Roesones Demographics
At this point, a word about campaign demo graphics (the distribution of people) is in order. As the regent of Roesone, you need to know how many subjects you command and what their call ings are. Be aware of the fact that the NPCs who follow in this chapter are not typical Roesoneans; they are the most noteworthy and exceptional individuals to be found in the realm, and they are not a fair representation of the country as a whole.
Adventurers of any class are a rare breed—not more than five or six people in a hundred have a character class and level, and only one or two of these will actually consider risking life and limb in some dangerous escapade. Most of these characters are fighters or thieves; wizards, magicians, and priests who can cast spells are rare individuals. In Roesone, there are probably about a thousand or so low-level fighters and thieves scattered throughout the populace. Most are soldiers, merchants, or hunters and woodsmen. There are perhaps a dozen or so persons who study low magic as magicians, and maybe as many as a hundred priests in the various temples and shrines of the land.
This may sound like a lot, but when you consider that these char acters are distributed among seven provinces, you'll see that most Roesoneans know of only one or two priests who can cast healing spells, and if they've ever met a magician it was only once.
Commoners and Nobility: About 95% of the Roesonean population do not hold titles of any kind; they're commoners, who range from desperately poor farmers or laborers to well-off merchants, artisans, and professionals. A little more than half of all Roesoneans make their living as farmers, ranchers, or shepherds, which is not unusual for a medieval society. Most of the rest of the common people work as craftsmen, laborers, and merchants great and small in the towns and cities of the domain.
Roesone's nobles number about 1,500, but not every one of these carries a title. Only the leaders of the families actually hold land and owe fealty to the baron, so there are actually only 230odd titles; the rest are the spouses, children, and relations of Roesone's lords and ladies. The vast majority of these titled nobles are nothing more than well-off landowners. Only the families of the baron, the counts, and a few of the most important lords are of any significance to the realm.
In the early days of Avonlae, a noble title meant that the person in question was one of the warriors who fought for the king. This evolved to the requirement for a lord to furnish a certain number of armed and armored horsemen when called upon. Only a handful of Roesone's nobles can meet this requirement today; the rest support the baron's armies by paying for the baron to recruit and equip his own forces through normal taxation. But there are a small number of minor lords who show up with a retinue of guards when mustered.
Blooded Families: People who can trace blood lines to The Rending are the rarest level of nobility. In all Roesone, only the baron's line, the lines of the counts, and a handful of others are blooded. There may be regents and other scions who are concerned with a different kind of domain (thieves, bards, and priests_ within Roesone's borders, but these blooded characters often conceal their special heritages and abilities to avoid trouble.
