Balic

Most Balicans regard Andropinis as a necessary evil, resigning themselves to the fact that the dictator wields supreme power and isn’t likely to surrender it. Andropinis routinely arranges the elections of termplars he favors and directs the Chamber of Patricians to pass the laws he drafts. From time to time, he indulges idealists and reformers, allowing corrupt nobles or unsatisfactory templars to be indicted or voted out. However, the dictator retains absolute control over the city’s legions and brooks no defiance of his personal authority

Balic's secluded location is quite defensible as far as the armies of other city-states are concerned, for it is impossible to approach the city from any direction except the west. Unfortunately, its close proximity to the Forked Tongue Estuary causes the city more than enough trouble from giants who wade ashore to raid. Every citizen in the city, male or female, slave or freeman, is a member of the militia. On a rotating basis, they spend every tenth month helping the normal army patrol the fields and scrub lands in an effort to reduce the amount of crops and stock lost to raiding giants. The militia is led by General Zanthiros. Andropinis' personal army consists of ten thousand highly disciplined foot soldiers who carry twelve-foot lances, large wooden shields, and thrusting daggers made from sharpened thigh bones of erdlus.

Balic’s nobles are known as patricians. The patrician class is composed of the leading landowning families; each family owns a slave-worked estate of grain fields, vineyards, olive groves, and pastures in the lands west of the city. Many of Balic’s most prestigious public offices, such as military command and important templar positions, can be filled only by candidates of the patrician class, so the families amass a great deal of influence by placing their sons and daughters in public service. The dictator theoretically governs with the consent of the Chamber of Patricians (a legislative body made up of representatives from each family), but in practice, the patricians rarely challenge Andropinis. A charge of treason, justified or not, is all the excuse the dictator needs to strip a patrician family of its lands and offices and redistribute them elsewhere. Oriol of Magestalos holds the position of First Speaker of the Patricians.

Praetors are the templars of Balic. By popular vote, they are elected to their offices for 10-year terms. Once they have won their positions, Andropinis invests them with the magical power necessary to perform their duties. The dictator’s minions carefully screen candidates and arrange voting districts and slates to produce the results that Andropinis desires. On occasion, an unwanted praetor is elected despite the dictator’s arrangements; unfortunate accidents often befall such people shortly after they take office. Praetors whose terms end without reelection or who are elevated in anticipation of offices they might one day hold serve at the discretion of Andropinis. The most important praetors in Balic, the high praetors, hold no particular office but stand high in the dictator’s confidences

Trade is the lifeblood of Balic, and the great merchant companies fill the dictator’s coffers with coin. The streets surrounding the open market square known as the Agora are home to large emporiums from other city-states in the Tyr Region, including House Vordon of Tyr, House M’ke of Raam, and House Stel of Urik. The Agora is dominated by three major Balican merchant houses and a dozen or more small ones.

Many of Balic’s common tradesfolk and artisans belong to guilds of varying power. Some guilds are strong enough to force nobles and merchants to heed their demands; for example, the Potters’ Guild enforces high standards (and high prices) on Balic’s distinctive pottery, ensuring that its members earn a good wage from selling the pieces they produce. Below the common citizens are the slaves, who make up 40 percent of the city-state’s population. Slaves enjoy basic protections under Balic’s laws, but the praetors enforce these laws only in the most egregious cases of cruelty.

Ancient ancestors of modern Balikites developed an elaborate non-religious mythology of fictional parables, like fairy tales. This legendary world pervades all the city’s culture, drama, epic poetry, and music. Poets seldom write their epics; rather, they memorize and recite them, then teach them to performers called rhapsodes. A rhapsode recites or sings a portion of some popular epic as entertainment at patrician gatherings, or in the agora for the ceramic bits of passersby. Many rhapsodes compose their own work as well. Within the dictator’s palace, Orianestra serves as the palace song mistress. The cultural scene, though distorted to reflect propaganda needs, still draws the intense interest of patricians’ and freemen. The city sponsors competitions among playwrights and rhapsodes, awarding high honors to those whose work gains the most favor from the audience. Citizens attend these competitions in huge numbers, probably as a refuge from everyday oppression. Because of this popularity, intellectuals among the Alliance have begun planting subtle messages of rebellion in their works. Nothing overt, for everything is translated into mythology, but a message which is still clear to the more perceptive members of the audience. Alliance authors have even used their plays and epics as covert recruitment devices.