Social Standing

This is the overview of social standing, which is very important within Karameikan society as this determines the relations and reactions toward the player character.

- Joaquin Menchaca

Description (Human)

This is a description of the social standings within Karameikos. This paticular description describes the social standing within a human society of Karameikos, in a Thyatian dominanted society. This will be different for gnomes, dwarves, and elves. For hin (halflings), this is the determines how well that character is doing in Karameikos. Perhaps the hin is a good merchant, gained a lot in gambling, or is down on his or her luck.

Penniless

Your family is dirt-poor and most of its members spend all their lives in backbreaking labor. Family members grow up uneducated, working all their lives for someone else's profit. Your "starting gold" represents every copper that your family could scrounge up, save, or steal, and your family is hoping that your character will become wealthy on your adventures and return to help your family. Your family owns no property, has practically no possessions and lives in a home of remarkable poverty; family members have ragged clothing, no shoes, and no weapon larger than a knife or pitchfork.

Struggling

Your family is simply poor and may possible own the property where your family lives, but does not make a good living from it. Family members work all their lives for very little gain. Your "starting gold" represent several years' worth of scrimping and saving for the head of the household, and your family is hoping that you will become wealthy on your adventures and return to help your family. Your family lives in an inadequate home; family members have limited clothing and only occasionally own shoes or traveling gear; the household head may own a sword but most members of your family have no weapon other than knives or bows.

Comfortable

Your family is not rich, but does not suffer from want. Your family may own the property where your family lives. Your family makes a decent living with occasional periods of great prosperity or financial turmoil. The starting gold you receive represents the approximate amount your family gives to every youth leaving for the Shearing. Your family is hoping that you will prove to be a worthy person during the years you spend on your own. Your family lives in an adequate home; family members have adequate cloths, including footwear, traveling clothes, and often one fine outfit for social wear; most members of the family can afford a weapon of choice.

Wealthy/Untitled

Your family is wealthy. Its members do not suffer from want. It is likely to own the property where the family lives and other properties besides, and is likely to employ servants. Your family makes a good living, usually from trade or agriculture or from the earnings of one highly paid professional in the family. Your "starting gold" represents the approximate amount your family gives to every youth leaving for the Shearing, and does not constitute much of a dent in the monthly earnings. Your family is hoping that you will prove to be a worthy defender of the family honor during the years you spend on your own. Most family members have substantial quantities of good-quality clothing and personal effects, and can afford weapons and armor of choice.

Wealthy/Titled

This is the same as Wealthy/Untitled, except that he head of your family has a title issued by Duke Stefan or other important figures. The head of the household will either bear the title of Lord (Lady) or Patriarch (Matriarch). A Lord will be the owner of a large tract of land and leader of the communities thereon, or will be a court lord who performs tasks for Duke Stefan. A Patriarch will be the head of a church or an itinerant (traveling) cleric of great importance within the Church.

Very Wealthy/Untitled

This is the same as Wealthy/Untitled except that your family is very wealthy - for instance, your family is in charge of an important shipping enterprise or of an important community. The GM will need to decide which family you are from, choosing from the examples given in Karameikos Gazetteer. The GM might, for instance, decide you belong to the Torenescu family of Specularum, a very powerful but untitled clan.

Very Wealthy/Titled

This is the same as Wealthy/Titled, except that your family is larger and more important. The head of the clan will be a Baron or a General in the Duke's service. The Game Master will need to decide which family you are from, choosing from appropriate clans. The GM might, for instance, decide you belong to the Kelvin clan of Kelvin or the Vorloi clan of Specularum and Vorloi Village.

Royal Family

You are a member of the Duke's own family. The Game Master will decide precisely what relationship you have to the Duke. The GM might decide, for instance, that you are the Duke's oldest child, or the second oldest, or that you are a nephew or niece of the Duke. The character will have recently been Sheared, and so cannot depend on the royal family for assistance for quite some time. If you travel about under your own name, you risk kidnapping, murder, and subversion attempts.

Alternatively, the GM could rule that you are the illegitimate child of Duke Stefan. In this case, perhaps members of the royal court would be hunting down the player.

Description (Dwarven)

The Stronghollow dwarves have their own social stratification that is different than both the dwarves of Rockhome, homeland of all dwarves, or humans. The clan is divided into seperate groups called corporates. All clan members elect a representative from their corporate to serve as a member on the council. The council then elects a clan leader, and also elects corporate leaders called craft leaders. Each corporate may be further divided, depending on its size. For example, the mining corporate will have divisions or departments that operate a paticular mine. Each department is lead by a craftmaster. Naturally, the more power a dwarf has, the more influence he has to control funds of the clan.

Many clan members are specialists, skilled laborers, or professionals. This person is simply called a crafter. They serve important roles within their corporate or department. There are also unskilled laborers as well, which can be rotated amongst the corporates or departments upon urgent needs whithin the clans. Naturally, skill professionals need to command more funds for their profession than unskilled workers.

All dwarves of the Stronghollow clan, do not think of themselves as having individual wealth, but rather control of funds from the whole of the clan. They are paid according to their position and skill, and also given control of funds to spend on behalf of their role within the clan.

The dwarven workers or laborers do exert some control of their fate. If a worker is uncomfortable with his current environment, the worker can apply to work for another department or corporate. Dwarves that have longer work experience or prominence are given more latitude to switch. Often corportates compete to intice both skilled crafters and unskilled workers of notaritary to switch to thier corporate. Interestingly, though skilled crafters are more wealthy, they have less latitude to do this, as each corporate is focused on one paticular craft. Thus, a crafter from the mining corporate will find it difficult to become a crafter of the armorer corporate. An unskilled laborer, though less wealthy, can move more easily.

Description (Gnomes)

The gnomes have modeled a similar structure after the dwarves. However, instead of actually having a single clan divided into corporates and then departments, the gnomes have several clans with a clan leader. Each clan elects a leader as a candidate to be the king, which then is later popularly elected.

Within each clan there are specialists, unskilled laboreres, leaders, and such that have varying levels of wealth.

The gnomes model their society in a similar fashion after the dwarves for the sake of ultimate effeciency, but the gnomes strongly value individual freedom as opposed to the collective group objectives and collective, over the individual. In many ways the gnomes are less efficient than the dwarves, but in other ways the gnomes are more creative and inventive.

Description (Hin)

The hin have varying levels of wealth depending on, as the hin see it, how well a hin is lazy or lucky. The more lazy a hin can be means that he is more wealthy, and ultimately more lucky. The wealth of a hin, by no means, determines is power or influence within Karameikan society, but only as a means of determining how lucky or unlucky an individual is, and how much starting funds he gets due to that luck.

Starting Funds

The player characters will start with different funds depending on their social standing. While this may seem rather unfair, this is how western medieval society was. Many did not have a fair life, and this was not necessarily determines by a person's potential or inherent skills, but rather a person's family standing.

experimental: Penniless=1/4, Struggling=1/2, wealthy=x2, verywealthy=x5, royal=x10