Lithuar

The Kingdom of Lithuar (High Dwarven: Realme de Lithuar) is a dwarven kingdom and a successor state of the Old Empire, situated in eastern-central Ovaicaea. Lithuar was among the first kingdoms to emerge from the ashes of the Old Empire, and has exerted a strong influence on the social and cultural development of human and dwarven successor states in the region. Much of today's predominant feudal system originated from Lithuar and its unique fusion of dwarven and elven law. Lithuar is a diverse country, and one of the most populous nations in the New Empire. While it is predominantly dwarven, it has a significant minority of humans who have played a part in Lithuar's history, culture, and society. Lithuar has been at the center of a vibrant dwarven-human cultural fusion that extends across much of central Ovaicaea, including new architectural and artistic styles, the foundation of universities, and a growing body of literature and music.

Lithuar formed in the 5th century when the eastern frontiers of the Old Empire collapsed. Dwarven lords across the central and eastern portions of the empire attempted to organize a defense of their lands, and banded together under various warlords. Lithuar unified around the fortress of Steingard, ruled by Lord Swain, who conquered a wide section of territory. He enfeoffed his greatest warriors, providing them with lands and castles through which he could exert control over his new domain.

The period from the 6th to 10th centuries saw the elaboration and extension of the seigneurial economic system, including the attachment of peasants to the land through serfdom; the extension of the feudal system of political rights and obligations between lords and vassals; and the appropriation by local seigneurs of various administrative, fiscal and judicial rights for themselves.

Lithuar waged war intermittently over the course of its history, but joined its neighbors in resisting Orcish hegemony in the 9th century and formed a core member of the New Empire. Lithuar expanded its lands in the process, and recent kings have tried unsuccessfully to reassert royal authority.

Name
Lithuar derives from pre-West Dwarven, meaning "stone land" or "hilly land", referring to the rocky hills that dominate its central region. The original title of the king was rendered in West Dwarven as Roy des Lithuarces, or "King of the Hill Dwarves", referring to a claim of power over the people of the region. Over time this morphed into a claim over the land itself. This became Roy de Lithuar, "King of Lithuar" from the reign of Geoffrey II. The country went from being Kingdom of the Hill Dwarves to Kingdom of Lithuar.

History
The present Kingdom of Lithuar emerged from the Dwarven principalities and marcher lordships that defended the frontiers of the Old Empire. The Empire was predominantly a magocracy and military state built on High Elven law systems, but allowed for significant freedom of local custom in fringe areas. What bound the Old Empire together was being subject to the military power of the Order of the Dragon, which kept the peace by force of arms and enforced the Imperial Code wherever it was able. The Dwarves in the east were able to still operate under their tribal customs and traditions, creating several powerful lordships. One lord among these was Swain of Steingard, a young Hill Dwarf who had inherited mastery over a fortress town and its rich stone quarries and gold and silver mines. In the year 400, the Empire suffered three simultaneous disasters: the Dragons disappeared along with their riders; the Orcs emerged from the east and overran the frontier; and a deadly plague spread across the land. The Empire collapsed within a decade, leaving the weakened Dwarven lordships and Elven city-states to fend for themselves.

Swain fought off numerous other Dwarven lords in the hilly east country, and used his vast mineral wealth to pay for well-armed and well-equipped professional knights. Lands under his control remained economically stable and secure, while his rivals fell apart around him, leading to more and more people flocking to swear fealty to him and many lords bent the knee to become his companions. In 414, having established control over a large swath of territory, he was crowned King in a ceremony by the Archpriest of Tyr, symbolically declaring himself sovereign and subject only to the gods. His work was not done, and many rivals still remained to challenge his sovereignty and who controlled vital territory along the Dorei River.

Swain fought during most of his reign to defend the position of his new kingdom.He lent use of the kingdom's lands to his greatest supporters, often allowing lords that had sworn fealty to him to retain use of the lands they previously ruled as a traditional right. Such territory was legally owned by Swain as an assertion of sovereignty, but land tenure allowed him to provide something to incentivize loyalty and martial service, a tradition sustained by his son and successor Dwain I, who occasionally removed and replaced lords to ensure loyalty. Under his son Dwain II, Lithuar began the next major steps towards the feodal society: the delegation of royal powers to local dukes and counts, and the grant of hereditary right to their tenures.

Stefan the Learned, reigning in the first third of the 6th century, established a truly kingdom-wide law code by collecting and revising various aspects of local, tribal, and customary law, effectively unifying the kingdom's previously disparate legal system. His efforts deepened the establishment of the feodal social model whereby local lords would owe the King their fealty and military obligation, and in turn the King would recognize an effective autonomy over their hereditary lands. The social order was laid out in part by these laws. Despite the House of Steingard starting out with a strong monarchy under a conqueror-king, the House gradually ceded more and more power to the nobility. This was justified as necessary to allow for flexible, localized responses to disturbances like banditry, revolt, and Orcish raids, which also spurred a sharp increase in the construction of castles. It was also justified as a natural system that balanced freedom with social obligation to bring about peace. This latter assumption was viewed as suspect by some legal scholars, as over time the weakness of the Crown led to unrestrained feudal warfare between rival nobles.

Law and government
Lithuar is a decentralized, feudal hereditary monarchy. While initially a centralized military kingdom, large distances and time compelled the early kings of Lithuar to distribute land, title, and privileges to local lords.

From the time of the "feudal revolution" onward, lesser lords have usurped a wide range of prerogatives and rights of the King, most importantly the rights of justice, but also travel dues, market dues, fees for using woodlands, obligations to use the lord's mill, and other fees.

Today, government in Lithuar is a careful balancing act between the King and his council, the Parlement, local feudal lords, and a complex court system.

Royal government
The heart of the central government is the Sovereign, the royal council, and the Parlement. These institutions are centered on the national capital, Kingston upon Reed. The royal seat was previously in Castle Steingard, but was moved to the nearby King's Town after the fortress was ruined during the civil war in 799.

The monarchy is inherited through absolute primogeniture in accordance with dwarven customary law. Lord Swain, after being crowned king, maintained his custom of an advisory council. This became entrenched as the Royal Council, composed of the King, the Crown Prince (if of age), the high officers of state, and other members of the court.

The high officers were codified in 607 to be as follows: The Royal Council also includes members summonsed by the King to serve, who are styled Privy Councillors. The council informally votes on and ratifies royal decrees, though legal authority is vested in the King.
 * the Lord Chancellor, who oversees the judicial system, and particularly has authority over matters of equity and presides over the Court of Chancery, and is keeper of the royal seal.
 * the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees the King's household and is Keeper of the Seal.
 * The Lord Treasurer, who oversees the royal treasury and keeps account of the budget.
 * the Lord Constable, who is the keeper of the King's stables and presides over courts-martial.
 * the Lord Marshal, who commands the royal army and advises the King on military policy.
 * the Lord Almoner, who oversees royal disbursements for the poor and welfare programs.
 * the Lord Seneschal, who oversees the sheriffs and provosts that administer the King's provinces.

The deliberative body of the kingdom is the Parlement, created as an extension of the royal council. As part of the civil war that saw King Geoffrey II deposed, Lilian promised to grant the baronage and commons a greater voice in royal government. The Parlement was established by the Charter of Liberties in 801 as a forum for the lords of the kingdom to discuss bills and set laws before the King for approval. The Parlement summons all archpriests, abbots, dukes, earls, and barons, along with two knights elected from each shire, two burgesses elected from each borough, and two citizens elected from each city. Over time, the Parlement has gained more and more power to originate legislation, and has the sole right to levy taxes.

Local government
Local and regional government in Lithuar can be divided into two levels: the royal administration and the feudal estates, which somewhat overlap. The Kingdom is administratively divided into shires, provincial divisions under the authority of royally-appointed shire-reeves or sheriffs, under whom are usually about five or six provosts who administer at a smaller municipal or local level. These officials have limited appellate judicial power over their areas, but more importantly are tasked with the collection of royal taxes, overseeing royal lands and resources such as mines and forests, and the local recruitment of soldiers for the royal army in times of war.

In practice, the King only has direct control over the Royal Demesne, which are dynastic lands held by the royal clan, and over free towns and cities founded by royal charter. The feudal estates ruled by dukes and counts sometimes conform to the shire divisions, but sometimes cross boundaries between shires based on the lands the noble lords have inherited. As matters of justice are administered at the local level by lords of the manor and are appealed to their feudal superiors before having recourse to the royal provosts, these feudal estates are the more substantive divisions of land.

Courts
The King and their council has theoretically been the highest source of law in the kingdom, though the Imperial Assembly assumed an even higher legal authority when Lithuar joined the Empire in 843. However, the difficulty in distributing royal justice made it necessary to delegate this right to the landowning nobility. At first this was only granted to dukes and counts as a privilege, but has been extended to all lords. The modern law system was established gradually, initially using Dwarven customary law and some Elven-originated law codes from the Old Empire. These disparate elements were collected and synthesized into a new law code in the year 500 by King Stefan the Learned. The Dwarven Code is divided into the civil code and the criminal code, and includes several titles detailing property law, civil disputes, crime and punishment, legal and social status, ecclesiastical privileges, and other matters. It has been modified over time with new laws, repeal of old laws, and amendments to take into account the developing feudal system and new royal edicts and acts of Parlement.

In matters of law and equity, issues are first laid before the lord of the manor, or seigneur. If the decision is unsatisfactory, the issue can be appealed to higher lords and their courts, and from there to the royal courts. A shire or municipal Provost has the power to hear appeals from lower courts. From the provostships, appeals are then submitted to the royal high courts, and finally to the King and royal council as a court of last resort.

The royal courts are divided into the High Court of Justice, which handles matters of civil and criminal law, and the Court of Chancery, which hears on matters of equity rather than law. The High Court is itself divided into the King's Bench, which hears on criminal matters and suits against the state, and the Court of Common Pleas, which hears matters between subjects.

However, any legal matters between or involving nobles or feudal law are heard in the first instance at the royal Court of Justice, and then may be appealed to the King for final judgement, bypassing the lower courts. Matters between and involving clergy are tried in special clerical courts that operate separately from the civil and criminal courts, though these too hold the King as the final legal authority. The sole exception is matters involving monks of an independent Order, such as the Confessors or the Templars, which operate under their own laws and courts based on their Order States.

Society
Lithuari society is highly stratified and built around the dwarven feudal and seigneurial social model. From the highest to the lowest orders, Lithuari society is constrained by law, custom, and a complex system of duties and rights accorded based on feudal obligation. Nominally, the King is sovereign and the font of all honor in the kingdom; the monarch is supported by a military aristocracy that owes service based on feudal land tenure.

Initially, one was "noble" if one had access to the king and royal court, held titles and honors for one's service, and owned or governed significant landholdings. From the late 5th century, the nature of the noble class changed significantly. The aristocracy took hereditary control of their counties and duchies, assumed rights and privileges of the state within their lands, and transformed these into quasi-independent principalities. From the 8th century, this developed further under the "feudal revolution" where dukes and counts would sub-enfeoff local lords with their own landholdings, breaking their principalities into several smaller lordships, creating a class of landed knights and barons. The kings have frequently come into conflict with local lords, viewing this as an usurpation of their feudal powers.

Vassalage
The heart of the dwarven feudal system, exemplified in Lithuar, is enfeoffment: the grant of land tenure and honors to a vassal, such as those granted by the monarch to noble lords, in exchange for service by the vassal. A lord acts the tenant-in-chief of the land, and in turn provides service to the grantor, typically in the form of military service.

The granting of a landholding, called a fief, to a vassal does not relinquish the over-lord's property rights, only the use of the lands and their income. Legally, the granting lord retains ultimate ownership of the fief. These fiefs became hereditary in their inheritance from the 6th century, provided the successor does homage and pays a fee to their overlord. In Lithuar, the ultimate overlord is the King; the King is subject solely to the Emperor, and enjoys the privilege of imperial immediacy and allodial title.

Vassalage extends well beyond feudal land tenure, however. It permeates every aspect of Lithuari society. The highest lords swear fealty to the King and promise military service as well as other taxes and in-kind payments to maintain the kingdom, and the King grants them their holdings and titles. These lords, in an act called subinfeudation, often enfeoff lesser lords as barons and knights, who more directly serve them as soldiers or officers of their private armies and are given a small landholding. The people that live in these estates are vassals of the manorial lords, and are often tenant farmers that work the land in exchange for the lord's protection and justice. These tenant farmers are typically bonded to the land, in a system called serfdom. Serfdom has been enshrined in the royal law code, but has a long history pre-dating the fall of the Old Empire, having emerged in the dwarven lordships as a means of ensuring a consistent census and taxation sytem.

Social status
Social status in Lithuar is constrained by law and custom, which determines one's place in the overall social order. Social status is hereditary, but some social mobility is theoretically possible through merit and recognition. A commoner can become a knight, and a knight can become a peer, but this is usually under extraordinary circumstances.

Lithuar's social system sees all of its inhabitants legally classified into the following categories:
 * Peers of the realm, those who hold feudal tenancy-in-chief. These have certain rights over their holdings, such as the ability to collect rents, impose taxes, exploit its resources, and levy their tenants into military service. These are the kingdom's dukes, counts, and earls.
 * Clergy, those who are consecrated to the service of the gods, and take religious vows, who serve a temple, conduct public rituals, or live in monastic communities. The clergy as a class hold certain privileges, though prelates and hierophants are usually considered equal to Peers of the realm, while ordinary priests and monks are closer to knights in rank.
 * Knights, the landed military aristocracy who provide military service to higher feudal lords.
 * Yeomen, the highest class of commoners. These are part of a landed gentry who live off the rents their land provides, but are not military aristocrats. Yeomen usually do owe military service, but as part of the feudal levy rather than as knights.
 * Franklins, middle-class free commoners who typically own some property. Many franklins are also burgesses, citizens of cities or towns. But others are landowners that do not live off the rents of their land, such as subsistence farmers or artisans.
 * Free tenants, peasants who are legally free but do not own land, and instead rent from and work on the land of a feudal lord


 * Serfs, unfree peasants who are tenant farmers bonded to the estates on which they work and live. Serfs are subject to a variety of legal constraints, and cannot appeal to higher courts for justice.

Demographics
Lithuar is a highly diverse country, though predominantly dwarven. It has the highest population of any state of the Empire, at just over twelve million people. The majority of these, some 8 million souls, are hill dwarves or Lithuarces. Around a million dwarves are Bergarces, or mountain dwarves, from the eastern uplands. There has long been endemic cultural and military conflict between the hill and mountain dwarves in the eastern marches. The mountain dwarves have often launched revolts to gain independence, or defend their customary laws from encroachment by the feudal law of the Kings and marcher lords.

Humans make up a sizeable minority, both in the southern border region, and in the Duchy of Dorcaster, where the human House of Wilde has long held sway and settled many Tolossian knightly and bourgeois families to entrench their rule. The human population of Lithuar is around 2 million, mostly Tolossians though there is a Ripanian minority. Another significant minority are Elves and half-elves, mainly in the towns, at around half a million people.

These ethnic minorities are subject to the same laws as Dwarves are, however, due to the universal nature of the Lithuari Code.

Lithuar has a moderate level of urbanization. It is less urban than Eldunari, Eldorei, Lilhadorei, or the Lake Country to the West, but is more urbanized than neighboring Tolossia, Ripania, or Skyshroud. Most of its population centers are castle towns, but there are some chartered cities and market towns that have grown in size due to extensive trade. The capital of Kingston-upon-Reed has a population of over 100,000, though most cities are much smaller. These cities are host to diverse ethnicities, such as elves, gnomes, and half-elves, that are rarely seen in much of Lithuar. The vast majority of the populace is rural, living in villages and hamlets centered around feudal manors and agriculture.

Economy
Lithuar's economy is built upon its feudal social system, and is fundamentally agricultural, depending on growing crops such as wheat, barley, grapes, apples, and oats on open fields, and husbanding sheep, cattle and pigs. In its early history, Lithuar had to contend with the economic collapse that had ensued with the Orcish conquest and the fall of the Old Empire. Political instability caused people to flee into the countryside, leaving many towns deserted. The emerging royal government created extensive forests, that were exploited for their natural resources and protected by royal laws to prevent misuse or overcultivation. These forests would be partly disestablished as Lithuar's population grew in the 8th century onwards.

During the 8th century, peasants moved away from living in isolated hamlets and instead came together to form larger villages engaged in arable cultivation. Agricultural land is typically organized around the manor house of the local lord, dividing farmland between some fields that the landowner would manage directly, called demesne land, and the majority of the fields that would be cultivated by local peasants. These peasants pay rent to the landowner either through agricultural labor on the lord's demesne fields or through rent in the form of cash and produce.

The widespread revival of towns began in the late 9th century, following the end of the Second Orc War and Lithuar's accession as a founding member of the New Empire, prefiguring an age of relative peace and prosperity. The King and his dukes issued charters for market towns, and supported the creation of guilds, town fairs and other institutions which governed the growing network of trade with the manorial estates. Through this, tenant farmers and shepherds were able to profit from their labor, and yeomen were able to make their own smallholdings more sustainable and profitable. Thousands of watermills were built, freeing more peasants from hand-milling and turning them to more productive labor to increase the yields of the farms themselves. Some peasant serfs were able to buy their freedom and become free tenants, with a few emerging as franklins, increasing the social mobility of Lithuari commoners in the early 11th century. A new class of merchants began to emerge in towns and cities, stimulated by the increase in free landowners with some modicum of wealth to put towards mercantile activity.

Lithuar moved beyond subsistence level agriculture to become a thriving market economy. Around this same time, many dukes came to have increased rights over the economic output of their lands, including mines and quarries, leading to booms in metal and stone production. This buoyed the money supply, enabling the upwardly-mobile free landholders and farmers to participate in the wider Ovaicaean economy, buying and selling goods over land routes as far afield as Gestrin, Mocryae, Eldunari, and Skyshroud. While initially the rights over silver and gold mines were the exclusive monopoly of the King, many dukes successfully petitioned for greater control. Some of these minted their own coins until the practice was regulated under royal charter in 961.

Currently, Lithuar is the economic powerhouse of central and eastern Ovaicaea. It is among the largest producers of grain, wool, wine, and silver in the Empire, and a net exporter of fine wines, raw tin, and wool. Much commerce occurs within the country, with a thriving trade in apples, apple cider, and livestock. Other common trade items include weaponry, armor, metalware, cloth, fish, meat, and game. Mining is a prominent economic activity, with gold, lead, tin, stone, and coal produced as well as silver. Lithuar's dominance of the silver trade has given it great influence over the development of coinage in much of the central and eastern regions of Western Ovaicaea.

Lithuar, as is customarily and legally accorded to it as a sovereign imperial state, has the right to mint its own coinage. The basic unit of account and exchange is the Lithuari pound or livre, a large coin of almost pure silver. It is subdivided into shillings and pence, at a rate of 12 shillings to a pound, and 20 pennies to a shilling. Based on Old Imperial coinage standards, the shilling was originally a large brass coin (and as such is sometimes referred to as a brass piece), but is presently an alloy of copper and silver called esterlin. The livre is frequently superseded by the gold guilder, a denomination that has spread to other Dwarven states.

List of kings
The kings of Lithuar have come from four distinct dynasties, though they all claim descent from the first king, Swain of Steingard. The first kings of Lithuar held the title King of the Hill Dwarves, but later asserted their sovereignty over the land itself. To reduce dependence on popular acclaim, they began styling themselves King of Lithuar in 780.

House of Steingard
Prior to his assumption of kingship, Swain was a powerful lord in the eastern frontier who had amassed a large army loyal to him. He defeated rival warlords to assert his control over a wide domain, and he crowned himself king in 414 after a strategic victory. His assumption of royal title was ratified by a synod of dwarven priests.

House of Casteron
Hilda had no children, and made an agreement with her cousin, the Earl of Casteron to secure the succession to the throne. Arno de Casteron was crowned co-king and inherited the throne on her death in 567. He did not reign alone for long, but founded a long-lasting dynasty.

House of Stamkirk
Geoffrey II had become gradually unhinged and made erratic and tyrannical decisions, though he had waged a successful war against Tolossia. He issued writs of attainder against several lords, depriving them of property and rights. In 799 the disinherited Lilian, Countess of Stamkirk, who was Geoffrey's maternal cousin, rose up in revolt and led the nobles to overthrow Geoffrey and make herself Queen.

House of Lys
Stefan the Child was guided by a regency council, as he was an infant when he inherited the throne, and was viewed as mentally unfit throughout his adulthood. His reign was almost immediately marred by clashes with his dukes. His regents engaged in a feudal wars, seeking to enforce royal authority. His strategic losses led to widespread unrest. He had a catastrophic mental breakdown in 944, and his protectors fought for control during intermittent civil wars from 945 to 961. He was deposed in 961, and the surviving protector Gorlois de Lys, Duke of Knock, was crowned king. After an abortive attempt to restore Stefan VI in 970, the deposed king was imprisoned and died.

This is the current reigning dynasty.

The Lys claim to the throne has been challenged recently by the human-dwarven House of Wilde, whose head has asserted his rights as heir-general to the second son of Lilian II, who was heir presumptive to the throne before Gorlois seized it in 961.

List of noble houses
Lithuar, being the cradle of dwarven feudalism, is host to several great noble, landowning clans. The eighteen noted below are the landowning peers, holders of ducal or comital title.