.

There is a pass through the mountains to the east, and on the other side is the small town of Inconahe. No one knows much about it, and someone should volunteer to be the authority on it since it will obviously be important in the future.

To the north is the country of Kedmall, a corrupt land ruled by a council of wizards. The signature of its citizens is a green sash. Ask Jamie about it.

To the south is the Kingdom of Irellion, which is what this page is about.

Politics

The governmental system is what might be termed an enlightened monarchy. The head of state is Yovan the Sixth, an incredibly intelligent and devious king who maintains his position of power by playing off factions against each other. Technically the monarchy is hereditary, but a coup happens every few generations, so that in practice the kingship passes around among several powerful families, any one of which can pull out a pedigree chart and prove their legitimacy for the throne.

Immediately below him is the Circle, a council of advisors who in practice wield considerable power in their own right. They are not appointed by the king but by themselves, so there is a constant uneasy balance maintained of temporary alliances among their number. At present there are eleven members: three wizards, five aristocrats, a priest, and two spymasters. Technically they only advise the king, but in practice it would lead to assassinations and/or civil war for the king to veto a measure they overwhelmingly approve.

Below them are the Seats, the equivalent of a parliament. One can become a Sitter either by inheriting your Seat as a member of the aristocracy, or by popular election. Needless to say, this mix of lords and commoners is quite contentious, and thus essentially accomplishes nothing more than keeping both the gentry and the townsfolk occupied while real power is wielded at higher levels. A Sitter may have considerable local influence, however, particularly since tax money flows through the Seats.

The government of Irellion is quite corrupt, and bribery is the order of the day. It puts great stock in contracts and treaties, but almost always disregards them when convenient, inventing some technicality for why the treaty is invalid. A favorite tactic is to send out a diplomat "empowered to negotiate on behalf of the king", but when the treaty becomes inconvenient, the diplomat has "overstepped his authority and will be disciplined appropriately while we negotiate a new treaty".

Society

One distinguishing characteristic of Irellians is the signature red sash. All government officials and military personell are required to wear them, supposedly as a symbol of loyalty to the throne. This custom has spread to the populace as a whole as well. While not everyone wears a sash, it has become so entrenched that not wearing one is often taken as a symbol of disloyalty. It is not uncommon for businesses to refuse service to those without sashes, although this practice tends to be concentrated around the capital, away from the borders where foreigners like to spend money.

Another, more subtle characteristic is their prejudice. Irellion is overwhelmingly a human kingdom, and a sizeable minority of citizens have a measure of distrust or even hatred for other races. This prejudice has been institutionalized in many cases, such as in citizenship tests for government posts. Irellion patrols are notorious for harassing nonhuman settlements on the outskirts of the kingdom.

Besides that, the people are quite similar to the Generic Fantasy World(TM) population. Most are not nearly so corrupt as the higher level of government. One group deserving special attention is the Order of the Crucible, a society of paladins serving the Generic God of Good(TM). Although they are a wide-ranging society, their headquarters is based in Irellion, and they do what they can to ameliorate the more gross injustices they run across.

Recent Events

The sudden appearance of the Inn sent magical shockwaves racing across the world. Several members of the Circle favored immediate attack, but the wizards among them vehemently advised caution, as they could sense some of what the Inn patrons were capable of. To that end, a diplomat/assassin, Jhelim Ranagha was sent to the Inn to negotiate a temporary nonagression treaty. The major concession they wanted, the ability to move troops through the area surrounding the Inn, was gained, but there is enough wiggle room in the treaty that either side could easily provoke a full-fledged conflict should they choose.

Irellion is currently at war with Kedmall. The technical reason is a border dispute to the east, but really both countries just hate each other, and Irellians need little excuse to go after the "greenies". There is a subtext to this war, however, as both countries have gotten hints of a vastly powerful magical artifact of some kind in the mountains and area surrounding the Inn.

Recently, an Irellion patrol butchered a settlement of meld-elves in the mountains, leaving Lily the sole survivor. Their original mission was to interrogate the village elders for information on the artifact, but the patrol commander was a real evil bastard and the elders were very uncooperative and it all just spun way out of control. Dram killed them all when he happened across the slaughter.

Conclusions

Beats me... Irellion has already started moving agents into the mountains and surrounding region, and will shortly be sending more to hang out in the Inn itself, some in the open and some under the guise of innocent locals from neighboring lands. Adventurous souls from the Kingdom will be showing up at the Inn's door soon as well, as its appearance is rapidly becoming a poorly-kept secret among those attuned to the rumor mill.

Who are these agents? What are they like? How will they deal with the Inn patrons? I have no idea. So create a character and roleplay an Irellian!

Last modified June 17, 2000, Edward Keyes