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[EKB]

My setting is Etan. Metagaming published my "Players guide to the Etan Campaign" as (IIRC) an Interplay article way back in the day.

The campaign is centered on the Million Kingdoms and the wilderness to the north and west (in which live the Northern Barbarians). From the latest version (which is still a dozen years old):

The Million Kingdoms consists of 58 small city-states and petty kingdoms with a generic fantasy/medieval/renaissance flavor. It includes three cities, 38 towns, and a large number of farming villages. A spiderweb of cart-tracks and paths connect the villages and towns, and the High Road – an artifact from before the Greater Obscusification – links the three main cities.

The typical kingdom covers several hexes on the campaign map. It contains one town (bearing the same name as the kingdom) and a hundred or more villages. Half the villages cluster around the town, while the rest are scattered through the countryside. Each village has a belt of fields, pastures, and orchards surrounding it, with an average of four square kilometers per village. Beyond this is parkland: a mixture of forest and wild fields with occasional hills and swampy lowlands. Away from the towns, each campaign hex has only five to 15 villages, and parkland covers over 90% of the hex. As a result, the terrain in the Million Kingdoms is very similar to that of the Middle Wilderland to the east.

Each village has a population of 200 to 500, with most (90%) having populations under 250. The towns have populations ranging from 500 to 5000, and the three cities – Glygorf, Robono, and Sal-Hy – have populations of 5000, 15,000, and 25,000 respectively. The villages hold 90% of the population of the Million Kingdoms, with the towns and cities having most of the rest. Only a handful of outlaws and crazy hermits live outside any settlement; the shadowspawn and other bogies make life too dangerous. Even the gypsies, traveling merchants, drifters, and other wanderers try to stay safely inside a village each night.

Government:
Government in the Million Kingdoms is a variant of feudalism. Each kingdom is divided into a number of fiefs. Traditionally, a fief covers the land half a day’s journey from the manor; in practice each fief corresponds more or less to one hex on the campaign map. The king of each kingdom rules directly over the richest and most populous fief (the one containing a town or city if there is one). The rest he grants to various noble lords (barons, earls, counts, dukes, etc.). Each lord in turn takes one village in his fief as his own and grants the others to lesser nobles who thus gain the title of “Squire.” Similarly, the king stays in the town, city, or chief village of his royal fief and grants authority over the other villages to his knights.

According to the feudal law of the Million Kingdoms, no one can rule over more than one kingdom, one fief, and one village, town, or city. Those who violate this law suffer a curse. As a result, the rulers of the various fiefs and kingdoms do not waste a lot of time trying to conquer each other. Instead, they aim their intrigues and brief, frequent wars at putting friendly rulers (or puppets) in charge of their neighbors.

Economics:
Coinage: Each of the Million Kingdoms mints its own coins. However, almost all coins have weights and values very close to the traditional (and “lucky”) ones. Normal sized coins weigh 5g each, or 200 per kg, with the value depending on the metal. The common types of coins in Etan are:

• The Silver Dollar ($). This is the standard coin in Etan. It is worth about what a US dollar was worth when US dollars were still silver – or about five to ten modern dollars. Half-dollar and two-dollar coins also exist but are rare.
• The copper bit. This is the basic copper coin, worth $0.10. In addition there is the half-bit (worth $0.05, wt 2.5g or 400 per kg), and the two-bit piece or “quarter” (worth $0.25, wt 12.5g or 80 per kg).
• The Eagle. This is the basic electrum piece, worth $10. It traditionally has an eagle on the back. Half-eagles ($5, 2.5g or 400 per kg) and double eagles ($20, 10g) also exist.
• Gold Pieces are known by various names (crown, royal, sovereign, etc.) and normally are worth $100 each. Half-crowns ($50, 2.5g) also exist, along with the rare dragon ($200, 10g)

Taxes: Taxes in the countryside range from 10% to 60% of income. Ordinary villagers pay to the Squire or Knight, Squires pay to their Lord, and Knights and Lords pay to the King. People in areas with higher tax rates tend to get more back from the rulers by way of public spending and noblesse oblige.

Taxes in the towns and cities normally hit established businesses (a 10% ‘business’ or ‘sales’ tax) and property owners (1% of the value). Note that the ‘standard’ prices for goods already include the 10% sales tax.

Adventurers don’t normally get taxed directly unless they buy real estate, start a regular business, or otherwise settle down. Taxmen have a hard time trying to deal with well-armed, hard-to-catch adventurers – it’s easier to squeeze the merchants they deal with.

Society:
Villagers
Most of the people in the Million Kingdoms are villagers, and most of the villagers are peasant farmers. Thanks to the magical nature of Etan, these peasants can produce generous amounts of food with very little effort. They thus have a great deal of free time which they use to practice other trades “on the side” and to party.

In addition to the farmers, a typical village will have a wizard, a blacksmith, a miller, and of course the ruler (lord, squire or knight) with his or her family and several servants.

Townsfolk
About 10% of the population of the Million Kingdoms live in towns and cities. This population includes craftsmen, merchants, thieves, Royal Household and Government officials, tavern- and innkeepers, and professionals of various sorts. They have a higher level of both magic and technology than villagers do: More wizards per capita, and more late- and post-medieval gadgets.

Towns typically have a number of areas or “quarters”: a crafting district, a market area, a wealthy quarter, a dwarven quarter, a bad part of town, and so on.

Wanderers
These are folk that don’t live in any one settlement. Most of them travel from village to village and from town to town, staying in the safety of a settlement at night. Only a handful of desperate outlaws and crazy hermits and woodsmen try to live outside all the time.

Besides the outlaws and hermits, wanderers include young folk working off wanderlust or looking for a mate, traveling peddlers, merchants, rogues, entertainers, and gypsy families, and, of course, adventurers.

Non-humans
The Humankin races consist of humans and those races who live among humans – dwarves, elves, halfelves, orcs, goblins, giants, and lizardmen. In the Million Kingdoms, these non-human races usually live in the same villages as humans, so characters will generally be familiar with members of other races.

Dwarves are a partial exception to this. Dwarves live only in towns and cities – never in the countryside – and usually stay in the “dwarven quarter” of town. Even so, town-dwelling humans (and elves, goblins, orcs, etc…) will be familiar with dwarves although rural folk may not be.

Wizards
As noted before, Etan has a lot of wizards. About one person in 100 will be a wizard, and practically every village will have at least one wizard in residence. These “hedge wizards” may not have much skill or power, but they will exist.

Priests
Almost all the people in the Million Kingdoms follow the Millerite faith, but most are not very pious. They celebrate the major Holy Days, pray in desperate emergencies – and that’s about it. As a result, not too many priests live in the Million Kingdoms. Only about one village in five will have a priest in residence. Most people go to secular wizards for marriages, funerals, blessings on the hearthstone, and other magical and spiritual needs.