The next four days passed in a whirlwind. They were filled with shopping, hiring of my store’s staff. I use store rather than clinic, since clinic doesn’t translate. Mostly furniture shopping, since I had to buy for both my residence and the store. Shopping allowed me to become more familiar with Forest Glen’s market districts.
I also hired Ms. Fabia Tome to be my office manager. She is a tall, well-muscled, and confident middle-aged woman. She had excellent credentials and a cheerful personality. She is responsible for both my personal and business calendar and works out of the store. Oh yeah, she is also a spy for the Earl. Or for Ruberm. It doesn’t matter. She is actually a squire assigned to me by the Earl. She is quite happy for the assignment, because she gets paid twice, once from me, and once from the Earl. I also cured her arthritis, which had prevented her from using her shield in battle. Lastly, I received a note from Ruberm inviting me to a dinner at the Earl’s residence.
I also used the shopping excursions to covertly get more information about the world of Tellus Nova. The continent I am on is called Pancea. There are three major countries, Kingdom of Decharte, The Empire, and Stugertia. The Kingdom is a hereditary monarchy. The Empire is a military junta. Stugertia is ruled by a Royal Duke. However, the ducal position is not hereditary. When the current Duke dies (because apparently retirement is not a thing here) an election selects the next Duke. There is also the Alliance of Free States, which is a loose federation of small countries with mutual defense commitments. The known civilized areas accounted for less than 30% of the continent. The rest was monster infested lands of dooms according to the local populace.
As you can imagine, the Alliance is a pretty chaotic place. They tend to have minor conflicts with each other and internal revolutions. Stugertia is fairly stable for the populace but is chaotic for the nobility, as the only way to become Duke is for the former Duke to die. Assassination is a common way for a Duke to depart this life. The Empire is stable for the civilians. Leadership is based on merit and achievements. Apparently, the only reason The Empire doesn’t rule the entire continent is because the leadership tends to sabotage each other. While there is no overt fighting between commands, many campaigns have failed because of logistical sabotage from other leaders. It’s hard to fight a war without arrows or food. The closer to victory, the more likely the sabotage. However, if any outside agency attacks, then the leadership pulls together and destroys the attacker. If fact, the last time The Empire expanded was because it was attacked by “bandits” from a neighboring country. The war was quick, brutal and resulted in a new province joining The Empire.
The Kingdom of Decharte is the most stable government. The King is the sole leader. All royal nobility answer to him, and all others answer to the royal nobility. Royal nobility consists of King, Crowned Prince, Royal Duke, Prince/Princess, and Grand Dukes, in that order. Each Royal also has a job associated with their position. Consider them government department heads, like Secretary of State in the US. The nonroyal nobility (Duke, Earl, Count, Viscount, Baron) have two categories, Landed and Unlanded. The Landed nobles, like the Earl Donnert, report to the Crowned Prince, while the Unlanded nobles are given positions under the other Royals or Landed Nobles. Finally, lesser nobility Baronets, Knights, Dames, and Esquires are called gentry. The gentry work for either Landed Nobility helping them govern and defend their territory, or for the Royals in a lesser position. All nobles have the class Noble along with a second class. The second class is varies depending on their position. However, the Knights and Dames have to have a combat-oriented class, because they are required to defend their country, province, and the nobility.
The Earl of Renovolt is a dual class lord. He has the class Noble, and a combat class of Guardian. He is the highest leveled combat class in Renovolt at level 40. A landed noble with a combat class is a rarity, and one with a level over 20 is almost unheard of. Mikael was an outlier because his county was at the edge of the Untamed Forest, which is a monster infested forest. Mikael is often called to defend his city from waves of monsters and has risen to his current level because of it. He is often called away to defend other cities in his county also. Monster waves are predictable weeks in advance, so this give him time to travel to where he is needed. However, since his class is Guardian, he must be protecting something important to him or people for his full capabilities to be available. If protecting both, then his power is at its peak. If neither, then he his power is halved. Mikael is a fair and impartial leader. His taxes are enough to fund the government but not overburden the public. He judges matters brought before him on the facts, not on the status of the petitioners. However, he does not tolerate disrespect for himself or his nobles. Disrespect can result in fines, beating, and/or imprisonment. Well, nobody’s perfect, I guess.
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Martial classes are not very common outside of the nobility and adventurers. The vast majority of classes are non-combat, such as seamstress, tailor, cook, blacksmith, miner, etc...
In the kingdom the highest-level combat class is a level 45 Beast Master. The Empire is said to have a level 45 Soldier, while Stugertia has a level 40 Cavalier. The highest level one can obtain is level 50. That is in either combat or noncombat class. Noncombat classes tend to be lower than combat classes because they are time consuming and resource intensive to level after level 10. There is only 1 level 50 craftsman, and that is Kayla. Kayla was a prodigy from the age of 5. She was groomed by the Kings court and provided with whatever resource she needed to progress. With her talent and abundant resources, she was able to climb the level ladder. Her defensive robes were sought out by mages and priest of high rank, providing her with more resources. In the end she was able to climb from level 40 to 50 without the aid of the Kings court because of the ridiculous amount of money people were willing to pay for her items. When she hit level 50, she went into seclusion for three months. When she returned, she presented the King with a full set of Royal Robes. The robes sparkle with magic, but no one knows what magic they contain, only that it is very powerful. Now, she only takes custom orders that she finds interesting.
Class levels provide two stat increases. One to a specific stat based on the class, the other to wherever the person wants to allocate. When a person hits the max cap on the class stat, each following level provides two unallocated stats. If a Warrior started with a base 5 strength, he would max out the strength stat at level 11. At level 12, he would get the two unallocated stats. The human base stat is 5 in each category. This varies by 1 or 2 points based on the individual. Reaching level 50 provides 3 unallocated stats, allowing the person to maximize each category. If the person is already at max stats, the person can either get a new skill at level 1 or improve a current skill up to a max skill level of 10. Skill selection is dependent upon the class. So even though I am at level 1, I have the stats of a level 50.
Combat classes can be levelled with training until level 5, then require a combination of real life fighting against monsters and additional training. The kingdom’s level 45 Beast Master is a retired adventured, who now runs a school for beginning adventurers. Adventurers are those that go into the uncivilized areas (aka Wildlands) looking for treasure, loot, and rare ingredients. Drops from monsters give both experience and loot. Loot can be anything from claws to epic weapons depending on the rarity of the monster. The Beast Master’s last run into the Wildlands was with a party of 10 adventurers from level 30 to 40. Apparently, they ran into a dragon’s territory and didn’t have enough to pay tribute. The dragon attacked. The Best Master was the only adventurer to return, and he barely made it at that. He had been beaten unconscious and was being carried away by his Great Ape companion. All his other companions sacrificed themselves to delay the dragon, while the Great Ape fled. When the Great Ape reached Toverville, he handed the Beast Master to the gate guards and then died. He was covered in defensive wounds. All of the Beast Master’s companions gave their lives to delay the dragon, while trying to get their master to safety. A heroic sacrifice that the Beast Master honors by teaching beginning adventurers how to survive.
The last thing I found out was that magic healers were nonexistent. There are rumors about them, but no one has ever seen one. There were potions and scrolls that provided limited magical healing, but they were very rare finds and accordingly expensive. Priests can cast resistance spells, which can help overcome poisons and diseases, but did nothing for wounds. Healers are close to Earth’s medieval doctors. Bandages, herbal remedies, and tooth pulling were the extent of their capabilities. Apparently, I am the only one with healing spells. This could be either a huge benefit or a major drawback. Hell, it was probably both.
