Tenthun
Tenthun is a caste-based society with a profoundly influential state religion. As a society organized around the worship of Lathander, the Tenths have a deep reverence for personal honour but do not adhere to any codes of monasticism or asceticism. As the god of the dawn, art, creativity, and growth, Tenth culture is at least notionally dedicated to an artistic, epicurean lifestyle paired with personal honour, humility and modesty. The natural outcomes of a class-based theocracy, however, do not always cohere with the ideal.
Capital
You can't see everything worth seeing in Dartwright in a month. The core of the sprawling city is set in a mountain valley surrounded by waterfalls and gorgeous, powder-white limestone that takes on the shades of the sun as it rises and sets. The valley is supremely defensible, with only a few egress points between mountain ranges, and remarkably verdant as a result of the humidity rising from the crashing falls. Sugar maple, silver birch and cherry blossoms dot the valley landscape alongside wild raspberries (too seedy to chew) and lilac bushes. Every pilgrim comes back from Dartwright with the same refrain: you've never smelled anything so clean and refreshing in all your life.
Satellite villages around the historical settlement of Dartwright were amalgamated over time, with the result that Dartwright now has boroughs in very unusual places. Ethus (pictured) is a snowy mountain town accessible by lift. Selia is a small artisan-focused tourist town carved into the soft stone of one of the narrow mountains next to the main pass. Altodore, one of the busiest boroughs of the city, is built in a meander of the Snowtrist River and has a system whereby the traditional river-boats of the city are craned out of the water and installed into a horse-cart with a ready basket, facilitating travel up and down from the capital region.
Tenthun is ruled by King Mora Marwick and Queen Luisa Fel from the capital of Dartwright. House Fel is the royal line, with Mora bearing only the Crown Matrimonial. Accordingly, while the couple shares power, the Queen Regnant through her House Council maintains official veto power when it comes to statecraft and matters of succession in the realm and only unofficial veto power over everything else. The King has supreme executive authority wherever he is not checked by the Queen.
Luisa is a supremely talented diplomat, jurist, philosopher and leader trained from birth. She's also a mean flautist. Her birth mother died when she was 21, with her mother by marriage passing away 13 years later. She came to the crown fairly young, giving rise to fears that she would select an equally inexperienced spouse. Ever attentive to public opinion, Luisa chose well in courting Mora Marwick, 18 years her senior. Mora is not a diplomat and does not care for speeches. His background is martial, having been the admiral of the Royal Navy for fifteen years before marrying matrilineally into House Fel. He expresses himself largely through woodworking and figure carving.
The couple have three children and are reportedly an effective team. They are fond enough of one another, though significant fissures tend to appear in matters of faith and criminal justice, with Luisa broadly known to be an arch-conservative in ecclesiastical matters compared to her more the-thought-is-what-matters husband; and Mora being a bit of an iron fist on crime and punishment (the thought being what matters).
The gavelkind succession of Tenthun goes a long way to maintaining internecine peace. Luisa's brother Arthur has his hands full as Archduke of basically everything, with all the privileges and respect that comes with the job. Her sister Lara is Duchess of Blue Lake: possibly the global apex of human art and culture. She couldn't be happier. Mora has a veritable herd of siblings, but since the royal line flows through House Fel, none of them have claims to be concerned about.
The state religion is Lathanderism, and you will respect it if you expect to remain alive and within the city walls. Everything good in Tenthun springs from faith. The divine command towards self-improvement, community improvement and personal growth is responsible, the clergy will tell you, for the physical beauty of the population and the general honesty and compassion of the population. The best way to venerate a god of personal growth is, however, frequently unclear. Is it better to be kind, or better to be rich? Should one marry for love or power? Should a pious man raise up an unemployed man because it is right, or crush him under heel for his sin? What should one expect of a believer when they encounter them on the street?
Ignore that nonsense, the Church will advise you. Solipsism is sloth. Everything good in Tenthun springs from faith. Lathander gives us creativity and a sense of beauty absent in the lower animals. It is through His divine favour that we found this place and turned it into a reflection of His creative spirit. To turn our back on Him, to fail to show Him our gratitude, to fail to emulate Him in our daily lives is to invite ruin upon Tenthun.
The push to constant self-improvement and the devotional requirement to take time to enjoy the beautiful things in life may sound like excellent starting-points for a religion; but whenever you have an inquisition formed looking into new and startling developments like teenagers sleeping in too late, you know you've got an institutional problem. Become a better person, live life to the fullest... or else: that's the Tenth code.
Tenth martial culture revolves heavily around the mounted class of knights that continue to form the bulk of their military, even as developing tactics in The Corran Empire minimize the marginal advantage of mounted armour. The tradition of knighthood is still of central religious and cultural importance to the Tenths, even as the duties and practices of knights continues to evolve.
Political Organization
Division of Responsibility
Generally peaceful and well organized, the Crown of Tenthun and all subsidiary peerages are passed down through a pure cognatic gavelkind succession. Landed noblewomen are considered the equal of their peers, though the same cannot be said at lower rungs on the social ladder where social roles are driven more forcefully by scarcity. Social stratification in Tenthun is reinforced by a strong caste system organizing the population between the ruling elite of five purportedly founding families, the nobility, the military, the church and the common people. There are several sub-castes within the common folk, but whether out of sincerity or social necessity, the lowest caste of unlanded serfs are not considered "untouchable". Rather, they are venerated for their simple virtues, held up as the foundation of the state and idealized as those lucky enough to have truly fresh food every night. Due to the paradoxically high social status of the lowest social order, there is often a hesitancy among the poor to obtain land, gaining limited capital but losing any shadow of social status. (How very convenient for the rich.) Because commerce is forbidden to all but the nobility, who distribute goods as necessary among their people (and generally observe strong social and religious pressures to do so liberally) social advancement is extremely difficult. The greatest of military and clerical families, however -- who were gradually drawn by merit from the lower classes -- may expect at generational length to be married into the lowest rungs of the nobility. Such events occur rarely enough that they are cause for state-sanctioned celebration among the labouring classes across the realm. A deeply religious and custombound people, the Tenths observe a longstanding and amiable peace with their neighbours to the south, with whom they share bloodlines and a common faith. That relationship is an alliance in all but name. It is unimaginable that either would come under attack without the other rushing to the defence of its sister-state.Capital 
Region
You can't see everything worth seeing in Dartwright in a month. The core of the sprawling city is set in a mountain valley surrounded by waterfalls and gorgeous, powder-white limestone that takes on the shades of the sun as it rises and sets. The valley is supremely defensible, with only a few egress points between mountain ranges, and remarkably verdant as a result of the humidity rising from the crashing falls. Sugar maple, silver birch and cherry blossoms dot the valley landscape alongside wild raspberries (too seedy to chew) and lilac bushes. Every pilgrim comes back from Dartwright with the same refrain: you've never smelled anything so clean and refreshing in all your life.
Satellite villages around the historical settlement of Dartwright were amalgamated over time, with the result that Dartwright now has boroughs in very unusual places. Ethus (pictured) is a snowy mountain town accessible by lift. Selia is a small artisan-focused tourist town carved into the soft stone of one of the narrow mountains next to the main pass. Altodore, one of the busiest boroughs of the city, is built in a meander of the Snowtrist River and has a system whereby the traditional river-boats of the city are craned out of the water and installed into a horse-cart with a ready basket, facilitating travel up and down from the capital region.
Anything worth making, is worth making beautiful.Dartwright's building walls are often made of shaved limestone or limed plaster, and the elaborate pagoda roofs are carefully and intricately carved using softwood from the ample forests surrounding the city. Visitors to Dartwright proper will be pleasantly surprised to see that the entire city's roofs -- though they vary greatly in size and composition -- have been centrally planned to provide a gradient from dark oak to warm sugar maple roughly from west to east. The true oh-stop moment comes in summer, when the setting sun engages the astronomically calculated gradient to turn every roof in the city the same warm rose colour all at once. The effect has inspired poetry, of which there is no shortage in any quarter of the metropolis. Poetic, musical and theatrical presentations are assessed by a circle of critics and assigned carefully planned locations throughout the city. It is literally impossible to walk across the city without at all times having something wonderful to listen to; and the moment it fades from earshot, the next act picks up. Clytemnestra "Fanny" Glitters often fantasized about retiring here, and did spend longer than usual in her dalliances with particularly devout (i.e., fit) young Dartwright noblemen.
-- Tenth Proverb
Royal Family
Tenthun is ruled by King Mora Marwick and Queen Luisa Fel from the capital of Dartwright. House Fel is the royal line, with Mora bearing only the Crown Matrimonial. Accordingly, while the couple shares power, the Queen Regnant through her House Council maintains official veto power when it comes to statecraft and matters of succession in the realm and only unofficial veto power over everything else. The King has supreme executive authority wherever he is not checked by the Queen.
Luisa is a supremely talented diplomat, jurist, philosopher and leader trained from birth. She's also a mean flautist. Her birth mother died when she was 21, with her mother by marriage passing away 13 years later. She came to the crown fairly young, giving rise to fears that she would select an equally inexperienced spouse. Ever attentive to public opinion, Luisa chose well in courting Mora Marwick, 18 years her senior. Mora is not a diplomat and does not care for speeches. His background is martial, having been the admiral of the Royal Navy for fifteen years before marrying matrilineally into House Fel. He expresses himself largely through woodworking and figure carving.
The couple have three children and are reportedly an effective team. They are fond enough of one another, though significant fissures tend to appear in matters of faith and criminal justice, with Luisa broadly known to be an arch-conservative in ecclesiastical matters compared to her more the-thought-is-what-matters husband; and Mora being a bit of an iron fist on crime and punishment (the thought being what matters).
The gavelkind succession of Tenthun goes a long way to maintaining internecine peace. Luisa's brother Arthur has his hands full as Archduke of basically everything, with all the privileges and respect that comes with the job. Her sister Lara is Duchess of Blue Lake: possibly the global apex of human art and culture. She couldn't be happier. Mora has a veritable herd of siblings, but since the royal line flows through House Fel, none of them have claims to be concerned about.
Cultural Considerations
State Religion
The state religion is Lathanderism, and you will respect it if you expect to remain alive and within the city walls. Everything good in Tenthun springs from faith. The divine command towards self-improvement, community improvement and personal growth is responsible, the clergy will tell you, for the physical beauty of the population and the general honesty and compassion of the population. The best way to venerate a god of personal growth is, however, frequently unclear. Is it better to be kind, or better to be rich? Should one marry for love or power? Should a pious man raise up an unemployed man because it is right, or crush him under heel for his sin? What should one expect of a believer when they encounter them on the street?
Customs
Tenthun is a proud and tradition-bound culture, and those traditions may cover everything from when to remove one's shoes to the way in which it is acceptable to compliment a friend's appearance. The easiest way to get along in Tenthun is to "go with the flow". It is a sharing culture founded on self-improvement, and every citizen is at least part teacher, eager to help a flawed individual on their course to betterment. Most Tenths will find it pleasurable to instruct a guest on proper table etiquette, or to correct a compliment they have been given. Every day in the Tenth tradition begins with a complex physical and spiritual sun salutation and a period of community-building. Tenths are encouraged to get out before dawn for exercise and to conduct their salutations with brothers and sisters in the faith they may not yet have met.Art, Technology and Economy
Commerce is restricted to the ruling class only, and the lower classes are maintained by their largesse. This makes Tenthun an absolute steal of a vacation destination, as you are not only welcome but encouraged to nab whatever you want off the snack carts. Food is self-expression. Food is for sharing. The noble class arranges the distribution of goods to permit the bakers to have their flour, the leatherworkers their hide. And of course anything of more than standard utility is intended for the upper classes only. Much of the palace intrigue between nobles revolves around whether or not each individual up the chain is making the most of their resources and distributing it effectively. It would be unthinkable for a Tenth citizen not to have at least one artistic outlet -- and at a minimum, one that they have mastered. When someone is asked, "what do you do?", it is their art or hobby that the questioner is getting at. Class and profession is worn all over one's being, but any given goatherd could be a celebrated composer. Tenthun imagines itself, not without reason, as being the best and highest achievement of humanity upon Oa. Their soldiers are warrior-poets and military historians that spend their downtime drilling and studying strategy. Their cobblers study embroidery and architecture in their free time to improve their products. The mandatory, challenging exercise periods leave little doubt that Tenths are on average the most attractive humans on the planet; and they have every incentive to take their time getting put together in the morning. They consider themselves the pinnacle of artistic achievement in almost every field of endeavour -- but notably, they have an immense respect for outsiders generally considered to be on their level or, especially, those that are their acknowledged superiors: Halfling chefs and Elvish woodworkers in particular are venerated, as are Corran engineers, Aildean warriors, Shorefolk storytellers and Nessardine sailors.Current Status
External Political Issues
The peace treaty with the Corran Empire has an end date, and that date (or a plausibly deniable few hours before that date) is when Tenthun can expect an ambush, probably at sea. Preparations are underway, and the King is pleased with them. He has no intention of being on defence when the white flag drops.Internal Political Issues
Just the same old heresy as always. People want more rest. People want more independence. People don't want to be housekeepers just because their great-grandmas were housekeepers. Nothing the Inquisition hasn't addressed a thousand times before.
Type
Geopolitical, Kingdom
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