Baron of Ortal

A baron is the leader of a barony in Ortal. The creation of baronies as subdivisions of the country was a failed attempt at copying the Gardemoor Empire's regional structure model. Though the Empire indeed had baronies, they were subdivisions of duchies. As such, the title of baron in Ortal is the equivalent of a duke in other countries, implying a larger area of responsibility than barons of other countries.

Unlike the title of king, which is an elected position in Ortal, the title and responsibilities of a baron is hereditary, being passed on to the eldest son of the former baron according to masculine primogeniture. In absence of a male heir, a woman can hold the position of baron, which is considered a gender neutral title in the Ortalian language. Should a baron become heirless, other nobility may petition the king to bestow their own family the barony title.

History

After the dwarves of the Northbound Expedition emerged from beneath the ground and rapidly expanded their territory into the eastern parts of the faltering Gardemoor Empire, they tried keeping the naming conventions and ruling etiquette of the Empire when dividing their lands into more manageable pieces. Due to language barriers and misunderstandings, the former duchies of the Empire were turned into the baronies of Ortal.

The title of baron was first given to the surviving Reaver commanders of the Northbound Expedition, with their leader, Ortal, taking on the role of king. They would take on the surnames "of (barony name)" meaning the newly appointed baron of the Downdeller barony, for example, became Torden of Downdeller, while the first baron of Blackhills, Stridig, took the name Stridig of Blackhills. This naming convention was kept hereditary, with heirs also taking the "of (barony name)," until Kaggan of Blackhills was deposed after the first goblin siege of Blackhills City in 1925 PGE. The new baron family, the Pewters, kept their last name.

Responsibilities

All tasks associated with the baron title is usually better off being delegated to someone more specialized in the associated field, and often is. Thus the most important task of the baron is to handle the logistics and communications between these areas.

A baron holds the power supreme jurisdiction within their barony, and have the final say in any legal matter. To make sure justice does not come to a halt, some of this power can be given on to lords ruling other cities in the barony. More often than being redistributed to other nobility, a baron can (and is usually expected to) grant the clerics of Dunkheger the permission to exercise the full extent of his judicial powers.

The task a baron almost always choose to handle themselves is the economics of the barony. Granting funds to official projects, collecting the royal and local taxes, paying the military for their arms and services, and many other things that need the calculations of a well-educated brain have to be passed by the baron's desk.