Halicourt

Halicourt makes up roughly half of Ascanthus' northern border. Its rigid society is ruled by an absolute monarch, and has remained relatively unchanged throughout its history.

Government
Halicourt is governed by its king, an absolute monarch. The Aylesburys have ruled the Kingdom of Halicourt throughout its recorded history. The current ruler is King Geoffrey of Aylesbury, age 52. The king's rule is aided by the Whitan, an assembly of the king's most trusted advisors.

The Aylesburys
Geoffrey of Aylesbury is the current head of the royal family; he is a severe man, well known for his fits of blind rage. The king has fathered two children, William, age 28, and Avelyn, age 20; the two children being from different mothers, both mothers perishing during childbirth. Unsurprisingly, rumors throughout the kingdom suggest that the man is cursed, or perhaps he murdered his wives himself.

William of Aylesbury, at the age of 17, was married to one Annemarie Dayton. They currently have no children.

Avelyn of Aylesbury has been betrothed to various suitors throughout her lifetime, and in the end every arrangement has been declined by her father. Currently, she is betrothed to Stephen of Coniston.

Geography
Halicourt lies in the northeast corner of Ascanthus, spanning along half of Ascanthus' northern border. The terrain of Halicourt is largely arable farmland, hilly and flat plains. The Mosel River seperates the Kingdom from the Northern Region, providing the only natural boundary between the two; the manmade line of watchtowers and keeps, originally commisioned to oversee the border, have now fallen into a state of disrepair. A low mountain range exists between Halicourt and Aturia. The capital, Aylesbury, isn't the largest city in the kingdom. However, Aylesbury is the most defensible city, its keep sitting atop the highest point of the plateu that the majority of the city rests upon. The inner city is protected by a stone wall 30 feet tall and 10 feet wide, while the outer regions of the city are protected by a wooden palisade. Bredon, the kingdom's only true trading city, houses at least twice that of the capital.

Society
Her nobles are honorable, and their offspring are often presented with a sword at their birth. Their birth sword is meant to be the first thing the child grasps, after which it is hung over the child's bed until they are old enough to train with it. Men are expected to become warriors, forcing some who wish for a different life to leave the kingdom. Women are expected to conform to a traditional role, although many find the life at home dull and become soldiers, especially among the nobility. It is interesting to note that although most female warriors come from the nobility, it is from their families and other nobles where they find the most hostility. There are even those females who were raised as a boy from birth, possibly because their parents were desperate for a son. Noble courtesy is for the most part only extended to those that are well off, such as rich merchants and the high born. However, the courtly life of the gentle born and the relatively easy life of tradesmen and merchants rests on the hardships of the peasantry. There is no law keeping a peasant from joining the ranks of the knights, being granted land and title, or becoming a merchant. Knighthood is still very much an old boy's club, however, and many peasants who finally make it to the station find themselves beaten and bloodied. Indeed, every peasant who has been granted land and title has experienced a mysterious and often fatal "accident".

Social Unrest
The peasants of Halicourt are tired of living under the boot of the nobility. They're tired of watching those that claw their way to the top crumble to nothing due to the arrogance of the nobles. Peasant revolts are common. At least once a year the peasantry rises up in one way or another. For the most part, they are isolated. However, civil war is looming on the horizon. Royalists want to maintain the status quo. Things have always been this way, why change a good thing? Reformers, including a decent amount of the nobility, want varying aspects of the government to change. Radicals, mostly peasants and some of the middle class, would prefer to do away with the nobility altogether, forcing many would be reformers into the royalist camp. However, it is safe to say that most Reformer nobles aren't supporting the rebellion because they see the plight of the lower classes. If the king yields in this uprising he will have to give up power, to both the nobility and the peasantry, and more power is always seen a beneficial.

King Geoffrey has no intent on giving up power to the peasantry, and it would require a rather large amount of lords to put pressure on him for the king to change any part of his government. A Constitutional Monarchy is not outside of reason, and for many lords it would grant them more power, at the expense of the king. Geoffrey is a harsh man, putting peasant revolts down swiftly and ruthlessly, preferring to string up anyone suspected of supporting the revolt than letting any slip through his fingers. Although this ensures that the majority of those revolting are no longer a problem, it has begun to anger the lower aristocracy as it results in many dead peasants.

The king's eldest, William, is in support of his father, at least publicly. The king's daughter's sympathies are believed to lie with the reformers, and she has been kept on a short leash. Her betrothed, Stephan Coniston, is firmly in the reformation camp. His father, Earl Gavin Coniston, is a staunch supporter of the king and a member of the Whitan.

Clothing
Clothing in Halicourt is important, and the style of dress the nobility adopts eventually finds its way, in simpler forms of course, to the lower classes. The nobles are quite fond of bright, lively colors; usually wearing clothing in the colors of their family's coat of arms. Vivid dye is expensive, however, and subdued hues are more common among the peasantry.

Ankle boots and shoes are the most common footwear for everyday life, although knee high, and even thigh high, boots are becoming increasingly common. Laces are not as regularly utilized as buckles. Pointed toes are all the rage, currently. However, most nobles are aware that taking pointiness to extremes is not terribly practical.

Tight fitting trousers are the latest fashion among men, a recent development allowing them to actually wear full trousers as opposed to tying their close fitting stockings to their belts. Loose pants are still a common sight, especially among the lower classes.

Doublets are undoubtedly the most frequently worn outer garment for men. They come in differing styles, and it all depends on the wearer's taste which one they prefer. Puffed shoulders and slashed sleeves are becoming an increasingly common fashion, and the thigh length doublets and tunics of yesteryear are dying out quickly among the upper classes. The two main body styles of doublets differ in the fact that one is fashioned to be worn open, and the other closed. Regardless, an undershirt is worn with both, and it is frowned upon if one goes without it.

Traditional clothing for women is of course, the gown; although many women choose to not wear the loose fitting garment when traveling or when it is otherwise impractical.. The vast majority are cut long, usually ankle length or longer. The puffed shoulders and slashed sleeves are as popular with the fairer sex as they are with men. In the past female clothing etiquette dictated that practically no skin be exposed; just as men's doublet skirts were once longer in order to cover their exposed underwear, as the stockings did little to hide them. This is not the case anymore, shorter sleeves and lower cut tops swiftly becoming the norm. Headcoverings, once extremely popular among the upper class women, have fallen out of fashion within the last ten years. It is quite common to observe the daughters of High Lords and other noblewomen wearing long, tight fitting gloves when interacting with the lower classes and when in an extremely formal setting.

Nobility
For more information see: Halian Nobility and Halian Etiquette

The nobility are the land owners of Halicourt. They dispense justice and protect those that reside within their lands. They are divided into two tiers, the upper and lower nobility. Nobles in Halicourt do not necessarily pledge fealty to their king, unless the king is their liege lord. A nobleman may break his oath, but it is incredibly dangerous for one to do so unless they have proof that their liege broke his own oath to protect his vassal.

Lower Nobility
The lower nobility, commonly referred to as the local lords or baronets, even though not all hold the title, are the nobility most commonly seen in the eyes of the common man. This usually, but not always, results in the local lords being more personable to the peasants than the upper nobility. These nobles are those who own and manage the countless estates in Halicourt; their main source of income being the taxes they collect from the peasants they hold as tenants. They do not hold yeomen as tenants, as these freemen own the land they work. What seperates the local lord from the yeoman is the amount of land he owns, the fact that local lords are allowed to rent land to commoners, and that one of them holds a noble title.

The lower nobility pledge vows of fealty to lords of the upper nobility, namely the Arls, Barons, and Thanes; although they can be found swearing fealty to other local lords.

Upper Nobility
The upper nobility are those nobles that hold a title higher than that of baronet, the highest possessed by a local lord. Those families who have acquired massive tracts of land but still hold the title of baronet are also included in this tier. These high lords commonly hold lower nobles in a vow of fealty, using them to more easily control the great amount of land that is under their care while promising to protect the retainer from enemies.

Thanes are lords that historically held land on the southern bank of the Mosel River. These lords are often referred to as Marcher Lords, as their lands are on the Kingdom of Halicourt's northern marches, or the northern frontier.

The upper nobility pledge fealty to eachother or the king. Barons, the lowest on the social order, commonly hold land for Arls, but that is not always the case. Thanes are the opposite, the majority pledging fealty to the king himself. Arls, of course, are the highest ranking nobles and swear fealty to the monarch.

Great Houses
The Great Houses are a subset of the upper nobility, but are higher on the scale. These are the nobles, no matter the title they hold, that have been important since the founding of the Kingdom of Halicourt, and are second only to the royal family. These men and women are commonly found as part of the king's advisors, the Whitan.

Military
With a smaller ratio of noble to peasant than Cantaras, Halicourt doesn't have the ability to field the amount of heavy cavalry as its sister state.. What the Kingdom of Halicourt does have, however, is a large and relatively well trained peasant class. The martial tradition in the kingdom stretches down to even the lowliest peasant, who is required to report for drill four times a year; usually consisting of the peasant being handed a spear and training in how to keep in formation. The yeomen, freemen who either own a relatively small plot of land or are a member of Halicourt's small merchant society, are required to own, at the very least: a padded jacket, a bow, and a dagger. The more well off yeomen make up the kingdom's light cavalry.

With a majority of the population being at least mediocre in the art of warfare, Halicourt is able to draw upon vast amounts of manpower when the call from the king is heard. During a relatively minor outbreak of violence, such as a peasant revolt, the nobles in the districts immediately threatened will call their Carrants, the milita, and unite under the most senior noble in the vicinity. Although the Halicourt peasant formations can hold ranks against a stronger foe longer than that of her sister states, given time they will falter, and it is still up to her cavalry to break a stalemate.

However, it is during these peasant revolts that the system shows its flaws. A relatively disciplined group of men, armed with spears, and able to hold a semblance of a formation have been known to repulse the charge of the upper class heavy horse. Sadly, the poor leadership of the peasants has thus far always been the downfall of any uprising.

Religion
Halicourt generally adheres to the same religion as every other country within Ascanthus. Formally acknowledging all of the gods and Criador as the creator, Halicourt's patron deity is Iasult. Iasult is said to be an older, gentle woman filled with kindness. She is generally regarded to be the goddess of healing and charity, which is ironic considering the present state of Halicourt's society.

Although Criador's followers are fewer in number than Iasult's, the Highfather has a rather sizeable following in the kingdom.

Major Players in the Civil War
Not all the High Lords of Halicourt have committed to either the Reformation or the Crown, many choosing to instead wait and see which side comes out on top. The following are the High Lords that have mobilized forces in the civil war.

Reformers
The lords of the rebellion are a diverse lot. Many do not fight due to the plight of the lower classes. Instead, it is merely a power grab, aimed at reducing the reach of the crown. Regardless, commoners have flocked to the banners of these High Lords, and the infantry of the reformers outnumber that of the royalists. However, the reformer lords do not possess the funds of the royalists, and cannot afford much in the way of mercenaries. They rely mostly on large formations of moderately skilled spearmen and other assorted foot, backed up by light cavalry of the yeomanry, and a relatively small, yet hard hitting force of heavy horse.

His Lordship Simon of Mountford - Arl of Bredon; Leader of the Rebels; Former Member of the King's Whitan

His Lordship Stephen of Coniston - Son of Arl Gavin Coniston; Heir to the Arldom of Coniston; Hanged in Aylesbury for treason

Her Ladyship Roselyn of Durham - Baroness of Durham

His Lordship Harlan Griffith- Baron of Penrith

Her Ladyship Allison Hadley - Baroness of Leyburn

Royalists
The lords that support the crown do so for differing reasons. Tradition, promises of land, or even just to keep the smelly peasants in their place. King Geoffrey's coffers have been exhausted on the hiring of mercenaries, in order to supplement the pathetic condition of his supporters' Carrants. In an open battle the footmen of the Carrants and mercenaries would provide the backbone of a royalist army, while a large force of armored knights stand ready to exploit any weakness in the rebel lines.

His Majesty Geoffrey of Aylesbury - King of Halicourt; Leader of the Royalists

His Royal Highness William of Aylesbury - Heir to the Kingdom of Halicourt

His Lordship Gavin of Coniston - Arl of Coniston; Member of the King's Whitan

His Lordship Bryant Dayton - Baron of Kentfort

His Lordship Gilmore Bolton - Thane of Hexham

His Lordship Roland Crawley - Baron of Todmorden

Her Ladyship Gillian of Brighton - Arlessa of Southwell

His Lordship Leonard of Telford - Thane of Aldeburgh