Mercia is a realm of knights and castles, and it is a place where the priesthood wields great power. It is a land where nobles live in splendid luxury, supported by thralls who suffer through miserable lives.

Physical description
One reason for the dominant position of the human race on Agon is their adaptability. In addition to being mentally resourceful, humans are equipped with a flexible physique, and genetic material that responds quickly to changing conditions.

As a result of their genetic flexibility, humans are the least homogenous of all the races inhabiting Agon. They vary greatly in height, for instance, with everything from 215 cm to 155 cm being considered normal. Female individuals tend to be shorter than males, but exceptions to this rule are plentiful.

In general, humans are more stoutly built than the mirdain and alfar, but slighter than orks and mahirim. However, since the human body is so malleable, a well-trained warrior can be as muscular as a young ork, while an untrained individual might be as slight as an alfar.

The most commonly encountered skin tones among humans are black, brown, tan and yellow. Individuals with reddish or completely white skin are rare, but not unseen. Brown and blue eyes are the most common, while green, grey or red irises are more unusual.

Human hair can be brown, black, yellow, white or red, and its texture varies just as greatly, from curly or dreadlocked to thin and straight. Human hair grows quickly, and individuals tend to change their hairstyle quite frequently.

Weapons and equipment
In the kingdom of Mercia, clothes reveal an individual's position within a strictly hierarchical society.

Nobles and rich freemen wear colourful, expensive clothes made from the finest fabrics. Fashion changes continuously and erratically, often dictated by the preferences of the court at Sanguine. Rich Mercians spend huge sums on clothes, since they are important indicators of wealth and status.

A high percentage of Mercians are unfree thralls, and members of this class are not allowed to wear colourful garments. If a thrall wears a many-coloured outfit, or clothes made from expensive fabrics, it is considered an act of defiance against the local lord.

The priesthood of Morgaine wear free-flowing robes. Their clothes tend to be all white, since this colour symbolises devotion to the goddess.

Weapons
Human warriors tend to be multi-talented and deadly with a number of different weapons. They are at less of a disadvantage than other races when wielding weapons that are new to them, and they master these new weapons quickly.

Swords are the most commonly seen weapons, followed by battleaxes, pikes of various kinds, and warhammers. The longbow is the preferred ranged weapon, but the crossbow is also common.

The humans of the kingdom of Mercia are masters of mounted combat. When fighting on horseback, Mercians often wield lances when charging, and swords or morningstars when in melee combat. Morningstars are slow, but deliver devastating blows when swung from horseback by skilled wielders.

Armour
Human armour is second only to that of the dwarves in solidity, and it is much lighter than the fruit of Dvergheim's forges. The strongest human warriors tend to wear full body platemail, sacrificing mobility for defense.

The body-shaped field plate armour, which many humans prefer, offers even more protection than an ordinary full plate, and is even heavier. The field plate consists of dozens of parts of varying size that are assembled each time the suit is worn. The formidable field plate is cumbersome indeed, and it most commonly used by soldiers on horseback.

Though the knight in heavy armour is their warrior ideal, Mercians are nothing if not flexible, and many individuals prefer lighter armour, often in order to facilitate more subtle fighting techniques. Chainmail is common, as is banded mail and splint mail. Humans who rely more on magic than on swordfighting prefer chain shirts or leather armour.

Rich Mercians tend to own at least two suits of armour; one for use in combat, the other for use on festive occasions. The festive armour is often more impressive looking than effective in stopping blows, and is commonly decorated with – at least – a finely wrought family crest or clan symbol.

The warhorse
The most adept Mercian horsemen ride formidable warhorses into combat. These are exceptionally sturdy beasts, which are taller and more muscle-bound than even the heaviest draught horse. Warhorses never panic, and fight on despite life-threatening injuries.

Warhorses are clad in light steel armour called barding, which protects their flanks against injury. They can be commanded to attack enemies, and their front hooves are commonly steel-clad, in order to increase the damage inflicted.

Society of Mercia
The Kingdom of Mercia is a deeply hierarchical realm, where all power and affluence rests in the hands of a privileged minority. A king sits at the pinnacle of the pyramid of society, and under his auspices, a small class of nobles rule their fiefdoms with absolute authority. These nobles live lives of luxury, concentrating on the twin obsessions of Mercian society: warfare and courtly romance.

Beneath the nobles in rank, are a much more varied class of free men and women. The members of this class include landowners, independent farmers, merchants, and craftsmen. The level of wealth and influence varies greatly among the freemen, but they have one thing in common: As long as they pay their taxes to local lords and the crown, they are free to move about and conduct business as they please. Failure to pay taxes, or obey Mercia's laws, may result in the removal of freedom, and induction into the ranks of the thralls.

All thralls are the property of their respective lords. These people are born into lifelong servitude, a fate that their children will inherit after them. Thralls may not move without their lord's leave, and are obligated to do whatever work he assigns to them. Most thralls live in rural villages, where they work the lord's land and farm small plots where they grow subsistence crops.

The majority of Mercian thralls belong to the racial group known as the Imric. These are the descendants of the old Chaldeans, who have dwelled on the continent of Agon since time immemorial. However, their culture fell into a long decline, and finally, approximately two centuries ago, they were conquered by the Mercians from the eastern isle of Lyonesse.

While some intermarriage has occurred, the Mercians generally keep themselves separate, and function as a ruling class in the kingdom. No Imric is allowed to carry the titles of knight or lord, or to serve in the priesthood of Morgaine. There are, however, quite a few – and steadily more - Imric among the free craftsmen and merchants of Mercia’s cities.

The court at Sanguine
The capital of Mercia is the largest and most populous city in all of Agon. Here, throngs of poor freemen live within the same city walls as well-to-do craftsmen and the king’s court. Sanguine is a bustling, ever-changing and vibrant city, which is home to opulent wealth as well as desperate poverty.

In the heart of Sanguine lies a magnificent castle. Here, King Henry IV resides, with his wife, two children, and a large entourage of courtiers and knights.

The sacred city
Far to the north, and far from Sanguine in attitude as well as distance, lies the city of Dalriada, which is the religious capital of Mercia. From here, the Morganic priesthood run their powerful organisation, and many regard this as the true centre of power in the kingdom.

Dalriada is a town of simplicity and stark beauty, and it has none of the crowdedness or architectural extravagance of the temporal capital. Here, houses are simple, and laid out in well-ordered patterns around a central cathedral.

This cathedral, called Our Lady of Light, is the very heart of the Morganic faith. It is an enormous, many-domed structure made out of white stone and crystal. Surrounding it are neat gardens and concentric, artificial waterways crossed by a chain of arched bridges.

Dalriada is considered a holy city, and its highest authority is not the king, but the Lightbringer of Morgaine, who resides in the cathedral. Gaunt Castle, which serves as the headquarters of the White Order, overlooks Dalriada from the east.

The Mercian army
The roads and borders of Mercia are watched over by its army. Its fortresses stand along the borders with Mirendil and Morak, and its many guardhouses guard the King’s Roads that connect the regions of the land. While the majority of Mercian army bases stand along the borders, its headquarters is the enormous Citadel of the Sun, which lies near Sanguine.

Throughout the history of Mercia, the generals of the army have vied for power with the priests of the church. During the long and bloody Wars of Allegiance, the army supported the king’s claim to supremacy, while the church raised its own armies, and fought the king to a standstill. In the years following the final truce, the church armies have evolved into the White Order, which stands firm against further encroachments by the temporal powers.

Due to corruption among army officers, the White Order recently took over city guard duties in the capital. Many soldiers whisper that the officers were innocent, and that the evidence of their alleged crimes was fabricated by the ambitious high priest of Sanguine, Verana.

Footsoldiers in the army wear chainmail and wield longswords. They use white tabards and medium-sized shields adorned with the golden Lion of Malregard, the ancient symbol of Mercia’s royal house.

One fifth of all soldiers are archers trained in the use of the longbow. Archers carry longswords, which they draw when forced into melee combat. The officers of the army wear plate mail and use large tower shields. Their tabards are royal blue instead of white.

The army’s cavalrymen wear banded mail and wield wooden lances, which they replace between battles. In close combat, they draw longswords. Cavalry troops are frequently seen patrolling the King’s Roads.

A brief history of Mercia
Slightly more than two centuries ago, explorers from the island state of Lyonesse arrived on Agon. According to ancient legends, an advanced people from the west once visited Lyonesse, and those visitors had brought magnificent gifts, like the secrets of mathematics and writing.

Upon landing in Mercia, on Agon’s southeastern coast, the explorers from Lyonesse found only the ruins of the “prosperous and peaceful land” that their writings told about. Moss-grown structures and crumbled statues were all that remained of the culture that had sparked civilization on Lyonesse.

In its place, they found a simple people called the Imric, who had little technology, and lived in scattered villages ruled by tribal chieftains. The Mercians were dismayed by what they found, and upon returning to their home in the eastern ocean, they concluded that the fabled western civilization had fallen into chaos.

Only a few decades later, however, their own homeland was rocked by great upheavals.

For centuries, Lyonesse had been a theocracy, ruled by clerics of Morgaine, and protected by a class of warrior nobles. But countless costly wars against the chaos forces had made the theocracy unpopular, and many saw the priests as viciously single-minded in their pursuit of a society bathed in the light of Morgaine.

When the landed nobles of Lyonesse rose in revolt, they quickly gained the support of the general populace. Rampaging mobs plundered monasteries and chased the hated priests out of their communities. The instigating nobles chose a king from among their own ranks, and put him above the leaders of the church.

As she realised that Lyonesse was lost to the forces of chaos, Morgaine appeared before the leaders of her faith. She bid them build ships and set sail for the newly rediscovered land, where they would set up a holy land among the savages.

A famous knight and noble, Sir John, Duke of Malregard, led the exodus. After soundly defeating a hastily assembled army of Agon natives, he founded the capital of Sanguine, and declared himself the first king of a new kingdom, Mercia.

At first, Mercia only encompassed the lands immediately surrounding Sanguine. In the following years, however, King John and his sons, John II and Robert I, steadily expanded the kingdom. Though vastly outnumbered on countless occasions, their technological, organisational and tactical superiority gave the Mercians the upper hand. They also found it easy to play native chieftains against each other, patiently conquering the human lands on Agon piece by piece.

Seventy years after the invasion, the majority of human lands were in the hands of the Mercians. Finally, the remaining native chieftains were able to unite under a single High King, called Aur the Bold. After first winning several spectacular victories, Hugh was crushed by King Robert I at the battle of Dalriada. The remaining native chieftains now swore fealty to Robert, and their lands were put under the overlordship of Mercians.

The kingdom of Mercia finally stretched from the swamps of Morak to the wastes of Nagast. A majestic cathedral was built at the site of the final victory, and the king immediately started planning military campaigns against Mercia’s evil neighbours. But internal trouble would halt these initiatives before they came to fruition.

Meanwhile, in Lyonesse, the Morganic faith lay fatally wounded. Other gods rose to prominence, and in time the worship of the Lady faded. Several decades passed in relative peace and prosperity.

Then the volcanic forces, which had spawned the island, turned against it. With little warning, a large but long dormant volcano exploded, in a blast that blew half the island away, and covered the rest in lava and ashes. With a sudden blow, nature had annihilated the populous and prosperous land of Lyonesse. Today, ash-covered ruins on scattered islands are all that remains.

The Wars of Allegiance
King John I. of Mercia was a devout worshipper of Morgaine, and every battle he fought on Agon was dedicated to shining her light in the darkness. But he did not think it wise to let Morgaine’s priesthood wield as much power in Mercia as they had in Lyonesse. In short, King John wanted to establish a royal dynasty that could counterbalance the influence of the Morganic church. He made all nobles swear supreme allegiance to him and his heirs, instead of to the Lightbringer, as was customary, and tried to ensure that Mercia’s army would remain under the control of its kings.

When the wars against the natives were over, the church started vigorously opposing this policy. They saw the influence of Chaos in the movement away from church superiority, and finally called for all knights and nobles to swear allegiance to the Lightbringer, and to renounce their supreme allegiance to the king.

A long and bloody civil war followed, in which the loyalist and clerical forces fought each other to a standstill. The battle raged for years, with neither side being able to break the deadlock. Then the legendary orkish warlord Yrrak the Vile seized his opportunity, and laid waste to large parts of northern Mercia. However, the Mercians finally united against the common enemy, and narrowly defeated Yrrak.

After more than a decade of uninterrupted warfare, Mercia lay in ruins. King John IV and the Lightbringer reached an agreement that included the following conditions: The first allegiance of all Mercian landed nobles should be to the king. Knights who do not own land, however, are free to choose where their prime allegiance lies. The king retains control of the army, but the church is free to administer its own army outside the jurisdictions of the crown.

Furthermore, the church is retained full authority over the holy city of Dalriada and its environs. The church promptly expanded and fortified Dalriada, then moved its administration there permanently.

Since then, a state of truce has existed in Mercia. The power of church and crown have waxed and waned with the relative strength of Lightbringers and kings. The reigning king, Henry IV, is weak indeed, and the same could be said for the present Lightbringer, the aging Sylvain of Archos. Many speculate what will happen if the young and ambitious High Priest of Sanguine, Verana, succeeds Sylvain while Henry still reigns.

Geography
Rolling hills and deep, verdant forests dominate Mercia. In the kingdom’s central and northern regions, gentle rivers meander between soft hills, while villages and castles stand on vantage points. Large flocks of sheep and cattle graze on hillsides.

The kingdom’s forests are renowned for their beauty. Sunlight filters down through light foliage, and small rivers flow through green-clad forest floors. The Mercian forests are home to a rich and diverse fauna, while colourful plantlife is supremely plentiful on sun-filled natural clearings.

In the kingdom’s eastern and southeastern parts, the soil is exceptionally rich. This region is considered to have the best farmland in all of Agon, and it is heavily cultivated. This is a land of large, walled farmsteads, well-kept roads, and endless fields of cereal crops.

The river Eanna runs through this fertile region, and along its banks rose Agon’s first civilization. The ruins of the once-mighty Chaldean cities [See A brief history] still stand, weather-beaten and surrounded by heavily tilled farmlands.

Religion and magic
Officially, Mercians are monotheistic worshippers of the goddess Morgaine. In thruth, however, the rift between thralls and free men, between Imric and Mercian, reaches into the religious sphere. Hidden from the eyes of their Mercian masters, many Imric thralls worship a pantheon of older gods.

According to Mercian cosmology, it was Morgaine who wrought order out of primordial chaos, and who shone light upon a darkness in which only evil creatures thrived. She is called the Lady of Light, and Mercians believe she is engaged in an eternal war with the forces of darkness and chaos.

Worshippers of Morgaine see it as their duty to aid the Lady in her struggle. They fight the armies of chaos, and seek to spread the influence of their goddess in foreign lands.

Morgaine appears as a tall, pale woman with long, blond hair and strikingly stern facial features. She walks barefoot in flowing white robes, wielding an ashwood staff, and wearing a silver circlet adorned with a single, azure gemstone.

Originally, Morgaine was worshipped on the eastern island of Lyonesse, where Mercian culture originated.

The White Order
Of the Mercian knightly orders, The White Order is the most powerful. They are the military arm of the Church of Morgaine, and enforcers of the decrees of her priesthood. In practice, the Order functions as a religious police force, who fight the forces of chaos, and who seek out and destroy worshippers of the old gods.

The leaders of the White Order are answerable only to the Lightbringer of Morgaine. No local lords, judges, or temporal knights, are allowed to interfere with the Order's doings. Its seat of operations is Gaunt Castle in Dalriada, which was built to protect Our Lady of Light, the most sacred of Mercian cathedrals.

Five years ago the White Order was given the task of policing the streets of Mercia’s capital, Sanguine. The Order has constructed a military complex just outside Sanguine, and using this impressive stronghold as a base of operations, it has brought order to the streets of Sanguine. Some complain that the methods they use are overly harsh, and that many minor lawbreakers languishing in the Orders dungeons should be released.

The symbol of the Order is a single white rose in full bloom, usually depicted against a black background.

The Order of Malregard
Founded by the first king of Mercia and named after its ruling dynasty, this is the second most powerful knightly order in the kingdom. This Order tends to recruit the finest officers of the regular army, but it has been known to accept experienced adventurers as well. Traditionally, the Malregard knights tend to oppose the most extreme policies of the church and the White Order, and it is seen as a stabilising force in Mercian society.

The Order of Malregard is fiercely loyal to the king and his generals. Its symbol is a red Lion of Malregard wielding an axe.

The Knights of Malregard wear extremely heavy plate mail, and use silver lances resembling those used by the Order of the Gryphon. Upon engaging in melee combat, the knights draw large morningstars.