BLARG, STOP EATING MY LONG POSTS FIREFOX.
The past few years had engendered large changes in Hinor society. The largest and most important one was the invention of trade, and the introduction of a currency. Despite everyone getting paid the same amount for work, irrelevent of weather they are a farmer or a general, labor leaders (Labor in ljus faller is in 100 man squads, with labor leaders getting orders about what needs to be done, then they do it, they are responsible for making sure their people get fed/paid, and that they aren't skipping work) were able to use the benefits and responsibilities of their position and their connections to be able to amass a large amount of wealth. The economic disparity that ensued was the first of its kind in Ljus Faller, with the labor leaders generally having ten or twenty times the amount of money and luxury goods as a common laborer, and making more then even the millitary leaders in the senate.
In order to protect their positions from the Senate, and to stop others from gaining as much wealth, the labor leaders form the Merchant's Guild.
The military maintains control, because even the most critical see that a military is necessary to protect the city, especially in light of the recent giant invasion. Despite the new Merchant's guild probably having enough power to seize control, it would leave the city severely weakened, in addition to which the Guild has no desire to run the city, instead preferring to focus on their function within society (eg. labor leader), and acquiring more wealth.
While the military doesn't like the Guild, and the differences in wealth, their is little they can do without causing a complete (if temporary) shutdown of society, due to the fact that all the members are labor leaders, and without them production would largely grind to a halt.
The laborer's have a disdain for the Guild, but they are unable to do anything outright against them, as they essentially control the means of production and the resources (since if you don't work you don't eat, they can choose to blacklist someone, and if they don't work for any labor leader, then they basically can't eat for the duration), although they haven't abused their power as labor leaders, they probably would if they were pressed into a corner.
Soon the Guild was the equal to the Senate in power, despite having no formal powers and not having the ability to craft laws or imprison anyone.
Lucien had managed to figure out a little bit of Lore besides that used to turn the sun amber into charms, and was able to use it to call The Shaman's mind back from where ever it had been. The Shaman's trance ended slowly, months passed as his consciousness spiraled upwards out of the abyss, slowly at first then faster. His mind had been gone for a long time, and in that time it had wandered far, when it returned he was weakened, and his memory of the time fragmented, but his strength would return, and with it his Lore and possibly even his Name.
The Shaman looked at Lucien, and saw a Mantle of intellect on his shoulders. It was vast, and surely expanded his mental powers dozens of times over. It explained how he had been able to find the lore to rescue him, constructing complex and hidden magic without any prior understanding of how it worked, and how he had essentially single handedly propelled the Hinor forward.
Two kinds preferably, Mantle's and Wardic Magic (note, they have other kinds of magic, but they are essentially non-combat)
Hinor will give mantles to someone else subconsciously (eg. a warrior will give a mantle of Endurence to another warrior, sapping his Endurence slightly, and improving the other's by the same amount), getting two or three has almost no effect, but it can result in leaders getting a large bonus to a attribute when they get dozens or hundreds. A Hinor can only use one at a time, and with sufficient Lore can switch between the ones he possesses. They are generally given if you attribute a certain trait to that person (eg. as the leader of the library, Lucien has a large mantle of intellect, because others believe that he is extremely smart, and at the same time, it makes him smarter, which largley justifies their belief in him).
Wards are drawn or scratched/carved/etched, they can have a wide variety of effects, and can be drawn on armor for extra defense (from pure magic, elemental attacks, or pure physical attacks), or on weapons for extra offense (eg, wards keeping the spear from breaking, keeping the spearhead strong, keeping a sword sharp). They can also be used to contain powerful magic within a item, that are built up over time and released when triggered. This is especially useful because despite generating magical power rapidly the Hinor have almost no magical reservoir, so this allows a hinor access to far more power then they would be able to draw upon for a short duration.
The upside to this is that if a Hinor mage has enough stored magical power in enough items, he can last extremely and be very dangerous in a fight, the downsides is that if caught unaware they have almost no powers, or if they lose their weapon (shackling a Hinor mage and taking away his staff will make him nearly impotent in combat). It also takes a long time to make the wards properly, and requires someone skilled in Lore to make them.
Zat good?
Blarg, that took a long time writing, sorry for not doing it sooner, wasn't really sure what to do.
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Topic: At the Dawn of Time discussion thread (Need a replacement player!) (Read 57942 times)