u/OceansCarraway

Aelbaion has traditionally raised a lot of sheep, and these sheep produce a lot of wool. Just as traditionally as it has bred these sheep and sheared them, it has sold this wool. This has not always been an easy process; because different sheep produce different amounts of wool. In the past, agreements were usually made to move a number of sheep's worth of wool, but even saying 'large sheep' or 'good sheep' didn't make enough of a difference to solve the issue. Spats about the amount of wool being sold continued to flare up, sometimes turning into outright conflicts-and eventually at least one war between Trade Lords was fought over a wool trade dispute. However, the problem was not considered important enough for the Kingdom to get involved in, and so it stuck around until the 30 Year Peace kicked it into the limelight again.

Weights and measures are not easy to designate, decide upon, or make. This is because they need to work for everyone without causing too many problems. Two big categories of problems exist: technical and political. Technical problems are in the reproduction of accurate weights for a lot of users, and in ensuring that those weights are still accurate as they are used. Political problems involve someone inevitably losing power or money when things change. Aelbaion had to deal with both when dealing with this problem; and on top of that, it couldn't count on the office of the Crown to help it out every time. Luckily, the person who developed this solution was a genius, and he managed to utilize his death in a manner that stuck everyone else with the problem.

Dr. Savois was a full-time lawyer and a full-time barber who made his money in the wool trade. Being a barber in Aelbaion is not related to the professions that perform surgery at all, it is a sophisticated social role keeping people looking good. Savois had worked his way through law school, and had a reputation by all as being a nasty peasant and a sneaky gossip; this made him very well positioned to get into contract law and eavesdrop on others while working on their facial and body hair. After nearly getting belted on the graduation podium from law school, he fled to the coastal trade cities-but stayed within his network and got into the wool trade. Quickly, he realized that there was an opportunity to make a lot of money if he could introduce a settled weight system.

Initially, the bad Doctor was going to be very hard, because everyone would lose somehow if they were going to adopt his system. While he mastered the art of shaving a chin, and then publicly mastered the art of preparing facial hair, he idly thought about how such a system would work. It would need to be simple, easily employed, and without complication. It would also need to be something that wouldn't spark controversy when used, something that could slip in among the users and be taken up without too much care because of it's ease alone...but it would have his name attached to it. That would be a problem. Dr. Savois typically counted grains in his head to fall asleep if he wasn't passing out drunk from the guilt. He was convinced that he would need someone else to introduce this system-for it it would be associated with him, it would be rejected. But that person would have would have blackmail material on him! He would need someone so perfectly idiotic and clever that they could be putty in his hands. And so he searched....

But he didn't find anyone.

Then once upon a midnight dreary, as he pondered drunk and weary, Dr. Savois realized that he could use this weight system to launder his reputation. This would be extremely hard for him-the instinct to screw someone over was first nature-but he had no choice. The system he had devised was simple enough: at it's base, it used the weight of a cereal 'grains' which was already in use by other systems-the palace-gold and the physikers'. However, he would avoiding stepping on their toes by having his system apply only to wool-and if people wanted to, they could use it for non-medical, non-monetary dry goods. The unit of measurement that he cared about was the woolsack-which would allow him to speculate on what people were moving around. However, everyone would be expecting him to do that. And so Dr. Savois took the time to develop the intermediate weights as well.

They would need to be useful. The 'pound' of 6,992 grains was derived from enough grains to make a pound of flour. The 'stone', of 14 pounds, was the weight of a good foundation stone. A full 'woolsack' was 26 stone, and roughly the weight of what was already being moved into the . There were two smaller units: an 'ounce', of 1/16th of a pound (437 grains), and the 'part', consisting of 1/16th of an ounce (and 27 grains). He thought that these would be used by persons like chefs. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Dr. Savois had no sooner popularized the 'means and methods for the sure of measurement of wool' than he had the temerity to go and die by falling out of the window. This left the system in the lurch-and allowed everyone to think what they wanted of it.

What they didn't think of it, however, was that Dr. Savois was going to use that system of measurement to steal their money. Like other eccentrics with egos, Dr. Savois had willed his creation to the Crown, and the Crown took a look at it. What the underlings working for His Majesty determined that the system-now called the Long-Box measurement system, after the long boxes an entire weight set could be transported in-was acceptable for common use. The Crown took care not to endorse it, as that could upset the apple cart, but the Trade Lords, always looking to sell pieces of flotsam and jetsam that entered the Crown's house, did take well to it, and began to encourage it's use in their personal holdings. This helped to get it spread throughout the rest of Aelbaion. What it took for the LB system to work out was for it to be able to speak on it's own terms, not it's founders. Having a vacuum when it counted-and then having a series of sponsors right afterwards-put the system into full use.

Dr. Savois, it seemed, didn't succeed in laundering his reputation fully. But his work did.

The Kingdom of Aelbaion has had it pretty decent for the past thirty years. There has been no fighting, limited banditry, little religious strife, and few people getting killed in violence. There has been lots of trade, which allowed for the movement of food and the generation of wealth in some small measure. All of this required infrastructure to help out with this, and in Aelbaion, this was typically storage. The first example of this is the granary. In the far past, the Aels stored their grain in souterrain like structures, burying it under the ground. However, the Aels would become the Aelish, and they would grow up to store their grain aboveground, at least in their telling.

Nowadays, grain is stored in granaries. The standard Aelbic granary is a domed structure that grain is shoveled into. The actual storage portion is a dry clay area kept raised off of the floor, often subdivided into smaller clay storage bins. This helps to keep the grain dry and some rodents out-however, the best remedy was to have one or two cats stationed at all times. Grain is also sometimes stored in tough knitted sacks, and every effort taken to ensure that the roof stays repaired to keep the rain out. After rodents, moisture can lead to rot and decay of the precious food within. The Aelish cannot lose their food to rot, and so they throw every engineering trick in the book at the problem.

Recently, they've begun to throw their engineering expertise at solving a new problem: having lots of grain. Good harvests result in good yields, and these need to be placed somewhere. The best place to put grain is in the granary, and they've been building granaries recognized as being 'enlarged'. In practice, this means that new storage buildings are being built right next to the old ones and share the same address. The granaries in question did not go out of use during the enlarging work; laborers for both granary loading and unloading were tripping over each other until they worked out pathways to avoid each other.

The general improvement to food supplies was reflected in Aelbaion's specialized granary developments. This turned them less from granaries and more to logistics centers for multiple uses. Each of these started from a granary or had one at it's center, but turned the ability to store grains into a basis for further power. The majority of this potential was for immediate military power: control the food supply, and one controls the neighboring population. Sometimes, said neighboring population can rush the storehouses for food-or neighbors can raid for it. This lead to the development of the fortified granary, or even an extreme, the food fort. Upgrades from one to the other generally allow for more food to be stored, and more soldiers to be supported. Oftentimes, these will be part of a support system for a regional law enforcement unit, patrolling roads and hunting bandits. They have contributed consistently to the security of Aelbaion, and construction of these outposts has continued during the 30 Year Peace.

Other times, the population rushes the food storage rooms as part of their day job. Closer to some of the river or coastal trading centers are larger granaries designed to move their contents as efficiently as possible. These venues start as full warehouses-which the Aelish call grain warehouses, because they are masters of the obvious. Everything is exactly as it is described: warehouses store grain for indefinite periods of time until it gets picked up and moved somewhere else. Money typically changes hands, but not all transportation is cart-based--a distinctive loss of efficiency. To make the jump to a distribution center, and to factor in the control schemes of regional lords, all kinds of changes need to be realized: layout modifications, paving, small cranes to unload from multi-story buildings, and carts-carts everywhere. These facilities help to stabilize the food supply in large population centers by ensuring that it is physically where it needs to be. A few have sprung up over the years, but Aelbaion being Aelbaion, and with relatively few big cities, they are not as common as militarized assets.

Finally, the Aelish have been developing a third approach, which is not military or civilian-but just a continuation on 'more storage'. While they are busily enlarging granaries and putting spikes on roofs, they have encountered plenty of situations where moving to advanced specializations simply doesn't make much sense. Here, they expand the granaries, and then modify various rooms to improve their characteristics for storage of grains over the changing seasons. while moving around heavy sacks and jars of crops from one room to another is not something a laborer likes to do, the reductions in losses in a properly designed and maintained 'Seasonal Granary' are more than enough to justify it. More than anything else, the gain of stability over time is a mental benefit...especially in such unprecedented times of peace that the Aels are going through now. Things are good, and can stay good.

They're just very unused to things going well. Maybe this will improve for them.

Q: Hi, everyone! Welcome back to another session of Q&A with Q and A!

A: I'm A, the one who answers questions. Today's post is about religion, and it's role in both the culture and society.

Q: It's also going to explain how it helped shape modern Aelbaion.

A: So without further ado-

Q: I would like to ask you-

Both: To tell everyone about the Lady!

Q: Who is the Lady?

A: The Lady is a deity who is worshipped by the Aels as a protector goddess.

Q: What do they call on her for?

A: The Lady-for that is her full name to them-is an archetypal 'noblewoman'. She protects this in danger, shepherds those in peril, brings health and healing to the sick.

Q: What is she like?

A: She is modest, reserved, elegant, cultured, and refined; she has good taste and good manners, and does not presume to set herself above others. She is witty but does not mock, and is self assured, she does not put herself above others.

Q: Where can she be found?

A: The Lady can be found in the hearts and minds of her worshippers, or in the breath of any that call to her. She can be found in good practice that is meant to improve the surroundings, the self, or the lives of others. She inhabits remote castles and small huts, far moors and fields, and small towns. She dwells in shrines, and private places of learning; she takes form in the rooms of ladies and theaters, and she can be found at the sickbed, the wound-dressing room, and in the birthing room. Some say that she has crept into the surgical ward.

Q: How does she protect people?

A: At their hour of greatest need, she is said to turn aside sword strokes, ease a death rattle, tighten failing bindings, or soothe a fever.

Q: Does she intervene directly in combat?

A: No. She is not a war goddess, and does not find joy in offensive war. The Aels credit her with the defense of their lands and honor, but never conquests and very rarely kills. She only gets involved in combat if things are going against the Aels, or if the affair is miserable and it would be better for everyone if it was over sooner.

Q: What does that mean?

A: The Lady is a protector of the Aels, and that includes protecting them from themselves. If they ever fall to interniceine warfare, she is rumored to intervene to stop it. They have convinced themselves of it, which is all that matters I guess.

Q: Does this relate to the moral codes that are in play in society now?

A: Yes. Worship of her by deed is essentially semi-sophisticated utilitarianism.

Q: How does that work?

A: At the start, it is where they have come up with their ideas of etiquette, both immediately interpersonal and in it's final form, Chivalry. The former allows a King and a serf to hold a conversation without a complete collapse of social structures: each person has weight to their actions, and should dignify the other during the discussion. It recognizes fundamental personhood: the Lady judges both by the acts that they carry out in their lives and in proportion of their power.

Q: Is there an afterlife?

A: Not that the Aels know of. The only thing that the Lady knows is that she can help shepherd souls into the great beyond. After that, it is unknown to her.

Q: ...their afterlife is unknown to them and to their goddess?

A: Yep.

Q: What's going on here?

A: Some real sad stuff. Don't worry, we're getting to it. Ask me about how the old Aels came to know her.

Q: How did the old Aels come to know her?

A: It is said that when the Predecessors fell, she lead them out of the cities and the dying slave-hollows, slipped them from their shackles and took them away from the chattel-oarbanks. She brought them inland and to lakes and streams of pure water. There, she kept them safe from plagues and collected warriors amongst them and set them up on horseback. She did not perish, like the others.

Q: Perish, like the others?

A: The Church-for that is what everyone calls them, even if it's not their formal name, they're named after the building by everyone else-says that there were six other deities. The Lady is the 7th. She is the only one who survived the conflicts, because she fled and protected others. She did not fight, not pursue vain honors, but acted to preserve life.

Q: What does she look like?

A: The Lady resembles an Aelbic maiden, but her face is hidden by a veil. She wears a long dress, and her hair is elaborately dressed. Most of her facial features are lost. Typically, she wears flat shoes and is pictured praying as her worshippers do; if she wears larger shoes, they are typically riding boots She is not praying to anyone, but rather in an act of supplication herself.

Q: ...most of her facial features are lost?

A: Yes. So grievous was the conflict in the Aelbic mind that even the idea of her face is lost. But still, she will look upon those who worship her and aid them. As the other gods fell, more and more turned to the Lady, and she took over some of their duties.

Q: That's a bit odd.

A: She is very overworked.

Q: How is she worshipped?

A: Orally, and by actions that she favors. One may pray aloud to the Lady for guidance, for favor, for aid, for mercy-alone, or in a group. She prefers group prayer, or private prayer in one's head. Typically, prayer is conducted in a structure called a church by everyone who goes there. There is a main service once a week, and a secondary service as well. Typically, a service involves loud prayer, some instruments, preaching, and a bunch of morality tales. The priest and their friends will also corner people and lecture them.

Q: What does the local church do when prayers aren't ongoing?

A: The church provides non-punitive civil services: registration of births and deaths, conduct of the census, provision of spiritual and mental health services, provision of charity, and mobilization of resources in non-governmental methods to prevent poverty and maintain living conditions. They are also the de-facto coordinators of public health operations, including the management of water and sanitation. Education is also their purview, after a fact.

Q: The priest must be busy.

A: Yeah. Priest and friends. They're clerks, and de-facto part of the town government. They also report up to the head of the county, and they report to the head of the duchy-and the head of the duchy to the head of the entire country's religious order, after a fact. That person and associated bureaucracy runs the religion, handling day to day duties.

Q: How does the 'Church' have power?

A: They're part of the government-they provide the government with legitimacy, a 'Mandate of The Lady', and with expertise-oh, and they are the civilian government. They can immediately turn a noble knight into a criminal scoundrel, or redeem a bandit into a gallant chasseur. If the nobility of the sword are front and center, the priestly operators are all around them-and keep the peasants still to watch the show.

Q: Do the priests take any vows?

A: They take oaths of service, but not of chastity or poverty. There isn't a tradition of monasticism that is isolationary, but the religious orders instead go into the community and work there. They do not missionize much, but they have a secondary tradition of making things and of being 'service mages'.

Q: What about education?

A: Priests typically have a rote memorization of the two holy books, some literacy and numeracy, and some classical music making. They also learn medicine and preaching, as a skill. Their friends typically have some of this education, but not fully. This has typically been informal, with exams not really being a thing-just formal ordinations.

Q: Does this mean that they can't do a good job?

A: Some can do a good job. Some can't. It all depends on how well the peasants get read the Prayerbook and the Chansons. The former is prayers-mental conditioning and psychological care. The latter is a series of tales. It gives them a basic cosmology, an understanding of the world, and it applies across all of the Aels. It connects them and prevents fratricide.

Q: What are the signs and symbols of the Lady?

A: Pure water, a chalice, and a bell. Pure water gives health, the chalice contains it, and bell heralds it. Waterlilies grow to symbolize her presence.

Q: Are these signs and symbols present in other places?

A: Yes. Sometimes they are made by her worshippers.

Q: ...is the Lady just a goddess?

A: As far as she knows, she is.

Q: Do you know how disturbing this is?

A: Yes I do. Hopefully none of us will ever find out anything more.

Q: And what's this 'word from our sponsor'?

A: Oh. It's just a card that says 'Thank you for playing CTW! I'm so happy you're all enjoying Ashagon! But someone got water on it. So all that's there is 'thank you for playing'.'

Q: Last question. I'm done with this crap. How will we see religion show up in people's lives?

A: As they live it. We will see it in their actions and behaviors, and when there is a visit to the sacred spring at the most holy site in Aelbaion.

Q: Thank you.

A: For playing.

Q: Go to fucking HELL- a chair is thrown.

Only strange stories begin in a compost heap. So does this one, and is decidedly strange-it is the story of how Aelbaion got itself out of it's agricultural funk. This doesn't matter to anyone except for the people here, who had not very good food, and not that much of it. They also had a lot of issues with the typical medieval healthcare of the day, which was that there was very little and that was not very good. Despite the fact that Ashagon has magic, it is not typically sufficient to deal with these problems on it's own. One has to be very focus, careful, and understand the problem you are addressing with magic; this takes experts, and those are in short supply. So we end up at the compost heap.

The Kingdom of Aelbaion is widely regarded as somewhere semi-pleasant in the far north; with one or two nice places in the cities, and very little nice anything outside of them. However, Aelbaion has recently had something incredibly unexpected: three decades of peace, all kept together under a pair of fairly legitimate rulers. The second ruler, King Aeldebaric, has even strong-armed something like environmental legislation into existence. How radical! However, there have been far more immediate results from 30 years of peace: the chance to build these compost heaps according to some more thoughtful designs, without anyone driving a warhorse through their houses and killing everyone.

Practically, there is little that is any different or new from what Earth has already seen. People would take things like clipping and chicken droppings and throw them into piles, and then keep an eye on the piles. Sometimes the piles were covered. Often, they were turned over at regular intervals. Occasionally, they were protected by various forms of outbuilding. All of these places had one purpose: to throw the organic material that will become hummus and other forms of fertilizer, and to let it sit as it was broken down by the presence of various micro-organisms. They were a sideshow, in truth, for this material is to be mixed with the dung-heap, which we shall cover next time. The typical compost heap is a pile of steam organic material, sometimes with a base of stone, and always stacked high and covered over with at least one protective layer. The average household has two piles, sometimes three.

Twice daily, the compost pile is fed: after morning mealtime, and at the end of a day's labors. The former is put on the first compost pile by the household, which works with kitchen scraps and the leavings of a kitchen garden. It's product is typically put into the soil when the seasons roll around and the pile itself is mostly finished processing. Worms and certain bugs are encouraged to grow in these piles. The latter pile that accepts the refuse of the day's labors is out in the fields, and may well be a grouping of sub-units that are used to break down extra organic waste not used as ground cover. They are used to capture the raw carbon and nitrogen from a field, and they are typically tapped when a round of plowing is about to begin. The hummus and other output from said piles is plowed under as part of a process of field-wide soil amendment to improve overall fertility.

There is nothing special about these processes in Ashagon, and there shouldn't really be. Instead, what is special that they rapidly showed up at the start of the 30 Year Peace-almost like the inhabitants had been planning on using them. The adoption of composing let peasants put back nutrients into the soil, preventing it from being washed away or farmed out-and allowing them to put the nutrients where they needed them the most. Even after the first five years of peace, when the fact that peace was now a wide reality was truly starting to sink in, their use had already become a basic fact of this new life. The next thing to do was to put magic on top of it; and by the seventh year of the peace, no pile was complete without rot-enhancing poles and a Crown Of Stinks. These magical 'artifacts' were strips of wood made by whichever member of the household had unluckily found themselves more magically inclined that the others; more and more were they made by a local house-witch or journey-wizard. They encourage the growth of bacteria and fungi, and depending on placement, can help to greatly increase the rate at which composting works.

Traditionally, Aelbaion has never had the best agricultural base-it's farmers have always been far more subsistence than they would have liked to be, and it's output has always been limited. This has kept the peace to some degree, and allowed for the centralization of power by letting the Crown control the fertile lands-but it kept everyone else living in a precarious state, and made famines much worse. This low agricultural output prevented much in the way of growth, improvement, or change. But now, with peacetime around, there is the potential for change.

The following is a gimmick I am reusing from last shard.

Q: Hi, welcome back to Q&A with Q and A! I'm Q, I ask the questions!

A: I'm A. I deliver the answers!

Both: And we're doing this for another season! If it worked well last time, the author figured it'd work again-so we're going for it!

Q: What's our first topic?

A: The pre-history and early history of the Kingdom of Aelbaion, including the founding of the Kingdom and it's constituent duchies.

Q: Sounds like we're beginning at the beginning.

A: That we are.

Q: Tell us about the earliest Aelbaic people.

A: The Aels-which was what the called themselves are native to their home area. They didn't really migrate much; they liked where they were. However, a very long time ago, a neighboring group of people who archaeologists refer to as the Pershutane Bathhouse Culture-

Q: Archaeologists?

A: Uh...enthusiastic amateur archaeologists who...dug first and asked academic questions later.

Q: ...

Q: Looters.

A: What?

Q: They were looting ruins and selling them.

A: ...they were looting ruins. And selling them.

Q: And they were making up bullshit about what they found instead of doing actual analysis. Say it.

A: ...they were doing some analysis! They went to assessors-

Q: ...the pawn shop is not an assessor!

A: ...if you want to be literal. Anyway-they don't know much about these people. The name comes from the fact that the well-preserved mural with text that indicated that they existed was found at the town of Perushitane in the duchy of Siboitiane. They had large, ceremonial bathhouses throughout their settlements.

Q: Why did these bathhouses survive? Were they elaborate constructions?

A: No. They were half-buried in silt and preserved to a degree by this sedimentation. They also weren't re-quarried much, because they weren't ever cleaned out and stank. That's why they survived.

Q: Is there any more information about them?

A: Yes, actually. They were not a single polity, but rather three competing empires that warred on and off for nearly their entire existence as a recorded people. During empire one's hegemony much of their lands were settled, and the Aels were forced into bondage. During empire two's reign, most of their internal trade networks developed, and sophisticated crafts began showing up. The third empire eventually overran the second, and mopped up the rump state of the first. It got it's business in order, and prepared to take over their portion of the continent. Then it suddenly and violently collapsed, and the Predecessors vanished from the historical record.

Q: What happened?

A: A number of disaster struck that stemmed from bad management of their lands. The first was a collapse of agricultural productivity due to slash and burn practices, irrigation networks collapsing from lack of maintenance, and a panic-buying of grains caused by crop disease that resulted in the collapse of their food distribution networks. At the same time, this poor soil quality caused localized ecological collapse, which resulted in the death of livestock. Oh, they also lost the power of their holy site at Aquatienne- the one with the natural nuclear reactor.

Q: Aquatienne has a what-

A: A naturally occurring nuclear reactor. This results from freak geological phenomena that brought enough fissile material into contact with itself to achieve a chain reaction. There has been one incidence of this occurring that was known by humanity, and it was at Oklo, in Gabon. This reaction achieved enough neutron flux to temporarily heat some rocks and boil very small deposits of water, which the Perushtane used to tap magical power and obtain considerable prestige.

Q: Are you shitting me?

A: I am not shitting you. Pissing, maybe. But I am not shitting-

Q: That's disgusting.

A: You know what else was disgusting-

Q: You. You're-

A: The mass sapient sacrifices. That's where they got more of their power for the big spells.

Q: Oh. I see.

A: Yes. As well as their water pollution. They would commonly throw finished goods into the waters around them, sometimes as offerings, other times as pollution. They would often throw the corpses of sacrifices into the rivers and ponds. This is likely where the ancient Aels got their first water-handling and burial taboos from.

Q: Their first? Weren't they extant as a people beforehand?

A: Ah. Yes. The Perushtanes essentially evaporated their original culture and societal bounds during the mass enslavement. Only some hints of choral traditions survive, but this is how we can actually track them across time: their presence in the meta-historical record.

Q: What is that?

A: A meta-historical record is like...historiography, the history of history, but expanded to include other areas of study. Think about it like the sociology of sociology, or the psychology of psychology AND the history of history, all being practiced simultaneously. We find the Perushtanes by noticing where there are sudden changes: the sudden change of the Aels in their entire cultural pictures, and the Perushtanes potentially in their own.

Q:...what does that mean?

A: They were their own end. They changed themselves so much that they abruptly spun out and self destructed. This would seem like the perfect superpower in an Isekai: the ability to change everyone at will. However, they changed themselves to be more like themselves...and ended up collapsing into extraordinary levels of bloodletting.

Q: And then what happened?

A: Well, the Aels finished what the Perushtanes started.

Q: Did they become more like the Puerushtanes?

A: Yes, in centralization and love of arms. No, in control of the self and the recognition of evil.

Q: What happened to them?

A: After the fires went out, and the fighting stopped, and the last sick were buried, the Aels split into the petty kingdoms that they had originally been grouped up with- although with much more powerful rulers. There were definite classes, including horse-mounted warriors that would eventually become knights, and serfs, who they protected. There was also the emergence of the religion of the Lady, who arose from the waters and aided them against disease and famine. That became centralized, too.

Q: Did this include feudalism?

A: Yes. As feudalism penetrated the area as an institution for rulership and a social organization method, we saw the outlines of the current Kingdom take shape, and the physical paths of the current economy start to form as well. With more centralization came more capability to move around, and contact with Freeport began to intensify. This in turn built up modern trade. And feudalism enabled the support of the Church of the Lady, which is an entire post in itself-

Q: Have you booked the gig?

A: Yes. The advance fee and travel fees have been paid.

Q: Great. Audience, we will see you next week for that one!

A: Eastern standard time!

Q: And now back to this posts' outline-the Church helped get specialization restarted-specialization in what forms?

A: Social specialization, primarily. Leaders. Scholars. Traders-not full merchants, just people who went around exchanging goods. And soldiers. Especially soldiers. The Church, not the lords, is the reason that Knights exist.

Q: Why is that?

A: By confining warfare to a professional class bound by a code of conduct, and required to at least profess said code in order to conduct war, it was a great way to limit conflict and ensure that those carrying out conflict were ready to beat back invaders. This gradually resulted in more intense and more limited warfare, even as populations increased and logistics capacity...theoretically increased. This achieved it's ultimate form in the pegasus-riding knight, which is getting it's own post-

Q: By us?

A: The author did this one without us.

Q: Dammit.

A: Yeah. Sucks. Anyway, the Aels kept getting more and more centralized, more and more sophisticated. Then they got to roughly the size that they are now, with the outlines of a Crown and the Parties and the Church, and it was possible to have an outline of something like...Peace.

Q: Peace? Why is that so significant?

A: Much of the Ael's history had featured constant low-level conflict. Now, conflict could be locally started and stopped by leaders. If the leaders were centrally controlled in turn, by a leader of leaders, who can tell them to stop doing a war, then they can have peace instead. So when you get a King who has conquered a bunch of Dukes, and made the others behave because they control the food supply, you can start to have peace.

Q: Is this when you have the current kingdom of Aelbaion?

A: Yes.

Q: All they needed was a strong guy in charge?

A: All that they needed was a strong enough guy in charge locally, and the domino effect of good enough institutions-oh, and weak enough everyone else. That's what got the Kingdom to it's current state.

Q: Will we be covering that in another post?

A: Absolutely. Because this is the end of this one-we know where Aelbaion came from, and I'm not being paid by the hour. Now give me my change, ya filthy animal-

Q: Oh yeah! We have one more question! Why were they called Predecessors, and not Precusors?

A: Because they sucked so much that they don't get the title called Precursors. They showed up, were horrible to everyone, failed at ruling, didn't wash anything, and then died.

Q:Ok then-anyway, this has been Q&A with Q and A! We'll see you next time!