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Gratz

Gratz

A pre-factory industrialized, court governed kingdom. Gratzians are by nature an industrious people. Commonly craftsmen, scholars, and soldiers, Gratzian civilians operate as workers for the good of the kingdom. A national pride within their kingdom exists to such a point that should another Gratzian fall upon hard times, he is brought back to a solid standing financially by those near him. This system of civility has managed to allow the kingdom to grow and flourish without any form of taxation in all the days since it was founded.

Within Gratz, there are seven state-kingdoms. At the head of each of these sits a Judge who is responsible for discerning policy for his Courts. The seven state-kingdoms are individually comprised of twenty two Districts. Each sizable district is represented by a prominent community figure. These figures, known as Adjutants, each hold an office in the Courthouse within their district and the Judge's Court of their state-kingdom, and are responsible for bringing issues of local concern to the Judge's Court.

Each Courthouse is akin to a full sized stronghold, capable of serving as a center of government, civil court, police house, and a great hall. Any meetings local to a district's civilians take place there, as well as arbitration between individuals, businesses, factions, families, or any other combination of conflicts. Adjutants serve similar functions as a combination between Roman Senators, and Sheriffs of the American Old West. It was their responsibility to ensure that local issues remained local, but that larger issues of society were brought to meetings with the other District Adjutants at the Judge's Court.

The Judges are highly respected officials, serving as an elected king of their state-kingdom. As they are elected by the citizens of their state-kingdom, they hold their position until they die. When a Judge dies, the new Judge is chosen from that state-kingdom's District Adjutants by the other six Judges. The new Judge must be confirmed by a vote of loyalty from at least fourteen of the other District Adjutants. If this cannot be done, a retainer of the Grand Marshall is placed as the state-kingdom's new Judge.

The Grand Marshall is the very head of the Gratzian government. The Grand Marshall serves as the final word of law within the Gratzian kingdom, despite the fairly democratic nature of it's chain of command. To date, no Grand Marshall has ever dissented from the opinion of it's Judges. Like the Judges, a Grand Marshall is elected, and serves in the position until their death. Candidates for Grand Marshall are proposed and elected by a vote of the Judges and all District Adjutants. The vote itself must be a five sevenths majority in two ways; five of the seven Judges must approve, as well at least one hundred and ten of the one hundred and fifty six Adjutants must also approve.

While the Gratzians have no form of taxation, there is a standardized economy. Gratzian currency comes in the form of bars of precious metals, each half an inch wide, two inches long, and a quarter of an inch thick. These bars are referred to as 'Platni' in reference to the metal they are made of. As there is no form of taxation, all platinum sources are mined by the Gratzian military with an understanding that all 'Platni' are minted by the military as well, in order to keep the economy at a standard. Counterfeit Platni is a very serious crime in any district, as it threatens to destabilize the kingdom as a whole, and only twice it the recorded history of the nation has it ever been attempted. In both instances, citizens were responsible for leading the military to the culprits in the spirit of doing what is best for the nation.

The Gratzian military is a well trained, well oiled, incredible fighting machine. While there are many branches of the military, including scholars, engineers, miners, and craftsmen, the primary strength is their soldiers. All Gratzians may enter the military, and those that do are looked upon with a great deal of respect. Though all may enter, many of the more ancient family lines look upon it as a position deserving of nobles, and so many of them enter their children into the Gratzian Academy in order to place them in a position of command. This, however, is not automatic. Only the brightest, most capable in their fields are given positions of command in any aspect, despite being from an ancient line, or orphaned without knowledge of lineage.

There were several ranks within the fighting class of the Gratzian military. Recruits are those first entered into training. This includes any that have joined as children in the Academy. Although children and adults are not trained together, adults do not automatically outrank a younger Recruit. After completion of training, they are granted the rank of Soldier. Soldiers are the most common of the Gratzian military. While it is very rare for any Gratzian to reach the rank of Soldier before sixteen, a Gratzian Soldier is considered an adult, responsible for their own actions. Exemplary Soldiers are promoted to Knight, of which there are only seven per district's branch of the military. Knights are frequently placed in charge of small groups of Soldiers, working as field commanders when in battle. On very rare occasions, an exemplary Knight will be granted the rank of Paladin. Paladins are supreme combatants, capable of devastating enemy forces while greatly outnumbered. While there is no guideline restricting the number of Paladins, there have never been more than twenty two at a time, but only because of the rarity of their skill.

Lineage is an incredibly important tradition within Gratzian society. Prominent family lines are able to trace their family back for centuries worth of generations. Traditional Gratzian families are very small, one to two children in most instances, with very few exceptions. Because of this, family estates tend to remain in the hands of a line throughout its entirety. Often this can lead to a tradition of a spoiled raising. Instead of taking on a skill or craft of some sort, most of the older family lines end up in the military to seek out ranks of command, or attempt to serve their state-kingdom through the system of courts.

Naming Structures

Gratzians take their family pride very seriously, and bequeath their children with a name believed to represent their destiny, and the family name. No Gratzian has more than two names, with the exception of criminal aliases.

Family names tend to represent the lineages role in history. For example, a name such as Rünheist, is prevalent for their role as leaders in battles. The 'Rün' portion of the name is a reference to the Runick Star, the source of creation and home to all Runick kind, while the '-heist' portion of the name translates as 'high'. Combined, the name means 'Star on high', or 'Holy star'. The name Veiderheist is a combination of less prolific terms. 'Veider' is a reference to unbridled power and durability, while '-heist' again translates as 'high'. Combined, the name translates as 'Power on high', or 'unparalleled strength'. A young man named Fox Rünheist would be given the name, as it is believed that he will be a clever leader among men, where the name Malachai Veiderheist would indicate a single soldier who stands up for others.

Below is a table of Gratzian prefixes and suffixes with their Common and Runick translations.

Names generally are comprised by placing the prefix directly in front of the suffix, however there are some variations to either the prefix or suffix if there are redundant syllables or sounds. An example would be the name Ardaxian. Translated as 'Holy Chaos' it is comprised of 'Ard' for Elemental Holy, and '-taxian' for Elemental Chaos. The ending 'd' and beginning 't' sound are relatively similar and so one has been eliminated. Similarly the name 'Artaxian' would translate to the same meaning, but would also be an acceptable variation. The particularly snobbish would insist on 'Ardtaxian' but this more cumbersome version would be highly unlikely, and would likely gather resentment from other Gratzians.

An example of syllable reduction would be the name Silheist. Translating as 'Light on high' or 'Leading light' its composed of 'Silheit' for Elemental Light and 'heist' for 'high', both the prefix and suffix share the 'hei' portion, and so the 'heit' is removed from the prefix to compound the two. In cases where there is this much redundancy, even the particularly snobbish would not have insisted on 'Silheitheist'.

As well as syllable, letter, or sound redundancies, meaning redundancies are also not prevalent in Gratzian surnames. For example, the name 'Kardentil' which is comprised of 'Karden', the prefix referring to Elemental Earth, and the suffix '-til' of the same meaning would not be combined in Gratzian society, as it would be an overly redundant and under descriptive surname. Also in this list are 'Eid' and '-eidic', 'Ard' and '-denor', 'Ataxi' and '-taxian', 'Veider' and '-venze'. ( Editor's Note: despite it's lack of use in Gratzian society as a surname, the term 'Ataxian' does exist to describe those that exert control Chaotic energy. Craft Ashalar and Aldeton Volscault are two examples. )