The Great Pandemonium: Nobilitas Obligat

Extra: Imperial Geography: The Outremer

Imperial Geography: The Outremer

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THE OUTREMER: LAND
The Outremer is the most northwesterly province of the Empire, and also the furthest seat from the Imperial capital of Harenholl. It sits at the border of the Herenveil Steppes, the highlands inhabited by the Éador, a semi-nomadic people known for their deadly horseback archers and ofttimes violent refusal to abandon their shamanic traditions and convert to the Church of Junan. It encompasses the territories of Eleisyn, Glittermarsh, Wilder's Call, and the Jurian Valley, which themselves are subdivided among various danelords who pay tithe to the Magnate of the Outremer by either taxes or conscripts for military service within the province for a period of no more than fifteen years.

Much of the Outremer is farm and grazing land, with Eleisyn being widely known throughout the Empire and the Oribian for its breeds of courser and destrier horses, the latter of which are reserved exclusively for use by the Imperial Mounted divisions and the Inquisitorial Knights of the Ordained Father. Preserved meats, leather, feathers, and cheeses make up a majority of the Outremer's contributions to the Imperial economy, and during the spring and summer months a great amount of trade in preserved flowers and bulbs is done as the southern nobility seeks to decoate their homes with what is considered to be the festive and lucky blooms of the north.

THE OUTREMER: MILITARY AND TRADITIONS
The Outremer provides all of the mounted units for the First Legion, a third of the armored calvary of the Third Legion, and nearly half of the mounted scouts deployed at the Wall of Haren. Because of this the Magnate is exempt by Imperial Waiver from providing further foot troops to the Imperial Legions unless the Emperor declares a state of war. The Magnate traditionally maintains a standing army of one-fifth of the province's population as determined by Imperial census every seven years, though typically the number of able-bodied troops exceeds this as the proximity of the province to the Éadoran necessitates mounting a sufficient self-defense against occasional raiding parties.

Since its founding the Magnates of the Outremer have required the firstborn children of their danelords to serve within their household for a period of four years beginning at their twelfth year. Most sons choose to squire for the Magnate or one of his personal knights, though a few have become apprentices to the Magnate's representatives to the Imperial courts of law. Unlike other provinces, the firstborn daughters of danelords are given the option of serving as a lady-in-waiting to the Magnate's wife (as is customary in the rest of the Empire) or becoming either a squire of the Magnate's Falconer or learning horse husbandry by being apprenticed to the Magnate's Stablemaster. This practice has lead to a strong tradition of women falconers in the Imperial Legion, all of whom hail from the Outremer, as well as an overwhelming dominance of women involved in the Outremer's horse breeding and trading economy.

THE OUTREMER: FOUNDING AND RECENT POLITICS
The territories of Outremer were awarded to Cedric Nighttyr by Empress Haren I, First Ascended of the Holy Empire, upon the death of his father Cadean Nighttyr, the One-Armed General of the First Legion, during the War of Expansion. Slavery was not as common in the Outremer as was the case in southern provinces, and most slaves conquered during the War of Expansion eventually either bought their freedom or became freedmen who bore children that became citizens of the Empire by birthright. Instead, immigrants from the Oribian provided a continuous stream of cheap labor, as refugees from Revolutionary Wars in the north sought citizenship for their children in the Empire by selling themselves into indentured servitude for a period of years. The reign of the Nighttyrs continued unbroken and without contestation until the violent overthrow of Magnate Owen Nighttyr by Dane Theodore Weist.

Though rumored to have had the aid of several Oratios, who are barred by canon law from using their magic in anything save research in the name and defense of the Empire, the widespread publication of the discovery of a wealth of books not upon the List of Ordained Works within Nighttyr Keep, in addition to correspondence speaking of a military alliance with the pagan Éador, caused House Nighttyr to be publicly decried as apostates, thereby quelling any further interest or inquiry into Weist's coup by the Imperial Senate. In appreciation for exposing such heresies, Empress Regent Castilla, in the name of Emperor Infantantes Juriyah IV, awarded Weist control of the Outremer and the title of Imperial Magnate. Fearing Éador reprisal for usurping a man popular among their chieftains, Weist immediately relocated the capital from Wilder's Call to the Jurian Valley, though he resides in the greatly expanded Outremer Manorhouse in Harenholl save for cases where law requires his presence in the province.