A Report Upon the Lands about the Tilean Sea
Gifted to His Magnificence the Emperor by His Most Humble and Obedient Servant Uther von Gelburg (Part One)I present a brief but accurate account of the Tilean principalities and republics as they are here and now in this year IC2342, concentrating upon the more northern city states for the reason that they lie closest to your great Empire. I have diligently studied the political situation, travelling the length and breadth of the realm, and in so doing have questioned a multitude of Tileans. I have endeavoured to include only factual and trustworthy information so that the most noble reader is not misled by mere rumours and superfluous opinions. I hope that your Magnificence will accept this work as both interesting and useful, and I pray you do not think it presumptuous for such an humble servant as myself to discuss these matters, but rather that you accept this little report in the spirit in which I send it: that you might be informed how things truly stand in these southern realms.
Concerning Recent Events The now infamous
Tilean Terror of this century’s earliest years is commonly presumed to have been a consequence of a summoning of the rat-men’s vilest god, an event which briefly united the usually quarrelsome and divided rat-men in such a manner as to allow them to foray in great strength into the sunlit realm above their squalid warrens. Udolpho, the first city to suffer, was utterly ruined in 2303, its entire population brutally massacred. In the very next year the people of Toscania became afflicted with a virulent plague of boils and buboes, until driven in their desperation to employ fire in an effort to cleanse the city’s most diseased quarters. Unable to contain what they themselves had begun, having far too few able bodied men for the task, the entire city subsequently burned to the ground. That same year Ebino also suffered a grievous affliction, but being ruled by the able condottiere duke Bardollomao Colleoni, the Ebinans managed to thwart the besieging rat-men’s attempts at infiltration. Nevertheless, in the lands all around, almost every village and town was razed, as well as several minor castles, and the realm was left in a sad and sorry state. Only the city of Miragliano managed to survive the turmoil virtually intact. It’s population, living by the very edge of the great swamps, have developed some immunity to the fevers that arise from the foetid waters, and its substantial garrison remained strong enough to hold the city’s mighty walls against all assaults. The city was kept supplied from the seas, so that the hardships suffered by its people pale in comparison with those of the neighbouring land-locked cities.
Northern TileaIn 2309 a great battle took place before the city of Ravola in which the Ravolans, aided by Lord Francis d’Este’s Bretonnian force dispatched to cleanse the Nuvolonc pass, scattered a massive swarm of rat-men. Subsequently, the rat-men attacks stuttered out, so that they never reached further southwards than the villages and farms around Viadaza and Scoccio, where there they were finally defeated in a series of engagements against mercenaries and militia in the employ of the Trantian lord Jolenzo de Medizi, who believed it best to take the attack to the rat men rather than await their arrival at the gates of his own beloved city.
Thus it was that northern Tilea became in so many places a realm of ash, ruin and disease, much in need of repair. Today entire villages still lie empty of all human life, and the blackened, stone shells of fortified villas even now litter the land.
In 2322, openly encouraged by both Remas and Pavona, and led by several able militia captains, the populace of the port city of Urbimo rose up to shake off the yoke of Trantian rule. Three days of mayhem, riots and killings resulted in the imprisonment, death or driving out of all city dwelling Trantians and their collaborators.
Two years previously, in 2320, the
War of the Tilean Sea had begun, in which the resurgent rat-men began a new and sustained conflict. Acts of piracy, both petty and large, became a daily occurrence, and several full-fleet battles were fought. The rat-men’s coastal raids grew ever more bold until in 2332 they besieged the city of Portomaggiore. Perhaps fearing they might be next to suffer, Luccinni and Raverno contracted to dispatch a large relief force, while an allied Sartosan fleet struck from the sea. So the siege was lifted. Portomaggiore, desperate to retain independence, nevertheless faced years of hardship repaying the debts incurred.
Fifteen years after the death of the great Jolenzo de Medizi, and grown tired of what they claimed was the tyrannical rule of his son Piero de Medizi, the people of Trantio, in an action not dissimilar to the Urbimo Uprising of 2322, assaulted every one of the Medizi clan they could lay their hands on, hounding them out of the palatial residences. This was in 2336 and became known as the
Liberation of Trantio. Piero and a band of loyal armed retainers fled the city with all the treasure they could carry and rode off into exile, while Trantio was declared a Republic once again, and set about attempting to regain what they lost during the Piero’s rule, especially the port of Urbimo.
Tilean Religion No less than any of the human realms, the worship of the gods plays a part in almost every Tilean’s life. Men’s public and private beliefs cultivate a healthy fear of the gods, bolstered by tradition, law and the powerful authority of churchmen, both spiritual and worldly, and not least by the mysterious workings of the gods themselves. But the exercise of faith does not always yield peace and harmony, for it is expressed in many conflicting ways. Just as in our own Empire, noble priests conduct high ceremonies in the grandest temples accompanied by serene hymns, while in the courtyards outside ranting preachers stir apocalyptic warnings with the common people’s fears to conjure dire visions and so elicit the much less musical sound of fearful wailing. Yet here in Tilea there are also humble, godly folk who complain quietly at nepotistic priests, while the ascetic lives of hermits contrast starkly with the wayward ways of hedonistic sects. And as the wilder men of faith openly bare the scars of their self-scourging, the more gentle simply donate gold so that priests may pray for their souls, or build temples to ensure their name is ever after conjoined with those of the gods.
Yet in Tilea a new trend is in evidence, strange and philosophic in nature, of a kind not found in your glorious Empire. Perhaps it is an inevitability considering the frantic swirl of ideas and invention encouraged in Tilea? Artists conjure illusions and masterpieces worthy of wizards or priests, while architects are guided by mathematical principles to create buildings to rival those made by elves or dwarfs. Such are the successes of these endeavours that men begin to wonder whether their own marvellous works might equal those of the gods. I have myself heard, upon several occasions, scholarly Tileans discussing deities as if they were metaphors rather than reality, as if they were merely the stuff of myth, superstition or literature. Some consider magic not to be the work of gods, but instead a mysterious, dangerous, yet entirely natural phenomenon, caused perhaps by sympathetic resonances arising from men’s wills and alchemical admixtures of potent ingredients, or perhaps arising from etheric currents flowing both above and below ground like air and water might do, or even as the manifestations of a neighbouring yet quite alien plane of reality. (This despite the obviously potent blessings that the wisest priests can channel through prayer.) Many such people would rather recognise ‘Fortuna’ as their only goddess, not in the form of a heavenly, immortal being, but rather as an all-pervading force, the spun web upon which all our lives are caught.
But I digress, for such irreligious men are thankfully few in number. Let us return to considering religion. The three most influential churches in Tilea are those of Morr, Myrmidia and Mercopio - thus it is that when an edict is jointly issued by the rulers of all three, it is sealed with the symbol ‘MMM’.
The most favoured church is that of Morr, making the septuagenarian ruler of Remas, Frederigo Ordini, arch lector of the church of Morr, the most powerful cleric. The church of Morr has not always held this honour, but came to prominence a little over an hundred years ago, when Morr’s worship grew into something much more pervasive than in our glorious Empire. The god Morr was perceived by the vast majority as outranking every other god of the lawful pantheon, for it seemed to them that all things must die, and it was he who rules over death. This has made Morr the most respected and feared deity to modern Tileans, a god who must be suitably placated if one’s soul is not to suffer eternal torments. Those who by neglect or wilfulness fall out of favour with him are doomed to become troubled spirits - sorrowful, fragmented souls dwelling in the shadows of our mortal realm. Or worse, they might be resurrected by wicked practitioners of the black arts as walking corpses, forced to un-live a fate most definitely worse than death. So it is that the church of Morr is gifted the greatest bequests and offerings, and its holy ceremonies are attended by great crowds. And wealth begets wealth, for as the church acquires land so to it acquires rental income; as it acquires gold, so too can it invest in enterprises to yield even more gold. Now its ornate edifices tower above those of other temples and churches, its priests are adorned more richly, and its influence in worldly affairs is much more widely felt than that of any other church.
As a consequence of this vast surge in worship, the Tilean church of Morr no longer concerns itself solely with funerary rites as it does in more northern realms, instead its temples ring daily with the sound of chanting and hymns as cannons and choristers petition Morr to protect the souls in his care. Some Morric priestly orders still garb themselves in the traditional black robes, but the most important order, those directly governed by the Reman arch-lector wear a grey habit, and occasionally dark red surplices and caps. These are the colours of the late evening sky, considered appropriate for those who intercede between mortals and the god of death, between light and dark, between day and night. Their sometimes linen, sometimes silk and satin robes are occasionally adorned with gold braid or silver lace, outward signs of the precious gifts given to the church by those who wish to be blessed in the afterlife by Morr.
According to the established Tilean churches’ laws, the arch-lector of Morr, the arch-priest of Myrmidia and the high priest of Mercopia, wield great influence when acting in concert. They issue rulings for the investiture of kings, excommunicate heretics from all the churches of the lawful gods (thus theoretically removing all the authority of excommunicated rulers over their subjects), and can even declare holy war against states, clans or peoples serving unlawful gods. This traditional cooperation is still practised for matters of great import, involving the great nobles and principalities, but in most matters, the Morric arch-lector rarely concerns himself with the formal ceremonies required to express other churches’ willing acceptance, knowing full well that the Mercopian high priest and Myrmidian archpriest would not care to go through the whole rigmarole upon every occasion it is theoretically required.
It can occur that the three church leaders, individually or even jointly, have no means to enforce their excommunication judgements, and in such cases it has been known for Tileans to ignore it as little immediate practical effect ensues. Yet those who are subject to such pronouncements certainly suffer public stigma, moreso if the pronouncement is labelled MMM, as excommunication can prompt others to take action against the outcast ruler that they might otherwise be unwilling to take. Opportunists look to a ruler’s excommunication as an invitation to attack, raid and plunder without (usually) harming their own reputation.
The church of Myrmidia is very well respected in Tilea, and indeed there are few soldiers, whether militia or mercenary, who do not pray to her (although some only remember do so when battle is imminent). Many priests and priestesses of Myrmidia still wear the traditional robes of white and red, but there are several well established regional orders who garb themselves in different colours, such as the Reman clerics in greys, yellows and greens. Mercopio is the god of day-to-day life for a vast number of Tileans, and nearly every deal involves an inwardly whispered prayer to him, as well as his name being invoked upon deeds, bills and receipts. His clerics are to be found residing over civil law court matters such as inheritance, sales, mortgages, endowments, leases and trusts, as well as matters of debt, foreclosure and bankruptcy. Of course, the goddess Verena is invoked in criminal law trails, being worshipped by magistrates and clerks throughout the realm, but there is a considerable overlap in jurisdiction with Mercopio in civil trials and thus both gods are often called upon to bless and guide all those involved in determining such cases.
All the other gods of our Old World pantheon are worshipped somewhere in Tilea, having shrines and chapels, guardians and priests. These ‘lesser’ faith priests and priestesses are often called brothers or sisters rather than fathers or mothers. Manaan, Shallya, Taal and Verena are the most prominent churches outside of the Three. Shallyan sisters, for example, have hospitals in every city and major town, as well as country hospitals for those in need of isolation. There are even supposedly secret shrines to the trickster Ranald, and although his more devout followers are distrusted and unwelcomed by most people, they have never yet been put under edict of excommunication. Followers of Khaine the Murderer, or the vile gods of Chaos, as well as all the known wicked gods, are all by law subject to excommunication, making it every lawful Tilean’s duty to thwart, arrest and if necessary, kill them. Petty shrines to foreign deities, like Ulric and glorious Sigmar (may his name be praised throughout the Empire) are found in the cities and ports commonly frequented by foreigners.
(Part Two to follow soon.)