Kelewan – The Making of a WorldFantasy world building on another scaleby Jan Brandenburg
...tead it is fragmented at nearly every level with different castes, noble houses that constantly plot and scheme against each other, the struggle between the Warlord and the Emperor and the meddling of the Assembly. History The history of the Empire begins with the Golden Bridge, a magical portal used by men from a different world to flee a fearsome Enemy, later revealed as the Valheru . Men of different races and cultures settled in their new home, building the City of the Plains near the site of the now closed portal. Even today the Tsurani belong to very different racial types, ranging from asian complexion and slight built to large, dark-skinned negroids, but their cultural background is all the same. Some years later, a battlefleet from the south threatened the coastal cities and they banded together and vanquished the armada. This is the beginning of the Empire, born as a humble city-state. In the following 2000 years till the story of the novels the Empire conquered all land on the continent and even established two provinces on the Thuril continent and on the coast of Tsubar. The Tsurani are ruled by an Emperor a spiritual figure that appoints a Warlord to handle the daily administration of the Empire. The Warlord is aided in this endeavour by the noble houses, who are bound together by bilateral alliances, by ties of blood in their clans and political agendas in the parties. Meanwhile the common people obey the commands of their betters and wait for their next turn on the Wheel of Life. Aside from all this the Assembly of Magicians watches for threats to the Empire and defends it against magical attacks. This at last is the theory on which the Empire was founded over two millennia ago. In truth the Empire is a corrupt, stagnant and splintered body that is ruling by the scheming of power hungry noble houses, were the common people are subject to oppression, and enslavement by the nobles and where the Assembly has a stranglehold on innovation and social change for over a thousand years. The common people The biggest part of the Tsurani are its commoners, who live in the hamlets, villages, towns and cities of the Empire and work as peasants, artisans, or tradesmen. The Tsurani society is a very authoritarian, the idea of rebellion or strikes for better conditions of living are totally alien to them, the exception being riots that sometimes take place in the biggest cities . They endure their lot, because they know that a honourable life will grant them a higher status on their next return on the Wheel of Life. The wish of an nobleman is a command to them, because the gods have decreed that he has higher station in live as they have. The society is patriarchal, but not driven to extremes. Women may inherit and own their own houses or shops , they are not forced to marry and may remain single. But the most common lot for a women is to marry, and there are no women warriors. On the bottom rung of the society are the slaves. Slavery is an traditional institution in the Empire and the whole economical system rests on it. Slavery is for life, there is no way of manumission , the idea itself is alien to the Tsurani mindset. It is possible for a free man to become enslaved, through debts, or when the house of its noble patron falls and he is taken as prisoner. Such is the will of the gods. Even in the Tsurani slave quarters there is no talk of rebellion or escape, their religion forbids it. The free commoners are next on the social ladder, most of them are very religious, respect the priests, love their emperor and try to endure their lot. There is of course a hierarchy, peasants and poor labourers being on the bottom, rich artisans and merchants being on the top. Somewhere in the middle are the Men and Women of the Reed Life , prostitutes which range from common whores to exclusive courtesans not unlike the geishas of ancient Nippon. The richest merchants can even hope to marry their sons and daughters to an impoverished noble line and thereby elevate their family to noblemen status . This is the highest achievement a commoner can hope for. A special case are the warriors, the most respected profession in Tsurani. They are no noblemen, but they command respect nonetheless. Strangely enough the only weapons acceptable to a warrior are the sword, the spear and the bow , there is no great difference in weaponry in the whole Empire. Through prowess in battle they can rise high in the servitude of their lords, but without marriage can never become noblemen themselves. The warriors have the most strict code of honour of all commoners and they are prickly when they imagine that their honour has been insulted. The highest achievement of a warrior is a honourable life and a death in battle which will promptly ensure a higher return on the Wheel of Life. The Nobles The biggest part of the novels revolves about the machinations of the different nobles, therefore this chapter is the best detailed one. To describe the different noble lineages in detail would take far too much space, therefore I will only discuss the nobles in general. The oldest most honourable noble houses can trace their lineage back to the beginning of the Empire, where they have a relation to the imperial family. Other Houses were created through splits and rifts in existing houses or were called into existence by the emperor. The noble lineages have a strict The Warlord The highest office in all Tsurani is the office of the Warlord. Only the members of the Five Families, the Omechan, the Minwanabi, the Xacatecas, the Tonmargu and the Frasai are allowed to occupy this office. Like many Tsurani customs this one is shrouded in history; these five families were created by the five brothers of the then ruling emperor who then established the High Council. The Warlords office is not only prestigious, the Warlord is the most powerful noble in the realm for he commands the Imperial army and can declare war on foreign powers and even Tsurani noble houses. A Warlord is elected for life but is sometimes forced to commit suicide to expunge shame. The Conflict between Warlord and Emperor mirrors the conflict of ancient Japan where the Tenno was the emperor and the spiritual leader of the people, but the real power lay in the hands of the Shogun. The Emperor The emperor, or Light of Heaven, is the leader of the Empire of Tsuranuanni, a spiritual figure that represents the whole Empire and is loved by its people. He is their representative to the gods, revered by commoners and nobles alike. The line of the emperor is traced back to the beginning of the Empire, in the novels Ichindar is the ninety-first Light of Heaven. Although the Emperor is in theory the most powerful man in all Kelewan, his influence is modest. He is normally more of a figurehead for the Empire than an active player of the Great Game. In the long history of the Empire regicide has occured twice, always by his successor. The Emperor resides in the Imperial palace in the Holy City, Kentosami, the Capital of the Empire. He seldom leaves his palace and communicates with the outside world through his messengers and the warlord. The Emperor has The Great Game of the High Council Clans and Parties Political Parties Blue Wheel Party Imperial Party War Party Green Eye Party Yellow Flower Party The Assembly of Magicians The Assembly of Magicians is perhaps the most fantastic aspect of the whole structure of the Empire. It is a body that stands outside the law and has the powers to rule as it sees fit, even ordering the destruction of noblemen and the obliteration of whole noble houses. The history of Assembly begins with the Golden Bridge , which was created by magicians who gave their life so that the others could flee. After their arrival on this world they banded together and founded a brotherhood, that had at first no great influence on Kelewanese politics. What then followed is not entirely clear. In Magician Pugs visions show him that the Assembly discovered a great threat to all Kelewan, a wandering star that would disrupt the weather patterns of the whole planet and create terrible draughts. The Assembly tried an powerful spell to send the star away but was attacked by the Enemy and only saved by the timely intervention of Marcos the Black. Instead of banishing the star they removed Kelewan and its sun to a starless void and it took generations to send Kelewan back to its rightful place in the universe. After their heroic effort to save the world, the remaining magicians are elevated by the emperor to their lofty position and their stand outside the Kelewanese society. But on the same time Pug is warned not to trust this visisons. The possibilities explained in Mistress of the Empire seem more plausible. After the humans discovered that they shared the planet with the cho-ja and the thun, the magicians were needed to make war upon these creatures. Only through their magical assaults was it possible to defeat the cho-ja. The wars with the cho-ja and the following treaty stem from the third and fifth century after the creation of the Empire , while the episode with the wandering star could be placed at the ninth and tenth century. Therefore it seems clear that the Assembly existed long before the appearance of the rogue star. But given Feist’s fondness for bombastic magical effects it is also possible that both events took place. Whatever happened the Magicians were declared sacrosanct, the City of Magicians was built and their title Great One become synonymous with the concept of unchecked power. There are about 2000 male Great Ones , women with the inborn power to cast spells are taken to the City of Magicians and then killed. This is one of the great secrets of the order, but frustratingly it is never explained why such an harsh edict is in place in the first time. It again shows the unbridled cruelty of old traditions running rampant, a theme common in the whole Empire, but even here it seems excessive and hard to swallow. In the City the acolytes must undergo a brutal training and many of them are killed by it. With achieving their mastery, they are taken to a magical tower and shown visions of the past, as noted before possibly faulty visions. The initiates who survive that ordeal are taken into the order, given a black robe and are from now on Great Ones. Most Great Ones in the novels have awesome powers, they are able to teleport, speak with the dead, wield spells of destruction that can destroy hundreds of soldiers, command the elements, read thoughts, force someone to speak the truth and many more powers. But many of them are just scholars who want to broaden their magical knowledge and seldom leave the City of Magicians. Great Ones are expected to sever all ties to their old families, as in the case of Fumita, Hokanus father, but there is some confusion, because Hochopea states in Magician that he is married. Perhaps Great Ones are only allowed to marry after their initiation, but still this is the only reference to a women in the City of Magicians. Furthermore even though they are allowed to meddle in politics, it is considered to bad taste to do. The two Great Ones who work with the Warlord Almecho, receive the uncomplimentary nickname “the Warlord’s pets” . Larger issues are decided by the whole Assembly. They have a large meeting chamber where important decisions are made after lengthy debates. There is no internal hierarchy, every member who attends is allowed to speak out and later cast one vote. The Assembly i a sign for everything that has gone bad in the Empire, first conceived as a defensive measure to protect the Tsurani and stabilise their society, the passing centuries have changed the Great Ones into a squabbling mass of reactionary murderer and slaver. They kill everyone who investigates there darker secrets, like the killing of mageborn women or the humiliating treaty with the cho-ja. The also preserve the political status quo and prevent social and technological progress in the Empire. Even more enlightened and progressive members see their dominance of Tsurani society as their right and view the evils of the Assembly as unchangeable, because history and tradition are not to be trifled with. Religion The Tsurani religion is closely bound to their case system and their ideals of honour. All Tsurani belief in the Ten Higher Gods and the Ten Lower Gods, who came with them when they fled their homeworld and reached Kelewan through the Golden Bridge and who replaced the older beings that were guarding the world before. The Tsurani belief also includes the wal , an inner center, something akin to a soul and the Wheel of Life where a person will be judged after its death. According to the life the person lived and according to how he died, the Gods will grant the person their station in their next live, after it has spent some time in the Red Halls of Turukamu. A honourable life and a good death will ensure a higher station in the next life while losing honour and the cowards death through hanging or strangulation ensure an lower station on the next return on the Wheel of Life. Therefore Tsurani soldiers fight fearlessly because they know that an warriors death through the sword will grant them a better life and suicide to expunge shame is common. Some Tsurani priests, which come from nearly all stations in life, are able to work miracles, each according to the aspect of their god. The priests of Hantukama are able to heal grievous wounds , while the priests of Turukamu have limited control over life . Other aspects of priestly magic are only hinted at . There are gods for every aspect of life and death, but there seems to be no competition or power struggle between the different priesthoods. The common people of the Tsurani are very devout and even the nobles rely on the priests for ceremonies, like marriage, funerals, the beginning of a blood feud or a clan war. Furthermore a new emperor must be crowned in a ceremony involving the Highpriests of all twenty faiths . In the history of the Empire the priesthoods had more influence than in the modern times, where they have lost most of their power to the High Council. The Gods of Kelewan are not the same as the gods of Midkemia where Four Greater and a dozen smaller Gods, all that remain from the hundred gods that challenged the Valheru, reign supreme. In his later works especially in Rage of a Demon King Feist has strengthened the mythos of the Midkemian gods and worked it fully into a creation myth, therefore it seems strange that the gods of Kelewan could exist side by side with the “True Gods”. The Gods of Midkemia are again fairly typical for a fantasy role-playing pantheon filling every niche an game designer could think of, and even the gods of Kelewan lack an original and unifying concept. There is no celestial buereucracy or heavenly order except that each Lower God correspondents to a Higher God and no conflict between the Gods, save for some legends . While some of the gods and priesthoods, especially Turukamu are described in great detail, most of them are mentioned only cursory or not at all. All in all the gods and the priests are a part of the Kelewanese background that is not done as convincingly as most of the other details and at some times even seems slipshod. The Economy The Tsurani economy is based on the monetary system of the centi, small chits that consist of different materials depending on their denomination. He smallest units are made out of shell and wood, then come semi-precious stones, gems and finally metal . The exact worth of a centi is hard to determine, for a few centi a person can spend in a night in a hostel or get a very good meal, 2000 of them seem to be a significant amount even for a nobleman , and the Emperor was willing to pay 100 million centi as reparations for their invasion of the Kingdom in Midkemia. The Tsurani are an agricultural people, must of their foodstuff is grown in form of different grains. Fruits are also very popular and cheap enough that even the lower classes have access to them. Meat, especially needra or fowl is more expensive and normally restricted to the richer classes. Needra and kula meats are the most common. There seem to be almost no free peasants or small landholders, nearly all the land belongs to the noble families and their estates, where most of the work on the fields or in the house seems to be done by slaves. Trade is also very important in the Empire. All noble Houses engage in it and there are trading houses that are run by commoners which have great influence in Tsurani society, due to their large monetary reserves. The different provinces in the Empire have their own trade goods, silk was formally only produced in the north , expensive spices and prayer mats come from Dustari , the south is famous for its chocha and chocha-la nuts and so on. The most important trade routes are the six big rivers that run through the Empire, where most of the goods are transported by barges and poling boats. Due to extreme scarcity of metals in the Kelewanese soil all metals are very precious. Even common metals like iron are not found in the Empire and not even gems or jewels are as valuable as copper, silver or gold. The biggest factor for the invasion of Kingdom were the rich metal deposits in the Midkemian soil . The substitute for metal are thin strips of wood that are hardened by a specially harvested resin, that allows production of weapons, armour and household goods nearly as sharp and durable as metal. Still in the direct confrontation metal is still able to shatter Kelewanese arms and armour. The import of metal from Midkemia played havoc with the stability of the monetary system of the Empire, a fact which the authors mention often, but sometimes seem to forget. The true worth of metal is hard to judge, as the authors give us conflicting information. A golden chain is one time valued at having the same worth as the Acoma estate, while on the other hand the Imperial runners and the Imperial Whites are decorated with gold. An iron sword is a treasure that could pay a nobles expenses for a whole year, but on the other hand half a dozen are given to a tong to pay for an assassination attempt. The scarcity of metal is another way to show the exotic strangeness of Kelewan, brightly painted wooden armour and shields, are not a staple in more common fantasy backgrounds even though the idea of a metal-poor world is not new. Feist acknowledges Jack Vances “Big Planet” and Robert Silverbergs “Lord Valentine’s Castle” and the other Majipoor books as his literary predecessors . He was also accused of stealing the idea of a exotic world, were metal was nearly non-existent from the role-playing game “Tecumel- Adventures in the Empire of the Petal Throne” that appeared 1981, but Feist denies the charges. All in all the economy of the Tsurani is convincingly presented, small irritations about the true worth of metal aside Feist and Wurts manage to invoke the picture of vibrant economic system that is believable enough to not distract from the reading, which is more than con be said for many fantasy novels, were such common things as a working economy are not even thought about. The tong The tongs are brotherhoods of assassins that have a long tradition in Tsurani history. They band together in closely knitted groups and are led by an obajan. Originally they were religious sects that followed Turukamu , but in the later days have devolved to criminal organisations that kill people for money, their only remaining link to the priesthood of the Red Good are their reddish coloured palms . These assassins wear tattoos to show the alligiance to their tong and like an noble house is bound to its natami the tong have an similar relationship to their secret records. They are the heart of the tong and if they ever fall into enemy hands the tong will disband. The tongs seems to be a fairly straightforward copy of the mythical ninjitsu brotherhoods, perhaps mixed slightly with some ideas of the Holy Hashashins of the middle east. These seem to be the only organized criminals in the Empire, in contrast to the many thieves guilds of Midkemia or other more medieval fantasy realms. They have an definite oriental flair to them, the terms obajan and tong both come from the chinese and fit good into the Kelewanese society. The Thuril Confederation The Thuril are a warlike but not overly aggressive people who have the misfortune of living next to a power hungry neighbour. Skilled in defending their mountain homes against the Tsurani, they excel at small scale tactics, ambushes and guerrilla warfare. They are the only people in living memory who managed to fight the Tsurani to a standstill. They are built bigger than the Tsurani, have a somewhat lighter skin colour and often blond hair. The Highlands are a more temperate place than most of Kelewan, so that the Thuril sometimes even wear furs and pelts. The national dress is the kilt, but warriors often charge naked into battle to show their prowess and their fearlessness. Their society is based on a tribal structure, headed by chieftains, which in turn owe their allegiance to a High Chief who lords over them. The title of chief or chieftain is often passed from father to son, but their is no nobility like there is in the Empire. The Thuril live in villages or small hamlets, mostly in wooden huts or longhouses. In the whole Confederation there seems to be only on bigger city: Dorales. The Thuril are foremost herders and spinners of wool; the climate, terrain and the ground do not lend themselves for large-scale agricultural enterprises. It is a patriarchal society, only men can become chiefs. But the women are not totally excluded from politics, in a way they seem to be the power behind the thrones, as is seen from the way the women are able to twist their men around their fingers. It is custom for young braves to travel to another village and steal themselves a bride. But this barbaric custom has become ritualised over the years, nowadays no bride is stolen who does not want to be captured. The Thuril have a loosely organised magical order which is seated in Dorales, the highest ranking members of which are called Kaliane. Other as in the Assembly men and women can become members. Another difference is the influence of the magicians in their society. In Thuril they are forced to endure an apprenticeship for twenty years, where they must do their best to serve every member of society, from chieftain to lowest herder. This teaches them humility, and control over their powers, so that they learn to use their magical powers wisely. Many aspects of the Thuril society are loosely based on the societies of the Scottish Highlanders and the Native American Indians of our world. From the Scots the authors took the terrain, the kilt, the warrior mentality, the sheep and wool based economy, from the Native Americans came the totem poles in Dorales, their mythic belief in feathered flying serpents (Quetzalcuatl), the rite of the bride-stealing, their high regards for well placed insults and some of their names. Together an intriguing mixture even if most of it is borrowed somewhere. The Dustari Tribes The desert men of Dustari are a race of small-sized humans almost dwarflike in appearance that inhabit the wastelands in southern Tsubar. The whole of northern Tsubar, called Winds of Sands by the desertmen, is inhabited by seven tribes , who frequently raid each other and the Tsurani settlements and caravans at the northern coast, but are also willing to trade. They are nomads that travel the shifting sands with there small herds of querdidra, organised into different tribes. They wear long robes to shield them from the harsh sun and are often tattooed and wear amulets against evil spirits. They do not believe in the gods of the Tsurani and there seem to be no magicians among them, only shamans that “treat with the dark powers” , the only reference to dark gods or demons in all books dealing with Kelewan. They are a harsh people who set great store in personal courage and endurance, even under torture they have only scorn and insults for their captors. Their sworn word is as iron and once given, they would rather obliterate their own families than to break an oath. The Dustari desertmen appear in Servant of the Empire but much about th...