Uthgard Kingdom

The Uthgard Kingdom is a feudal, expansionist, multiracial Kingdom of Giants, Humans and Goblins

The Giants are undisputed rulers of the Kingdom. Their leader is the king, below him the nobles and finally the commoners and serfs. Religious and Magic castes exist outside this hierarchy.

The Kingdom is divided into 7 Jarldoms. One of them is reigned by the King himself, the other by his Jarls. Eachs Jarldom consists of a number of Herads, each led by a (King, Jarl or) Thegn. There are 43 Thegn of roughly equivalent power. Since the Herads are approximately measured by population and the Jarldoms are mostly measured by territory, the Northern Jarls have less Thegn vassals then the southerners.

The Early years
King Tryggva knew that he was created to be king from the very beginning, due to the crown on his head. His royal weaponsmith was created standing at his forge with a red hot glowing billet at the end of his forge tongs. Intuitively he started hammering and a few hours later, he presented his king The First Sword. Tryggva took this as an omen of war to come. He ordered all Jotun Lands to unite under his rule.

At other places, four Jotun leaders declared themselves Jarls. When they heard of Tryggva, Jarl Albjörn of Jämtland willingly pledged fealty to the King. The Jarls Kolgrímr of Herigaland and Furbiörn of Gaetinland however opposed him. Not that they did not want to unite the Kingdoms but they demanded a noble republic, where all Jarls would be King in a rotating system. There was war, hardly a year into the new world but it was not fought with a lot of determination, as many low Thegn on both sides withheld the majority of their warriors from the conflict. In the end, Tryggva and Albjörn won, due to the fact, that the King could motivate more of his demesne men. With Kolgrímr and Furbiörn subjugated, the undecided Jarl Kvígulfir of Nordland joined the Kingdom willingly, too.

The Great Expansion 43-48
It was only a matter of time, that Uthgard expanded. Uthgar was sourounded by tribal lands of disorganized tribes. Their plains were fertile but used much below their possible potential. Most importantly, the best available mountain path through the Swartkoppen Mountains went right through Goblin lands. In the year 44 the Jotunn started expanding into neighboring tribes. The Jarldoms of Nordland and Herigaland gaind some territory and in the south, a large expanse of land previously owned by Humans, Goblins and Jotunn (without a central authority, however) was conquered and elevated Vígúlfr from Gaetinland to the Jarl of the newly created Jarldom of Surtmark.

The Vaetti Subjugation 77-78
About thirty years after their first expansion Uthgard moved southwest, again. The goblins in the plains and woodlands south of Herigaland were very much like the ones inside Uthgard. With the pretense of unifying the Goblin people under one rule, the Jotun invaded them. A Thegn from a Herad south of Herigaland, that was only just conquered in the great expansion contributed the main part to the war and was lifted into the rank of a Jarl as Jösurr of Agaelandet

The Second Expansion 83-??
Uthgard did not leave the new conquest develop by itself but pushed the building of fortresses along it's borders as a base from which to push even further south. The expansion began in the year 83 but Uthgard did not stop at building fortresses in the south, it was planing a westwards expansion, too. In response to this thread the human tribes of the west united into one confederation and joined the war in 84.

Nobles
The Kingdom is ruled by one King.

Below the King are multiple Jarls, who hold great power over their respective Jarldoms. They have much autonomy towards their liege and in times of war will usually lead their respective armies independently.

Below the Jarls are the Thegn, who, too are hereditary landowners and city lords of significant power, the stronger of them almost rival their Jarls in power.

The least title of nobility is the Herse, a local chieftain sometimes only ruling over a few hundred people. They command the warriors in peacetime to hunt down raiders and highwaymen but leave them to the command of their thegn if called to war. Humans and Goblins are sometimes given the title, too.

Priests
The Priests and Priestesses cataloging and worshiping the various deities of Uthgard are called Gothis and Gydias. Local Temples are called Gothord and hold dominion over some lands and church-serfs called felagids.

Their leaders elect a first among them, called Allsherjargothi in regular cycles. There is a consensus, that there should also be a religious leader called "Flykir" reigning supreme but there is no consensus, how he should be elected or who should it be.

Shamans
Outside of the other orders there are the Shamans or (female) Völva. They are an own religious authority able to own land and employ own followers. Their faith does not fogus on distance deities however, but on nearby spirits and ley lines in the world around them. Many Shamans and Völva know the magic of Seidr. They do not have a central authority. Völva are sometimes derogatorily called "Spakona", suggesting that they are just another form of witch.

Mages
People of magic power are organized along an own society.

The adepts are often called Hexen or Hags (if female) or Hexers (if male). It is also the only rank available to Goblins and Humans.

Properly trained Jotun witches and warlocks are known as Seidkona or Seidmadra if they know the magic of Seidr or Galdkona / Galdmadra, if they know the magic of Galdr. Those that know both usually chose from the two titles.

The order is lead by three powerful female withes called Norna. The Norna are sometimes referred to as Wyrdkona (meaning "fate-witch") as term that they do not find as insulting as Völvas being called Spakona.

Right below them are ten male Galdmadra called Skratti. Besides significant skill in Galdr and at least rudimentary Seidr skills, the Skratti also know a few secret incarnations, that could be considered "evil dark magic" and they are generally feared by the general population.