As mentioned in the main rulebook the Savaxen have the following social classes:- Jarl, Thane, Karl and Thralls, but this doesn't cover all the social classes as presented in the rules, so here i will clarify matters a little. The Savaxen are a Viking Analogue and that is where i will draw most of my inspiration and research from.

The following chart will give the priorities and points cost if you use them (i do) for the social classes, then a short description of the classes will follow the chart.



Jarl:- This is the head of a clan, theoretically the most powerful Jarl is the king of Savaxen but in reality many of the Jarls call themselves King. To become a Jarl a Thane must control several Ships and find some land to settle on he then declares himself a Jarl and all the Thanes under him will take his name as their family name, thus starting a new clan.

Thane:- A head of a household, owns a ship and some land, called a Hide. Usually has some Huskarls under his direct command or as guards. To become a Thane a Huskarl or Karl has to perform a heroic feat or capture a significant amount of land for their Jarl or Thane, they will then be rewarded with a Hide of land and the title of Thane.

Huskarl:- usually these are the sons of Thanes who have no land to call their own, or Karls hand picked for duty with a Thane which means that they have impressed said Thane. Huskarl means literally House Karl and their duties are commonly guarding the head of a household or Thane. A Huskarl must own a Sword, Shield and Chainmail Shirt to qualify for this rank, often this taken from dead opponents, but buying them is not a problem in times of peace.

Karl:- is a wealthy Freeman, with several Freemen working for them on land that they run for the Thane. To become a Karl a Freeman must show ability in both combat and managing the land given to them to look after. A Karl must own a Sword, Shield and Ringmail Shirt to be a proper Karl, if they don't they may well find themselves treated no better than the Freemen they control by others further up the Social ladder.

Freeman:- these are the normal men of Savaxen, they are good fighters and mariners and work there own as well as the Karls land for the betterment of the clan. They must own a Spear, Shield and Axe and most own a Longbow as well, and Ringmail Shirt Armour.

Thrall:- these are the captured men from raids, wars and other clans. If a Thrall is Savaxen then after 1 year and 1 day they are freed and live as a Freeman in the clan that captured them. If from any other nationality freedom is granted at the wish of the Savaxen that captured them, but should be no shorter than 1 year and 1 day, and generally shouldn't be too long either. Most Thralls are freed at the minimum time, but those that have proved to be very troublesome or work shy may stay Thralls for several years. Thralls are provided with a Spear if required to fight.

As you can see it is possible to be captured by Savaxen in a raid and work your way through their social system and come to the top eventually, this is rare but possible.

Sorry about the Social Class chart, its all out of alignment, but i'm not computer savvy enough to be able to fix it. There should be 4 columns with one of them untitled, the one with the main rulebooks version of the Social Classes.

Hope it doesn't detract too much from the piece.

I've edited the post to create something close to the look you were after. Unfortunately there's no table function in BBCode -- I'll see if there's a mod somewhere that I can add to the site as creating tables would be very handy.

Regards,

_________________
Ian Plumb
Illustrations for Gamers
Lyonpaedia
Griffin Grove Gaming
Kraftworks for Kids School Holiday Program

Cool, thanks for that. And Yes a Table function would be very handy, at east for me.

I've added a suite of custom BBCodes to support tables on this forum. Unfortunately it's a bit ugly and a bit unwieldy. I will try to get some instructions together.

Anyway I've updated the table in the original post.

Regards,

_________________
Ian Plumb
Illustrations for Gamers
Lyonpaedia
Griffin Grove Gaming
Kraftworks for Kids School Holiday Program

That looks even better now, pretty much what i wanted anyway.

Unfortunately they are a bit fiddly and they look a bit incomprehensible when you are creating them.

My advice for creating tables is to start out with them looking like this, with each row or distinct segment on its own line:



This is relatively easy to read and lets you line up the columns visually. Once you are happy with your table remove all of the extra paragraphs, so that your table is on one long line:



That'll ensure that it looks like you intended when it is displayed. Unfortunately leaving it nicely formatted sticks a whole lot of empty space in the header line.

Anyway, thanks for raising this issue -- I think it helps the site to have the capability to display nicely formatted tables.

Regards,

_________________
Ian Plumb
Illustrations for Gamers
Lyonpaedia
Griffin Grove Gaming
Kraftworks for Kids School Holiday Program

Yeah i agree. Will have to give it a try, the tables i mean, it sounds easy enough to do, but i have no experience with programming whatsoever.

Hey Licheking, can I make the suggestion of changing Freeman to Thrall and Thrall to Níð or Vargr. The reason I suggest this is becuase Thrall's in Norse society were much closer to Serf's in other Cultures, infact they were paid, or could earn their own money, and could buy their own freedom. This would bring them inline with the Serf Priority of other nations.

The reason for making priority F Níð or Vargr is because these are terms applied to Outlaws, and Priority F in the TRoS Core Rules is reserved for Slaves or Prisoners assumed to have just escaped, both of which are akin to Outlaws.

Just some suggestions.

Cheers & God Bless!

_________________
"It was hard-fought, a desperate affair that could have gone badly; if God had not helped me, the outcome would have been quick and fatal" (115) ~ Beowulf after defeating Grendle's Mother.

Yes will do that. Sorry its been a while seen i have been on here, due to work and family commitments.

But i'm running 2 TROS campaigns now, although not on Wyreth they have kept me fired up and wanting to write stuff for the game again, so hopefully will be on here more often.

New Table



Jarl:- This is the head of a clan, theoretically the most powerful Jarl is the king of Savaxen but in reality many of the Jarls call themselves King. To become a Jarl a Thane must control several Ships and find some land to settle on he then declares himself a Jarl and all the Thanes under him will take his name as their family name, thus starting a new clan.

Thane:- A head of a household, owns a ship and some land, called a Hide. Usually has some Huskarls under his direct command or as guards. To become a Thane a Huskarl or Karl has to perform a heroic feat or capture a significant amount of land for their Jarl or Thane, they will then be rewarded with a Hide of land and the title of Thane.

Huskarl:- usually these are the sons of Thanes who have no land to call their own, or Karls hand picked for duty with a Thane which means that they have impressed said Thane. Huskarl means literally House Karl and their duties are commonly guarding the head of a household or Thane. A Huskarl must own a Sword, Shield and Chainmail Shirt to qualify for this rank, often this taken from dead opponents, but buying them is not a problem in times of peace.

Karl:- is a wealthy Freeman, with several Freemen working for them on land that they run for the Thane. To become a Karl a Freeman must show ability in both combat and managing the land given to them to look after. A Karl must own a Sword, Shield and Ringmail Shirt to be a proper Karl, if they don't they may well find themselves treated no better than the Freemen they control by others further up the Social ladder.

Thrall:- these are the normal men of Savaxen, they are good fighters and mariners and work there own as well as the Karls land for the betterment of the clan. They must own a Spear, Shield and Axe and most own a Longbow as well, and Ringmail Shirt Armour.

Vargr:- these are the captured men from raids, wars and other clans. If a Thrall is Savaxen then after 1 year and 1 day they are freed and live as a Freeman in the clan that captured them. If from any other nationality freedom is granted at the wish of the Savaxen that captured them, but should be no shorter than 1 year and 1 day, and generally shouldn't be too long either. Most Thralls are freed at the minimum time, but those that have proved to be very troublesome or work shy may stay Thralls for several years. Thralls are provided with a Spear if required to fight.

As you can see it is possible to be captured by Savaxen in a raid and work your way through their social system and come to the top eventually, this is rare but possible.