Character classes and society
Among people who make their living out of fighting, there is a basic distinction between the trained and well equipped warrior and the peasant militia man. Those who have been formally trained to fight, who have metal armour and weapons such as swords or battle axes, who can use heavy missile weapons or fight on board ships, are effectively petty military entrepreneurs: they are free to choose whom they will serve and, in some circumstances, free to transfer their allegiance. They can command far higher fees than the peasants; they can expect gifts and prizes and they are capable of mounting independent expeditions. Most people feel there are far too many of these adventurers. Most women warriors are within this category, and almost all player characters.
The untrained peasant is in a much less enviable situation: their weaponry is likely to be poor: leather armour and a spear is about the average, and this may well belong to their master. Their military skills are very limited; their only advantage in battle is numbers, except where an upbringing as fishermen has given them sailing skills or where they have learned to use slings as shepherds or shortbows for hunting. These individuals are not generally free to choose their master and tend to be willing or unwilling soldiers of their local lords. Soldiering rarely offers more than subsistence rations and a place to live for these men (there are virtually no women in this situation): plunder offers their only chance of significantly improving their situation. Given time and luck, a peasant warrior can survive long enough to acquire good arms and reasonable skill, as well as perhaps command of half a dozen or a dozen soldiers; at this point, they can choose between a secure future as a sergeant, able to put away enough for a (relatively) comfortable retirement, or absconding with their men for independent adventuring or brigandage.
Many powerful individuals have chosen to surround themselves with a group of highly skilled warriors, whose loyalty they have ensured by rewards far above the norm and special training as a unit. The most well-known of these are the bodyguards, often composed of young petty nobles from related families, who defend most major lords and form the core of their personal armies. Such groups are found in most courts, human or not, and for many second sons of the petty nobility represent a stage between fosterage in the lord's court and independence once they have earned their own lands or formed a band of their own.
While the (Christian) Church of Mary has her own battling abbots, adventuring priests and warrior bishops, most monks and priests (and almost all nuns) are peaceable individuals whose fighting skills are no greater than those of the local peasantry. Thus there is a long tradition of hiring groups of professional soldiers to defend monasteries and churches, as well as making sure that the peasants on the lands granted to these institutions pay rents and tithes from the lands they work for themselves and perform the customary labour services on the lands worked directly for the monastery or church - and thus enable the spiritual and studious life to continue. Some of these are certainly cynics whose only interest in the post is the opportunity it offers for extorting "gifts" from the peasantry; but some at least are relatively sincere and conscientious and are mainly concerned with making their comfortable positions hereditary.
Along with these professional defenders of the faith, there is a constant scattering of warriors who have devoted themselves to the church for religious reasons. Sometimes these are warriors who have turned from their previous pursuit of temporal glory and plunder after a spiritual experience. When these individuals do not take a hermit's robe, they often find themselves taking charge of the monastery's defences and the administration of its lands, attending services and acting as confidantes and couriers for the more politically active abbots.
In other cases, however, these are individuals who have been devoted to religion since childhood, either because of a personal feeling (and a relatively large proportion of these are women) or because a noble father couldn't find land, fosterage or a church office for his son. These holy warriors take vows, including vows of poverty and chastity, and generally embark on a life of adventure in the cause of service: restoring deserted chapels (and dealing with whatever brought about their desertion), defending the poor and smiting the enemies of the faith. Most of these warriors lead a wandering or hermit life by choice; however, they can generally obtain hospitality for short periods from any institution of their church. Their greatest goal in life tends to be a major pilgrimage (once they can afford it), retirement as a hermit (once they feel they can no longer serve by fighting) or setting themselves up as lords of a territory they can (attempt to) turn into a model of devotion and piety.
Such holy warriors exist in the pagan faiths as well, but these are generally individuals who have an intense personal feeling for a particular deity and have been favoured by that deity. In some cases they may live normal lives as adventuring warriors or in service to a lord or temple; in others they may retreat to the wilderness and live as an (extremely dangerous) warrior ascetic.
There are two very common kinds of religious institutions (christian or pagan). The first is the local village priest, living in a house provided by the villagers and living off their gifts, serving a shrine and ministering to the day-to-day needs of the villagers; in some cases, the priesthood is simply a part-time activity for someone who is otherwise a farmer, an artisan such as a blacksmith or the head of an important household. The village priest will usually be answerable to superiors living in the nearest temple, monastery or abbey. These typically combine a small community living under religious vows with a large church or temple used by the entire community on festivals. Most of these foundations will own their own lands; some of these may be let to local peasants, while the rest are worked by the priests and monks themselves or by peasants who owe them labour services. Within individual cults, hierarchies exist above the temple level, but fixed locations for these (such as bishops' palaces) are rare.
Generally, individuals pay tithes to the religion of their choice, whether to the local priest or to the local temple/abbey; in some cases, an attempt may be made to enforce the establishment, i.e. right to tax, of a single church. This is a basic "insurance policy" against sickness, injury, bad weather, bad luck etc. for those who pay the tax. Note that player character priests who cure their fellow adventurers can certainly require sacrifice, burning of candles or donations to worthy causes (other than the priest character) etc.
Other common forms of religious institution include hermitages, closed communities and in the larger towns churches of a more familiar kind.
While no religion is "gender-blind", this does not mean that either sex is systematically excluded from any of the priestly functions, except within specific cults: any of the functions mentioned above may be carried out by a man or a woman in one or the other religion. This also goes for the adventuring classes described below.
Non-humans also have their own priests, but far fewer of them are wandering clerics. Where these individuals have a spiritual quest, it will be far more exacting than many human quests; where they are on a mission, it will have a clear beginning and a clearly defined end.
See also: Numberless religions
There are no non-human monks.
Like the Ranger order, the druidic order is related to the ongoing interaction between humanity and nature, cultivation and wilderness.The druidic worship of Danu is at the same time a worship of nature, and the theory that all (acceptable) gods are aspects of the same ultimate reality is very popular among the more conciliatory druids. Equally, all druids share the belief that there is a balance in all things, which should be preserved.
Some druids live in villages, and help the villagers at the same time as they encourage them to restraint in their destruction of nature; others prefer to live in the depths of the forest and avoid what they see as the compromises of the others.
The druid way tends to encourage wandering, at least for some part of an individual's life. Settling in an area tends to be a lifetime commitment for a single druid; there are very few druid communities, and tradition tends to encourage druids to travel enough to know what they're doing when they settle down. Equally, most elder druids hold that learning to discern the Balance and act gently enough to restore it without introducing further instability requires a good deal of experience and self-knowledge (anybody can learn to smite Evil).
The cult of Danu is one of the few human religions to have elven or halfling priests.
See also: list of magic schools
While few peasants would think of the world in this way, to a rogue it does present a predictable map of localised opportunities. This means that in most cases thieves divide up the opportunities among themselves, by area and often by type. Thieves trespassing on another thief's territory can expect little mercy if the means to punish them is at hand. Very often the division and punishment are centralised, either in a formal Thieves' Guild (in towns) or simply under the local boss (in the countryside). The Guild or boss generally reserves the right to sell membership and "pitches", as well as the right to collect protection money - which generally means a good and secure income. They also serve as a source of experts for advanced tuition - again, at a price. Lastly, they can bargain in some cases with local lords (selling information about rivals, or selling concessions in the form of reductions of particularly antisocial activities like brigandage and piracy).
In general, thieves can expect relatively little mercy if they are caught. Custodial sentences tend to be reserved for political prisoners and civil cases (such as debt). Execution, amputation, branding or other mutilation, fines or confiscation of goods, forced labour or conscription, and in some cases sale as a slave are common punishments. Here again the Guild or boss can be a helpful friend - in some circumstances, and for a hefty consideration.
Most player character thieves are likely to be without a fixed pitch, travelling around and taking their chances where they find them, and making temporary arrangements with local Guilds or bosses when necessary. In some cases, they are "unemployed" in the sense of having lost their old pitch or being temporarily out of work (as a scout, say) and simply looking for work or excitement. This does not necessarily make them less trustworthy, although the knowledge that a fellow-adventurer may be gone the next morning with the party's gold sometimes dampens people's reaction to them. Thieves are found in all cultures, but their activities vary depending on the nature of "official" activity. Gender is not a barrier to taking up thievery as a career.
The word "bard" is used to refer to all kinds of individuals with a certain amount of cultivation and specialised education and whose role is a performance as much as a straightforward physical or magical activity. Legally the term includes any individuals whose social status has been raised by their learning but who are not under religious vows. This group includes the court poets, musicians and skalds of different cultures, but also all kinds of non-noble advisors, for example, as well as performers of a different kind, like con artists or those who specialise in spectacular weapon tricks.
It is very difficult to generalise about the activities of player character bards, but there is certainly a distinction between those for whom being on the road is part of their way of life (such as acrobats) and those for whom it is the result either of losing their previous employment or receiving a special mission (such as messengers). There are male and female bards, and bards of all races, but only a limited number of opportunities are available to any given individual.
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