Post by Sire Halfblack on Jul 15, 2010 8:14:51 GMT
Most Mercenaries would rarely consider the lot of those not amongst their privileged caste and would barely distinguish the social standing of one not gifted with vitae from another but those not without the ever living spark are divided into their own different castes. Of these castes the only distinction that the average Mercenary from their lofty perch is familiar with is that which divides the Blood Nobility from the commoner, the Nobility, who through their ownership of the lands that comprise the Empire often irritate the self important Mercenaries who fail to understand their own place in the world.
However there exists social strata for those not of Blood or Vitae. The Scribes of a city refer to these groupings as Leading, Productive, Guilded, Wastrel, Lax and Malcontent and such relate to the wealth and influence of an individual.
Deci is no different to any other city in this respect for this caste system, perhaps even more firmly entrenched in such than most other cities, for just as the Nobles are pampered to and catered for within the Grand Noble Spire of King Majius and the Guilded of The Hundred have their grand game and politics with The Grand Hundred Chambers so too the Wastrel are not without some degree of representation, even if such lacks any self determination.
The Wastrel are those who on waking make a daily traipse to the Mercantile Quarter looking for manual work. They neither have the potential, skills, talent or contacts to secure an apprenticeship in one of the Hundred Guilds and thus have no reliable form of income. They serve the guilds in the menial tasks required within the city, those things that the Guilded see as beneath them but which they none the less require to be performed such that the city might continue to function.
A well run city brings together those needing work with those needing work done and the easiest way this can be achieved is through the construction and maintenance of specific places throughout the city. Such places are the great city sponsored Workhouses and in Deci the largest of these is known locally as The King’s Men, a single structure located, as is much to do with the Guilds, in the Mercantile Quarter. Raised by the city to ensure that the Wastrel are served in their daily need to find work and in turn are easily available when the city requires their service.
Deci is a city of extraordinary contradictions, it can, when united, show considerable backbone, The King’s Men is the pinnacle of such. For when the city needs great works performed, when large numbers of willing, uncomplaining workers are sough then it is to The King’s Men that the city’s rulers must come, such as the great effort must be expended. With the seasonal thaw of IM 1009 that followed the defeat of King Blackjack the year previous the new Pestilence season myriads of bodies were uncovered either where they had fallen or floated to in the floods. Such a huge number of rotting corpses would spell only one thing, disaster but to the credit of the people, organised by Master Halfblack and joined in the very muck by the hands on Governor Drake the corpses were dragged out of the city and burnt upon great pyres.
It is people of such iron, of such mettle than that make up the Wastrel that daily await the call to work in the great hall that is The King’s Men.
However there exists social strata for those not of Blood or Vitae. The Scribes of a city refer to these groupings as Leading, Productive, Guilded, Wastrel, Lax and Malcontent and such relate to the wealth and influence of an individual.
Deci is no different to any other city in this respect for this caste system, perhaps even more firmly entrenched in such than most other cities, for just as the Nobles are pampered to and catered for within the Grand Noble Spire of King Majius and the Guilded of The Hundred have their grand game and politics with The Grand Hundred Chambers so too the Wastrel are not without some degree of representation, even if such lacks any self determination.
The Wastrel are those who on waking make a daily traipse to the Mercantile Quarter looking for manual work. They neither have the potential, skills, talent or contacts to secure an apprenticeship in one of the Hundred Guilds and thus have no reliable form of income. They serve the guilds in the menial tasks required within the city, those things that the Guilded see as beneath them but which they none the less require to be performed such that the city might continue to function.
A well run city brings together those needing work with those needing work done and the easiest way this can be achieved is through the construction and maintenance of specific places throughout the city. Such places are the great city sponsored Workhouses and in Deci the largest of these is known locally as The King’s Men, a single structure located, as is much to do with the Guilds, in the Mercantile Quarter. Raised by the city to ensure that the Wastrel are served in their daily need to find work and in turn are easily available when the city requires their service.
Deci is a city of extraordinary contradictions, it can, when united, show considerable backbone, The King’s Men is the pinnacle of such. For when the city needs great works performed, when large numbers of willing, uncomplaining workers are sough then it is to The King’s Men that the city’s rulers must come, such as the great effort must be expended. With the seasonal thaw of IM 1009 that followed the defeat of King Blackjack the year previous the new Pestilence season myriads of bodies were uncovered either where they had fallen or floated to in the floods. Such a huge number of rotting corpses would spell only one thing, disaster but to the credit of the people, organised by Master Halfblack and joined in the very muck by the hands on Governor Drake the corpses were dragged out of the city and burnt upon great pyres.
It is people of such iron, of such mettle than that make up the Wastrel that daily await the call to work in the great hall that is The King’s Men.