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In order to hold this territory intact, the ruler of Tudor must be an accomplished strategist. Alliances which cause problems with either of his neighbors (McMannon and Lethbridge) at one time had to be avoided since they were his only outlet to the Dread Sea. Lethbridge has since granted a corridor of land to Tudor, giving it its own sea access for the first time.
A political system has developed in Tudor which is unique among the Duchies. That is, the Duke is not chosen merely by lineal descent. Each Duke hand picks his successor, and is free to do so from the entire population of Tudor. The intent is to choose the wiliest and most devious man in the land as the one most likely to keep Tudor intact. Over the years the same family has managed to keep control and the ruling Duke is the head of that family. The current Duke, Benrus Charles Fenton d'Tudor, doesn't have as much of a stomach for outright scheming as did his predecessor, but he is still better than average.
Swope has maintained fairly tight control of the church in Tudor, although his hold has been weakened recently in Kansas with the untimely death of Bishop Charles Weiss. Weiss, Karl Schmidt in Fairfield, and William Peavy in Shire, all took their positions shortly after Swope assumed power, and together have developed an extensive old-boy's network that pervades the Church in Tudor.
Peavy is currently lobbying to be transferred to Kansas, as he has a successor lined up in Shire and has not-so-hidden aspirations to become the next Archbishop after Swope. Swope holds Peavy in high esteem and believes him to be a patient man, so he'd have gone along with the plan without question had Schmidt not threatened to go over Swope's head to the Pope himself. Neither Schmidt nor his favorites have been under consideration by Swope for the position, due to Schmidt's tendencies towards extremism and his inability to properly manage what he already has -- Swope frequently has to intervene (or believes that he has to) in Fairfield Church matters in order to keep Benrus and the Merchant Guild happy.
Swope has not been particularly tolerant of heresy in Tudor, but economic necessity and Benrus' influence has kept it from having an adverse impact on trade with Karn and the tribes of the southern wastelands. Swope's attitudes reflect those of the majority of Tudor's inhabitants fairly well. They are firm believers, but they also very much appreciate the influx of wealth that recent trade has brought.
Peavy is potentially far more "liberal" than Swope, although he has stayed strictly within Swope's wishes to-date. Should Peavy gain significantly in influence, perhaps even to the point of supplanting Swope, sweeping reforms will no doubt be the order of the day. Rumor has it that Peavy has thrown his lot in with Kirtley and Friedrich in the ducal heir sweepstakes, while Swope seems to have a better relationship with Gillium and Herbert. Much of Peavy's (and Friedrich's!) hopes for advancement ride on successful exploitation of trade with the south. Economic prosperity for the citizenry of Tudor would definitely illustrate the benefits of his more liberal policies. These policies, as well as promises of future concessions, have also earned him the support of the powerful Guilds.
Claw activity in Tudor has been very modest to-date, perhaps because of the sparsity of it's population and it's relative political insignificance.
In accordance with the abundance of iron and increase in trade, the skill of Smithing has been elevated to a fine art. Ironically it may well be that if Tudor is ever overrun it will be done with weapons it forged. On the other hand, the quality of this ore and the workmanship involved in making their weapons is a very good reason for the Council to make sure that no overly strong power holds this land. Thus, Tudor must be kept small, manageable and intact.
Tudor's trade situation has been changing over the last few years. There have always been stories told of a wealthy port city beyond the southwest desert. Some of the tellers of tales even claimed to have seen it, but since their stories seemed too fantastic to be true, and quite often conflicted with each other, no-one thought much of it. That all changed when a delegation from the City-State of Karn arrived to begin trade negotiations with Benrus. For the longest time, nothing ever seemed to come of these negotiations, other than more rumors of trouble in the Kansas village of Wittich. Benrus would never confirm or deny that the two events were related, but it was noticed that active investigation of trade possibilities only began when an entirely new delegation arrived. From that point, things began to move swiftly.
One of the keys to the success of trade with Karn has been securing safe passage thru the southern desert. The effort to achieve this goal was spearheaded by one of the Duke's sons, Friedrich Gustav. Friedrich successfully negotiated agreements with the more stable elements of the desert tribesmen, and established a mounted Legion for the protection of merchant caravans travelling the route. It is rumored in some circles that while some of the desert tribes would not agree to actually assist Tudor in it's enterprise, they were successfully persuaded to be particularly harsh on any of Tudor's potential competitors that they should happen to run across.
Herbert, Benrus' eldest son and Friedrich's prime competition for succession, has been handling the external politics of the new trade route quite well. He has introduced the concept to the peers of the realm, and gifted more than a few with some of the exotic valuata. Herbert and Gillium are, however, concerned that Friedrich is getting more mileage out of this than Herbert is, so their enthusiasm has dropped off somewhat.
Military
Militarily, Tudor has been no great power. The small population and historic lack of wealth leave them without much in the way of knights or other heavy troops. Instead they have specialized in light cavalry and archers, using a special metal bow designed by the people of the area. These troops are not numerous, but are well-equipped and can be surprisingly effective against the heavier armored groups.
The establishment and deployment of a Southern Desert Legion under Friedrich's nominal command and funded by the Trader's Guild is a recent exception to the "no great power" concept. This new force is not viewed as a threat by the other Dukes due to the remoteness of it's duty station.
The men of the Legion are well trained, well paid, and quickly become well experienced. Membership in the Legion is starting to take on a legendary glow, so there is no dearth of applicants. Unfortunately quite a few applicants are needed, as many do not survive for long, and there are currently 11 semi-permanent encampments to maintain along the route. Both Karnish mercenaries and the occasional desert tribesman are a part of the group, but York natives provide the bulk of the new recruits. The current bottleneck is training, as the tribesmen who perform this service are few and somewhat temperamental.
On the northwest border stands an abandoned town once called Granville. No one remembers why it was abandoned but the locals figure that it had to be a good reason, so they leave it alone.
Shire county does not really have what you would call a county seat, or much of a say in the politics of the duchy. It's only representative in the capital city fell victim to a hunting accident about a year ago, and the position has remained unfilled. Bishop Peavy seems to have matters well in hand.
To the southeast of Shire county at the beginnings of a river in the foothills of the Tudor range of `hills' there stands a little-known trading post. This post is run most of the time by a young elf named Monigrill. In reality, it is owned by a dwarf named Thomas who drinks and gambles a lot. Monigrill keeps the place running when he is not arguing with Thomas. This post has a trading agreement with a merchant, Mordekai, the owner of Delights in York, and receives and sends occasional shipments via a vessel called the Stuttering Siren, run by a Captain Stubing. All involved have been doing quite well lately.
A small range of mountains cuts from southwest to northeast across the center of this land. It forms a natural border for the next two larger counties. This border is hotly contested, however, because it contains several very rich veins of iron. Peavy's using this to point up the need for the kind of reforms he's brought to Shire in Kansas.
Very soon afterward, he announced discovery of his iron mines. The row that ensued among the other Kings was tremendous. On the one hand, they couldn't allow just any old Duke to step up and proclaim himself a King. That just wouldn't do. But on the other hand, they did not want the richest and purest iron mines in the land to fall into McMannon's hands. So, after much discussion, the Kingdom of Tudor was formed. There are still some bad feelings between the family of McMannon and the Lord of Tudor over this incident, but that has been many years ago and it doesn't have that great an effect on trade and such anymore.
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