COMITATUS: Discussion
A fantasy RPG set in a world inspired by Western Europe during the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries, with all of its bearded warlords, illiterate petty kings, and political diffusion.
Exposition of Sulendom and its History
An Elvish civilization of imperial nature has fallen some centuries back, and now Mannish kingdoms sprawl across the continental region they call "Sulendom", meaning "land where Sul rules". Sul, as you may ask, is the great and almighty Lord of the Sun, shining ever brightly upon the world and upon those who worship him. The Mannish folk of Sulendom worship Sul as their near-monotheistic god and their culture revolves nearly entirely around their incandescent religion. There is also a goddess known as Layla who is Mistress of Moonlight, and about which there is much controversy among the theological circles of Sulendom - is Layla Sul's wife, or his daughter? Such a complicated question, indeed. More about that later...
The old elven empire is near forgotten in a literate sense, for the only written records that now exist of it are written long after its collapse and by human authors.
Their old cities are crumbling ruins under lakes and in forbidden marshes, left to rot in fog and myth while the illiterate human farmer plows his field nearby.
Elves still live today, though it can be assumed that they too cannot truly remember what their great empire looked like for they only have an oral memory of it.
They usually live in slums and ghettos in human towns set aside for them and are often treated as little better than slaves.
However, on the other hand, the more intelligent and literate individuals realize that much of the human population is at least part elf from when the Mannish tribes first migrated in to these lands.
Myths and legends tell of further history, telling sometimes of dweorgas or "dwarves" and sometimes of eotenas or "giants."
The former left behind all those strange stone structures that are found throughout Sulendom marked with runes, while the latter were said to devour men until ancient heroes slew them with the help of the dwarven-forged weapons. But no proof remains of such tales, besides the haunting moors dotted by standing stones and all the mountainsides with carvings on them.
The elves are said to have worshiped many gods, the names of which are only now remembered as demons in the writings of the Temple of Sul.
Sul and Layla, then, came out of the east somewhere; It is said that a human people known as the Canalites worshiped Sul and Layla since the dawn of time, and faced a great many challenges and threats throughout time, only protected by Sul and Layla. But eventually, according to the theology, a man named Lasser claimed that Sul had spoken to him and told him to go westwards, to the collapsing elven empire. There, Lasser preached his religion to many ears, until his words finally found a home in the shape of a few Mannish kings who were bringing about the final fall of the elven hegemony. These kings and their names have become legendary, now more shrouded in myth than fact. Sulianity spread throughout the Mannish tribes of the west, incorporating their culture and old gods until this new western "Sulianity" no longer resembled the religion of the distant and isolated Canalites.
However, in recent history a new people have appeared - humans of darker skin, tanned and olived, bearing great skill with the horse.
They worship the sun and the moon as well, but name them differently in their alien tongue. They have been dubbed as "Southron", Southerners, or even "Suth-Folc."
On one hand, they have a reputation for violent conquests and taking conquered women as wives and concubines, but on the other hand, they are also rumoured to be very tolerant of conquered peoples once they stop fighting - particularly elves.
One such conquest nearly happened in Sulendom, had not these southerners been defeated and turned back in a certain, recent battle...
Historical Inspiration and Basis
Sulendom takes its inspiration from, as stated above, Western Europe during the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th centuries.
This mostly means the Franks, Anglo-Saxons, Goths, Lombards, Burgundians, etc., during the centuries just following the Germanic Migration Period.
The political situation in Sulendom could very easily be compared to Europe after the Battle of Tours in 732, when Charles Martel led a united Frankish force to stop and repel an Islamic Arab invasion of what is now modern France. The newcomer "Southron" folk mirror the existence of Ummayad Al-Andalus in Spain, and likewise led an invasion north into Sulendom - one that failed.
Sul is particularly inspired by the Late Roman god "Sol Invictus", who was particularly favored by Emperors and soldiers.
Layla is inspired by the Roman "Diana" as well as Greek "Persephone."
Terminology
Sulic: This world's Latin (as well as any Greek words that come in).
Elvish: This world's Welsh (as well as other Celtic languages).
Comitatus: Latin (Sulic) for "company" or "armed band", classically referring to the warband of retainers and loyal followers that a Germanic or Celtic chieftain went into battle with.
Later, the word came to have two meanings, closely related: An armed group and domain of a count. We will be using the former definition, and will not be using "count" or "comes" and its derivatives to refer to any feudal lords, but will instead use terms like Ealdorman.
Thane/Thegn: A noble of the warrior class, typically serving as retainers and servants of Ealdormen, Princes, and Kings.
Ealdorman: A noble who rules land for his liege, a King or Prince, in fiefdom.
Prince: Prince is used not to mean "heir" but rather to mean "most distinguished" and "ruler" as in the Latin "Princeps". Rulers who are Princes are thought of as lesser than Kings, but this is not always so.
Housecarl/Huscarl: Noble Thegn retainers who serve a particular service to their lord or king, as military leaders and lieutenants, and are often responsible for organizing levies and taxes (their lord sends them out across the land for this purpose).
Paladin: Paladins are similar to the Housecarl and the Thegn, but are more esteemed; their name comes from "Palatine", meaning "of the palace."
They are usually only a handful in number, and are a king's right-hand men.
Teulu: A Welsh (Elvish) word for "bodyguards" or "retainers."
Thing: A Mannish custom; traditionally a governing assembly composed of all the adult individuals of the governed community, presided over by the chieftain in charge.
In some regions, the Thing has been minimized into an elective or advisory council to kings and ealdormen.
-ceastre: a suffix added to some place names meaning "city" or "fort."
-burh: a noun and a suffix often added to place names meaning "fort" or "fortified city."
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This thread is for further coordinating this universe.
It must be fleshed out more, given names and lore.
When we are done and/or satisfied, we can do some roleplaying.
My suggestion for said roleplaying is that we are a small band of mercenaries and adventurers (not in a dungeon-crawling sense) seeking battle, wealth, and likely many other things.
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