About Berowick
Wales is a huge influence.
Berowick should be peaceful farmland with goodly lords and knights helping and protecting the land. It’s the bread basket of the kingdom, and has quite a few shires. It’s farmers never really deal with worse than highwaymen, and they may even know each other.
No orcs (...usually). Not much in the way of undead either. Bandits and highwaymen though are a problem.
Traders from other dukedoms and the Farseni and the Elves all trade with Berowick. They grow wheat, rye, barley, and all the veggies. No real fruit trees other than citrus. No apples.
Weather wise Berowick is similar to Sarasota.
Common Slang Terms
Annwyl means dear, friend, precious, loved one. F’anwylyd means my dearest and fy annwyl un means my dearest one.
Geneth means girl and fy ngeneth i means my girl.
Gwas means boy and fy ngwas i means my boy.
Phrases
Mae Fe’n lladd gwair means He’s killing time. Literally he’s mowing hay.
Segurdod yw clod y cledd means Power is best when it’s not used. Literally a sword’s credit is it’s idleness.
Bore da is good morning.
Prynhawn da is good afternoon.
Noswaith dda is good evening.
Nos da is good night.
Thank you is Diolch and you’re welcome is Croeso.
More about Berowick
Berowick was the third duchy to be settled after the found of the Kingdom. It is bordered by the Queenslands to the north and Edomire to the south. It has gentle sloping hillsides, slow and wide rivers, and beautiful beaches along the coast with two major sheltered ports.
There are more farmers and merchants than politicians located in Berowick, and it’s blessed with a long growing season and abundant rain and warm weather.
It’s just above the tropics, so it tends to be warm and temperatures rarely get below freezing even in the harshest winters. You will find oranges, lemons, and limes growing, but not apples, pears, cherries, or other fruit trees that require cooler weather to produce. Wines are produced in Berowick, mostly dark reds and burgundies, but they are best known for their beers. Some of the best breweries in the kingdom are located in Berowick.
If the people of Aeldirmann are described as fat, happy, and always ready for an adventure, the people of Berowick can be described as fat, happy, and always ready to read about those adventures. They are contented with their lot. They trust their duchess to be kind and fair, their nobles not to overburden them, and the Queen’s Army to work well with the Duchess’ militia to on the rare occasion when the army’s assistance is needed.
Berowick tends to take care of itself, thank you, and will request help only if needed.
Like in every duchy throughout the Kingdom, the land is dotted with fey ruins. Unlike the Queenslands, the ruins and abandoned building have been left alone. They serve as reminders of the treaties made by their ancestors, and as landmarks along the trails.
While Berowick is composed mostly of Kingdom Humans, there are several Shires as well. There is even a small enclave of dwarves, and because of their location along the trade route to the Queenslands, both the Farseni and the Fey can be seen passing though.
The Elves of Eternal Springs and River’s Heart have Homely Houses on the northwestern and western borders and are quite active.
Berowickians are largely matriarchal and inheritance passes along the female line, unless there are no female heirs.
For example, Duchess Valhelm has three daughters and two sons. Although the two sons were born first, the eldest daughter will inherit after her.
Marriage, especially among the nobility, is seen as a contract between the two families involved. Two forms of legal marriage exist: a formal arrangement with the consent of the families, and an elopement without the consent of the families.
The first is the most common. The mothers or female guardians of the individuals arrange the marriage, and a dower is paid by both families the morning after the consummation of the marriage, and this becomes communal property during the marriage. If the marriage ends before seven years, this initial payment is given to the person of lower rank. If it ends after seven years, the communal property is divided half and half.
The second legal form of marriage is the elopement. This form of marriage is arranged by the individuals involved without the consent of their families. No dower is paid, so they start married life without it. The families can dissolve the marriage, if the families find the couple before the marriage is consummated. This, I imagine, is rare. If the marriage ends before seven years, any communal property is divided equally among the families. If the marriage ends after seven years, any communal property is divided equally among the individuals. Both types of marriage require at least two witnesses “in good standing” to confirm that the marriage took place.
Children of nobles and commoners start their schooling around age six and finish around age fourteen/fifteen at which point they start their apprenticeships. Bastard children of the nobility are sent away to another House, sometimes in another Duchy, when their schooling is finished around age fourteen. They become wards of that House until they reach the age of adulthood for that duchy, at which point they become a retainer of that House. This prevents bastards from trying to claim a title, and helps secure the legitimate line of succession.
Bigamy, adultery, necromancy, marrying using a false name, and abuse are all grounds for divorce in which the offending partner would not receive any of the communal property.
Custody of the children is generally given to the mother, unless it can be proven that she is unable to care for them.
Being a land of farmers, they celebrate the Blessings of the Seeds in April with great fanfare. Although each house is a bit different, this is considered a lucky time for marriages and children conceived during this period are considered to be blessed or lucky. This is also an auspicious time for new beginnings and business ventures.
All celebrate the birthday of their Duchess and of their Queen as well.
Each Earless and Earl, Baroness and Baron, Countess and Count take an active and benign role in the governing of their lands. They want what is best for Berowick and for the well-being and benefit of their people.
Part of every harvest and flock is taxed to the local House so that if a drought or blight occurs, the Earl or Earless can still provide for their people.
The Earless and her immediate family have manor where she lives, which will almost always have strong walls and a large courtyard, where much of the local population can house in times of danger. When Berowick was first founded, it often held the entirety of the people living on that house’s lands, but as Berowick’s population has grown and spread through out it’s alloted space, this is no longer true. It is part of the Earl’s responsibility to store enough food, water and other necessities (obtained through taxes) to care for the house when the need arises.
There is only a small standing military within each Earldom and each house can call up additional fighters. When this is done, almost all ablebodied men and women will volunteer for service. It is usually a case of choosing who to accept rather than worrying about not having enough. The Earless is responsible for provisioning this force, although many items and services are donated or sold at near cost by their people. This volunteer force has rarely been unitlized through the years, and not in recent memory. The Earl’s guards are usually enough to handle the bandits, if the locals can’t handle it themselves.
Also, each house specializes in a certain type of crop or herd. Many other crops may be grown / herds raised. But each house is recognized as producing the best of one in particular, and this is usually sought by both the other houses, and the other Duchies of the kingdom (for example, one house may specialize in beer, another in wine, another in cattle, etc, and recognized as producing the best available of that specialty).
Each equinox, every House has a great fair, where many of the commoners and retainers will gather. During this fair, there are games of skill and games of chance, as well as contests to be recognized as the best in their field (best of each type of craftsman, best crop, best finished foodstuffs, etc). This is also one greatest opportunities for the young people of different villages to meet; it often triggers many arranged marriages by the parents, as well as many elopements in the weeks after the fair.
Once a year on the Summer Solstice, the Duchy has a Great Fair which draws people from all of the houses. At this Great Fair, the winners in many of the categories of the individual House fairs compete for the best in the Duchy. There are also contests of strength and military prowess, among others. Frequently, winners of these games are accepted into the Duchess’ personal guard, or offered other positions as members in the Duchess’s household. And of course, with so many people coming together from different houses, it is one of the most popular times of the year for arranged marriages among the ruling and merchant classes. A surge in elopements happen as well, but actually not as many as during the House Fairs.
The House fairs and especially the Great Fair is also when many merchants come from different lands outside of the Duchy to arrange for contracts of different products for trade (mostly raw food, finished foodstuffs and finished drinks).
The most common profession is farmer, then shepherd, followed by food crafters such as bakers, brewers, vintners, etc. As each house needs to be somewhat independent during times of hardship, any profession can be found, but outside of relating to food, one of the most common is probably smith, although most ores are imported.
One of the most popular dishes is Shepherd’s pie, since the ingredients are all readily available to all of the houses (some type of meat, some types of vegetables, and usually potato or a similar starch). Each house has a different recipe that is most common among their people. Berowick was recently invaded by orcs and much of the eastern border with the elves has been occupied. Much of the Queen’s Garrison is camped along the battlefield, sandwiching the orcs between the elves and the river. It is an ongoing battlefield.