Unblooded Regents in Aduria

Part 1: An Overview of Aduria's regents

Aduria is a land that for the most part lacks the blooded scions that dominate Cerilia. Because of this most of the rulers of Aduria's kingdoms and empires are unblooded and do not have the supernatural link with the land that Cerilia's rulers do. An unblooded ruler can only claim law, temple and guild holdings as sources are beyond their understanding, and in the case of Aduria source holdings are virtually unknown. This does not mean that mebhaighl does not exist in Aduria though. The magic of the land was present before Deismaar, as the Elves of Cerilia knew of it and used its strength. Throughout the rest of Aebrynis, in places of natural beauty and wonder mebhaighl collects, waiting for someone to claim it.

When the Five Tribes, fleeing the Shadows influence on the southern lands fled north and encountered the Elves they first learnt of this magical power of the land. They were unable to claim its strength though until after Deismaar as they lacked the connection with the land that the Elves had. In the empires of Aduria the humans and other races there still lack this connection so are unable to cast true or realm magic. They have however taken the arts of Illusion and Divination to new heights performing feat only dreamed about by Cerilian magicians. As a result of the lack of true magic magicians have risen to highs of power similar to those achieved by the Khinasi mages in Cerilia. Many rulers in Aduria have court magicians and use their illusionary magic to aid their kingdoms. Thus in Aduria few true mages exist, although the land would welcome them should they arrive.

Priests in some lands have taken their place and the ancient religions have flourished. Many empires support large numbers of priests as both advisers and spellcasters. With the destruction of Azrai as Deismaar many of his followers in Aduria lost faith in his teachings and the gods of the Five Tribes gained acceptance in many lands. Azrai's priests still hold much influence in the Empire of Aduria, but now many have also turned to Anduiras, Reynir, Brenna, Vorynn, Masela, and Basaia. More information on the gods of Aduria can be found in the section on Gods and Priests.

Other classes such as bards, thieves, and warriors are similar to those found in Cerilia.

Because unblooded regents lack the connection with the land and the people that the blooded regents of Cerilia have they can not generate Regency Points or use them to influence domain action. This means that where the blooded regents of Cerilia move south to invade Aduria they would have little trouble overwhelming the unblooded regents of the empires. There are no penalties to collection of money and taxation though and the empires of Aduria, some of them very large, use warfare as a means of conquering other lands, rather than contesting holdings as Cerilian regents do. Mercenaries are common in the southern empires and many guilds and kingdoms hire them in large numbers to protect their kingdoms.

Part 2: Domains.

In Aduria and other lands where Blooded Scions do not exist then it is still possible for a rulers to run their kingdom, just not as effectively. An Unblooded ruler will not have the connection with the land that a Blooded Scion does, however they are still free to muster vast armies and drive out any who oppose their rule.

Regency:
The mystical power associated with Blooded rulers and leaders is not as common in Aduria. Certainly there are a few that have Bloodline, but it is not common place as in Cerilia. Most of the rulers are Unblooded and so do not collect Regency Points. This means that a Blooded ruler would have a great advantage in Aduria over the current unblooded rulers.

In Cerilia there are around two thousand or so Blooded Scions, while in Aduria the number is more like four or five hundred, with most of the kingdom on the continent having never been ruled by a Blooded regent. About two thirds of this number are actually members of the Skissshar race, who stole the bloodlines of many of the Adurian survivors of Deismaar. The rest are travellers from Cerilia, the Dwarves from Dunedin, or the Lost, who Azrai gave bloodlines to before Deismaar.

Blooded Scions are unwelcome in large areas of Aduria, especially in the Adurian Empire where the priests of Azrai will hunt them down and kill them should they be discovered. A Scion of Azrai however may be treated differently however, especially if the priests think it could improve their power in the Empire to have a messenger of Azrai around. Awnsheghlien are killed on sight though.

The Domain:
The domain of an unblooded regent in Aduria can take many forms, but they are divided even more along class lines that in Cerilia. In most realms it is very unlikely to find a priest who rules provinces, or a merchant with temple holdings. Magicians, and Rangers are very unlikely to ever rule a province or a holding.

Provinces, like those in Cerilia, are generally political or terrain divisions in a kingdom. Because of the size of some of the Adurian Empires, with four numbering more than one hundred provinces, and many others larger than any of the Cerilia kingdom, an area of land the size of a province has become less important. Instead regions the size of entire kingdom are considered.
In the Adurian Empire, which is ruled by an Emperor, there are six Governors who each rule large states with around thirty provinces each, as well as several protectorates, also ruled by a Governor. Other lands also have similar arrangements. The actually ruler of the entire Empire may control very little in the way of land, but he rules over a vast areas through Governors or Princes, usually appointed by him. When this occurs the Emperor usually taxes an entire State, rather than each individual province, leaving the taxes of the people up to the Governors.

The Holdings and Assets controlled by a ruler are very similar to those in Cerilia, except for source holdings, which are held by only a very few regents indeed.
Guild holdings usually represent trade companies rather than actual businesses. Because trade is so important in Aduria, especially in regions where food and natural resources are scarce then merchants can grow extremely rich transporting goods around the continent. Both the Adurian Empire and Nehalim have very good road networks, while in the southern lands trade is conducted by boats. Some guilds however may also be made up of miners or foresters who control the income of a small number of provinces. These guild however do not usually grow that large, and if they do soon change into full trade guilds.
Law Holdings in Aduria can be very varied, as in Cerilia. In lands such as the Adurian Empire the law is strictly enforced by the Legions while in other lands there may be almost no law at all.
Temples in Aduria tend to be very violent towards those who do not support their views. The temple of Azrai in the Adurian Empire has been fighting an ongoing war of influence with the Emperor for control of the Empire. This has been fairly civilised, but in other lands warfare between religious orders and those who do not agree with their god are commonplace.

Loyalty:
Like lands ruled by a Blooded regent those ruled by an Unblooded ruler have a loyalty level which can be influenced by events that occur in the province. The people of Aduria however do not see their rulers as being anything special and so rebellions are more likely. If anyone has enough money to fund an army in a province, and the loyalty is poor or worse then it is likely that the people of the province will join with the army to throw out the current rulers. This occurs quite often in some of the smaller kingdoms, especially those in the south and control is usually given to however as the most powerful army.
If a Unblooded ruler does not have a law holding in a province then the loyalty level will drop by one grade each turn, until the province rebels and breaks away from the rulers control, or the ruler sends troops to maintain order.

Investiture:
Unblooded regent do not have any connect to the land, and so provinces they rule have not been invested to them. Instead the provinces can be considered occupied by their armies. This type of occupation however does not cost anything to maintain. However as noted above a regent must have a law holding or troops in a province to maintain the loyalty or the people or they will either elect a new ruler of their own or side with another kingdom.
Because they regent lacks a bloodline it is however impossible to invest holdings and provinces. Each province must be conquered by the regents armies, and holding must either be captured or destroyed and replaced with the regents own. It is almost impossible to convince law and temple holdings to change allegiances, so these usually must be destroyed and then the regent can build his own to replace them. Guild holdings however may sign up with a new regent if both sides agree to the transfer.

Vassalage:
As Unblooded regent do not collect regency oaths of vassalage are instead more like trade agreements. Usually the vassal will elect to serve a more powerful ruler in return for protection from enemies (or the powerful rulers own armies). In return they will give a portion of their tax income over to their new liege.

Tax Collection:
Just because an Unblooded regent lack a connection to the land does not mean that he can not collect taxes. In realms of high law this usually proceeds without any trouble, but in regions where a ruler has no law holdings then he had better send some troops with his tax collectors or the people may refuse to pay.
Use the tables in the Birthright Rulebook to determine tax and collection income, however the DM may also rule that no tax is collected if the Unblooded regent does not have enough influence in a province.

Part 3: Domain Actions:

Adventure:
Type: Character
Success: Special
Base Cost: None
Aduria's Kings and Emperors are usually less inclined to go off on Adventures, preferring to send in the army if there are any problems. There is nothing however to stop them doing so. The cost in time and gold are the same as in the Birthright Rulebook.

Agitate:
Type: Domain (Priest: Free), Realm
Success: 10+
Base Cost: 2 GB
This actions is basically the same as what is set out in the Rulebook, however Unblooded regents can spend only gold to improve the success chance.

Build:
Type: Free
Success: 5+
Base Costs: 1 GB+
As in the rulebook.

Contest:
Type: Domain, Realm
Success: 10+
Base Cost: 1 GB
The results are the same as in the Rulebook, but no extra can be spent to improve the success chance of this spell. Regents with a similar holding type can influence the roll. This means that a regent with a large holding in a province is very difficult to dislodge. The province ruler can not influence the roll as he lack the connection with the people and the land that a Blooded regent has.

Create Holding:
Type: Domain
Success: 10+
Base Costs: 1 GB
This is exactly the same as in the Rulebook, except an Unblooded regent can not spend RPs to improve the success chance.

Declare War:
Type: Free
Success: Special
Base Cost: None
Aduria's rulers do not follow the rules of war as do the Anuireans and are constantly sending armies off to fight each other. Conquest and war are seen as the only way of spreading influence across the continent and most kingdom and Empires have large professional armies ready to move at a moments notice. An Adurian ruler does not need to actually declare to his enemy that he is going to attack, and few ever do, instead sending their armies to do the talking for them.

Decree:
Type: Free
Success: Special
Base Cost: 1 GB
Same as in Rulebook.

Diplomacy:
Type: Domain
Success: 10+
Base Cost: 1 GB
Same as in Rulebook, except no RPs can be spent to influence the diplomacy. Gold however can be used instead of Regency.

Disband:
Type: Free
Success: Automatic
Base Cost: None
Mercenaries in Aduria are far more organised and disciplined than in Cerilia. As long as they have been paid their fee they will cause no trouble when they are disbanded.

Espionage:
Type: Domain (Thief: Free)
Success: Special
Base Cost: 1 GB
The rule for espionage follow those in the Rulebook, except no RPs can be spent on action of course. In Aduria most lands have specialised espionage rings that are used to keep an eye on their enemies. These are usually far more organised than those that have been set up in Cerilia.

Finances:
Type: Free
Success: Automatic
Base Cost: None
As in Rulebook. In the Adurian Empire until recently it was very common for Governors of the various states and protectorates to remove vast sums of money from the treasuries they looked after for themselves and little was done about it. Now however the new Emperor regularly sends investigators to check up on his Governors and ensure they are not stealing from the Empire.

Forge Ley Line:
Type: Domain
Success: 5+
Base Cost: 1 GB
This action is not available to unblooded regents.

Fortify:
Type: Domain
Success: 2+
Base Cost: 1 GB
As in Rulebook. Generally these fortification tend not to be castles, but rather purely military structures such as forts, guard towers, and fortified barracks.

Grant:
Type: Free
Success: 10+
Base Cost: Varies
As in Rulebook.

Hold Action:
Type: Free
Success: Automatic
Base Cost: None
As in Rulebook.

Investiture:
Type: Domain, Realm
Success: Special
Base Cost: Special
This action in not available to unblooded regents.

Lieutenant:
Type: Character
Success: Special
Base Cost: None
As in Rulebook.

Move Troops:
Type: Free
Success: Automatic
Base Cost: 1 GB
As in Rulebook. The one exception to this is inside the Adurian Empire. That nation has set up a network of roads, garrisons etc that enables it to move troops around its provinces at no extra cost. No other kingdom has such a good network however and they must pay the normal cost of 1 GB for every 10 movement points.

Ply Trade:
Type: Character
Success: Special
Base Cost: None
As in Rulebook. It is unlikely however that any of Aduria's rulers would ever stoop so low as to work on a common trade.

Realm Spell:
Type: Domain
Success: Special
Base Cost: Special
This action is not available to unblooded regents.

Research:
Type: Character
Success: Special
Base Cost: 1 GB+
As in Rulebook.

Rule:
Type: Domain, Realm
Success: 10+
Base Cost: 1 GB
Ruling a holding or province is much more difficult if the regent does not have a bloodline. The action cost a minimum of 1 GB plus a number of GB equal to the holding level the regent wants to rule to. This number is doubled from provinces. The chance of success is 10 plus the level of the holding or province that the regent wants to rule to.
e.g. If a high priest wanted to increase his temple from level 4 to level 5 then he would need to spend 6 GB and roll above 15 on the dice roll. If it was a province it would be 11 GB and 15+
The roll can be influenced only by regents with similar holdings. The roll to increase a province size can only be influenced by a wizards source holding.

Trade Route:
Type: Domain, Realm
Success: 10+
Base Cost: 1 GB
As in Rulebook, although no extra RP or GB can be spent.

Training:
Type: Character
Success: Special
Base Cost: Special
As in Rulebook.

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