Political Organization of Tyrwingha

Tyrwingha is a rural place, with no cities of any size outside of Tafolwern, and most people live in small villages and market towns of between 50 and 1000 people.

Unlike in Sembara, where the manor is the main unit of political organization, Tyrwingha is fundamentally organized, from the bottom, around the village, and from the top, around the earls.

In ancient days, the title of Earl was said to be bestowed only on those human lords who had sworn a direct oath to Archfey Ethlenn to serve and obey her, and were thus seen as her stewards in the human realms, watching over the land and its inhabitants on her behalf. Today, these earls, of which there are about fifty, are powerful lords, whose bond to Ethlenn derives from their allegiance to the monarch. The earls have a duty to watch over the land on behalf of Ethlenn, and usually they spend at least six months of the year travelling with their retainers and court.

Each earl has a circuit, which they ride, and a set of villages and towns on that circuit, for which they are responsible. The earl is obligated to provide, to their villages and towns, justice, defense, and charity. The villages are obligated to provide to the earl, labor service. This labor service is traditionally a year of labor for every ten hearths in the village. This can take many forms: in some cases, it is someone joining the earl’s travelling court, or the Army of Mostreve. In other cases, it is working the earl’s land, in which it is more usually divided up, i.e. six people working the land during harvest and planting, rather than one person for a whole year.

The earl, in turn, is responsible for providing to each village:
* Justice, in the form of appeals from the village Court of All (see below)
* Defense, via their own force of arms, and their retainers
* Charity, in the form of support in hard times, managing the redistribution of food and so on

Village Organization

Villages are usually self-organized, and the Sembaran model of a manoral lord who oversees the village is not typically seen in Tyrwingha (although a small number of Sembaran style manors do exist along the Aure and the border with Sembara).

Village organization is varied, but all villages manage disputes via the Court of All. This is a village gathering that is empowered to judge and punish crimes, settle disputes between neighbors, and make decisions about how the village will fulfil its labor service to Ethlenn and the earl’s.

The Court of All is consisted as an assembly of the village, with one representative for each hearth. So the very poor have no representation, and the wealthy somewhat disproportionate representation, but in many villages there are neither wealthy nor poor, and the general vibe is usually fairly democratic.

Taxes and Land Organization

Unlike in Sembara, there are no formal taxes on the population, and the concept of freehold and crownhold land has not carried over from Sembara. Instead, all land in Tyrwingha is thought to be held in trust for Ethlenn.

Property is not really bought and sold, although improvements to the land, such as a house, certainly are sold. Access to agricultural land is organized via the Court of All in each village, and although longstanding and hereditary land claims are usually maintained (my family has been managing this vineyard for many generations) there is usually no financial stake in these claims. A family that wishes to leave the village can’t just sell the land to the highest bidder, although again, improvements, vines, irrigation, etc can be sold although these agreements usually need to be ratified by the Court of All, and if a new family or person is coming to town, they would need to be made part of the Court of All in that village.

Outside of the lands controlled by the earls, to which the earl is entitled to all of the profits of the land, there are no taxes or other goods required to be given to the earls or the monarch. However, labor service, as mentioned above, is required from each village. Additionally, each Court of All manages the provisioning of the local temple, including for example ensuring the temple administrator and any staff of disciples living there are fed and clothed, and ensuring that the temple has resources for festivals and celebrations.