Lords and Ladies of the Fiefs

Table of Contents

Classroom help: Lords and Ladies of the Fiefs

The undisputed rulers of our city, constantly vying with each other for supremacy.

What

Magic
Incredibly powerful individuals able to bend the magic of the land where they live and so who end up ruling over it with an iron fist.

Wards
They instinctively create wards over the area that they claim and are all powerful while staying inside their bondaries.

Unique
The claim is unique and several people cannot share one area, which means that to claim an area for yourself you need to beat its lord to seize the magic.

Where

World
This happens all over the world, with lords and ladies effectively sharing its entire surface and their wards always bordering and clashing with the wards of someone else.

CIty
In our city, claimed lands are particularly small: 1) because the area is a magic hotspot people are fighting fiercely to claim land, and 2) because the magic currents are unstable, the land-bond is stronger but harder to extend.

How

Claim
To claim a fief, the easiest way is to kill the previous lord to avoid all competition.
Otherwise it is a pure battle of will, with the new claimant starting from a much weaker position.
Another alternative is for the previous lord to submit and not fight the claim, but they will still have an advatage since their bond is already established and so harder to contest.

Magic link
As humans, we have carreier proteins in our body that carry magic. Most are in the brain, focused on controlling magic, while the rest is stored in the heart, ready to be deployed everywhere through the blood.
This entire magic system can become attuned to the land and alter the land in a small way to become closer to itself and easier to atune to. They then vibrate in harmony, forming a bond.

Wards
Wards first spring instinctively around a lord, wild and uncontrolled, focused solely on protecting them and squishing any magics deemed a threat.
Later, runes placed over the claimed area allow for more, with lords able to control what magic people can do and to monitor their location and every word they exchange. So long as they are ready to waste a lot of time and magic on that...

Example of current lords and ladies

Our gracious lady, Lady Olénie of Glass

The would-be emperor, Lord Adélème of Spinner

The Lord Diviner

Lady Jewel

Lady Dyes

Lady Fabric

Lord Chemist

Lord Drink

Lord Paint

Lady Spice

The ex-Lord Perfumes who presumably has just been killed by the would-be emperor

Up to a hundred lords and ladies cohabit in our city, all fierecely defending their fief against any attempt of their fellows to conquer them and reunite the city—
Something that has not happened since the end of the imperial line and the destabilisation of the magic currents under the city...

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Related articles

The City of the Hundred Fiefs

Territories The City of the Hundred Fiefs · Geography (The world's strongest magic hotspot, The cave system under the city) · Fiefs (The Fief of Glass, The Diviner Fief) · Neutral areas (The Council's Palace) Politics Government system (Lords and Ladies of the Fiefs, The Council) · Conflict (The ongoing Elantian civil war, Lord Adélème's fanclub, The Resistance against the New Empire, Water sickness, Previous inhabitants of the Fief of Perfumes) · Lords & ladies (Lord Adélème of Spinner, Lady Olénie) Magic Dangers (Seasonal magic flood, Magical corrosion, Are the magic currents under the city expanding?, Basement kraken) · Technologies (Tower wards, Ward pins, Tasty Treat) · Magic system (Runes, Glass and Magic Lenses) Culture History (The Return of the Empire, Dragonic magic manifestations, The Last Emperor's Experimental Notes, The Ruins of the Ancient city of Elante, Anti-imperial sigil) · Travellers (Trading caravans, Travelling healers, Divination Sessions) · Others (Lord Adélème's Tower, Tower cats, The Worship of the Imperial Family, Election of a Tower Leader, Spying Devices)