There are three basic classes in the Mercian feudal society:

• Aristocracy is comprised of the nobles (those who fight), and the clerics (those who pray). Players who take nobleborn are considered aristocracy.

• Freemen are freeholders and townsmen not legally bound to their land and lord, but of those, the guilded professionals are almost always financially better off than those working as simple laborers. They comprise most of the urban population of the Kingdom’s towns. Most players are freemen.

• Serfs are unfree peasants who hold few legal rights, and comprise most of the rural population of Kingdom of Mercia. Few players are serfs.

To think of Mercian (speaking of the Kingdom as a whole, Andal, Medici and Portcross included) nobles as a bunch of weak, fancily dressed degenerates who are treated better than everyone else only because they were born to the status, would generally be both very far from the truth and, should one think so aloud, suicidal. For some of the Gentle status this might be true, but most noblemen are knights and have received rigorous martial training at an early age, are allowed to carry chivalrous arms and armor, ride warhorses, and are more than capable of leading (and beating) lesser men in combat. Many are also familiar with administrative side of maintaining their fiefs, familiar with agriculture and animal husbandry. Practically all are baptized Laranians.

Knighthood is the prequisite for hereditary titles such as Lord, Baron, Earl, Count or Duke (the King is also the Duke of Mercia). Most knights are Knights Bachelor and end up as retainers of great nobles, enter Laranian fighting-orders, the college of heralds, or may even become high-class mercenaries or adventurers. Those low enough in the family’s pecking order, or whose talents lie elsewhere often join clergy or the Priory. Yet a few (often considered the black sheep of the family) will not find a suitable career. Without a knighthood, a noble’s gentle status will sadly, but by design, lapse with the next generation. Women are simply expected to be married away as part of the political games of noble families, but some will break this norm and pursue a career in a church, Priory, or even manage to become knighted the same way their male counterparts do.

• Prince/Princess
• Duke/Duchess
• Count/Countess (Earl)
• Viscount/Viscountess
• Baron/Baroness
• Knight (Sir, Ser)

Most players who are nobleblood should come from lesser families. If they had a great level of status in Mercia, why would they move to Denshy, a colony? It is possible however that social ties within the family or humiliation have sent a noble of higher standing into hiding at the colony.

Also note, sons and daughters do not have titles. To be the son or daughter of Count Daius, would not give you any title such as Lord or Lady. Such titles are reserved for the actual Count and his wife. Most sons will have the title “Sir” or “Ser” if knighted; most daughters will have no title. It is, however, polite and a courtasy to address other nobles, even if they lack the title, as “Lord” and “Lady”.

Things to mention in the app are your home province, the status of your family (hereditary titles and estates, number of siblings, etc.), your status in the family (sibling rank, are you the clanhead and titleholder, or how strong is your claim to the inheritance), your squirehood or other education, your knighting, etc. Describing or even designing your House’s coat or arms is always a good idea. Note that the amount of Dukes of the Realm is limited to a single digit, with Earls and Barons being more numerous but still limited; this will be considered when reviewing the application. Also, a character with title and estates should have a very good reason to leave them behind and travel to Denshy.

Entering the church is a popular career choice for the second (or later) sons and daughters of nobility, or for devout characters of lesser birth. Larani is the obvious and most popular choise for nobles, Haelyn draws most of her priestesses from the daughters of guildsmen or urban rich and middle-class, and most (however, not all) Myrans have humble rural roots. The social status of a clergyman is hard to categorize, and depends on the deity, church office held, and his or her origins. The Archbishop of the Church of Larani is socially second only to the King, and his power and influence are in some ways greater. A Myran village priest holds little influence outside his “flock”. A priest of any rank, however, can expect to be treated with hospitality and respect wherever they go. Indeed, all three recognized churches (Larani, Myra, Haelyn) and their clergymen and women are under protection of the King’s Law, applicable anywhere in the Kingdom (including Denshy). Should a member of the clergy feel their faith being disrespected or worse, they may call upon the local secular authorities to punish blasphemers or end the heresy.

Most clergy members are admitted into their respective churches at the age of 13-14, where they begin as acolytes in a temple of abbey, doing menial labor, learning obedience, necessary skills, church dogma, rituals, etc. Some enter the church at an older age. After passing the tests of priesthood (usually after 5-7 years of acolyte training), they become fully ordained clerics of their faith and are ready to settle into their various duties. The upper echelons of the churches are often very political offices, the mundane wealth and influence of high priests and bishops often rivalling those of secular Lords.

• Lord Archbishop
• Cardinal
• Bishop
• Canon
• Priest/Priestess
• Brother/Sister

Most players would be either Brothers (unordained monks and friars) or Priests (ordained religious figures). It is possible to ascend in religious title, but it would make more sense for that to happen with your character while in Denshy, not before he left for the colony.

Childhood, early religious influences, acolytehood and any subsequent events should be detailed in the app. Most characters begin as young ordained priests of their faith, but could well be still acolytes (especially if you’re not sure how to RP a priest well enough), or more experienced and higher ranking priests (with a good app, of course). Skillwise, Faith and Ritual will be the prequisites for clerical magic (prayers, rituals, divine intervention calls), as well as the witchblood background.

Townsmen are divided into two major classes, guilded and unguilded. Legally, both are freemen, but guildsmen are almost certainly better off economically and socially. Guilds possess legal monopolies in virtually all significant commercial and professional activities, and they dominate the economic activities of a town. The status is not hereditary, but apprenticeships are most often granted to eldest offspring of a Master. As of now, of all Mercian guilds, only the Priory (Mage’s guild) is active in Denshy, but most Denshian craftsmen have been apprentices under a guilded master and are technically Journeymen of their guild, or even Masters unable to acquire a franchise on the mainland.

Guildsmen are often the most wealthy, most valuable and most respected members of the community. They are sometimes ‘bonded’ to the service of a noble or some organization; more often they own a franchise alone or with their partners to run a business of their own. Apprentices work for food and board, and in exhange for tutelage of their master. The apprenticeship period depends on the complexity of the craft and varies from guild to guild, but the apprentice is made a Journeyman usually in 4-8 years. Journeymen usually work from master to master, honing their craft until enough masters are willing to sponsor them and the guild decides to promote them to Master. Guildsmen usually worship the Deity most closely associated with their craft. Haelyn is the obvious choise for most urban guildsmen, but weaponcrafters and others working with nobles and military are more likely to be faithful to Larani, and so are the crafters put off by the hedonistic side of Haelyn happy with being devoted to Myra.

Dark Age II’s economy is fully player run, so it’s largely the responsibility of crafter/merchant PCs in collaboration with the town officials to make it work. Giving up your goods for free or selling with ridiculously low prices might get you some friends, but also make you unpopular among your peers and contribute to a nonworking economy. So please, get involved with your crafter characters; pay attention to the prices of others and work with them. If you can afford it, don’t bother with gathering all the resources yourself. Hire someone to do it for you, make your vendor to buy raw materials or use the town message board to offer to buy a large number of materials. Someone will use these opportunities, and you can concentrate on making the goods and selling them for good profit

Whether they are unguilded townsmen, or rural freeholders, freemen usually have few social and legal obligations. Their duties may be limited to the payment of some rents or taxes, perhaps to military service in time of war. While no freemen are required to work the land, no one guarantees them food or shelter. Their freedom from feudal service is paid for by their lack of security. Unemployment and starvation come hand in hand, and in time of famine, it is the urban poor who starve first. Freemen may come and go as the please, and can appeal their lord or town’s justice to the king’s law.

Especially rural freeholders are often economically worse off than unfree tenants; the impetus for their offsprings to leave may be greater. Many will make their ways to towns where “the streets are paved with gold”. There, they can quickly obtain rewarding employment as a scavenger, beggar, prostitute, or casual laborer; there are always openings in these fields. A fortunate few, with sufficient initiative, talent and luck, may find a job that pays in real gold, and better their lives. Military career, either a mercenary, man-at-arms serving a town or a great noble, in the commonality of a Laranian fighting-order, or a yeoman (soldier holding land in return for providing the lord with services of a part-time man-at-arms) are possible.

The most versatile of all social classes and most straightforward, and also the most common one among PCs and NPCs of Denshy alike. Animal trainers, beggars, artists, cooks, servants, farmers, fishermen, herdsmen, hunters, trappers, laborers, longshoremen, prostitutes, ratters, sages, tutors, scribes, guards, mercenaries and yeomen are all examples of unguilded professions.

More properly called unfree tenants, serfs make up most of Mercia’s rural population. They possess few legal rights, but are not slaves (slavery is illegal in Mercia). Serfdom arises not by force, but by necessity. A freeholder suffers a series of poor harvests through the caprice of poor weather, bad management, or rampaging brigands, and is forced to seek the aid or protection of some powerful magnate. They make a mutually bonding contract; the lord agrees to provide food, land, and basic security; the freeholder agrees to provide free labor working on the lord’s fields, a reasonable request in a largely cashless society. The compulsory nature of serfdom is that it is inheritable; the parties bind their heirs as well as themselves. Serfs are completely dependent on the judgement of the lord, and they may not appeal to the king’s law. A serf can convert his legal status to that of a freeman, sometimes at the pleasure of his lord, but more likely by paying a stiff fee, or by running away if really desperate. If he evades pursuit, reaches a town or mining settlement, and avoids capture for a year and a day, he legally becomes a freeman.

Denshy is a haven for runaway serfs, as no master will pursue them across the ocean. Denshy is also free from serfdom, and for that reason only it attracts people from the unfree majority of population from the mainland.