Britannians are a fairly varied people, with many different colours, builds, and cants, but they share a great deal of common culture. They have developed similar social structures that have endured because of their effectiveness, rather than because of iron tradition. Britannia has a noble estate, and the nobles control a great deal of the wealth and power of the land, but the division between commoner and noble being more about practical concerns rather than notions of right or inherent value; a person of noble status is to be respected if they can obtain, or maintain, that which they have through their own abilities. Commoners may aspire to rise in station, and will give a noble their due, but this deference is born of respect and not submission.
Politics
Britannia is now without a king. The King did not try to father an heir or designate a successor and so Britannians have taken this to mean that he felt a new King was not needed. A kind of consensus of the mighty rules most of the city-states of the land although this can vary slightly from one that is essentially a customary arrangement, like that of Jhelom, to one that is a formal committee, such as in Minoc. Most common folk who live on the land look to itinerant Druids to resolve personal disputes and rely on their lords and ladies, or their sheriffs, to keep order. Few take issue with this ancient system and, as such, it requires little enforcement; there is simply little need for revolution on the part of the commons or for tyranny on that of the nobles.
Economics
Britannia’s main industries are farming. By a large majority, most Britannians are involved in some kind of farming. Other main activities include fishing, in coastal and island areas, logging, and mining. Hunting, for meat and textiles, has given way to herding of cows and sheep although some still pursue this traditional lifestyle. Mountainous areas tend to have fair mineral wealth and mining is often a lucrative trade for those that live in areas with an abundance of ores. In the towns and cities crafting is the major activity, and most are involved in the production, transport, and selling of some kind of refined commodity. The most commonly used method of transporting goods is by cart, using the roads that cross the land, although ships are employed for most long distance transportational needs. The skyships developed by the Society of Sacrifice are still too uncommon to have a serious impact on bulk transportation of goods, but more cities are considering construction of the high docks needed for such craft to berth safely. Guilds of crafters, traders, and labourers have steadily grown in influence and membership as the towns and cities of Britannia grew larger and more prosperous, many of the daily administrative tasks of town management have been given over to councils of guild leaders who, it is felt, have a direct personal interest in keeping fair and reasonable conditions that are conducive to commerce.
Currency
In an effort to enhance trade the King standardised the system of exchange, converting the diverse coins of many petty lords and cities into a common currency. The Britannian system is a tri-metallic system, using copper, silver, and gold coins of a single size. The value of these coins is always the same, 100 coppers is 10 silvers is 1 gold. The Artificers of the Society of Sacrifice were called upon by the King to produce standardised coin-mills that produced coins that were resistant to devaluation and the Druids of the Society of Justice instructed to monitor the values of the metals in relation to each other to prevent imbalances entering into the system. For several centuries now the Britannian currency has remained stable. Golds are often also called ‘crowns’; silvers ‘shields’, and coppers ‘cups’ – which leads to a popular wagering game “Cup, Shield, and Crown”; all coins are also known as ‘pennies’, normally prefaced by their metal-type.
Virtues and Powers
In the time before the King, and dating back to the first discoveries of the wise, the folk of Britannia gave respect and veneration to the natural powers and to the embodiment of the skies, the stones, the seas, and the sun. These elemental powers were named differently by many of the tribes, but their power was known to all and those who pledged themselves to respect them the deepest were able to use exercise great powers of magic. To these powers was added that of the ancestors; it is not clear when the first ancestor came forth and spoke to wise, but since that time they were able to speak with the voices of the greatest of their forebears and benefit from their wisdom. When the King came forth to defeat the would-be tyrants however, some had taken to dwelling upon a new power; a deeper power they felt was more a part of them than the skies, stones, seas, and sun could ever be. They called this power many names too, and it was not until the King had won his crown that they came together at his call, and named it plainly: virtue. The virtues embraced eight ideals – compassion, honesty, honour, humility, justice, sacrifice, spirituality, and valour – that served as guides to men and women in their lives and aided them in knowing right action from wrong action. The King had drawn upon these truths, as they were present within himself, in order to have the strength to triumph over the terrible strength of his foes and so many came to learn of them in order to find such resolve and power within themselves. The King encouraged such things, favouring the learning and respect of human forces over those of distant nature, and formed one of the Great Societies to gather those learned in these eight virtues so others might learn from them, although this society was to break into two parts, and then many parts, as it became divided about how these virtues should be taught to others. To this day though, many spiritual orders perform great acts of magical healing or charitable service and many still find the truths of the virtues no less compelling than they were centuries ago, and far more so than simple obedience to the natural powers.