A brief description of Légio

Légio

Légio is the proud capital of the Kingdom of Llión, the House of the Lion. City elders can remember when it was the seat of power for the Hespian Emperors (there were three) for more than a hundred years. The inhabitants’ pride in their city is not tempered by the fact that it is somewhat small and rural for a royal seat (pop. ~4000); nor by the fact that the current king (alternatively known as The Blubberer or The Slobberer) has been close to being excommunicated by the Pope on numerous occasions.

No, the Legionese are a mostly steadfast and pious people who are confident that God will once again grace the city with great wealth and prosperity as He has done periodically for more than a thousand years. After all, wasn’t it their ancestors who first reclaimed this land from the southern invaders?

The House of the Lion is in constant competition with its neighbors: the Galegans (The House of the Golden Chalice, a vassal state), the Calians (The House of the Silver Coins, formerly Llionese territory) and the Castellanos (The House of the Castle).

The House of the Castle is Llión’s most bitter rival when it comes to power, religion, territory, culture and economics. Their history and royal families are closely intertwined and have led to hostilities in the past. Currently, they enjoy a fragile peace and together they fight the Mohads (a culture which follows the teachings of Mahoma) along their respective southern borders.

Legionese society is highly stratified, in which a horse is seen as a sign of nobility and prosperity. The nobility enjoy most of the benefits that society has to offer, among them, an exemption from taxes and the right to be judged only by their peers. Of course, they must also fulfill their personal obligations to the King.
The emerging class of traders, craftsmen and moneylenders has been used by the King to buffer the demands of the nobility. In return for their support, this ‘middle’ class demands more legal protection for their commercial transactions. The King has listened to their requests and has thrice convened a Court over the last 20 years to ensure that the populace feels somewhat fairly treated and protected in exchange for the money they give him in taxes.

Légio remains a rural place with farms inside the ancient city walls and manors outside of it. The most prestigious farmers are shepherds. These freemen are given wide latitude to graze their sheep throughout the kingdom and they, too, have been asserting more rights. Serfdom exists. Most of the city’s peasants are legally free, but are poor and closely tied to a manor lord. It is only in the southern parts of the kingdom along the fluid border, where the peasantry enjoy more economic freedom.

It’s worth noting that Légio is located along one of the continent’s most important pilgrimage routes. The influx of visitors (mainly Francs) has allowed the city to remain alive given its remote location. These circumstances account for the many churches, monasteries and military orders that exist in the city and the surrounding area. Some of the pilgrims have settled in Légio giving it a small base of foreign nobility, merchants, artisans, scholars and troubadours it might not otherwise have had.

Although magic is said to have been widespread amongst ancient and mythical cultures, the Church and the King see its’ use as a threat to their rule. Practitioners of the dark arts (witches, demon-worshippers, pagans et al.) are ruthlessly persecuted. The pious and superstitious peasantry also fear magicians’ ‘unnatural’ power. Young men and women seen around Légio with missing hands or tongues serve as reminders of what happens to those that would use arcana in public. For this reason, magic and its use in civilized lands is rare, unreliable and studied in secret.