Titheyards

Titheyards is the part of town where each Tithing maintains a yard where its representatives at court dwell and from where they can try to nude the politics of the court and the trade (and other policies) of the Duchy in directions that favour their interests.

Demographics

The demographics of Titheyards are the most perfect microcosm of the cultures found across the Duchy, though socially it is less diverse; still as most of the staff at all levels in the titheyards are native to their tithings (rather than Morton folk employed there) is is not a perfect cross section of the upper classes (though many a scullery maid or footman will turn out to be the scion of a significant house learning a little of the wider picture).

Industry & Trade

Fundamentally there is little trade and no industry in Titheyards - a lot of politics and brokering that involves trade but very little exchange of goods and money. Industry is similarly light although many of the tithings maintain a craftsman or two at their yard to showcase their virtuosity. A few years spent in such a role can do a master crafters reputation great good and consequently there is much competition in the tithing for these opportunities among those who produce luxury goods.

Guilds and Factions

More than any other ward, Tithyards is swayed too and fro by the politics of court and the relationships between the tithings. Add to this the variety of cultures and attitudes presented by the various residents and the state of the ward can be volatile. The City Militia dislike being posted to this ward almost as much as to Wharfare but it's close - especially around the anniversaries of key battles in the Duchy's history.

History

The history of Tithyards very much mirrors that of the Palace Ward, as the formal establishment of a yard for each tithing was part of the reforms enacted following the incorporation of the Houghlands. Most of the earlier Tithings had already established "local offices" in the town, but following the extension of the ward with the erection of the current walls those older establishments moved to the ward, accounting for the fact that surprises many of the more established tithings having their yards further out than the newer ones.

Architecture

The architecture of the Titheyards is somewhat ecclectic, with most of the titheyards built and decorated in the styles of their respective Tithings.

Type

Ward

--Alderman::None - Titheyards is the one ward in the town that does not return an alderman, following the extreme difficulty that used to be experienced in trying to build a sufficient consensus behind any one candidate. Instead the tithings agreed, in 946 MD (when they had failed to appoint an alderman for the third consecutive year) to leave their ward unrepresented on the council and let the Berman co-opt to that vacancy someone of their choice who was resident in the town but had arrived from elsewhere in the Duchy in the previous 5 years.