Where I Read HârnWorld, Part III: Wordplay and Governments (but not Guilds)

Dimensional Shenanigans and Wordplay

Just as a quick aside, Skiorht on RPG.Net suggests, regarding the Gargun:

...I think it's quite likely that they are originally from Middle Earth, just like Hârn's elven population. The name is a dead giveaway, and I think their origins fit into the Hârnic premise of interplanar travel.

It's stated in several places that travel through Godstones (interplanar black monoliths) changes the traveler into a form viable on the target world. Even the elves of Hârn are thus transformed, since their immortality is dependent on the regeneration of nerves and brain cells, making them forget their own distant past unless they codify it in songs and poems. I think it's the same with Gargun, who were transformed from Tolkien's orcs into a biological form that allowed them to fulfill their metaphysical role in a less magical environment.

So, it's certainly possible that the Gargun, like the Sindarin, are another Midgaad/Middle-Earth connection. Crossby's fondness for inter-dimensional connections in a few places in the setting, and not just around the Godstones.The Chymak, for instance, a barbarian nation described in the HârnDex and more fully in HârnMaster Barbarians, worship the "all-powerful sea goddess Kualthurlu", an obvious nod to the Cthulhu Mythos.

A rose by any other name, amirite? (From cthulhu.org)

I don't mind these nods to other works and worlds, to be honest. It fits with the setting (though it wouldn't fit particularly well with Middle-Earth's canon).  The long-vanished Earthmasters (about which more later) bring an odd mix of magic and science fiction to the setting. It's, again, a function of when Hârn was first created, I think; the lines between "fantasy" and "science fiction" in gaming were often blurred in a way that I'm not sure we would see today, along the lines of Tekumel or the crashed spaceship in the AD&D module Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

As an aside, there are an enormous number of jokes found throughout Hârn stuff, particularly with NPC names. Examples include: a pair of bodyguards called "Stenel of Lorel and Olver of Herde" in Araka-Kalai (i.e. "Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy"); a foul-mouthed woodcrafter named "Jak of Menro" (a reference to (now-deceased) foul-mouthed International Woodworkers union leader Jack Munro) in "Nurisel" in Melderyn; an inn named "Brace of Coneys", proprietor one Semwis of Gaemgy, in "Geda" in Castles of Hârn; and even a hideworker named "Darae of Kygax" in "Coranan" in Cities of Hârn, who inherited his business from an associate who "lacked business drive" - a dig at the dispute between Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, perhaps? The list goes on.

Exhibit "A". (from Araka-Kalai)

Obviously, some of the references are very obscure, particularly if you're not Canadian or from British Columbia (and possibly even then). For a setting that takes such pride in the details, the lack of consistency in names (there's no coherent "Hârnic"-sounding name, as far as I can figure out) is a bit odd, and the in-jokes can make the situation worse. On t'other hand, it's not like I (or anyone) is going to get all or even most of the jokes. And I can't fault Robin Crossby for having some fun with his creation.

I do think, though, that simply having lists of, say, typical Thardic first and last names, rather than naming every shop-keeper in a city, would have been a better choice; it would allow for GMs to grab names as needed.

But, once again, this has nothing to do with HârnWorld. Onwards!

Government

We're now on page 14 of  HârnWorld. We're told that feudalism is the most common form of government in "civilized" Hârn. The monarch owns all the land, and grants fiefs to his vassals, who in turn grant portions of their fief to vassals of their own ("subinfeudation").

Class distinctions run deep in Hârn. The distinction between the nobility and commoners is significant. The nobles can

bear heraldic arms and chivalric weapons, ride warhorses, organize military forces, hold fortifications, and dispense justice at feudal courts. Any commoner who trespasses on these rights can expect swift and harsh punishment.

QFT.

There are three basic feudal titles in Hârn (below the King) - Earls, Barons (a generic term for any major noble who isn't an Earl), and a Manorial Lord (most of whom are knights).

Knighthood in Hârn is not tied to any particular feudal tile - every King, Earl, and Baron is a knight. While knighthood is non-hereditary, and anyone can in theory be knighted (take heart, player characters of common birth!), most knights are born to knightly families. Most knights in Hârn are Knights-Bachelor, who do not own land - these knights will serve lords, join a religious fighting order, or go adventuring ("gods forbid", notes the text cheekily).

A couple of paragraphs sum up feudal obligations, and we're on to royal government. It's maybe a bit too brief (the offhanded remark that "all feudal lords are responsible for the administration of justice within their own fiefs" could maybe use some explanation, for instance), particularly for those who haven't read other works on medieval Europe.

We're given some detail on Royal Government - the bureaucracies and civil servants that help the King govern, since the feudal nobility can't always be trusted to do the King's bidding. Again, we get some basic details, but it could use a bit more explanation, I think. We're told most royal governments have four departments:

• The Chamber, run by the Royal Chamberlain and responsible for the day-to-day operation of the royal household;
• The Chancery, run by the Lord Chancellor and responsible for government and judiciary in the realm;
• the Exchequer, run by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and responsible for coinage, taxation, and budgetary matters; and
• the Constabulary, run by the Lord Constable and responsible for constables and sheriffs throughout the realm.

"Have you thought this through, Lord Chancellor?" (Sir Humphrey Appleby, wikipedia.org)

We have a brief mention of Royal Shires - all feudal kingdoms except Chybisa are divided into Shires, each administered by a Sheriff, who presides a the royal courts and is responsible for collecting taxes. We're also given a paragraph on Royal Forests, which are reserved for the King's hunting needs.

There's a lot of stuff touched on, but we aren't given a coherent idea of how this actually plays out.  We know, for instance, that a feudal lord is responsible for administration of justice within his fief, but what does that mean for royal courts? How does the justice system fit together - where does the lord's justice end and royal justice being? (The royal courts are "open only to freemen" but it doesn't explain if that means the lord has no jurisdiction over a freeman that lives on his fief, or what.) How does the Royal Chamberlain operate?

HârnDex does help a bit; we're told there, for instance, that a "Constable" is

[a]n officer appointed by a holder of a keep or castle to govern it for him. A constable is not a true fiefholder since the office is not hereditary. His function is merely to administer the estate in exchange for a fixed annual stipend or a percentage of the fief ’s revenues. (HarnDex, p. 26)

But we're still having to piece things together ourselves. There's also no mention of how Tharda's republican government, or Orbaals "pre-feudalism", operate - again, you need HârnDex, and/or the kindgom modules, for more detail.

The "Overview" nature of Hârn is again very obvious here, but that can only go so far in justifying the lack of explanation of some of these details. HarnPlayer, admittedly, gives a more coherent approach to Hârn, but even that's a bit scant and, in addition, the HârnPlayer book duplicates a lot of what's in the HârnDex and HârnWorld. I don't think a prospective gamemaster should need to buy HârnPlayer, necessarily. Perhaps rather than the traditional HârnWorld/HârnDex module, a "GM's Guide to Hârn" to complement the "Player's Guide to Harn" is called for.

We get a couple of pages on Manorialism, describing typical tenants on a manorial fief (which is the basic economic unit in rural Hârn). A manor may be held by a knightly vassal, or by an administrator or retainer who governs it for a baron or earl. Most rural manor tenants are unfree serfs, who don't have many legal rights "but should not be thought of as slaves" owing to the lord's feudal obligations to his serfs. There's no mention here that slavery does exist in parts of Hârn (though the earlier page on the Thardic Republic notes "slaves" as an export), nor whether Hârnic lords are of better character than their Terran counterparts - lords in Rethem, I'm sure, are generally pretty awful.

Important features of manorial villages (the manorhouse, peasant cottages, and the mill) are briefly detailed, and we get a page on manorial land use (usually a mix of arable land, pasture, and woodland). It's a decent, albeit brief, discussion. We are told Hârn generally uses a two-field rotation system (though apparently not the three field system yet) and that usual crops are "rye, wheat, barley, oats, beans, and peas". There's no mention here of a Hârnic idiosyncracy  - that (to quote "Food" from the HârnDex):

(potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, and other root crops do not exist on Hârn)

 I mention this because it is a weird little fact of Hârn which is kind of thrown out there in the HârnDex and never really explored. It's never bothered me overmuch, but it's certainly something that  that received an undue amount of attention from Hârn fans back in the day, and seems to inspire skepticism and even sneers from those who don't care for the setting when it's brought up.

Here we see the "root" of the problem. Ha! Ha! (from carrotmuseum.co.uk)

Next - Towns, Cities, and (finally) Guilds!