The Gryphon Clerks: Mike Reeves-McMillan

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  • Newspapers

    The following newspapers exist:

    The Koskander: a supporter of Victory and, later (renamed as the Kosliner), of the Unification Party. Staff include Dependable Newswriter, who has charge of the gnome page, and Clarity Mercer, the production manager.
    The Gulfport Herald: a mouthpiece of the Tried and True Party
    The Eye of Lakeside: opposed the Realm Benefit Party before and during the Unification War, during which it was forced to relocate to Six Gorges Province because of a lack of newsprint in Lakeside Koslin. Edited by Abundance Northroad, a Localgold later appointed as Countygold of Lakeside Koslin.
    Realm Benefit: mouthpiece of the Realm Benefit Party, closed down after the Unification War. Boldness Newswriter was one of their reporters, and covered the Boulder Bend trial in Constance‘s court.
    Lantern of Koskant, Dawn Declarer: tabloid-style newspapers, aimed at the lower end of the Silver class but owned by members of the Tried and Trues.
    Illene Advertiser: a local paper in Illene.
    Illustrated Gnome News: founded by Ladle under the sponsorship of Hammer.

  • Music

    There are several styles of music.

    Copper peasant music includes dance music, with a steady thumping beat and a swirling melody; Heart and Bird, with a steady “heart” beat and a soaring melody, used in non-dancing contexts and as a trance practice; or folk song, with a repeating melody of limited range. Instruments include skin drums, stringed instruments such as the harp and the (guitar-like) ninestring, cranked humboxes, and pipes or flutes of various sizes.

    The Asterist temple teaches a very formal, crystalline choral music, sung a capella, descended from Elven models.

    Golds and Silvers often learn the orchestron, a hybrid instrument also inherited from the elves. It consists of long tubes (wood or, in modern instruments, often metal) with strings strung inside them, extending out so that the player can pluck the strings with the stems of small hammers, rub them with the backs of the hammers, hit them with the hammers, or hit the tubes with the hammers. A bellows arrangement also makes air available to blow through the tubes, controlled by the player’s feet on a set of pedals. This makes for a flexible, rich instrument of many timbres, used for melodies ranging from the formal temple music to the popular Copper-style music. The ninestring is also played.

    Beastheads use complex overlapping drum rhythms in their rituals, and chant chorally, typically most of the line on a single note with a change or flourish at the end.

    Gnomes chant responsively, the leader chanting verses while the backing chorus keep a four-beat by repeating short phrases interspersed with nonsense syllables. Leadership periodically changes.

  • Mindmagic

    The magic of the mind maps fairly well to the domain of psychology. It involves matters such as motivation, influence and perception.

    The most common mindmagic, familiar to everyone, is the magic of oaths, vows and geasa, behavioural bindings which are very difficult, though not impossible, to break. They create a powerful mental pressure to keep them, comparable to an obsession, compulsion or addiction if you are trying to break them, or a very powerful positive motivation if you’re not. Marriage oaths are the most common – marriage is referred to as “oathbinding” and one’s spouse as one’s “oathmate” – but oaths are also taken between master and servant, liege and vassal, close friends, even members of military units. There is often a physical focus or token for the oath, typically a finger-ring, though the military use arm-rings on the upper arm. Military arm-rings can be spelled to identify that the wearer is bound by a loyalty vow, and anyone from the rank of sergeant up who has taken the same vow will be sufficiently trained in mindmagic to be able to detect this from a distance of three or four paces.

    An oath of lifebond requires two witnesses and a “person of standing” to officiate, as well as the oathtakers (see Oathbond Ceremony), but a loyalty oath between master and servant requires only one witness and no officiant. Rings may be exchanged for loyalty oaths as well as for lifebonds.

    For oaths of alliance and allegiance the ring is worn on the right hand, for love and friendship on the left (the heart side). Coppers/Earthists often make their rings out of wood, and put them on prior to the oathbinding ceremony, while Silvers/Golds/Asterists make them out of metal (or rather, have dwarves do so for them) and put them on after making their vows.

    A well-made oath, with the assistance of a competent mindmage, added to familiarity and genuine emotion, gives the participants in the oath an enhanced sense of each other. They can’t read each other’s thoughts, but providing they’re reasonably nearby they’re aware of each other’s strong emotions and approximate physical location, even if they’re not able to see or hear each other.

    Similar to an oath is a geis. The difference between the two is that an oath is between two people, mutually agreed on and binds both of them, while a geis is imposed by someone in authority on another person, and binds only the recipient. The person who receives the geis must acknowledge the authority of the one who imposes it, and must be able to perform the action of the geis, and consent to it, even if reluctantly. Geasa may include aversions or actions which are forbidden as well as actions which are required.

    A vow is like a self-imposed geis. It is often, but not necessarily, witnessed by another person.

    An oath is often recorded on a beautifully drawn and calligraphed piece of paper, with geometric figures corresponding to the magic of the oath and recording it. These papers are typically produced in triplicate, and the two parties to the oath and the witness each keep one. The parties and the witness sign them, mark them with their personal seals or the seals of their rank or position (if they have any – typically this is something only a Gold or a wealthy Silver will have, unless they are a Gryphon Clerk), and thumbprint them. The act of doing so, along with the oath itself, produces a record on the paper that can be read by anyone who has any skill in mindmagic to verify that the oath is a true oath. Among illiterate Coppers, oaths are usually verbal unless they go to a scribe and pay to have an oath recorded.

    The seals (gold for a Gold, silver for a Silver) are themselves bespelled for this purpose.

    Another form of mindmagic is parallel to charisma. All natural leaders and influencers possess an aptitude for it, and if trained can enhance it and so increase their authority. The elves did not reveal everything they knew about this form of mindmagic to their human subjects, and it is not as well understood, or as effective, as oaths and geasa.

    The elves also possessed the knowledge of “glamour”, which is a form of mindmagic which influences the perceptions of those around the mage, in the mage’s favour. This art is considered lost.

    The final category of mindmagic crosses over with lifemagic, and is the use of trance states to perceive the world differently or to control one’s body processes. This knowledge is mostly preserved among shamans of the peasants’ Earthist religion, though the upper classes have kept the knowledge of sleep induction (through the Three Rituals of Sleep) and a form of learning trance.

    University-trained practitioners of mindmagic wear bracelets (etc.) of black wood, often elaborately carved in the case of the more advanced mages. Shamans wear only a single piece of cloth and are marked with a magical picture of their beast totem and (for full shamans) their plant totem, received during an ordeal of meditation.

    A magistrate is often also a mage-minor in mindmagic, or employs one. They can observe an oath, vow or geis taking effect for about 20 people at a time.

  • Military

    Following the elvish model, all forces are “joint” forces. There is no separate Navy or Air Force, since these are seen as parallel to the difference between infantry and cavalry – differences in the way people get around, not a reason to have a separate command structure.

    In the case of Koskant, all public safety and security forces are under the military command structure, including village, town or city wardens (police – along the lines of the French gendarmes, who are military – but also responsible for search and rescue, disaster response and organizing people in response to any threat, natural or human), court and prison officers, Golds’ bodyguards, coastal defence (including the fishing fleet, who are reservists), and the intelligencers of the Realmgold’s Agents.

    There is both a standing force, paid permanently, and a levy force or reserve, mostly wardens or warden deputies, who train periodically and are paid for the time they spend training or performing their duties in the case of a call-up. Permanents outrank levies of the same nominal rank.

    Military ranks literally translate as “Commander of…” and a number. In actual practice these numbers are approximate, and many officers have non-command duties. Numbers begin at 3 (a lance-corporal), and multiply by 3 at each level, following ancient elvish practice.

    A commander at most levels will only have two of the next lowest rank reporting to him or her, and will command the third group (of whatever size it is) directly.

    Rank insignia consists of a number of circles. After three small solid circles, the fourth insignia is one larger outlined circle, then a large and a small, a large and two small and so on.

    There are only ever three circles across the rank bar, which is worn on the right shoulder so that it can be seen from in front or behind. Smaller circles are set within the larger, and the arrangement is always symmetrical, so a single circle is centered, and a pair are set on either end.

    The background colour of the rank bar (and the inner area of the larger, outline circle) denotes service distinction. A copper bar indicates no particular distinction, a silver bar that the serviceperson has served commendably in the previous year and shown military virtue above the average, and a gold bar that the serviceperson has shown exceptional service, bravery or devotion to duty at some point in the past (unlike the silver distinction, it is not annual but for life).

    The colour of enamel of the rank circle denotes the kind of duties that the serviceperson holds. Commanders have dark blue symbols, their assistants light blue. Red indicates medical, white administrative, green logistics, and purple specialists.

    Symbols on the left shoulder indicate special training. For example, a ship’s wheel indicates a qualified steersperson, and a winged ship’s wheel a qualified pilot. The level of qualification is indicated by filled or hollow circles like the rank insignia, only smaller, along a bar at the bottom of the symbol. In theory this allows for 15 levels, although few if any skills actually have that many distinct levels.

    Specialities include:

    * Navigator (dividers, or winged dividers for air)
    * Mechanic
    * Sailing master
    * Small-boat sailor
    * Swordsman
    * Archer
    * Rifleman
    * Tactician
    * Strategist

    As well as the gold bar distinction, small circular medallions are issued to hang beneath the rank bar at the front. These may indicate distinguished service in particular campaigns, long service, or achievements such as bravery in the face of the enemy or in a natural disaster, rescuing comrades, wounds received in action and so forth. Like the rank symbols, they are hung in such a way that the total arrangement is always symmetrical and no more than three wide. See also Honours.

    Under the United Realm, day-to-day uniforms for both regular military and wardens are a pale grey-green colour. Dress uniforms, however, vary in colour, retaining the traditional colours based on the wearer’s specific service. For the regular military in former Koskant, this colour is blue; the Realm Agents have a black dress uniform, seldom used.

    Approximate equivalents to Earth/Western military ranks, and the theoretical number commanded:

    Private: 1

    Lance-corporal: 3

    Corporal: 9

    Sergeant: 27

    2nd lieutenant: 81

    Lieutenant: 243

    Captain: 729

    Major: 2187

    Lieutenant-Colonel: 6561

    Colonel: 19,683

    Brigadier: 59,049

    General: 177,147

  • Matter Magic

    The magic of matter is in shaping, refining, combining and transforming. The dwarves have an advanced materials science, though at this historical period they preserve ancient traditions rather than researching new techniques. Their materials are light and strong and exhibit other useful physical properties (insulation and conduction of light, sound, heat and other forms of energy, for example). They craft intricate devices and engines from these materials.

    A university-trained human practitioner of matter magic wears a metal bracelet (silver or pewter) set with a yellow stone, such as a citrine or, for the wealthy, a yellow diamond or sapphire. Matter magic is not an especially common subject for human study, but there are practitioners.

  • Magic

    There are a number of different magical systems, that number varying depending who you ask. See Elven Magic, Dwarven Magic.

    There are also several ranks of mage.

    Mages-minor can perform simple magic, make very basic magical devices, and operate more complex ones. A mage-minor is permitted to wear a bangle of a material that indicates the kind of magic he or she specializes in.

    A full mage, who can make complex magical devices and perform advanced magic, may wear a bracelet, again of different materials depending on the type of magic.

    A senior mage’s bracelet is edged in gold. “Senior mage” is a rank conferred by the Council of Mages once they are satisfied that the mage concerned is making a notable contribution to magic or has shown unusual skill.

    A High Mage wears a wider armlet or cuff. High Mages gain their standing through a combination of demonstrated skill and political seniority.

    The Master-Mage is the chief magical educator of a realm.

  • Loyalty Vow

    Determined offered his Golds two choices leading up to the Unification War: swear, and swear their troops, to a loyalty vow and put those troops effectively under realm command, or be attainted from their positions.

    The vow specified acting to keep the peace in defence of gnomes, dwarves or any other speaking being just as they would for humans, and not accepting orders that originated from anyone other than the legitimate government of the Realm of Denning.

    The vow was bound to, and detectable from, military armrings.

  • Lifemagic

    Lifemagic maps to the domains of medicine and biology. The old imperial elves were advanced practitioners, bioengineers who could create new species and combine human and animal traits into peoples like the beastheads and the centaurs, or combine different animals into creatures like the flying horses and the gryphons. Little of their ancient knowledge survives in the hands of humans, only enough for medical use.

    There are blurred boundaries between lifemagic and mindmagic, and between healers and mindhealers. A good healer will possess living insight, the ability to perceive the patient’s body processes, and the unseen touch, the ability to influence those processes (blood flow; cell division, growth and function; digestion; immune response; neurochemistry, to a degree, and glandular activity; and detoxification). Healers are also able to adjust their patients’ pain perception and initiate the Healer’s Sleep, a form of unconsciousness during which healing is accelerated. Non-healers can also learn to perform the Healer’s Sleep on willing patients, but full healers (and mindmages) can impose it without the patient’s cooperation.

    Some of the elves’ creations, like the medicine cattle which give pharmaceutical milk, have been preserved and even improved (by selective breeding), while others, like the process for turning the sap of a certain tree into a useful polymer called hardlac, have been lost.

    University-trained practitioners of lifemagic have bracelets of bone or ivory. Healers also wear a distinctive round hat.

  • Imagemakers

    Imagemakers are cameras that use a combination of chemical and magical techniques to produce their images.

    Their operators are known as imagetakers.

  • Honours

    The Realmgold awards both military and civilian honours.

    Silver honours indicate doing one’s duty, but especially well, while gold honours indicate going above and beyond one’s duty.

    An honour endorsed with a sun indicates bravery, and with a moon indicates intelligence.

    The award for Recognition of Injury in the Line of Duty is hexagonal. Third class (copper) is for an injury from which the person is expected to recover fully and be able to continue to serve (possibly with scars), second class (silver) for a permanent disability which would normally prevent further active service, and first class (gold) for loss of a limb or the use of a limb.

    Long in abeyance, the rank of Honour Gold fell out of use in Koskant because a cash-strapped realmgold was selling it to replenish his coffers. A famous political cartoon shows him saying to a fat merchant, “It’s quite simple: you give me the gold, and I give you the honour.” This was several generations back, however, and Victory plans to revive the rank, possibly in order to annoy the Gold class.