The Kingdom of Marcandria

Marcanria is a mercantile kingdom located along in the south-eastern part of Eirus, east of the Eirusian Highlands. It is a human-majority nation, but with noticeable minorities - particularly of halfling and dwarven descent. The marcandrians hold a very materialistic, competitive, and meritocratic worldview. It is their view that wealth and power is earned by those who prove themselves most deserving off it, and that climbing the social ladder is proof of one's merit and perseverance. However, Marcandrian society is by no means fair.

Marcandria is through and through a nation of commerce and trade - a nation whose people care far more for wealth and luxury than conflict and warfare. They have no nation-wide army — instead relying on mostly levies and mercenaries that are called up when the need arises — but with a powerful navy to protect their merchant fleet. The marcandrians have used their strategic geographic location as a mid-way point along busy trade routes in the Wayfarer's Sea to become a wealthy and well-connected nation.

 

The Marcandrian People

Marcandria is at the surface a flourishing nation of commerce and trade — a mercantile kingdom that cares more for economics and political status rather than military might, and who would rather spread its influence subtly through partnerships in trade rather than through direct confrontations. Marcandrians are often described as a meritocratic and materialistic people who can often appear pragmatic, competitive, and opportunistic; but also as presumptuous, vain, extravagant, and at times entitled. They value competence, perseverance, success, personal progress and enrichment, trade, beauty, joy, revelry, passion, and personal freedom.

 

The Marcandrian view: A meritocratic people

Marcandria is in theory a meritocracy — a society that values those who shows competence and who have the perseverance and ingenuity to make use of said competence. The marcandrians believe that it is those with these beforementioned traits that will rise through the social ranks and achieve the greatest of accomplishments and success; it it is they who'll be able to accumulate great riches, and who'll rise to positions of power within marcandrian society. Reality is on the other hand less fair, as those who already have wealth and power hold more resources and thus have an easier time projecting a sense of competence and success than an average citizen. It is nonetheless the belief of Marcandrians that those on top are on top because of their competence, perseverance, and ingenuity; which have resulted in them reaching a level of success that have made them deserving of being on top. Marcandrians thus often view those at the top with respect, awe, and admiration, but also with jealousy. Marcandrians similarly look down on those at the bottom of Marcandrian society, allocating their ill fortune to them being incompetent and weak willed. They are, to the Marcandrians, people who lacked the skills to get anywhere, and who gave up before they could acquire the skills necessary to get anywhere. 

Marcandrians are by nature a very competitive and driven people, who constantly seek personal enrichment and to increase their own prosperity by surpassing what both they and others have achieved before. Marcandrians believe they'll be rewarded with respect and social standing, and that they'll be able to accumulate wealth if they successfully manage to rise above their peers and competitors. This could be an artisan seeking to surpass all their peers in quality, a merchant seeking to outcompete their peers, or a noble seeking to politically out-maneuver his or her peers.

Climbing the social ladder is in actuality seen as paramount to large portions of the population. This is due to many believing that they'll be able to live more carefree, joyous, happy, and fulfilling lives if only they can manage to climb another step up the social hierarchy — and use the wealth and perks that they believe will come with said increase in social standing. Many ultimately believe that joining those at the top would allow them to exult in a perfectly carefree life filled with nothing but revelry and enjoyment. These beliefs result in many pursuing a higher social standing for most of their years, although most will not actually manage to rise up to anything. Those who have gone at this for a long time, yet gone nowhere, can sometimes develop a sense of entitlement — believing their skills and perseverance should have yielded them more than they've been given, and thus concluding that the reason they've gone nowhere is due to society having treated them unfairly, with others having unfairly sought to push them down. This belief is not entirely baseless. Staying on top in Marcandria requires continuous effort, with many mercilessly seeking to crush up-and-comers as a way to limit the number of competitors. The lower and middle classes — especially the artisans and merchants — have in turned become highly organized in order to better resist being pushed out by those on the top. The most widespread among these organizations are the Fulcrum, the Wayfarer's Union, and the Meranzeum — though the Meranzeum wasn't specifically designed for this purpose.

While a good portion of Marcandria's population think very highly of themselves, and may feel entitled to more than what they currently have, there's a parallel grouping of people whose inability to climb anywhere after years of efforts have caused severe harm to their confidence in their own abilities. Many of these people have given up on ever achieving anything beyond what they already have.

 

The Marcandrian view: A materialistic people

Status in Marcandria is a matter of display. It is not important how successful and wealthy you actually are, but rather how successful and wealthy you are perceived to be. If you project wealth and success, people will automatically assume they're a result of your hard work and competency. Marcandrian society is therefore very materialistic. Marcandrians display their wealth and success through possessions and through their lifestyle. This is why people's homes are as large as they can make them, and why said homes have excessively beautiful and detailed facades compared to what's often hidden inside. This is also why marcandrians almost hoard both expensive and beautiful items — be it furniture, clothing, art, jewelry, and so on. Many will present themselves in clothes and jewelry that's beyond what their finances can comfortably afford, and are often the result of months if not years of savings.

These displays, as mentioned earlier, also extends to lifestyle. Those with wealth are viewed as being able to live extravagant lifestyles. As such, people believe that the more extravagant lifestyle they appear to live, the more social standing they'll be given by their peers. This results in many living quite meagerly in private, while saving as much as possible so that they can appear as wealthy and extravagant as possible during social events where they'll be noticed by others. This could be by saving up for especially luxurious clothes or jewelry that they can't afford to use anytime besides such events, or saving up so that they can buy luxurious food for that particular event. Marcandrians can thus appear pretentious, boastful, and vain while in public, as they may actively seek to convey how successful they are to others.

Many actively seek out such social events as a way to surround themselves with other people that they consider of similar wealth and status, with the goal of elevating how one is perceived by others. It is also common for people to try to appear just a little more well off and accomplished than their peers when they participate at such social events. This in turn pressures one's peers into out-doing each other in a dangerous feedback-loop. It is not rare for groups to continue like this until one eventually goes so far as to bring him- or herself to financial ruin. Marcandrian society can therefore in a sense be described as a “bubble that's constantly about to burst”. Having “one's bubble burst”, and be revealed as not being as wealthy, accomplished, and successful as one let oneself appear to be is a massive disgrace in marcandrian society. These people often end up being viewed as incompetent, and to have lacked enough resolve to keep up with the rest. They therefore often end up being socially isolated, as few want to be associated with incompetent failures. This can be economically devastating, as people will often refuse to continue doing business with people in these situations.

It's important to emphasize that not everyone are equally extreme in their pursuit of appearing competent, accomplished, and successful. Some will go at it to such an extreme that just a slight disruption to their income would lead to financial ruin, and it is sadly not uncommon to hear rumors of this happening in marcandrian settlements. Many others keep it at a level that, while not particularly healthy, is grounded enough so that they do not face any imminent danger to their survival. Many of especially the lower and middle class in Marcandria are more content with where they are, or may have simply given up on reaching anywhere particularly high. Those of higher and wealthier ranks tend to appear more extreme, but this is also due to them having the resources to better sustain extreme behavior. This does not mean those of the lower and middle classes have no aspirations at all, and it doesn't mean they don't try at all. This merely means that their efforts are more grounded. A family of simple farmers may seek to prove themselves as the greatest farmers in their community by having the best yield, be that in quantity or quality, but will not be so ambitious as to try monopolizing the agricultural sector in their community. They may instead try to display themselves as well off as they can to their neighbors and community, ideally as “the best” within their grouping. They may have spent a bit of an unhealthy amount of money on good clothes and a nice piece of jewelry for the lady to give off this display, but not to the point where they seriously risk starving. The drive for higher societal standings does after all have much to do with seeking enrichment and increased prosperity. Dying of starvation along the way to reaching this is not exactly a good strategy.

 

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The Marcandrian lifestyle: A people of ambition, art, luxury, passion, and revelry

While the marcandrians' meritocratic and materialistic views permeates their society, their ambitious and competitive nature is by no means the only aspects of their society. The Marcandrians are also a people of passion, a people who enjoys art, a people who enjoys revelry, and a people who enjoys luxury. While they are extremely competitive people, they are also nonetheless a people who ultimately want a good and prosperous life for themselves and their families. It is simply unfortunate that many believe they require great material wealth, respect and high social standing in order to attain such a life.

 

The noble lifestyle

 

The middle-class lifestyle

Lower class lifestyle

 

 

 

>> Seek to display success/accomplishments through posessions and extravagant lifestyles.

 

CULTURE CHAPTERS TEMPORARILY PLACED HERE:

 

 

 

 

VIEW ON OTHER CULTURES, AND VIEW ON MAGIC

Generally tolerant of other cultures and races, though many look with skepticism if meeting creatures they are unfamiliar with. Inhabitants of the larger coastal settlements tend to be the most tolerant, due to being used to seeing a myriad of people and races who come to trade. People in these settlements are also more accustomed to seeing magic. Lower class inhabitants from especially inlands and more isolated small villages rarely encounter magic, and may react with skepticism or fear when encountering it.

Regarding magic: Magic is not unheard of, but is not particularly wide spread. The Meranzeum tends to try claiming all arcane users who show some promise. Nobility and Meranzeum try to monopolize as much arcane knowledge as possible, seeing it as dangerous in the wrong hands. For most common people along the coastal settlements, magic is something one encounters at special events or as a result of a powerful or influential person. Meeting a spellcaster randomly on the street is extremely rare, thus many will be confused if encountering magic “randomly”. Magic is also used for entertainment in Marcandria - bards capable of magic are sought after by the larger theatres to make “special effects” for their plays. Not all theatres have such bards, as again, magic is somewhat uncommon.

 

The marcandrian noble structure and hierarchy

Marcandrian nobility follow hierarchy of superiors and vassals that can in general be categorized into 4 tiers: 

Each noble house, regardless of rank, directly govern at least one settlement along with its surrounding farmland and wildland. Land far from any settlements, like mountains and forests, tend to be under the control of upper noble houses (regional), ducal houses, or the royal family itself. Each noble house holds court as part of governing their assigned domain, with each noble house having family members act as representatives in the court in each tier above them in the hierarchy. A lower noble house will thus have representatives both at the court of their regional lord/lady who governs the region their domain is in; the court of the ducal family who governs the province their domain is in; and at the royal court in Vessina.

Laws are determined by the ruling lord or lady, though laws tend to go through discussions and mediations at court before a decree is made. Any lord or lady has the power to enact laws within their domain. Laws enacted by the monarch applies nationwide; laws enacted by a ducal house applies to the entire province; and laws laws enacted by upper nobility applies to the region they govern. However, one cannot enact a law that contradicts a law made by a superior higher up in the hierarchy, and a noble house can cancel any law decreed by one of their vassals. Each of the 6 provinces tend to enjoy quite a bit of autonomy from the crown itself. Vassals below the ducal houses tend to be kept on a tighter leach, though their level of autonomy varies from province to province and from region to region.

Marcandria holds very strong meritocratic tendencies, and these tendencies also apply to the holding of noble titles. In principle, according to the marcandrian worldview, a noble title should be held by the family who has the most wealth, most influence, most popularity/favor with the populace, most skill in governance/leadership, and most skill in politics. Said differently - the holder of a noble title should be the one most suitable and deserving of the role. This means wealthy non-nobles who gain enough wealth and influence, along side sufficient government/leadership skills and skills in politics, can be a threat to the lower (local) noble house that they're subjects of. Similarly, a lower house who accumulates enough influence and wealth may end up toppling and replacing the upper house that governed their region. Noble houses thus go to great lengths to make sure no-one in their domain get into a position where they may be a threat - for while the principle is based on meritocracy, the playing field is by no means fair.

Lower (local) noble titles are transferred only occasionally; upper (regional) titles are transferred very seldom, usually less than once per generation; and the transfer of a ducal or royal title is unheard of. There are a couple of factors to this, besides the nobles' general efforts to keep challengers at bay. Firstly, titles are rarely transferred unless there's a clear difference in ability or popularity. Transferring a title when the difference is minuscule is simply not worth the hassle. Secondly, only the noble houses that are direct superiors in the noble hierarchy hold the power to transfer a title. This means the monarch may transfer any title; the ducal families may transfer any title within their province; and an upper (regional) family may transfer any title within their region. One is therefore somewhat safe from being replaced so long as one stays in the good grace of the noble families that are one's superior. The monarch, a ducal house, or an upper noble house may also face severe backlash from the populace if they try replacing a noble house whose seen as competent and that is popular among its subjects. Still, most noble houses are quite paranoid about potential threats that could challenge their position or title. Popularity among one's subject is therefore generally seen as paramount for any noble house, both because it directly relates to how well you're perceived to govern, and because it helps protect you from being replaced even if other competent alternatives should appear. As it stands, the only way to transfer the title of monarch is if the royal house is forced to give up the title through pressure the rest of the marcandrian society.

 

Marcandrian behavior chapter

How nobles behave - what they do and what they enjoy. Theatre, masquerades, festivities and revelry, etc.

How middle class, merchants and wealthy non-nobles behave.

How lower class, simple artisans, shop owners, farmers, etc behave.

 

 

 

 

FROM OLD NOTES:

 

 

 

 

 

with how well one is perceived often being directly linked with how successful and skilled you appear.

 

Thus often pretentious, boastful, and vain, with each individual seeking to elevate their perceived achievements in the eyes of their peers in order to earn status.

 

 

 

 

Combination of Callera and Meranzi's dogma has resulted in the bastardization of both, causing many marcandrians to become vain, and with the need to prove themselves better than everyone else. Fiori is also involved here, though to a lesser extend, as her point of “always keep growing - and that in doing so, you'll one day be able to reap the rewards for your efforts” along with both Callera and Meranzi's dogma just further emphasizes many Marcandrians' belief that their efforts make them deserving of more than they've been given in life.

 

Combination of all 3 goddesses' dogma creates a dangerous situation that have caused Marcandrians to have a very competitive nature, constantly seeking to rise above the rest and thus gain status. The richer you appear, the more beautiful assets you own, and the more indulgent and extravagant your lifestyle seems to be, the more status you're given. 

Also makes many vain and entitled, believing their efforts and skills makes them more deserving than everyone else, often being blind to the efforts put in by others. Those already on top are also deathly afraid of allowing anyone the opportunity to challenge them, and often seeks out to crush upstarts at the earliest moment possible.

 

Hedonistic, vain, entitled