Jun 14, 2025 12:21 am
Days filled with honorable competition between the Nobelist warriors in the land 
and the evenings filled with wine, love, and dance 
it appeared that the three Kingdoms were united in a peaceful coexistence and the art of courtly love would flourish.
Before the new mindset emerged, Kings were constantly bickering and lords slaughtered each other in the field. The philosophy of Chivalry was more than a code of ethics, but a religious institution supporting a moral social standing that separates the higher classes from those below them. The years of martial prowess and skill being rewarded with titles and knighthood was over with the backing of several deities. The rules regarding honor became an issue of morality and enforced the restrictions that prohibited commoners from reaching higher social status. Regardless of the Kingdom, the struggle to keep aristocrats away from the common rabble had been fought for decades.
Outside of the castle gates, life was very different. The illusion created by the aristocracy was erased the moment one stepped into the streets, that is unless you insisted on believing that mirage. It was an image that storytellers and minstrels avoided mentioning in the presence of court. Noone who enjoyed the luxuries of the wealthy among the clinking of crystal goblets or devouring roasted pig that others were required to prepare. No, outside of the walls presented a colder drearier life filled with betrayal and conspiracies at every shadow.
While the palace tile protected silken slippers, the mud drenched streets through the market spaces. The elegant flirtations in court were replaced by the shouts and boisterous laughter in all night taverns, but also dalliances in piles of hay sheltered by the noble's stable was replaced with the blade of a dagger for a belt pouch in a dark alley. Living and working conditions were filthy and dangerous with little to no empathy of the aristocracy to improve the lives of the peasant class.
Over the course of the last two decades the titled population lived comfortably, curtsying their way through court and participating in a game of infatuation of physical relationships through Courtly Love. Quietly the master craftsmen and merchants negotiated trade deals that only sunk the nobility deeper into their illusions of honor. The deep seeded desire to possess what others could not have gradually grew stronger and created Social rivalries between families and sown the envy into new blood feuds between houses. Through the distractions of nobles, the merchants and shop owners became wealthy, to the extent that many obtained more wealth than that coveted by the lords ruling over them.
and the evenings filled with wine, love, and dance it appeared that the three Kingdoms were united in a peaceful coexistence and the art of courtly love would flourish. Before the new mindset emerged, Kings were constantly bickering and lords slaughtered each other in the field. The philosophy of Chivalry was more than a code of ethics, but a religious institution supporting a moral social standing that separates the higher classes from those below them. The years of martial prowess and skill being rewarded with titles and knighthood was over with the backing of several deities. The rules regarding honor became an issue of morality and enforced the restrictions that prohibited commoners from reaching higher social status. Regardless of the Kingdom, the struggle to keep aristocrats away from the common rabble had been fought for decades.
Outside of the castle gates, life was very different. The illusion created by the aristocracy was erased the moment one stepped into the streets, that is unless you insisted on believing that mirage. It was an image that storytellers and minstrels avoided mentioning in the presence of court. Noone who enjoyed the luxuries of the wealthy among the clinking of crystal goblets or devouring roasted pig that others were required to prepare. No, outside of the walls presented a colder drearier life filled with betrayal and conspiracies at every shadow.
While the palace tile protected silken slippers, the mud drenched streets through the market spaces. The elegant flirtations in court were replaced by the shouts and boisterous laughter in all night taverns, but also dalliances in piles of hay sheltered by the noble's stable was replaced with the blade of a dagger for a belt pouch in a dark alley. Living and working conditions were filthy and dangerous with little to no empathy of the aristocracy to improve the lives of the peasant class.
Over the course of the last two decades the titled population lived comfortably, curtsying their way through court and participating in a game of infatuation of physical relationships through Courtly Love. Quietly the master craftsmen and merchants negotiated trade deals that only sunk the nobility deeper into their illusions of honor. The deep seeded desire to possess what others could not have gradually grew stronger and created Social rivalries between families and sown the envy into new blood feuds between houses. Through the distractions of nobles, the merchants and shop owners became wealthy, to the extent that many obtained more wealth than that coveted by the lords ruling over them.
Last edited June 14, 2025 4:09 pm
