It is slower travel short one driver, but Koehl manages to improvise upon that duty, and you are indeed at Geid before nightfall. The city rests on a gentle crest of hills, surrounded by rich vegetation; the leaves here tell at once how deep you've come into autumn. There are several estates encircling the city proper, and it is to one of these that your new companions lead you: Manor Olmbauer, tended by kin of the fallen Rattmes. They are not close kin, it seems, and so you are spared a scene of too much intensity. The news of Rattmes' death is received with a somber sense of sorrow, and you hear bits and pieces of the arrangements for his burial. It is a priest of Heironeous who performs the cleansing rite; Katter's body receives the same respects, but will be returned to the earth elsewhere.
You are shown to guest quarters at the manor, and served a proper dinner. The family Olmbauer is absent from this and most of the evening, secluded in formal mourning, so the dining hall (comfortable to your number, and with a lived-in fineness to it) is shared between you and the men with whom you have traveled. The servingfolk here are talkative and friendly, though respectful to circumstances; the oldest of them recalls having met Rattmes briefly as a child, but can't remember much of substance about him.
After the meal, when you have returned to your overfull lodgings, Koehl approaches quietly. He has a stack of letters in his hand, all bound in one leather envelope not too different from the ones (and, now, one) you have carried.
"I wanted to express our gratitude, mine and on behalf of the others, for what you all did out there. It was our charge to see you safely to your destination, and yet you did us that service instead. I - we - are grateful."
He bows his head slightly, presenting the stack forward. "These are notes of Honoration, from myself on behalf of house Stourling, and from the others as well." He sorts through the stack. "Haulm, Olmbauer, Oerry, Bommel, Mandervot... As long as you travel the Tourne, should you find yourself in need of aid, shelter, or hospitality, just seek out these names and present these notes. They are a promise of good favor from our families."
Also, and overdue, notes on the history of Tourne, for Nurthk & Oliver:
[sblock]The short of it, at least according to these books, is that in early history the Northern continents were ruled by myriad small, often-feuding clans, absent of larger government (although this is later contradicted by mentions of an elven civilization in Altyrecht and the other Western principalities). There was a great war amongst these groups, which drove the Rhonne clan back into the foothills of the northern mountains. Perl Rhonne travelled the caves and came to live with a Dwarven civilization, from whom he learned a great deal of philosophy pertaining to law and discipline, and the valuing of peace. He eventually returned with this philosophy to his clan, who developed a disciplined army, took over surrounding lands, and established the Tuer Rhonne (over generations condensed to "Tourne").
For two hundred years the Rhonne clan ruled, taking over more territory as time passed. The division of Crown and Crest had been made late in Perl's life, as a useful means of distinguishing administrative and military families from one another. The Rhonnes themselves were considered neither, constituting a ruling class in and of themselves, which created a great dispute when the Rhonne family was summarily assassinated (by clansmen from what is now called Heitra, in a successful effort to halt the Tourne's northern expansion). There was a seven-year civil war, primarily between Crest and Crown. When they eventually negotiated a truce, the Tourne was divided into two regions (Hyronne and Goeronne, although their geographic boundaries were slightly broader than the two modern principalities which have inherited their names). The Crown was to be sovereign over Hyronne and the Crest over Goeronne, but the Crown still bore responsibility for levying taxes and maintaining the quality of life within both regions, while the Crest was responsible for protecting both regions, and for waging war.
This division became problematic over time, as the law of Tourne fundamentally demanded expansion, and there was naturally dissent about who (Crown or Crest) should be sovereign over these conquered territories. After a century, this resulted in another civil war, which eventually resolved with a division of powers which, at a basic level, persists to modern times: Crown and Crest remain mostly autonomous; a member of a high rank in the Crown has authority over a man of lower rank in the Crest, and vice versa, but two men of like rank are considered equal and neither branch is considered to rule the other. The Crown has authority over the peasantry and controls monies gained through taxation, while the Crest decides all military actions and controls the spoils of war. Since there is far more wealth in taxation than in conquest, the Crest generally relies upon the Crown's purchasing of protection and of conquered territories. Over the centuries a number of laws and practices have emerged to regulate the transactions between the two, but the basic division has remained unchanged. Both Crown and Crest have enjoyed some internal turmoil over time, as well, but with the ever-changing parade of family names these conflicts are a little harder to follow.
As for territory, that has changed greatly over the Tourne's history. Because "the Tourne" refers not so much to a specific land or people as it does to a specific body of government, it has been able to gain and lose territory rather fluidly without compromising its identity (there was even a period of 140 years when Perlech, and most of Hyronne, had left its control). Since its inception (the Tourne is roughly 1200 years old), the Tourne has at various times controlled areas of Malita, Heitra, Valtras, and Andon, with significant excursion into Bethel, Sanadun, and the Region of the Free Cities. Valtras and Andon are more recent additions to the map, 70 and 30 years old respectively. Civil unrest had persisted in the peninsula for centuries beforehand. Both nations are essentially "new" in that they bare little to no relation to the civilizations which had existed before conquest (Tourne controlled the area for more than 700 years). Heitra is a loose conglomeration of clans and tribes in a harsh environment, which has been taken, lost, and retaken repeatedly over its history. Malita, like Valtras and Andon, formed out of rebellion against Tourne, though it is far older (600 years since the first time its yellow-scarved rebels took control of its more Southern cities). Throughout Malita's history there have been substantial movements of the border in both directions; most recently (within the past 100 years) Malita has reclaimed a large area along the Western coast of the Sea of Morel, although within the past decade things have been fairly silent.
There are also repeated, and not altogether connected, references to Dwarven relations throughout these histories. It is enough cause to wonder if it is Dwarven philosophy or Dwarven steel - and the good trade relations which have given the nation access to it - which is more responsible for the Tourne's success.
Some fun with names:
"Tuer Rhonne" -- literally "the jurisdiction of the clan Rhonne," Tuer being a word borrowed from Dwarven, as there was no word for such a thing in the regional common of the time. This explains the persistence of the definite article in "the Tourne" as the name condensed.
"Hyronne" & "Goeronne" -- Both mixtures of the Rhonne name with the names of the respective leading families of the Crown and Crest at the time the division occurred. By this time "Rhonne" had become a word for royalty in itself; in later years, rulers of both branches of the Tourne would take the name of Rhonne as though it were a title, though this practice has not been employed in recent times.
"Rhonne Keep" -- Established as the fortress home of the Rhonne clan during their early years.
"Perlech" -- Established as capitol and named for Perl Rhonne forty years after his death.
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