Category:Brythunian



Brythunian The Pastoral Kingdom Brythunia is a pastoral kingdom of calloused herders, sun bronzed farmers and wilderness-wise hunters. Vineyards and orchards are plentiful and the rulers of the land prosper.

Description
When Acheron fell, it is likely that tall, white-skinned refugees from that venomous nation began to trickle into Brythunia to hide. Later, when the Aesir attacked Hyperborea, Brythunia again became a home for refugees but this time Hyborian. These Hyborians continued to sweep southward and eventually started trading with and, later, interbreeding with the Zamorians and Nemedians.

The Brythunians are Hyborian, complete with blonde tresses and pale skin, although their blood has been intermingled with the Zamorians and with ancient Acheronians who fled the downfall of their corrupt empire.

Clothing
Brythunian clothing is Nemedian in style for the most part, sometimes with Zamorian and/or Turanian influences among the wealthy. Over-long sleeves are commonly seen trailing on the ground, often with pockets in them. Turanian caftans are popular among the nobles, although the Brythunians usually line them with fur, especially in the north.

Unmarried women do not wear hats or caps; putting a hat or cap on a bride is part of the wedding ceremony.

Peasants are forbidden to dress in the fashions of the nobility or to emulate such fashions in any way. Peasants typically dress in simple versions of outdated fashions.

Typically, each peasant has a coat of wool or sheepskin in addition to a daily outfit and, if he is well-enough off, a set of nicer clothes for festivals. The men dress in linen shirts, woolen pants, a fur hat and a coat. The women dress in one-piece pullover gowns along with a decorative corset, jacket and an outer gown or two.

If married, the women wear a hat or cap of some sort. For both sexes, much of the clothing is lined with fur.

Behavior and Notable Oddities
Only the largest Brythunian cities have walls. Most of the towns and villages, built against copses of coniferous trees or on mountainous crags, tend to be open to make entry easier for the farmers and herdsmen.

Most Brythunian towns have a public bath or sauna for the men.

In western Brythunia, slow impalement is the preferred method of execution.



Important City-States
Berthalia – Berthalia has winding and narrow streets crowded with merchants. The city’s biggest attraction is its bazaar, which is described as ‘well-stocked.’ It is governed by a weak and cowardly king who wears a horned crown.

Charnina – Charnina is a northern Brythunian city-state. The city itself is built around a feudal castle.

Innasfaln – Innasfaln is a city in the Karpash mountains, reputed to have the smoothest ale in Brythunia and beautiful blonde Brythunian women who apparently live up to their reputation.

Kelbaza – Kelbaza is a Brythunian city-state. Located on the Lema Plains in the north, this walled city has a notorious thieves’ quarter and a well-known tavern known as ‘The Sword and Sky,’ where the lawless can gather upon the roof to fence items and tell tall tales.

Leng – Leng is a walled town in the hills of eastern Brythunia. Its walls are made of rough stone and are in disrepair. Even the gates into the town are fallen and gone. Most of the buildings are also built low to protect them from the winds but the warehouses of the rich and wealthy tower four or five stories high. The town is largely lawless.

Religion

 * Mitra
 * Bori (uncommon)
 * Wiccana
 * The Suddah Oblates
 * Amalias Pluvius

Brythunians tend to regard rattles as having magical significance, especially when used during funerals. Thus, Brythunians who practice necromancy often have a rattle as part of their sorcerous paraphernalia. Other than in the Mitran religion, human sacrifice is common and is often done via sacrificial pits or drowning in bogs or lakes.

Another hold-over from more ancient religions is the Brythunian practice of feeding the dead at the spring and autumn equinoxes by leaving food or holding picnics in cemeteries.

Bori is still worshipped in some backwoods areas of Brythunia but this is uncommon at best. Bori is a primitive warrior god from early polytheistic Hyborian origins. Bori requires some sort of blood sacrifice in his worship.

Other areas in Brythunia worship Wiccana, a goddess mentioned in several Conan stories. She seems to have only priestesses who are essentially witches and does not appear to have a major following. Likely she is a nature goddess.

Many of the Brythunian witches burned by the Mitrans for demon-worship are probably priestesses of Wiccana.

In addition to the barbaric hill men, some of the civilized provinces of Brythunia have their own gods.

Amalias, proclaimed by the temples of Sargossa to be the chief god of the Brythunians, is worshipped in that province in place of and in complete defiance of Mitra. The proclamation of divine supremacy is spurious at best, wishful thinking on the part of the Sargossans. The religion was one with many statues and ornate temples. It is a superstitious religion and many things are considered omens by the worshippers.

In addition to variant religions, pockets of demon-worship can be found in Brythunia. Tolometh, a black god of the abyss, is one demon worshipped by scholars seeking dark magic in Brythunia. The high priests of Tolometh excel at curses. There is a little known, little used shrine to Tolometh in the city of Potrebia, as well as a magical amulet burst asunder and spread across the Hyborian landscape.

Near the Zamorian border, many Brythunians worship the Zamorian gods. These Brythunians are careful not to be found out by the Mitrans, who deem that anything worshipped by the fiendish Zamorians must be a demon.

Government
Brythunia emerges as a kingdom without a sense of itself, a kingdom without a supreme feudal king or, rather, a kingdom with far too many ‘supreme’ kings. Each city state or province seems to fancy its capital as the capital of Brythunia and each king styles himself the King of Brythunia. Brythunia has its Gryphon Thrones, Ebon Thrones and several others to be sure.

Under a reigning king or a group of ealdormen, the administrators of provinces are called palatines. The larger towns are ruled by the palatines or even groups of ealdormen. Smaller towns are run by burgomasters and elders. Aristocracy is based upon land ownership, and land in the fertile river valleys of the central and southern regions is considered particularly valuable. Nobility is not a matter of royal patents or the granting of fiefs, as it is in Aquilonia and Nemedia.

Brythunia has nobles and gentry but the concept is different there than in Nemedia or Aquilonia. About 10% of the population belong to the ‘noble’ class of people. They perform the same functions as their counterparts in the larger Hyborian nations but they are not tied to the land nor are they members of the class because they owe feudal obligations. They can be rich or poor but they are not given traditional noble titles. Instead, Brythunian titles are job descriptions, such as Castellan for the keeper of a castle or King’s Sheriff for an important constable.

Members of this class refer to themselves as lord or lady.

Peasants are divided into three classes. The first class are the peasants who own their own land. The second class are tenants who pay money to either a noble or a landowning peasant for the rights to the land. The third class are tenants who pay with labor for the right to use a landowner’s land.

The system of law in Brythunia is broken and disparate with little unity. In western Brythunia, slow impalement is the preferred method of execution. Other places send criminals to work in secret mines in lieu of execution. Otherwise, punishment is meted out by the person who owns the land a crime occurred on.

Economy and Common Professions
Vineyards and orchards are plentiful and the rulers of the land prosper. The nation receives a lot of rainfall or snowfall in the north and during the winters. Brythunia has a short growing season because of the savage winters but its people, attuned to nature and its whims, are able to work around that. Wheat, barley, millet, rye, peas, broad beans, lentils, apples, pears and similar foods are grown throughout Brythunia. Pigs and cattle are vital to the economy, as are sheep, horses, dogs and goats. Brythunians often hunt for food, especially hare, fox and elk.

In addition to agricultural products from the fertile farms of Brythunia, the nation has one other important export:

Slaves. The women of Brythunia tend to be blonde and beautiful, endowed with sprightly spirits that make them favored slaves of the rich and powerful of other nations. Rumors and jokes portray the blond Brythunian women as being especially eager and willing for sex play. Nobles are not permitted to marry commoners, so Brythunian nobles who desire a common woman will typically purchase the woman from her husband or father to be a concubine.

The government of Brythunia is also said to have a secret mine of gold and other precious metals hidden in the north near the Kezankian Mountains. It is said to be operated by slave labor and impossible to escape.

Common Professions:
 * herder
 * soldier
 * trader
 * craftsman

Sex Roles and Marriage
When a household has a young girl of marriageable age, the parents hang a wreath outside their door to indicate this. If a man wishes to be married, he consults a wise woman or a respected male elder, who then performs as a marriage broker for the man. The elder finds a household that is interested in the man. Once a household has indicated interest, the intermediary ensures the courting and wedding go forward easily and appropriately.

Slavery
There is no organized trade with people to be found in Brythunia. War prisoners, or civilian prisoners from rare raids are becoming slaves for a determined number of years, after which they are released, or they are offered a chance to become part of the family. Many accept, as the slaves are treated in a much more acceptable way then it is common among other Hyborean nations.

Nobles are know to buy concubines.

Brythunian women, on the other hand, are a favored target of slaver raids from nearby nations.

Influences
Architectural influences: Anglo-Saxons, Normans.

Most of the towns and villages, built against copses of coniferous trees or on mountainous crags, tend to be open to make entry easier for the farmers and herdsmen. Fortified settlements tend to be built on hilltops, islands, peninsulas in the midst of lakes, rivers or swamps for better defense against marauding Hyrkanian, Zamorian or Nemedian cavalry. If the Brythunians decide to fortify a town or area in a field or other flat land, they will divert a river to flood the plain and turn it marshy and soft to hamper potential enemies.

Fortifications are usually wooden; stacks of wooden boxes filled with earth or rocks are often used. Water is essential to the lifestyle of the Brythunians, either to water crops or herds, so a strong river or babbling brook is always near a Brythunian village or town. Most Brythunian towns have a public bath or sauna for the men. The structures they build to house themselves, their horses and their livestock need to be thick-roofed and heavily insulated for when the winds and snows come down from the mountains. Because of this, Brythunian homesteads and village shops seem rather comfortable and inviting – even when sometimes their inhabitants are not.

More Information
RPGS:
 * Return to the Road of Kings (Brythunia, p 66 - 73)
 * Faith and Fervor ((Mitra’s Might, p 15 – 22, Brythunian Heresies p 41 - 43))