[h1]Wych[/h1]	[i]806 AD[/i]

	The oldest stories tell of the Britons, your ancestors, and their home within the wood. They were placed among the sacred trees by Woden, the ruling god of knowledge, and this place was called Wych. The ancestors built beautiful villas in the meadows of the wood, where the earth goddess Frige blessed them with cattle and wheat, and they called their home Cerney. When the Romans came they saw how clever the Britons were with their blessings, and in their wonderment called your home Corinium, and named it the capital of Britannia. The Romans built marvelous structures, making your home yet more glorious a tribute to the gods that blessed them so. As time passed the Romans fell out of the gods favor, and with them fell the ancestors, who had abandoned the old gods for the cults of Rome. The gods cast them all from the Wych and from Cerney, leaving the ancestors to fight with rival tribes for their folly.
	From the peoples cast out arose the Hwicce. These ancestors were faithful to the gods, and thus the gods allowed them back into the Wych, and they were blessed, creating a kingdom whose wealth rivaled the southern coasts. Alas, a line of weak kings lead to the subjugation of Cerney and the Wych to the Saxons, until the Mercian king Penda finally took it once and for all in the name of the old gods, and renamed it Cirencester. But that was many years ago.
	Today the old gods have been forgotten, cast into the fire by bishops and kings loyal like whimpering dogs to their southern masters. As servants of Woden threaten the north, the king scrambles to defend his empire, and it’s time for the faithful to descend once more into the Wych.
	Where does your loyalty lie? Will you defend the kingdom of Mercia, or the old ways of the Wych?[hr][h2]CIRENCESTER[/h2][h3]THE TOWN CENTRE[/h3]	The Romans built walls around Corinium just south of the River Churn, gave it with markets for trade, a forum for government, and a colosseum for bearbaiting. Today the colosseum is in ruins and the forum has been lost to time, but the walls have held strong. It's Briton and Anglo-Saxon residents live in thatch-roofed houses on dirt roads, barter for goods in the new market founded the ruins of old.  Though the town is home to craftsmen and businesspeople, most who live in the town center are lowly free peasants who can't afford their own land.
[h3]THE RIVER CHURN[/h3]	Just outside the northern wall is the River Churn, a tributary to the Thames. It's a small but deep river that sustains a surprisingly robust stream of goods to the town. There are modest docks just against the Roman wall where a few fishermen and traders live in wooden huts by the water. It's common to see thralls scavenging the river for freshwater mussels, in hopes that the pearls they conceal could afford their freedom.
[h3]THE FARMING HIDES[/h3]	Crossing the bridges out of town will lead one into the unwalled family farms of Cirencester, mostly owned by Britons who can just barely afford their small piece of land. As one goes further north these estates grow into large hides, over 120 acres each with stone manors built at the centers, surrounded by lush crops and cattle. This is the realm of the thegns and their thralls; rich men and those that they own.
[h3]THE OUTSKIRTS[/h3]	Far beyond Cirencester are vast meadows and the Wych, a woodland that anyone will tell you is full of Christian-eating witches who cavort with demons under the full moon. Only a fool would go there.[hr][h2]Ranks[/h2][h3]THE NOBILITY[/h3]		[i]thegn[/i]
	Any member of the ruling class of the Heptarchy. Descendants of kings may be called 'high-born.' The nobility of Mercia are rulers and justiciars over villages, fortresses or counties. They are wealthy, influential, and live on massive estates with luxurious villas on several hides* of land. The most trusted among them have Coenwulf's ear as [i]aeldormen[/i] as part of the [i]Witangemot[/i]; the king’s council.
[h3]THE FREEMEN[/h3]		[i]ceorl[/i]
	While they may not lead glamorous lives like the nobility, freemen are not called to compulsory military service or under the same scrutiny from the high-borns. Freemen are typically simple peasant farmers, and while most are quite poor, some do have large plots of land and live quite comfortably.
[h3]THE THRALLS[/h3]		[i]thēow[/i]
	Slaves are at the bottom of the social ladder. They are bought and sold as property, both by their owners and as children by freeman parents indebted to another. In Mercia, slaves are usually Welsh or Celtic, but Saxons who cannot repay debts also sell themselves and their families into servitude. Particularly in cases of debt, it is within possibility to earn ones freedom, but even in other cases this may be possible.
[h3]THE FOREIGNERS[/h3]		[i]wealh[/i]
	Mercia has an uneasy but necessary relationship with outsiders. The Irish who brought faith to the Saxons also make up a majority of their thralls, and wars with the northern barbarians seem endless. All the same, Cirencester sees it’s fair share of foreigners travel through its streets. Being half a day’s ride from Gloucester, many traders pass through on their way to London. Soldiers, scholars, and thegns seeking audience with the king pass through on their way north to Tamworth. As long as you have something to offer to the populace, be it coin or service, you can find a place in Cirencester.[hr][h2]Loyalties[/h2][h3]THE KING OF MERCIA[/h3]		[i]Rex Coenwulf[/i]
	A decade has come and gone since the coronation of Coenwulf, the self-proclaimed “emperor” and of Mercia. He has a mind for battle, conquering the southern kingdoms as he sees fit and stirring up trouble with bishops at every turn. Under his command many soldiers have found themselves thegns on large estates, and many traders found themselves wealthy and with Mercian contacts all across the heptarchy. However, his reign has brought ruin to many freemen and thralls who have been displaced by war, as well as many disaffected clergy, monks, nuns and other faithful who find themselves uncomfortably underneath the king’s thumb.
[h3]THE HOUSE OF ICEL[/h3]		[i]Iclingas[/i]
	Only one Mercian king was ever called "great," and he was Offa of the House of Icel. The Iclings were descendants of Woden, strong men who conquered Britain for [i]Mierce[/i], the border people. From this house was born the first and greatest kings of Mercia; the pagan king Penda and his brother Eowa, who brought Mercia into a golden age of dominance over the Heptarchy, Penda's son Wulfhere who avenged his fathers death and lead his people to revolt against their Northumbrian overlords, and Aethelbald who restored Mercia to glory until he was betrayed and killed by his own guards. From the civil war and chaos rose Offa, who deposed the false king Beornred and created a Mercia so prosperous that its only rival was that of Charlemagne.
	Offa had but one son, Ecgfrith, who died within a year of the great king, and to his grave he took the line of House of Icel. Coenwulf hastily took the throne after the boy's sudden death.
	The last remaining Icling vanished into the Crowland marsh even before this, and little is known about them.
[h3]THE VIKINGS[/h3]		[i]Dene[/i]
	It was thirteen years ago that Vikings attacked Lindisfarne, and just six that they began raiding the Irish coast. They are the Norsemen, coming mostly from Jutland in search of wealth.
Since the attacks, Christian refugees have begun moving inland while some hopeful pagans have done the opposite, in faint hope of joining these men. So far, the king has paid the Vikings little mind as he has his hands full enough with Wales and East Anglia, but as the Vikings grow bolder in their attacks his patience will surely fade.
[h3]THE CHURCH[/h3]		[i]Diocese of Lichfield[/i]
	As the Imperial borders pushed to the far ends of Europe, so came Romans to govern the barbarian provinces, so came the monasteries and missions that converted the provinces and indeed outlasted Rome. It was a humble Irish mission that brought Christianity to Mercia, and most practices remain quite Celtic in nature. While the church is openly and unapologetically hostile toward heathens, they provide aid to the needy and provide education to scholarly men in monasteries. They frequently butt heads with Coenwulf over matters of authority when it comes to monasteries and the laypeople.
	Though it's easy to overlook, the church provides many freedoms for the people. They keep Coenwulf and other kings from having absolute authority over others, and can grant freedom to thralls even when the nobility objects 
[h3]THE WYCH[/h3]		[i]Hwicce[/i]
	The church will tell you not to stray into the Wychwood forest, for it's full of devils and witches who will eat your children's eyes and sacrifice you to their heathen idols. It's indeed very few who know what lies in Wych, and even those who believe themselves to be pragmatic and not given to superstitious thinking may think twice before stepping foot into the dark thickets, or taking a stroll down the narrow dirt paths. Indeed only those who have kept the old ways would brave a venture into the Wych, and they must keep their beliefs secret if they hope for a life of normalcy in Mercia.[hr][h2]RULES[/h2]([i]I know it's intimidatingly long, I promise I'm nice! I'm just thorough![/i])[list][*]Read the entire intro carefully, and contact me or a Co-GM with any questions you may have.[*]This is a low fantasy RP. That means that while you cannot be a wizard casting magic missile on king's guard, you can certainly make use of mysterious magical forces in the world. This includes things like:[list][*]alchemy[*]divination/augury[*]shamanism[*]blessed and cursed items (amulets, for example)[*]charms or incantations(intensive, ritualistic spell casting)[/list][*]I will select Co-GMs before officially starting the IC, so if you're interested, DM me![*]Though this is slightly fantastical and it's a free RP, this is still based in real history and requires a certain amount of foreknowledge. I'm not asking for deep research, but I am asking you to check out the links page below and do a little digging on Wikipedia from there, or at least google the points the catch your interest. DM me with any questions you may have about the setting, history, or anything else; I'm more than happy to help you understand anything! Remember, the only stupid question is a question you don't ask ;)[list][*]On a related note, this is tagged both free and casual for a reason. If you enjoy writing in-depth replies of a few paragraphs each, great! If you believe brevity is the soul of wit and you can give quality responses in a small paragraph or the occasional one-liner, great! Whatever your comfortable with, as long as they're competently written.[/list][*]Please submit your CS in the OOC for approval and in a plain format; this may seem petty, but I have ADHD and I find highly stylized posts to be very distracting. I have no problem with minor things like using a certain color for dialogue or using lines or headers to distinguish between characters (if you have multiple), just don't go really overboard because then I'll probably miss most of what you type.[*]CS must be filled out completely, leaving a section blank will result in an automatic rejection.[list][*]After submission and acceptance, you're permitted to tweak and refine your CS as needed once it's in the character tab. If you plan on making a major change, though, I would appreciate some notice either in OOC or as a DM.[/list][*]You may post an image or a description for Appearance.[*]If you ignore everything above, I reserve the right to ask you to change something in your CS or reject it outright, or ask you to reread this OP or even tell you to leave even after accepting your CS. The last thing I want to do is stifle your creativity, but if you start being deliberately disruptive (eg godmodding), I will bring the hammer down.[/list][hr][h3]CS[/h3][b]Name:[/b] (note: Anglo-Saxons and Britons don't use surnames but may have titles, while Norsemen have surnames derived from their fathers' names)
[b]Gender:[/b] 
[b]Age:[/b] 
[b]Rank:[/b] (nobleman, freeman, thrall, foreigner)
[b]Appearance:[/b] (image or description)
[b]Personality:[/b] 
[b]History:[/b] 
[b]Loyalties:[/b] (at least 1 required)