Barony of Brithone

Government
The Barony of Brithone is governed from the central city of Cheabury, and is reigned over by Baron Gregory Brithone VI, who is married to Rebecca Rothwood Brithone and has two children - Gregory Samuel Brithone VII and Beatrice Rebecca Brithone.

The Debt Law
Those who are unable to pay their debts will find themselves enlisted in the "Debtors Squad" - these are grunts of the militia - in leather armor and clubs - who are forced to serve under the regular militia. The term of service varies upon the amount of debt the person was in, but this is rarely less than a year. Many would prefer prison to this service - the Debtors Squad typically treated the most unfairly and are widely considered to be expendable. However, because being in the Debtors Squad is considered taking a vow into the service of the Kingdom, deserters are considered traitors and are executed. This has not stopped more than a few from fleeing and finding other ways of life - such as banditry.

Swift Justice
Prisons are temporary holding cells only - intended for very short term. People are rarely there long enough to even warrant receiving a meal. There is a high demand for "Justicars" - those who oversee and pass judgement on said criminals because of this. Most times, manual labor is the assigned punishment - anywhere from a day to months or longer. The most severe punishments involve mining servitude - where the guilty are sent to work for the dwarves deep in the World Spine mountains. Those that go are likely to never be heard from again.

History
The region has had much turmoil. The most recent was only within the past 150 years - civil unrest from the oppressive monarchy in the area resulted in a failed coup - and thus an internal war erupted in the region. Many towns were destroyed, along with a few keeps from local Lords. While the initial coup failed, ultimately the old Baronship was wiped out, dragged out of their burning castle and publicly executed by stoning (it is rumored that there was help from the King, who by this time saw the strife as a direct threat to his reign, and blamed the old Baron for failing to take care of it swiftly). In order to avoid himself or any of the new lords from being associated with the old Baronship, Baron Gregory Brithone I set about building new, smaller keeps. Focusing more on spread out defenses and working with the people to build better communities, peace came quickly and complacency set in.

Prior to that conflict, there were additional tyrannies brought down, and natural disasters that left the land in a constant state of recovery. The end result is no shortage of ruins to be found past where the farms end; where the darkness stares back at you.

In 1769AU, the Baron Gregory Brithone reported that a tiefling assassin’s plot to kill him failed. Already paranoid, the Baron decree that all tieflings in the barony are to be immediately arrested. Unfortunately for the tieflings, existing mistrust is leading to them being killed on sight - with nobody stepping up to stop the brutality.

Local Lore and Culture
Cheabury is home to two of Vanigar’s magical academies - a larger institution called the Magical Academia of Lore and Knowledge, and a much smaller (and much more selective group) called the Archaeological, Astrological, and Aetherical Disturbance and Manipulation Society.

The presence of these academies has had the opposite effect one would expect from them - rather than the local populace becoming more accepting of magic, they have become even more paranoid and distrustful of it - despite the strict rules placed on the members of these societies.

Notable People
Royal Sorcere Victor Talcore - head of the Magical Academia of Lore and Knowledge