A King of Jarls

Dungeons & Dragons The Royal Library
1

Halskapa has seven Jarls who each want to become King. What do you think will happen when the King dies? Suppose one of the Jarls is a PC and the heir.

I assume the PC would get control over the Law and Guild holdings that King Bevering (sp?) owned. Would the PC get control of the Provicnes as well, for tax and regency purposes not just in name?

After a few turns of each Jarl trying to Rule their Law holdings to the max. What happens then? I don’t see any Jarl able to resist the contest action by the PC, they don’t have enough RPs for the bidding war. What do you think?

Now if each Jarl got to keep their own province for tax and regency gains then it is a whole new game. For this to happen would King Bevering (sp?) have to die without a heir?

2

This kind of scenario could go any of a dozen ways. Are you mostly just focusing on how it would play out if only the realm level stuff is considered? That we know pretty well. If we start to consider who is popular with the army, the druids, the aalofors, the nobles, and the people, then we have a quite different question.

3

when i ran a game in rjurickland, i used situation where the jarls took much of the power in the state, so they were more like vassals to the king who was apsolute ruler of few provinces only( the so called “kings domain” ). With the influence of the druids and the power of jarls the only way for a king to take more power was guilds.

4

To me the question is what makes one of the jarls king rather than any of the others - presumably some ties to the realm as a whole rather than simply their own province and likely the support of a number of the jarls.

Another potential scenario is each jarl ‘ruling’ their province as a vassal of the king - say half the RP going up the chain.

I’d note btw that the jarls’ low GB and RP income would make ruling holdings very difficult unless they were very skilled administratively - indeed you could start with no overall king, with the jarl who takes control of the law in their province and possibly others then becoming the king a year later. (i.e. the jarls, unsure who should rule, agree to a years ‘mourning and praying to Erik for guidance’, with a council ruling in the meanwhile, before the new king is officially named and crowned).

The Highlands have sufficiently low large-scale wars (per the books) to make such a thing feasible and it would be in keeping with the traditions of strong clan ties and jarls.

5

It is also possible that each Jarl declares war on the kingdom and invests in his own province. You could have a few break-away “kingdoms” that way. Force some diplomatic actions and maybe a few wars to have the PC’s bring them back in the fold.

6

This position is ripe for ideas. One that comes to mind is that while the Jarls are tenuously loyal to their King that have no such loyalty to the heir. When the King dies the people clamor for their Jarl to be King. The Jarls can get provinces despite there being an heir. It is for the land, the people, to decide.

If the people split for several Jarls to be King, it doesn’t have to be seven, guilders and wardens of the Realm would also have split loyalties. So not all the land, or the holdings therein, would necessarily go to the heir.

It depends on how you view the Rjurik people, but I don’t see provinces like Skapa Hjarring and Dvasviik having full law. I happen to see the people in Halskapa needing liberties that full law would hamper.

7

The druidic temples seem quite powerful and with one of the druids acting like a jarl (and per the book, wanting to set up a benevolent theocracy) it seems like the longer it took to get a king the more likely the Oaken Grove will consolidate their power. Speaking of which… How do you handle a temple this large? It is recommended for PCs to play but it is huge with holdings across several realms. Gunther Brandt is in charge of the Oaken Grove but one of the Jarls is the high priest in Halskapa. Do you let the high priest be a vassel to Gunther Brandt? I ask because this Jarl would have a considerable advantage over the other Jarls in GBs and RPs.

8

If I remember right, druids were not allowed to rule any land. Only to care for the land and the people in/on that land. So I dont see a druid setting up a “claim” on a realm.

As for the Oaken Grove, I’ve always played it without vassals. This makes it harder for the player to raise their power lever in any one area. (due to many random events, compition with the Emeral Spire, humanoids ect…)

9

no druid can rule the land, but a very good friend of the druids can do it with no problem .

10

What if the PC King of Halskapa, newly elected from the Jarls, wanted to invade Svinik? They view it as a relatively weak power whose acquistion would provide two benefits. Number one it would go a long way towards keeping Rjuvik inline with the allies Stjordvik and Halskapa on both borders. Number two, the Siren would think about an alliance with a much bigger Halskapa.

I don’t really see any good reason for the PC to invade. The books say the Rjurik people are not really into big wars. Raiding ok, but not conquests. Even if the PC concocted a reason to invade them (like blaming raids on them) I would expect Rjurik people to respond in kind.

What do you think?

Steve

11

Steve,

If the United States wanted to consalidate power, we could invade Canada. But would we? Of course not. Does this necessarily replicate your scenario? Perhaps. Just because a nation could overthrow another would they want to? Perhaps you could create long lasting friendships (or hatreds) between the two nations to help swing decisions one way or another.

12

While Halskapa is stronger than Svinik its not by much - 18 population levels vs 16. The war would be not so much analogous to America invading Canada, as the North and South having a civil war, or England and France having one of their regular tiffs.

I’d expect the Oaken Grove to get very vocal against whichever side they saw as aggressor - and it’s worth remembering that the druids are far more than the traditional view of simple tree-huggers who happen to run the odd service - their influence is about the same as Haelyn’s in Anuire but split over just 2 organisations not half a dozen. As the druids tend to encourage pan-Rjurik peace and traditional rights, etc they would likely oppose the war; Halskapa meanwhile would be trying to stop Svinik allying with the siren/rjuvik, trying to persuade Stjordvik (allied to both Halskapa and Svinik) that it’s intentions were pure, trying to stop Jankaping from seeing Halskapa as a threat, etc.

Frankly directly invading Rjuvik from the sea would be easier - Rjuvik is just 11 population levels high. Starting a war with a neutral/allied neighbour to avoid one with a weaker enemy doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Convince Svinik to help for, say, the northern Rjuvik provinces, and the war is all but won.

13

It’s been a while… Hello all!

This scenario could play out in almost every conceivable way, and most options have been mentioned already. I’ll add my musings anyway. I do not have access to my library atm, so please excuse my generic referances.

The King dies without naming a heir

Several factions will start playing the game of thrones. Some of these will probably have started maneuvering well in advance, especially if the king dies of decease or old age. I can see several external powers having an interest in the Realm, some to expand their holdings, some to aquire a new ally/vassal, and some to destabilize the region.

Of the domestic powers, I see the druids and the Royal Household troop-commander as the most influential, besides the Jarls. As mentioned, the druids cannot rule, but their support, or lack there of, will most certainly play a part. The King’s army will probably follow whomever pays them, but a well liked commander can sway them one way or the other.

The Jarls are a chapter unto themselves, and I will not wear out my keyboard by writing all possible constellations. A few clasics should be mentioned however.

[ul]
[li]The disgruntled. A Jarl who was sligthed by the late king, and sees this as his time to rule. He’d probably be loyal to the Realm, but may, or may not, be in league with some force of evil.
[/li]
[li]The ruthlessly ambitous. First the province, now the Realm, then Rjuvik… Could also be supported by non-domestic powers.
[/li]
[li]The evil one. Be he clever, powerful, or just brutal, this Jarl could surely stir up some good plot-hooks.
[/li]
[li]The loyal. The confidante and loyal friend of the old king would surely rally what forces he could muster if the Realm was in danger of falling into (what he sees as) the wrong hands.
[/li][/ul]

Then you have the Guilds, the Awnies, the Boer and any or all neighbours… A game like this could really get interesting.

14

The PS for Halskapa recommends the PC playing as one of the Jarls. In this situation the only write up I like is the Dwarf. I know that in my game I can change things around a bit, but I like the thought of being the only Rjurik realm or human realm for that matter managed by a dwarf. The role playing between other realms should be interesting.

On another note, the PS also mentions that Halskapa is one of the few Rjurik realms to keep a large standing army, although not as large as Anuirean realms. I cannot remember seeing anything for the army of Svinik so I was able to relate to the USA invades Canada scenario. I like the idea of spliting Rjuvik up between the Halskapa and Svinik. I would bet that Stjordvik would want some too. Give two provinces to Svinik, two to Stjordvik, and Halskapa keeps three.

I’m just wondering how much trouble the two wizards in Rjuvik can be to the agressors. How do you think Rjuvik, run by the DM, could fight off the other three realms?

My simplified ideas:
A. Find an ally with the Siren. Any other options?
B. Obviously muster troops and fight where you can.
C. Raise Legion of the Dead, one of the wizards is a known necromancer
D. Battle spells from Adara?

What else?