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Overview: Spain-like Merchant “Republic” that is actually an oligarchy. The rules being that only those with a substantial amount of property (Land, ships, mercenary company, etc.) are allowed to vote on state affairs. As a result, the voting pool is very small, highly political, and ultimately very one-sided towards the rich. There are fees and taxes on virtually everything person can buy, ensuring a constant flow of gold to all parties within the republic. Lots of trade with fleets of galleons. Tretgan merchants most often deal in gold, cash crops, and other exotic goods while transporting them in reasonably large galleon fleets alongside other merchants. The Tretgar republic has no formal military, instead relying on the upper class to hire mercenary organizations to do the wetwork. These organizations are often started and funded by the owner, so their equipment and effectiveness tend to be directly proportional to the money they’re paid.
Government:
Elected Leader title: Donta (Take on Duke and Don, a spanish ceremonial title)
Description: While the title of Donta isn’t immensely powerful, it is highly coveted by the relatively lower families in Tretgar’s upper class as members of this office get a cut of all taxes throughout the kingdom as well as five votes upon the council instead of the regular one vote each of the other thirty members receive. In addition, he gets a cut of all taxes sent to fund the state and members of official bureaucracy that the other upper class would rather not pay themselves. However, the Donta must temporarily give up control over his personal estates for the duration of his reign as Donta.
The true leader of the government is a collection of thirty high-ranking members of the state known as the State Council. Together, they vote on every important national affair, such as going to war and raising/lowering the taxes for individual groups as well as drafting new laws. To pass anything requires a total of sixteen votes minimum. The Donta’s vote counts towards this total or his opposing vote will take away from the total. This way his power isn’t insanely limited as the supermajority can vote against the Donta and still pass laws and actions. Once elected on the State Council, the position is taken for life. Once a member of the State council dies, an election is held among the voters to determine who takes the councilman’s place.
Current Elected leader: Donta Alberto Garrido [Human]
Bio: Born from a lesser Voting family with no more than one plantation and two galleons, Alberto Garrido jumped on the opportunity to immensely expand his wealth when asked by two five high-ranking families to put himself up for election. He could keep the tax wealth in his coffers. All he had to do was vote for them in any given council election. Naturally, he jumped on this opportunity to raise the status of his house and earn more than enough money to vastly expand his family’s holdings and fleets.
[Rest of council to be named…]
Local Leader: Councilman Felippe Carvado [Elf]
Bio: Among the richest of the Tretgan Council, Felippe owns the largest swathes of land on the new frontier including the only Tretgan city in the region, Rhorra. This is an ambitious man. Extremely intelligent and politically cunning. Using his sharp mind to gain the upper hand in many forms of wordplay. For all his ambition, Felippe simply doesn’t listen to others, relying on himself to make the best decisions and often finding himself rewarded by only listening to himself. He is prone to bouts of rage towards his subordinates when they fail his expectations.
Culture:
The Tretgar republic is heavily mercantile and was historically established as a conglomerate of powerful merchants who wished to have formal territory to protect their assets. As a result, nearly everything in the Tretgar Republic is built on the flow of money. Taxes and fees are prevalent throughout every single aspect of life and the Voting class is always quick to put down competitors within their lands. Especially gangs who would dare extort money from the people through gambling or threats that they couldn’t have themselves while the same Voting class frivolously spends their constant flow of wealth on everything ranging from frivolous “upgrades” to their personal lives and the occasional improvement to their holdings to ensure an even greater amount of money can flow into their hands.
That said, it is worth mentioning that there are three official social classes within the Tretgar republic The Voters, Non-Voters, and Slaves.
Voters: The richest upper class. These are the people that own sufficient property: Land, and a town. Even the poorest of the Voters live lavish lives in comparison to Non-Voters. Given their name, Voters are allowed to partake in elections to decide new members of the State Council
Non-Voters: The majority of the population takes up this category. These are the people who do not own land, though many still own property in the form of smaller items and the furniture within their homes, though some of the luckier and richer ones own their homes and places of work, they still defer to the Voting class who owns the land on which they built their homes. Regardless, these Non-Voters live and work difficult lives, incapable of changing those who ultimately rule them.
Slaves: Even though the Non-Voters generally live dismal and difficult lives, they at least have rights as citizens of the Tretgar Republic. As a slave in the Tretgar Republic, life is inherently worse. Slaves are cheaper than money and are treated as beings beneath even livestock. A slave will find itself tossed into roles no citizen would even consider doing, that being everything from digging ditches, clearing sewers with bare hands, to even acting as nothing more than cannon fodder for military actions. They are only kept alive to turn a profit for their owners and law dictates that a slave must always defer to the word of their owner. If their owner is not present, they must defer to the will of any Non-Voter or Voter that is speaking to them.
Primary Races:
Elves:
The vast majority of elves live in the upper echelons of society thanks to their long lifespans and natural beauty compared to common humans. Their lives are more than long enough for each to assemble vast fortunes and troves of knowledge for themselves to remain at the top of society. While they can be patient over their long lives, elves are a very greedy lot, always going out of their way to amass more wealth for themselves, which also leads them to believe they are superior to everyone else.
That said, the Elves of the Tretgar Republic have other reasons for believing themselves to be superior to the other intelligent counterparts of their lands. Elves are often seen as the very epitome of beauty with their lithe frames and lean musculature, resulting in their image often taken and placed on portraits of important people. Elves also consider themselves naturally more intelligent than any other race in the world. Though there is no formal research to support this claim, many elves who do not engage in their family business turn towards more scholarly pursuits. In addition, plenty of elves turn towards martial pursuits, nearly always given high ranks on account of their family backgrounds and deft skill with weapons which easily makes up for what they lack in strength.
Men:
Humans take up the vast majority of individuals within the Tretgar republic. Most take up the non-voting class of individuals. The people who support the economy by constantly spending their wages on goods and fees charged by the voting class. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of humans among the voters. The natural cunning, speed, and greed at which a human can work make those gifted with both mind and money perfect for the cutthroat politics of the Elves. More often than not these humans have used their much more powerful frames as mediums of intimidation against their rivals.
Humans also take up the majority of mercenaries in the Tretgar Republic. Their natural stubbornness, strength of will, and desire for both money and life make them talented warriors. Enabling them to train as heartless machines working for wages at the beck and call of whoever their commanders and wage givers are.
Makar:
Once inhabitants of the eastern plains, the Makar are easily the shortest lived and by far the weakest of all the predominant Tretgan races. In essence, they are catfolk. Built on short and slender anthropomorphic frames while boasting flat, feline face with large eyes and vertical slits for pupils and pointed cat ears. They are furred all across their body and even feature a tail. Because of their wild nature and the shape of their appendages, one will rarely, if ever, see a Makar wearing boots, or trousers or sleeves past the knees or elbows respectively. Similar to the felines the Makar’s body take after, many of the race’s members are naturally swifter and more agile than even Elves. When trained, Makar can even take after some of the other aspects of other felines, such as near perfect stealth and climbing.
Because of their being as physically weak as elves and short lives, the Makar have found themselves the predominant slave race of the Tretgar Republic. Though they are not perfectly set out for performing difficult physical labor, many slave owners force the Makar to slog through it anyway, as paying for gruel as their meals is far cheaper than maintaining human slaves or paying wages to unskilled laborers.
