The Thiasan Flag (the Kilgour coat of arms and their family motto, which translates 'Let there be pleasure in victory')

Thiasa greatly resembles Italy, England or France between, roughly, the 1300s and the 1600s. The Thiasans are caucasian, with a range of skin tones and hair colors. The people who now call themselves Thiasans were originally all from Scalia, a kingdom to the North--warmer toward its southern coast but generally a rather cold-temperate region, much like northern France or Germany. Embattled for years through its king, King Hadrian VII's, attempt to unify the numerous baronies that make it up, only some of which actually swear allegiance to him, this kingdom is currently torn apart with civil war. Still, they manage to bring caravans through from the Eastern lands carrying spices and silks across the channel to the southerly Thiasa.

The language they speak is Scalian, since that's where they're from.

The court at Thiasa is like any medieval court, though a bit smaller than most. No expense has been spared to bring all of the finest foods and fabrics to the capital, the Keep. The fiefdoms are not so much centers of revelry as they are homes for nobility and their guests. Several lesser fiefdoms have sprung up, owned by lesser Lords who weren't appointed by the King. Townships and hamlets are scattered through the countryside.

The monetary system of Thiasa consists of currency brought over from Scalia: copper 'pennies', about five of which can buy a loaf of bread, silver 'sterlings', five of which can buy a decent horse, and gold 'crowns', one of which is equivalent to 20 sterlings or 1,000 pennies. The kingdom stays afloat economically by trading the natural resources of Thiasa (gold, mined to the East and North, timber, from the North, and the olives and their oil that they grow throughout the land). With such rich resources, they want for very little, and the last few harvests have been good. But this is no fat and peaceful kingdom...

Standing at ready are 500 troops of mounted soldiers, command dispersed throughout the three chief fiefdoms and several others; and 5,000 infantry battalions. The cavalry are all knights, petty nobility appointed to the rank by either the new king or the old.

Technologically they are at par with a 1400s European kingdom. Cannons are new, guns not yet widely in use. Crossbows are the weapon of choice, as are trebuchets and Greek Fire, a chemical substance (made from petroleum, nitre, and sulfur) wrapped in rags set on fire, and flung from a catapult. Longswords and broadswords are used for combat, chiefly to shear opponents entirely in two--at least, that's the idea. Therefore every cavalryman riding into combat goes outfitted in heavy armor. A good thing the iron mines are full in Thiasa.

For sport, jousts are common, as are other war games like longsword or broadsword combat and wrestling.

The religion is Catholic; there is a Pope in what we will call Roma, and therefore all of the attendant clergy. Each fiefdom has a church, as does each town. There is an Archbishop and a Cardinal in Thiasa Keep.

The dress encompasses both Tudor and High Medieval/Renaissance (and yes, I chose this only because it's easier to find images for characters this way): doublets, shirts and breeches for the nobility, tunics and breeches for the lower classes. Women wear dresses with tight bodices and loose, full skirts, generally with no hoop or shaping beneath, though this trend is beginning to spread from Scalia.

The women spend their time managing households, embroidering the tapestries used to insulate the cold stone walls of the castles Lords inhabit, and seeking husbands. After they've found a husband, of course, their chief work lies in bearing him heirs. Like many military cultures, this one is strongly male-centric. Women are expected to stay at home. All noble women and most commoners are expected to marry very young--certainly before the age of 20; and marriage as young as the age of 11 is far from rare.

The lower classes consist of merchants, artisans (potters, cobblers, carpenters, weavers, armourers, blacksmiths, etc.), servants, and serfs, who work the land and are held in bond to the Lords whose fiefs they work. New: here is a bit of basic information on the hierarchy of servants in a medieval manor.

There are also common farmers who have their own land and live in small hamlets, and several small towns scattered through the countryside inhabited by a mixture of artisans, farmers, and merchants. Common women may be midwives, but not doctors; they may not own their own trading companies; but they may own inns if inherited, or work as seamstresses, or on a farm with their husband or father, or as weavers, etc.

Names for the Thiasans may be found here. You may use either Irish, English, Scottish or German names. Look up the history of the name (click on it) to make sure it is an older name, not a recently-created one.

Surnames may be found here. You may use British, Celtic, Gaelic, Irish, Saxon, or Scottish names.