Tuornen - Money and Customs

money

Like other realms of the Heartlands, Tuornen has adopted the Imperial standard for its commerce: copper farthings, silver pennies, and gold crowns. Tuornen adds a large silver coin called the stag, worth half a crown, and a large gold royal bearing the likeness of Dalton, worth five crowns. Tuornen's farthings are stamped with a sheaf of wheat, its pennies with a foaming mug, its crowns with the ducal crest. The reverse of all Tuor coins depicts an image of Tuor's Hold.

Electrum and platinum coins rarely appear in Tuornen, but merchants and innkeepers accept the currency of most other realms. The exception to this rule is Alamien money, which often meets refusal, and sometimes (particularly in Tuor's Hold or Alamsreft) earns the bearer hard questioning or even punishment.

customs

Tuornen has gained renown for one custom in particular: dueling. Tuor pride, notorious in the Heartlands, regularly escalates mild insults into deadly contests. Visitors to Haes are warned to tread lightly among the nobility, lest they endanger both their diplomatic missions and themselves.

While the people of Tuor are proud and quick to anger, they are not foolhardy. Were the nobles of Haes permitted unlicensed dueling, their ranks would thin dangerously (and did, in the latter part of the previous century). Thus, Gilgaed Flaertes established the Laws of Dueling. Though he himself deplored the practice, Gilgaed knew that his young nobles would continue to slay each other over the pettiest offenses unless a lawful system allowed each party to save face. Today, there are five orders of duels: Duel of Tongue, Duel of Craft, Duel to Blood, Duel to Yield, and the rare Duel to Death. Nobles, especially those living in Haes, take only the latter three duels seriously. They consider the former two common or clownish.

A Duel of Tongue is simply an argument—or in many cases, a contest of insults. The opponents agree on a judge, ideally a disinterested magistrate, but often the owner of an alehouse or the first passer-by who consents to the task. After negotiating a duration and number of rounds, each contestant takes his turn presenting his complaint... or his most  venomous slurs. In Haes, the wittier contestant often wins, regardless of the substance of his arguments. In the few Duels of Tongue in outlying provinces, the more persuasive argument tends to win.

A Duel of Craft involves a competition between craftsmen or artisans who each believes his work superior to that of the other. Occasionally, contentious young nobles will be persuaded by their peers (or their elders) to resolve their differences in such a duel rather than to shed blood. In these cases, each opponent insists on a contest he feels he can win, and the cleverest opponents manipulate their rivals into choosing a contest in which they have a secret talent. An expert craftsman or respected artisan judges the duel, although his authority does not keep observers from offering unsolicited opinions.

The most common and most famous duels in Tuornen involve rapiers and daggers rather than gentler weapons. While other arms are permitted, the rapier reigns as the preferred weapon of dueling. A party who wishes to use a different weapon must offer a persuasive argument. These more dangerous types of duels always take place in the presence of an official representative of the regent. In addition, each party brings his own attendant—called a "second"—who protects the combatant's interest by watching for foul play.

Duels to Blood occur frequently, and the young fencers of Haes have developed a stiff-armed, highstanding style of fencing which lends itself well to pricking the wrist or arm of an opponent. Officiated by sheriffs, military officers, or (occasionally) knights or nobles, these duels end when one participant draws first blood.

Duels to Yield are the most spectacular type of duel one is likely to see. Landed lords, knights, or sheriffs preside over these events, in which opponents fight until one party concedes by casting down a handkerchief. If an injured participant will not yield despite being blinded, unable to stand, or otherwise maimed beyond continuance, the official rules him to have yielded "of the body." Losing such a duel without actually dropping the handkerchief is a celebrated way to save face. But this method does not always work: While no one has been charged with murder over a Duel to Yield since the turn of the century, there have been a dozen deaths so wrought.

Duels to Death rarely occur because the law forbids them. However, under extenuating circumstances the regent may authorize one. Only the regent can officiate a Duel to Death.