The Lairdlands

People of the Lairdlands
The common populace of the Lairdlands are stoic and peaceable people. They are more interested in raising their young, their crops, and their livestock, smoking tobacco, making beer, wine and cheese. Most average about six feet in height and 200 pounds, with femmes being proportionately smaller and lighter. Brown hair and brown eyes, and pale to medium complexions are the norm, with most men going grey or bald by their 40s, and women going grey by their 50s. A typical Lairdlander family has 2D4 children, with another 1D6 extended family members under the roof.

The Counties
The Lairdland is composed of 13 Lairdships, called counties in the archaic noble style. The 13 Laird who rule these domains select one of their own to serve as the Grand Laird, but this is only done when the Lairdlands are involved in significant war.

Zapholas County
The smallest of the counties, Zapholas is also the poorest. The terrain is harsh and the soil takes alot of work to coax grain from it. The county is still ruled by a Lord, a holdover from the old nobility. As such, the Lord of Zapholas only serves as a tie-breaker and normally does not have a vote. Zapholas is considered neutral territory, and the various guilds and religious orders maintain alms houses and charity missions in the county.

History
The Lairdlands exist in greater interest in the past than they do in the present. The Lairdlands of today are a peaceful seaming region of dairies, sprawling farmlands, and pastures of horses and cattle in the sunlight. The Lairdlands of the past was rife with violence and nearly three generations of constant warfare. Most of the warfare was based off of noble claims to leadership and contests between their bastard children and blackguard generals. As such, cities were walled in, and villages were rare, unless they were close to a fortress or natural defence.

The generations of war ended with the victory of the mercenary general Haephas Feck. Feck lead a major army element in toppling a usurper prince, and once this was complete he turned on his employer. While some consider this an act of betrayal, historians say it was inevitable as Feck's payment for services rendered was unpayable by his patron prince. As before, the prince was routed and hung from his own castle walls. The nobility in large was removed, mostly by their own subjects rising against them, assassins, or in a few cases military action.

The peace that followed came with the establishment of the Laird system. Each Laird functions like a lord, but his position is not hereditary, and cannot be passed on to any of his offspring. Instead, when a laird dies, his successor has to literally purchase his father's land. If he cannot, it goes to the prospective laird who can pay. In this manner, prosperous Lairds could excel, setting aside trusts for their progeny to purchase their lands upon their death. Those that engaged in constant warfare tended to be less financially secure, and thus tended to not pass their titles onto their young.

Economic Warfare
Underneath the peaceful facade of the Lairdlands, there is generally a constant shadow war. This war is not fought with swords and soldiers, but with gold, rates of exchange, and guild manipulation. Defeating an enemy generally requires a process of devaluing their lairdship, draining their coffers, and then eliminating the existing laird, usually by assassination or declaration of a duel. Military action can be used to devalue land and eliminate a rival but unless it is very short, the other Lairds are honor bound to defend the besieged laird. Warfare is frowned upon in the Lairdlands.

The Laird's Challenge
At any time, one laird may challenge another to combat to the death. Elder lairds often appoint champions, as do female lairds, and if their champion is defeated, they step down without a word. Those that fail to do so are generally executed by their own people. Most such challenges come from economic duels, ala the coup-de-grace, or a reprisal against an aggresive rival, or from seriously impugning a laird's honor.

War without Honor or Glory
The folk of Lairdlands have long memories and as such have little taste for the small and petty wars of the nobles. This is one of the reasons that Feck's laird system has worked passably well. A few outsiders have made the mistake of tihnking that this lack of violence in the Lairdlands makes the locals soft and easy targets. When attacked, the Lairds are duty bound to assist each other and defend the Lairdlands as a whole. During this time of warfare, a Laird may raise militias and the Mercenary guild is put afield in force.

While not armed with exotic weapons or mounts, the Lairdlanders are among the most brutal and vicious of soldiers when they fight to defend their own or afield. It is said that nothing angers a man like being away from his hearth and wife, and Lairdlanders fight hard and fast because they want to go back home and cant until their enemies are defeated or dead.

The Cerdenpol Reprisal
Some years ago, an orcish horde threatened Cerdenpol. Drawing militias from the surrounding counties and mustering almost half of the Mercenary guild, the Laird of Cerdenpol lead a dragonnade against the orcs. The orcs, normally gleeful for battle found no honor or glory fighting the Lairdlanders. Instead they found their warriors captured and executed, captives impaled and left by the side of the road. Instead of soft prey, the orcs cound the iron hard core of the Lairdlanders and instead of begging for mercy or bribes, they fought without mercy or honor. Facing heavy losses, the orcs retreated for easier picking to the east.

Discipline and Steel
The mistake that most invaders and raiders who attack the Lairdlands make is that they assume that because the region is peaceful, that it is peacable. There was a reason that the Noble's wars lasted three generations, Lairdlanders know how to fight, and they are good at it. Outsiders also assume that farmer means weakness, it takes alot of labor, and tools to turn the soil. The men and women who do so are not milk-skinned fops, but instead are lean and hard from working in the sun, and their tools can become weapons. Plowshares are turned to swords, and the barrel maker and the cartwright turn to making shields.

At the core is discipline. This is almost instinctive, as proper behavior is a strong local tradition, instilled from childhood. Elders are to be obeyed, often without question. Authorities have their authority by the consent of the community. Discipline is easy to overlook in modern terms where television, pills, and time out mister! have replaced actually parenting and corporal punishment. Later in life, this means that these folk don't break ranks in battle, they stand and fight shoulder to shoulder with their kith and kin.

Notes on the Lairdlands
The Lairdlands are the starting point of most adventures, much like the Shire in Lord of the Rings. It shares several similarities in being predominantly agricultural in focus, as well as being peaceful. This is where the similarity ends, while the Shire was untouched by outside concerns until Saruman invaded, the Lairdlands have been eyeballs deep in war for generations and only recently, less than a century, cast off the incessant fighting of the nobles. The people of the Lairdlands are outwardly simply folk, but are quite intelligent and when roused have an impressive streak of vengeance.