Life
under the occupation of the Nyemetz is difficult, but
bearable.
King
Frederik III of Nyemetsko, the successor to Wittelbax VI, rules
Bohavia today, although he rules through the Bohavian Duke Albert, a
powerful and evil mage, who takes the title of Protector.
Although an evil rule, the Nyemetz are
intelligent and realize that Bohavians cannot be treated as slaves if
they wish to profit from their occupation. Therefore, Bohavians of
all races who toe the line and do not create any problems for the
Nyemetz are usually left to their own devices. As a result of this
policy, the Bohavian economy has improved since the decimation of the
civil war and invasion, although it has not regained the heights that
it reached in the time of Karel I. Most of the proceeds from the
economy are sent to Nyemetzko in the form of incredibly high taxes,
meaning most of Bohavia lives in a constant state of poverty.
However, the Nyemetz tolerance does not
apply to the limited numbers of gnomes and halflings which fled to
Bohavia centuries ago after their respective homelands were overrun
by invaders. Gnomes are usually put to work in the silver mines of
Kutna Hora to replace the dwarven miners that fled the area during
the invasion, while halflings are usually employed as slaves to
richer Nyemetz households.
Also
persecuted by the Nyemetz are magic users, although the Nyemetz
themselves often employ the services of evil mages. Anyone found
using magic is burned at the stake as a witch. These laws do not
apply to clerics, providing that the keep to the confines of their
temples. However, any cleric found using magic outside of his or her
temple will also be burned as a witch.
The
Nyemetz have not tried to stamp out religion in Bohavia, although the
temples are heavily suppressed. There is a great deal of debate as to
why the Nyemetz have not done more to limit the power of the temples.
Some say that the Nyemetz are godless people who believe that
religion is the opiate of the people, while others say that the
Nyemetz are fearful of divine intervention.
A
great many humans, perhaps 10% of the population, have become
collaborators, receiving many benefits in return for passing on
information to the Nyemetz authorities.
Whereas all human towns and cities and
most of the villages are under strong control by the Nyemetz, small
dwarven and elven communities are usually untroubled by the Nyemetz
as their caves and small woodland groves respectively are difficult
for the Nyemetz to locate. If they are found, however, then they are
destroyed. This has led to many wandering groups of dwarves and elves
who constantly move around for fear of their communities being
discovered by the Nyemetz.
Elves, dwarves and humans all have
resistance movements. Elves and dwarves used to constantly harass the
Nyemetz using guerrilla actions. On a few occasions, human nobles
have been able to raise small armies to fight the Nyemetz, although
none of these uprisings have succeeded. However, over the past few
years, the Nyemetz have become increasingly annoyed with these
activities and have thus started a policy of torturing and then
taking 10 lives for every Nyemetz killed. This has resulted in the
eradication of many villages across Bohavia and reducing the
populations of many towns and cities. Because of this retribution,
the general population of Bohavia is usually afraid and unsupportive
of the resistance movement.
Vatzlav IV and Sigismund have long
since perished and the Nyemetz went to great lengths to ensure that
all of their descendants were executed. However, there are rumors of
the existence of Yiri of Podyebrad, a great grandson of Karl I.
According to popular legend, Yiri is a great paladin who will one day
overthrow the Nyemetz and return Bohavia to independence and its
former greatness.
Although not as prevalent as was the
case immediately following the Great Plague of 3349, there are still
outbreaks of disease. As a result, residents of villages tend to be
very wary of strangers.
Since
its introduction just over 100 years ago, gunpowder has
revolutionized combat in Bohavia. Prior to its introduction, knights
in plate mail ruled the battlefield. Since the introduction of
primitive firearms, knights are no longer all powerful, as a heavy
bullet could easily punch through steel plate at close range. In
addition, the development of large cannons changed the face of siege
warfare, as city walls could be destroyed by cannons in a few
days.
The
combination of cannons and muskets were the key to the dwarves
success in taking Mnyesto and Kutna Hora from the humans during the
Bohavian Civil War, and were a similar factor which enabled the
Nyemetz to also take walled cities without lengthy sieges.
However, gunpowder weapons still make
up only a small proportion of military weapons today. The biggest
users of gunpowder today are the dwarves, who took to gunpowder
weapons as a result of their superb forging skills and also due to
the fact that they never used any bows other than crossbows
previously. Dwarves also quickly saw the advantages of the use of
gunpowder in their mining activities. Were all the dwarves gathered
together as one massive army, then around 50% of all their troops
would be armed with firearms, although the smaller Calivers and
Arquebuses are much more often used rather than muskets. Such a
dwarven army would also be able to bring large number of heavy
artillery pieces to bear.
Humans are the next biggest users of
gunpowder weapons. A typical human army would probably be made up of
30% gunpowder weapons, mostly made up of musketeers. The many nobles
of Bohavia usually refuse to fight in any other way than heavily
armored and on horseback, however.
A
typical Nyemetz army would typically have less than 10% of their
forces armed with gunpowder weapons. The Nyemetz troops do not have
the intelligence in order to operate these complicated weapons. As a
result, the Nyemetz employ human mercenaries to provide firearms
support. These mercenaries come from a wide variety of countries,
most notably Saxony and Polsko, although there are a few traitorous
Bohavians that have thrown their lot in with the Nyemetz. The other
90% of the Nyemetz forces forces is made up of melee troops who win
their battles usually due simply to overwhelming numbers, the sheer
brute force of their troops and the fact that they fear their leaders
more than death itself.
Elves, not surprisingly, have never
taken to gunpowder weapons, considering them abominable weapons. As
elven longbows are nearly as deadly as muskets and are able to be
fired much more rapidly, there is currently little need for elves to
adopt gunpowder weapons.
Gunpowder weapons are by far the most
complex of all weapons to use, taking many years of training in order
for users to become proficient in their use. As a result, the only
class allowed to use gunpowder weapons are standard fighters.
Paladins consider such weapons to be unholy, preferring swords, while
rangers consider them to be unnatural, preferring bows.
Due
to their devastating powers, all firearms are illegal in Bohavia.
Anyone caught by the Nyemetz in possession of a firearm will be given
a fatal lesson in the devastation that can be caused by their
weapons! However, there must be many hidden hordes of these weapons
in existence, as very few weapons were seized by the Nyemetz after
the conquest.
The
possession of other forms of arms and armor among Bohavians is not
illegal as there are many dangers that the Bohavians face. However,
groups of heavily armed and armored Bohavians will arouse suspicions
amongst the Nyemetz.
The
troops of the Nyemetz are currently stretched quite thin, as many
have been called to the eastern front in order to defend against the
planned invasion of the Slovenes. Life in the East of Morava is
particular hard for the residents, as the local economy struggles to
cope with feeding and billeting several thousand Nyemetz
troops.
Without patrols of Bohavian forces and
with the Nyemetz forces involved mainly in simply policing the
population, there has been a huge return of ‘monsters’ to the
sparsely populated areas of Bohavia. There are also many gangs of
renegade Bohavians who prey on innocent travelers in order to
survive.