User:Aarnott/Lego Bin 15/History

History and Culture

Mystos culture always puts a strong emphasis on looking at the past. Heroes in the past were greater than heroes today, cities were more spectacular, and leaders were wiser. This is a fundamental belief of almost any population in Mystos. It is not uncommon for a great leader in current times to attribute his success to inspiration from previous leaders.

There are two major types of stories about history that are recorded and retold: stories about heroes and stories about wars (that focus on heroes involved in the wars). And when it comes to wars, there is only one war that is so widely known that it is often called "the war".

The Heroes of Mystos

Hero worship has become one of the more prevalent forms of religious patronage in Mystos over the past few centuries. The bones of heroes have a special significance because the city that houses them and makes appropriate sacrifices to the hero receives prosperity. Many wars are even fought over the bones of powerful heroes, just for the special powers those bones provide.

There are thousands of lesser heroes and several canonical "great" heroes. Very few of the greats actually have bones and a burial site (they mostly meet grisly ends). And their bones are fought over with some of the bloodiest wars.

Stories about these heroes tend to be larger than life. They do incredible feats of cunning, strength, and courage, but every hero also has done some incredibly monstrous act. This is just the way things go. Heroes are so much better than regular folk that they tend to be arrogant and pig-headed. This gives them the idea that they can do or take whatever they want (which is usually the case). In the end, they still end up being a good thing for society because the good they bring outweighs the bad.

Cultural Quirks

Although it would be insufficient to say that all Mystos culture is the same (it varies significantly), there are a few things that can be expected in any city.

Religion

Mystos religion is a very important aspect to society, but also follows a mindset of balance: too much of anything, including religion, is just not socially acceptable. There is a correct time and place for religion, but it should never be forgotten. Many specific cultural quirks have some sort of connection to religion: from the way people trade, to the way they eat meals.

Slavery

Pretty much every society has some form of slaves. Sometimes people who can't really live on their own are taken in by others in exchange for work. In most cases, other races are enslaved. It is such a normal practice that it isn't really considered to be an affront to see slavery. Opposing slavery would probably be as offensive to a person in Mystos as supporting it would be in our modern world. That, of course, isn't to say nobody has opposed it before. Heroes often are pig-headed enough to think that slavery is wrong and will swing their heavy hands to make things go their way. Which lasts as long as the hero is around and then things go back to normal.

Treatment of slaves is a whole different issue. Slaves are actually treated pretty well. Neul, the god of the dead, is also the god of slaves (the dead have to work off their debts for him and are, thus, slaves). He enforces good treatment of slaves. Slaves can expect certain rights such as food each day, up to one tenth the profits their master earns for medicine if they get sick (this medicine fund is distributed among all of the master's slaves), a fair price to be purchased back by their families, etc. Failure to meet any of these basic rights will earn the wrath of Neul (which is usually pretty hard to do and a very, very bad thing).

One further thing about slaves is that they are usually considered to be spoils of war. That is, an army will storm a city and take back citizens of that city as slaves. Even though a particular orc city might have hundreds of human slaves doesn't mean it is unsafe for humans to visit the city. In fact, guests to the city are explicitly protected from slavery or harm in general by Mysta. When they leave the city's waters they are fair game, however.

Trade

As much as the gold standard makes things easier for a roleplaying game, this setting has no such standard. Just to make things easier, players can record their net worth and assets in gold piece values, but the reality is, they are owning and trading barrels of grain, livestock, silk, (or gold) etc.

Mechanically, this shouldn't affect the game much, but it does encourage players to think in more of a bartering way and consider trading 2 sheep, a bottle of vintage wine, and a large pearl for that new hull improvement for their ship. Or something like that.