Tarse
Kingdom of Tarse
Pronounced: Tar-ss
Founded in times unknown, the first King of Tarse is long forgotten in memory and song.
Sigil
A rampant (rearing) white stallion;
the White Stallion.
Banner
A white stallion rampant (rearing)
on a field of blue.
Symbols include the White Stallion.
Race
Human.
The people of Tarse are usually fair skinned, often with blue eyes and blond hair, though dark hair and eyes are common. Tarse women usually wear dresses with square-cut necklines showing little if any cleavage, and fitted sleeves. These dresses are occasionally embroidered with flowers and leaves, and are worn belted at the waist. Highborn ladies dresses are usually silk, with the embroidery and belt in metallic threads. Commoners wear the same basic style of dress, but of wool, usually with higher necklines and with an apron.
Tarse men wear trousers and shirts with a coat over all. The coat is made with turned-back cuffs and an upstanding collar. Among the nobility the material is often embroidered in metallic threads. Common men wear strong serviceable wool.
Men and women both wear cloaks over their clothes as needed.
Palace servants wear a livery of blue and white collars and cuffs and the White Stallion of Tarse upon their chests.
The uniforms of the King’s Guard
include a dark blue undercoat, gleaming mail and plate armor, and a brilliant
blue cloak. Long white collars hang over the armor, and white cuffs
gleam at the wrist. Their helms are light and from them a white horsetail
flowed, and they often carry lances with thin blue streamers fluttering
from their tips. High-ranking officers wear knots of rank on their
shoulder. The First Marshal wears four golden knots and wide gold
bands on his shoulder.
The City of Tarse
Tarse is a major seaport and a manufacturing
center for fine rugs, textiles, and leather goods. Tarses production
of finished leather is the largest in the land. Vast tanneries cover
a number of small islands among the marsh grass, producing more finished
leather in a day than most village tanneries prepare in months, and adding
to their own distinctive aroma to the pungent smells of the marshland.
The port houses a large fishing fleet, which provides enough seafood to feed Tarse and still export to neighboring cities. The small craft of the fishermen and the larger cargo ships keep the bay crowded. Tarse’s great shipyards produce many of the ships that dock within her harbor.
Tarses port district is quite large. Named the Scented Quarter – its ‘scent’ is the stench of hemp and pitch and sour harbor mud – it is all but cut off from the rest of the city. So long as they do nothing to affront a high lord or lady, its citizens are left to fend for themselves. Even the usually dutiful and honor bound magistrates seldom concern themselves with the Scented Quarter.
To the north and slightly west of Tarse stretchs a vast wold, the Tolhan, the least populated part of Tarse, lying between Norlarn Forest and the River Alnor, and bounded to the north by the River Gorsa.
Military
The armies of Tarse, under the King,
ruled by the First Marshal, appointed by the King, who is also his Military
Advisors. The highest official rank under First Marshal is Second
and Third Marshal which is followed Captain; this is followed by Senior
Lieutenant, Lieutenant, and Under-lieutenant.
The Second and Third Marshal have no fixed duties, and his role changes according to the needs of his King.
In general there is no set size for the formation commanded by any particular rank. The generic term for a unit of infantry of any size is a ‘company’ and of cavalry either a ‘company’ or a ‘squadron’, and in any case it is usually given the name of the lord or officer commanding.
Among cavalry, NCO ranks are squadman and bannerman. The bannerman for a unit usually acts as the recruiting officer as well. Senior bannerman and senior squadman are ‘floating’ ranks, indicating that the individual is just that within his unit, whatever its size. The ‘senior’ designation is more than honorary; it conveys authority over others of that rank.
Weapons and Armor
Most infantry are armed with pikes,
spears, or occasionally axes, with pikemen the most usual. Spear
and axe troops are considered more mobile than pikemen, yet pikes are preferred,
since they stand the best chance against mounted attack, and most in the
Tarse military think of battles primarily in terms of mounted conflict.
In addition to these weapons most footmen carry knives, and sometimes even
a short-sword. Longer swords are practically unknown among the infantry,
as they are considered too unwieldy for close combat.
The average footman usually wears a jerkin of padded or studded leather, and some sort of helm. Jerkins covered with metal discs or plates are not uncommon, and mail shirts are sometimes used, but actual plate is very rare.
Cavalry armament and armor ranges from full plate-and-mail for both horse and rider in the heavy cavalry, to a steel helmet, back and breast plates, and gauntlets in the light cavalry. Some mounted units have far less armor, relying on skill for their protection. Mounted units use various combinations of lance, sword, axe, mace, and horsebow, though lance is most common.
Merchants’ guards, even though usually mounted, have at most a helmet and a studded disc-sewn jerkin as armor. Swords are their most common weapon, though some carry bows or the occasional lance.