Nemedian

Starting Languages

When a player selects a culture, they automatically gain ability in the primary language associated with that culture. This language represents the common tongue or dominant language spoken in that cultural region. Each culture provides a pool of additional languages that players can choose from. This pool should include languages associated with neighboring regions, historical influences, or significant trade partners of that culture. The number of additional languages in the pool can vary based on the diversity and historical context of the culture. For example, a culture with extensive trade routes or a history of conquest might have a larger pool. You may select an additional language from this pool for each point of edge you have in Intellect, and another for each additional point you gain as you level up in your adventures.

Starting Arms & Armor

Players are afforded their starting weapons, clothing, & tool proficiencies by the age associated with their homeland. So Stone Age cultures and Dark Age cultures might both grant ability with a mace for example, but only the Dark Age culture would grant ability with guns, for example. Over the course of your adventures you may choose to use your progression to gain proficiency in a different age's tools.

The Land of Nemedia

Nemedia is a country to the east of Aquilonia and west of Brythunia. Nemedia is a fertile land that has heavily-wooded mountains, known as the Border Range, and hills forming the western border with Aquilonia. Great grasslands lie to the east of these mountains, where few farms and villages exist in fear of any raiding Aquilonians. To the east, the Yellow River forms the border with Brythunia, which joins the Red River as a natural start to both rivers in the Karpash Mountains. In the north are the barren lands that meet the Border Kingdom. These lands contain the Varakiel Marshes in the northeast corner of the country. Copper, silver, and gold are all mined from the Karpash Mountains that run along the borders in the south meeting Ophir and Corinthia.

The People of Nemedia

As a civilised nation, Nemedian citizens guild their words in honeyed phrases, veiling their meanings to preserve a sense of respectability and etiquette. Those who do not conform to conservative Nemedians’ sense of good manners are disliked and may be treated with varying levels of hostility (dependent perhaps on the Charisma of the offending party and the importance of the offended party). People who ask questions too directly are not likely to find the answers they seek. The challenge in Nemedia is to properly present oneself, to show that co-operation is returned in kind.

Clothing

Nemedian commoners wear coarse, knee-length shirts corded about the waist with rope. Merchants wear togas and robes. Servants wear woollen clothing: long belted tunics for the men, embroidered blouses and woollen skirts for the girls. The nobility typically wear cavalry boots, fur or leather kilts and pleated silk shirts. The priests wear silken robes. Nemedians take pride in their culture and never dress outside of their station.

Religion

Despite the rigid control the feudal system has in Nemedia, with its strict laws and intense law enforcement, Nemedia is far more tolerant of alternative religions than Aquilonia. Likely this is because of Nemedia’s scholastic nature and the crown’s endorsement of philosophical thought. Thus, in Nemedia, a wide range of religious beliefs can be found across the length and breadth of the nation.
(Note:Some other religions are said to be the following of Ishtar, and Set all though, these two religions are said to be for the more deviant, yet tolerant side of Nemedia. Followers of Ishtar would be prostitutes and other aspects of that profession. Followers of Set, would most likely be in cults).

Unique Justice System

Nemedia has a civilised court system that is complex in its attempts to be just. The courts in the cities are called Courts of Justice, where sit judges appointed by the ruling nobles. A higher court exists in Belverus with judges appointed by the king. This higher court hears larger cases of national jurisdiction. The Courts of Justice maintain Inquisitional Councils to investigate crimes and carry out the duties of prosecution. The police, in turn, serve the Inquisitional Councils and are virtually all-powerful in their duties. Few Nemedians would dare to resist a member of the police. They are well known for beating and torturing commoners to gain confessions if necessary. One gouged out a girl’s eye in court because she would not incriminate her lover.
The courts are harsh, though they try to make the punishments fit the crimes and make restitutions as fair as possible. Also, the courts will attempt to exonerate the innocent if the guilty can be found. Unfortunately, if the guilty cannot be found, sometimes the innocent must suffer so that at least the illusion of justice is served. Those who cannot pay their debts may find themselves sold into slavery, along with their families if the debt is high enough, to raise the revenues necessary to pay creditors. Debt slaves are branded on the shoulder, preventing them from ever again entering free society. The law is explicit in other ways as well. The murder of a commoner sends the killer to the mines; intentionally causing the death of a tradesman sends the assassin to the gallows and the slaying of a rich man calls for burning at the stake. Attempted theft merits ten years of hard labour at the mines. The Nemedians are civilised enough to submit to the police and the courts and their cruelties are accepted as necessary.

Homeland Traits

Starting Arms & Armor: Dark Ages
Automatic Languages: Hyborian, Trade Tongue, Nemedian
Favoured Tropes: Any
Bonus Languages: Stygian, Aquilonian, Bossonian, Brythunian, Ophirean, Corinthian, Hyperborean, Zingaran, Zamorian, Pictish, Kothic, Argossean, Shemitish.