» Thu May 13, 2010 10:04 pm The People of Anticlere and how they came to be so, written by Voltaire du Guesclin
A loyal reader of mine may have already noticed I devote far more time of my quill to Anticlere than to, say, my own home city, Wayrest. Nearly every journey of mine where I intend to step foot on the other provinces of Tamriel I start from Anticlere ? it was so when I travelled to Hammerfall and to Skyrim. Very recently I once more found myself in the most interesting land, waiting for a good ship to Cyrodiil. While I waited quietly, some of my travel companions began pestering me with this question ? why Anticlere? Why are there no articles about Wayrest and two for this city that is relatively far off from my home?
With this work I am attempting to give both them and you the answer. To say simply that the people living in Anticlere attract me there is not enough in my humblest opinion; therefore, I have put the time that would otherwise be wasted waiting to use, detailing the varied peoples of Anticlere, how they came to be so varied and their 'natural habitat'. Hopefully by doing so I avoid being asked that same question again in the future as well as educating those amongst my readers who do not have the time or chance to travel to see for themselves, as has always been my task.
This work I split into several chapters, one for each more notable social class I came into contact with during this visit to Anticlere; for those who care about such things, I assure that the chapters are presented in their chronological order, starting from the peasantry I encountered upon once again setting foot into one of the countless settlements dotting the land of Anticlere outside the city's wall and ending with nobility, with whom I sometimes have the honour to speak due to the advantage of being a somewhat famous author, or so I hope.
Without a further ado:
The Peasant
In High Rock, a 'peasant' is usually a serf living little better than cattle, working for one or another land-owning noble. There are places in High Rock where serfs have to serve in the fields of their master for up to five days a week, beginning their work at sunrise and ending well after sunset. Living in shacks that look like a stronger gust of wind could ruin them, they usually have next to no food to eat most of the time and eventually their slave-like service to their masters turn them into little more than lazy, stubborn animals. Sadly, after several generations of servitude they can't imagine a different life and any protesting usually dies down to rare cases of rioting, knocking out a few windows in some estates and then turning their back to the whip.
The west is slightly better in that respect, however even there the free peasant is only beginning to rear his head carefully, expecting at any moment that a noble step down on him and take what precious little freedoms they have. And although some lands may breed peasants jollier or freer than others, all that I've seen fall short of what one can experience in Anticlere, where feudalism is considered old-fashioned and nobility that has direct control over land is a dying breed.
Although on the very northern fringes of Anticlere one may still found some castles with nobles living in them supervising their peasants, even there the peasants are far from being serfs. The reason for that is that in Anticlere, the nobility is quite unlike the one found in the rest of High Rock. Hailing mostly from the citizenry, they have little love for managing land, seeing sitting in estates and collecting tribute from the farmers in their lands as an unwelcome chore to add to their lavish lives in the city, where they have several client families that owe their position to them and are usually involved in trade.
Even before the Flytes assumed the helm of Anticlere, then Reich Gradkeep, someone came up with the brilliant idea ? let the peasants have the fields and sell their surplus goods or do whatever with them, in return simply assigning someone to collect the taxes from them for the land. It didn't sound drastically different, as the nobles would still receive income from the land, but far less work would go into it for them. Thus it happened that the roots of the nobility of Anticlere saved the peasants from serfdom.
If one spent a long time in other realms of High Rock, the change after stepping into Anticlere would be great. Having far more time for their own needs, the peasants live in better conditions, their housing at least looking more decent than the serfs' shacks. The large fields of the nobles are still present, however they're split up between the now-free farmers; little to no castles cast a shadow on the land and the leader's authority, the few present ones being empty most of the time. Estates have turned into villas for the summer for those nobles who get tired of the bustling city.
Nobility no longer casting a shadow over the settlements and the people inhabiting them, one can notice the towns and villages outside of the city are a fairly nice place; although (I risk sounding snobbish by saying this) peasants are still peasants, being free has left an undeniable impact. Settlements don't look like some forgotten corner of the world, the wooden houses looking sturdier and more pleasant to the eye, even with an occasional crude stone house, that coupled with the larger houses belonging to the village elders making the smaller settlements more varied places compared to islands of shacks in a sea of nobles' fields that are found elsewhere in High Rock.
The peasants themselves are different from the serfs. Most of the farmers are quite cheerful and more eager to bend their backs at the fields, knowing that they're doing it for themselves rather than for some noble. Those with enough profit to purchase more land can even be said to form some sort of a peasant middle class. Having more money for themselves, many settlements have at least one more educated person in them, that being the appointed 'elder' who manages such things as the village's coffers and law; the elders are also the ones responsible for gathering the taxes and seeing to their safe arrival at the cities, since settlements are taxed instead of individual farmers, leaving it up to them to organize those taxes. This means the peasants are encouraged to take up responsibility themselves, and the nobles don't care much so long as they get their money.
The free farmers don't like to look back to the past for obvious reasons; this is a quality probably all the Anticlerians possess, due to both the obvious - Riot of Reich Gradkeep ? and the not that obvious (at least to an outsider) social changes that have occurred and which the Anticlerians believe to be for the better with nearly religious fervour. Nevertheless, the farmers at least haven't forgotten some of the most important days for them, 21st Last Seed ? Appreciation Day, an old holiday unique to Anticlere during which the farmers thank Mara for their harvest. Before the Warp of the West it was celebrated by all the people, however by now it is a farmer holiday, seldom remembered within the city.
Of course, not all the peasants are free farmers, though these are indeed in the majority; various craftsmen also live in the villages. Basket weavers, potters, blacksmiths and others inhabit the larger towns, tending to the needs of the farmers. Generally they are not much different from the farmers themselves ? free men who have a part in paying the taxes. Being a valuable asset to any a community, sometimes larger towns even invite some more masterful blacksmiths from the city; it isn't a usual occurrence, however from what I gathered there have been cases of this happening.
Another kind of the lower class that lives outside the city is the miners from the Silver Spine. These men remind one of serfs and for this reason are viewed as inferior frequently by the free peasants (who, like most people in Anticlere, are a paradox in that they're conservative yet rather innovative). Living in small hovels in the mountains, their 'villages' have been formed unnaturally, settling them and their families there by the will of the Flyte. These miners represent the darker corners of Anticlere, working in the deep and dangerous mines. At very least, they can boast being looked after somewhat better than serfs are by their lords; since the Silver Spine is a valuable asset to the Flytes, the forts protecting the several mines scattered around the mountains are garrisoned by soldiers who're on the lookout for various miscreants or invaders; as a part of these garrisons, several church healers can be found in the forts, usually also tending to the villages and sometimes running the humble chapels that can be found there.
Given that the bulk of the peasants outside the city are free farmers, Anticlere could prove to be a difficult place for an invader; these farmers, similarly to the middle and upper classes of the city, are fairly conservative and don't think they could live a similar life anywhere else or under anyone else. Due to this, they seem to be determined not to let anyone disrupt their lives; even outlaws, who are not too high on the current Flyte of Anticlere's list of priorities given the lack of actions to stop them, are being rather successfully combated by the peasant town and village militias. Due to this, the outlaws are finding their life getting harder by the day; already some are said to cross through the forests into the neighbouring lands, particularly into Dwynnen and Urvaius.
The Labourers
The people living outside the walls of Anticlere in shacks that resemble the 'poor district' of the city (although it is never called that) are referred to as 'labourers', that being exactly what they are. Having no citizen rights, they're forced to work in the docks or find some other manner of manual labour and hope to earn enough money to be able to rent a room within the city and gain at least partial citizen rights. The fact they're used as cheap workforce by the citizenry is not surprising ? many of the labourers aren't even Anticlerians, having fled like moths to a lantern after hearing promises of a better life here. The fact that the current Flyte of Anticlere is acting according to a rather native-pro policy resulted in a wall between the labourers and better life, literally and figuratively speaking.
The fact they're not native Anticlerians is easy to spot ? many of them still wear their native clothes and act according to their customs, speak their native dialects, etcetera. Another quality that sets them asides from the natives is their lack of a firm opinion ? being foreigners in a new land they're yet to find a place for themselves to fit in. Many strive for citizenship, hoping to one day be able to live inside the city; others wait for the promises of the Flyte to come to fruition, i.e. for a second wall to be built and for those living inside it to be granted first partial, then eventually full citizen rights. Some just wait for an opportunity to work for one of the richer farmers that reside in settlements further away from the city, having chosen to bunch in with other unfortunate souls for the meantime.
This 'city of dreamers' is the most unpleasant place of the city ? crime rears its head here far more frequently than inside the walls, the wares to be found here are mostly cheap and of bad quality, food is understandably bad. Most travellers do not linger here for long, only as long as it takes to get into the city; same can be said of many of the inhabitants, actually, who come back only to sleep at night and then leave again early in the morning to work in the city, the views they see at work inspiring yet new dreams. Anticlere is, after all, the city of opportunity ? competition runs strong here and even the newcomers take up this quality, competing amongst themselves for the chance to earn a place inside the walls.
It would be impossible to determine where do these labourers mostly come from; many people seem to be from the neighbouring lands, but then one can also hear fine examples of various dialects of the cities further north or east. Someone from Camlorn, Wayrest or even Evermore could find many a person that'd speak their dialect; in fact on my way to the city I encountered a labourer who spoke Bretic in the same manner as I do; of course, the lack of education hindered that poor soul, but I could easily recognize a fellow Wayrestian. These immigrant labourers are the main factor of Anticlere's growth; compared to the previous makeup of the population there are now far more people belonging to the lower class than there used to be.
Lacking the initiative of the free peasants living further away from the city, the labourers aren't as organized; in fact the only semblance of organization within the labourers' district comes in the shape of 'assemblies', little more than organized crime groups that hold sway over some parts of the district. Some of them actually work in accord with the government within the walls of the city, since these assemblies mean the Thieves' Guild is forced to lower its head considerably. A situation not dissimilar to the one in Morrowind is beginning to form in Anticlere, where the native organized crime pushes out the Thieves' Guild. Although the Guild supposedly has more resources to call upon, Anticlere is well on the way of becoming a lost cause to them, since the assemblies can boast the support of the labourer populace, given that they are the best route of survival. Some of these assemblies have even taken up a national flavour, being composed mainly of a certain peoples.
Thus, once again in Anticlere we find a strange paradox ? crime fights crime and keeps (some degree of) order that way. There is nothing reminding of a local guard in the labourers' district, most of the 'justice' being carried out either by these assemblies, some of which even have their own judges, silently approved of by the government, or in very rare cases the city guard that keep an eye on the bigger occurrences in the labourers' district. Most of the time trouble-makers disappear before the guards interfere, however, and are found several days later in a ditch further away from the city, predictably dead.
My reader will have, by now, noticed that I paint a very dark picture here; however, there is little room in the labourers' district for lighter colours. Anticlere is a city of contrasts; within the walls of the city one can find rich citizens and almost exclusively stone buildings, while on the other side there are slums and crime. One can expect that, as time goes by, these labourers will gain the much-sought after citizen rights and be replaced by new people as labourers of the city; most likely the current assemblies will move on as well, perhaps becoming sanctioned guilds or councils; perhaps they'll fade away and give way to a new generation of organizations like them, or perhaps they'll move in with the new labourers, whose situation will then be similar to the current ones'. As with everything that lies in the future, one cannot be sure.
The Citizens
The citizenry is the heart and spine of Anticlere, where most of its power comes from. Perhaps in no other place in High Rock will you find such citizenry; conservative and innovative at the same time, living rich, good lives. Merchants, blacksmiths, soldiers, brick makers, potters, scribes, priests and many more professions fall into the middle class in Anticlere, only people with full citizen rights working in these positions. Scribes and richer merchants usually fall into some sort of 'upper middle class', a passing stage between the nobility and the true middle class; they can be either 'fallen' nobility or 'ascended' middle class; a blurry line between the nobles and the simple citizens.
The citizenry is probably Anticlere's most unique aspect. When the Lorddom is at peace, they compete eagerly against each other, striving to become the richest and climb up the actually very climbable (compared to many others found, at least as long as you're already on the third step) social ladder of Anticlere. Their fashions remind of the nobility and they pride themselves as being inhabitants of the only city of High Rock (as they tell themselves) where they're equal with the nobles. In fact it is next to impossible to determine who influences who in some cases. For example, while one can firmly say that the fashion of the rapier began with the middle class; however, where did the fashions of Anticlere begin? This is a question not many ask, and with good reason ? the answer is nigh impossible to find.
At war, however, the citizenry can immediately bunch together to protect their rights, being a great asset to the defence of the city and the land. The composition of Anticlere's army is easy to predict ? such a strong middle class is a perfect foundation for strong infantry. Indeed, Anticlere boasts a semi-professional military formed mostly out of infantry of the middle class, while reforms are supposedly beginning to shape a force similar to the Imperial Legion. The army uses primarily crossbows and arbalests ? citizens' weapons. The nearly total deficit of mounted knights serves as a reminder that the nobles are also different from their peers in other lands.
Being rich, the citizens usually have at least some semblance of education; indeed, the church-sponsored school adjacent to the cathedral of Mara can boast being rather popular, and rumours spread of preparations for the setting up of a full-blown university, a quality one being quite the rarity in Tamriel. Should this talk turn out to be true, then doubtlessly the middle class again will be the foundation for it, giving the necessary funds to establish it.
The citizenry of Anticlere, being not only interested in wealth but occasionally combat, sometimes resolve their differences in duels; all deaths in them are accidental, since to kill a citizen of Anticlere needlessly is not something welcomed in the city (although those who accidentally kill in duels are never punished too harshly). The duels themselves usually take place in the cathedral square, observed by many other citizens and half-citizens; sometimes even labourers, should they have enough free time. Although pike is still undoubtedly the most popular weapon of the citizen militias, rapiers are rapidly catching up, mostly because they're more practical than pikes in close combat. Extravagant rapiers with matching sheaths are an essential part of Anticlerian fashion and many foreigners using the comparatively large broadswords or bastard swords are scoffed at for their 'clumsy' weaponry. On the other hand, Ra Gada yatagans are also considered fashionable; however they're far behind the rapier.
On the subject of fashion, Anticlerian citizens wear clothes quite different from the rest of High Rock. The ideal of a knight never caught on in Anticlere; instead, agility, wit and speed are praised and the elegant, well-learned gentleman wins the praise of the city from the chivalrous knight. As mentioned, the nobility and the middle class dress quite similarly, although of course the nobility wear more extravagant clothes compared to the humbler versions of the citizens. Ra Gada fashion is also finding its way into Anticlere; however it's considered more of a whim of richer nobles than anything serious, filling the niche of Anticlerians' desire for something exotic, as they feel drawn to travel.
Travel is another thing considered fashionable. Being drawn to the sea strongly, the richer citizens sometimes travel throughout not only High Rock, but sail to some of the more remote provinces, Cyrodiil being a rather popular 'vacation spot'. To be an explorer or a travelling merchant of a larger calibre is considered very prestigious, spurring the Anticlerians headfirst into the mercantile world of the Iliac Bay as serious competitors to Wayrest, finding much gold in Sentinel, now closed off to all but Anticlerian merchants. Never before has it been so obvious that the East Empire Trading Company held native merchants on a short leash, particularly those considered dangerous; indeed, now that the Empire's influence is nearly gone from the Iliac Anticlerian merchants can be expected to expand into new markets swiftly, ships already supposedly travelling to Solitude with both merchants and diplomats for reasons currently unknown (presumably to establish good trade routes).
Merchant culture is very strong in Anticlere; previously I have been mislead to think that it wasn't as strong as in Wayrest, however with the local merchants swiftly forming into larger guilds and companies mimicking the EETC somewhat, it becomes apparent the merchants of Anticlere are at least as eager as those of Wayrest, if not more now that Wayrest is cut off from most of Hammerfall's near ports and Anticlere has only a short way to go to the allied city of Sentinel, the mouth of Hammerfall. This situation with Sentinel is, in fact, a powerful stimulus for the merchants of Anticlere; having experienced the sweet taste of foreign wares they are eager to open other similar routes. Ships crewed by Anticlere's labourers and half-citizens and headed by her merchants can be expected to swiftly find their way to far away shores.
The forming of such a class was obviously a long process, starting well before the Riot of Reich Gradkeep, as with many things in Anticlere. Not much is known to me; however it appears that the feudal nobles in Reich Gradkeep were highly prone to rebel against their lords at the slightest provocation; whenever a weaker lord came to the throne the land would be split up. Eventually the lords sought a strong foundation upon which to build their authority; the citizenry was deemed more threatening to the nobility and years later that proved to be true ? whenever a rebellious feudal would rise up, the lord of Reich Gradkeep could gather a sturdy host from his citizens with which to oppose him. Eventually this ended with the stream of nearly all the power in the Lorddom into the capital city, which is a state we find Anticlere in today, with feudal fracturing looking to be as far away as the great Magnus-hole.
Of course, not everyone in the city could be a citizen; those poorer, who rented rooms from the true citizenry, were granted only partial rights, eventually forming a class known today as 'verticals', stemming from the fact they usually live in the top floors of Anticlere's houses ? vertically higher than the real citizens. However, they're not to be confused with the labourers, for though both are considered to be lower class, the verticals take great offense if they're considered to be equal with labourers.
A somewhat more privileged and expensive workforce, they work as servants to the richest citizens and nobility, also some perform as artists, occupy slightly higher positions in ships and docks and occupy other such similar jobs. Trying to stick to the middle class more than to the lower, they try to mimic the nobility's and citizens' fashion, however their clothes are usually a mixture of Anticlerian fashion humble enough for them to afford and something a bit better than lower class rags. They do not form a separate class on their own, however to classify them is difficult, as they're neither middle nor lower class; as with the upper middle 'class' which cannot be bunched in with neither, they represent a line between the lower and middle classes, however a far less blurry one. The citizenry view them as lower class while the labourers view them as middle class.
The citizens, forming one of the most important parts of Anticlere, are strangely not despised by the nobility, who in fact mostly descend from citizenry themselves. Although the citizenry counter the nobles' power somewhat, by now it is viewed as a natural part of the city's processes, as with the competition between individuals. The nobility don't exactly love the citizenry per say, however due to the nature of the Council of Nobles, which represents the pinnacle of a noble's career, they're forced to bear with them as they are without displaying great contempt for them ? after all, the citizens' boasting that Anticlere is the only place where the nobles and the middle class are equal doesn't come out of nowhere.
The Nobles
The nobility of Anticlere is another strange and unique class. Most of the time the nobles own no land, instead earning their profits from supporting several families in the city or involving themselves in merchant business; family trees mean surprisingly little in Anticlere, being little more than another tool to use to pave the road of success. Extravagant rapiers, elegant clothes, fencing, lavish houses and of course competition to become a part of the Council of Nobles and receive the right to supervise a certain area of Anticlere and in return keep a part of the taxes coming from there ? these are what the nobles of Anticlere fancy most. Horses are seen as a good way to show off one's wealth, similar to Ra Gada clothes and yatagans, however not many nobles ride them to war.
In fact the mentality of Anticlere's nobility is quite different from their peers in other lands. Chivalry is not an ideal that interests them, as with the citizenry; why chastise yourself so and attempt to achieve what is virtually impossible to achieve when a life of luxury is just behind the corner? Plate armour, large swords, jousting ? all that and other such 'knightly' things are viewed as laughably old-fashioned. Although this led to the nobility of Anticlere being dubbed as 'cowardly' or even 'womanly' by some nobles of other lands, a pinch of jealousy can probably be felt in these insults ? having a rather different set of taboos, the nobles of Anticlere can reap full rewards of their city's trade should they choose to engage in it and they'll simply be congratulated and envied for their success by the rest of their society. They mustn't look after serfs and supervise the fields, living a somewhat lazier life in the city instead of somewhere in the fields, in a stone castle bordering on uncomfortable.
Living such a life, it is rather understandable why the nobles of Anticlere scoff at the rest of the nobility of High Rock ? while their peers have to ride to war, the nobles of Anticlere simply need to ensure their supported families meet their required number of soldiers with proper arms and armour. Their bonds with those same supported families are in fact fairly loose; the nobles have to collect taxes from their families and get to keep a part of them for their service, for which reason they might help some half-citizens attain full citizen status under their wings, but eventually they could very well be looking after their competition, since the families 'supported' by the nobility are equal to the other families, who're in fact 'supported' by the Flyte in the same way.
The tale of how the nobility became what they are today shares several chapters with the history of the citizenry. Again, my knowledge is limited, however apparently when the lords of Reich Gradkeep started taking up more drastic measures to stop the rebellious nobility, several citizen families came to rise to glory; since the power was shifting towards the city quickly, the nobility eventually became fed up with riding back and forth between their estates outside the city and their houses within the city; since to decentralize the political life would've been quite too much effort, the nobility instead chose to experiment. What occured was described in the very first part of my work, allowing the nobility to focus completely on the city after some time after it turned out the peasants wouldn't steer themselves towards Oblivion now that they could take up the helms of their settlements.
Living most of the time in the cities, the nobles are closer to such things as books and education; nobles' sons are expected to have a good education and a well-read noble is valued more than a courageous one. Some of the nobles even take up supporting the arts to make their position firmer, for a noble who can't navigate the strange waters of Anticlere can be degraded to a member of the upper middle class while one of them takes his place. A pinch of paranoia is considered a good quality, since in Anticlere one should always look out for potential dangers coming from anywhere; enemy families may attempt to knock you off the pedestal of nobility more than once, while the people one step down are waiting to drag you down as well with as much if not more eagerness.
A suspicious, quick-witted, well learned and well mannered noble with a good grasp of his rapier's handle is considered the ideal representative of Anticlere, who's long since taken the banner of the Lorddom from the knight, cast into obscurity and twitching right before death along with feudalism. It has been a fairly long time since a tournament saw the coat of arms of an Anticlerian noble, since jousting has one great fault ? it reminds of the old times. The past as Reich Gradkeep is shady and not many wish to move away the black curtain of an uncertain past; not only because of unpleasant memories, but because even though they've just climbed out of feudalism, the nobles of Anticlere already scoff at it as barbarian times when nobles toiled away at the land and 'gentleman' was still an unknown concept. Biased as this view may be, the nobility is completely sure that they're correct in thinking so, and scoff at the rest of High Rock ? particularly Daggerfall, whose people are ever obsessed with old times ? for still being stuck in times of 'slave-like work and horse-humping'.
From this quote one can see that the nobles find manual labour distasteful; they view agriculture as something a gentleman may be interested in, but not as something a gentleman should take up. For this reason the land-owning nobility try to stay in the city as much as possible, both to avoid suspicion of being an old-fashioned noble and because the times they live in bred an actual distaste for staying in their castles watching over peasants. And even though it's a well known fact that the nobility, except for the poorest ranks of it, don't carry out any work personally, it doesn't help the Anticlerians' opinion any, and the fact that castles of land-owning nobles are usually far away from such luxuries with which they live only harms feudalism's cause worse.
The fact is, however, I do not feel inclined to fight for feudalism's cause myself. A practice that encourages nobles demeaning the peasantry is not worth surviving, perfectionist as this view may be; during my conversation with one of Anticlere's nobles I, although uncomfortable with the amount of scoff directed towards my homeland, shared the hope that one day Wayrest will step out of feudalism as well, even though Anticlere's step is not yet complete and it does not seem to know exactly where to step next.
My final word about the nobility of Anticlere and my final word in this work of mine is that I, a scholar, find myself closer to Anticlere's nobility than to Wayrest's. Their manners, elegance and education impress me far more than any armour collection or stallions I've seen in my homeland; even though I admire the honest and straightforward, albeit old-fashioned, nobility of Dwynnen who cling on to their ancient traditions, I have to remark that their kind is nearly gone from High Rock, and were I the one to choose, the nobility the likes of which one may find in Anticlere would be the next step to take for High Rock.
-Voltaire du Guesclin
