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Society General In the area, one GP is worth what US Americans would think of as three dollars. In all areas of Espyn County (that is, those ruled under the Council), currency is available in both paper and precious metal forms. Regardless of its form, it is referred to as GP, for while it originally referred to "gold piece", it is now simply a cultural term used to assign monetary value to something. A piece of gold worth "one GP" would be about the size of a dime. In order of ascending worth, common metals in currency are: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Alter sizes accordingly, but note that a low value platinum piece would be exceedingly rare; they normally start at 10 GP and go up from there. Jewels and other precious items of that type may also be used, but worth is not as standard and particularly upper-class societies (such as Espyn City, not so much Celfaire) may scoff at the idea of accepting them as a result. In case this is confusing, an example of a transaction for something that cost the equivalent of $1.50 would be spoken like "One silver, two bronze" or something like that. I may need to tweak this system a bit so it makes sense, but uhm, to be honest the fact that I'm even trying to define the currency at all seems a little anal to some people. It's not like it's real life and matters all that much. School attendance is mandatory, in much the same way as it is in many real-world countries. The age of consent is 16. While this is an old-era setting, it is also a fantasy setting, meaning that life expectancy is quite high thanks to magic--therefore, there isn't grounds to compare what relationships were normal in older eras in real life. Magic is common, publicly acknowledged and revered. There are many different approaches to its use; some is innate, some is scholarly, some is religious. Scholarly magic is taught in schools, but usually this is stuff like weak telekinesis, healing, barrier creation, etc.. Anything that's actually harmful is taught, formally, only after great character assessment, and normally to people with interest in joining the military. In fact, knowledge of black magic by civilians is frowned upon, though not explicitly illegal. It's sort of a situation where people will roll their eyes and wonder what the person has to prove. These magic classes are usually elective courses, though, so you don't have to give your character any magical abilities if you don't want to.  The government is largely secular, and neither Celfaire nor the surrounding towns have any huge spirituality to speak of. However, you're free to create religions that a character or NPC belongs to, even if they're approximations of real-world religions. Just change the names around when applicable. The humans ruled under and involved in the Espyn Council tend to be quite respectful of non-human societies, meaning they're not going to be charging in and destroying villages. In a similar vein, Celfaire (in fact, all places under Council rule) has not been at war for a very long time, and although it has a military well-versed in many forms of combat both with magic and without, these soldiers are also taught means of diplomacy, and peaceful solutions to conflicts are sought at every opportunity. Women have the same opportunities and are treated with the same respect as men are. This means that things like arranged marriages aren't at all commonplace, that women are allowed in the same jobs as long as they can perform them, that it's not uncommon to see women in positions of power and influence. Important: This also means that the whole "it's dangerous for a woman out alone at night" thing isn't explicitly true in Espyn County. While no society is perfect, gender isn't a huge factor in bad things happening. Race and wealth are bigger risk factors.  Homosexual relationships are considered just as valid as heterosexual relationships, meaning that there's no governmental protections in place for homophobia, that homosexual marriages are performed just as readily by the government as heterosexual marriages are, and things like that. While homophobia may still exist in individuals, it's not something that's affirmed by society as a whole. Some religions may still condemn it, but being that there's no one 'major' religion in the area, it's something of a moot point. Slavery is illegal under Espyn Council law. Seeing as it's illegal to murder sentient creatures, bloodwine (or any variant thereof) is a banned substance, as it's much too difficult to police what's obtained via "donations" and what's obtained via murder. Prostitution is legal, but not spoken of very much. However, brothels found to have coerced their workers (or worse) into the profession are promptly taken apart and shut down. There also many who sell themselves independent of a brothel. Race Relations Elves - I know very little about these races. However, there is a high elven kingdom between Celfaire and Espyn City that refuses to deal formally with the Council, believing its largely human construction to be below them. Wood elves have many small settlements all around the Espyn County area, and while one settlement near Espyn City has officially appointed a representative, she visits rarely, arriving only on occasion to voice concern about the sanctity of said settlements, which discourage large amounts of outsiders from coming in. The humans in these areas, then, have a way of expecting high elves to be snobby (though this is only such a stern truth of the nearby kingdom, and not the race as a whole) and being rather neutral with wood elves. These are the main types of elves found in the area. Anthropomorphic Creatures -Attitudes toward the classical creatures under this umbrella (centaurs, nagas, satyrs, what have you) vary depending on what race it is, with centaurs generally considered noble, nagas frightening, minotaurs frightening, satyrs corrupting, etc. This attitude differs by individual, of course, but stereotypes do prevail. However, sexual relations between these races and humans, elves, etc., is often considered tantamount to bestiality (even when the species is generally well-regarded). Offspring resulting from such relations will almost always find themselves ostracized because of this. That is to say that, barring a really persistent sense of self-worth, something that's an 'anthro' by way of the relations I've suggested isn't going to be described as a beautiful, majestic creature (certainly not by others, probably not by themselves, since they would've grown up being treated like shit). Even if the character is beautiful in many ways, people are going to discriminate against it and call it an abomination anyway. Vampires - Vampires are treated with uncertainty by the government. It seems to try to acknowledge them as sentient creatures deserving of basic rights, but their treatment under law also tries to address the base relationship between vampires and mortals as that of predator and prey. For example, a mortal who kills a vampire will be questioned about it, but if they're able to prove it was self-defense (they don't need to try very hard), they'll be let off without punishment. Of course, this is almost certain to lead to controversy, questions of whether a mortal is able to 'murder' a vampire, and things like that. In this same vein, a vampire who feeds from a mortal without their consent is assaulting them, and of course a vampire who drains a mortal until they die has murdered them. There are no allowances made for the fact that they need the blood to survive. If they're trying to exist openly as a vampire in society, they live by the same laws. These laws apply for "undesirables", homeless, etc., too, so just because your vampire's killed a scumbag doesn't mean the law won't go after them if someone reports it or the police find out. Accordingly, if you're playing a 'moral' vampire who seeks to live openly in society, they will probably try and find willing people to drink from, knowing that to live off of animals is to deny a craving for "better" blood in them that they might not be able to control. Even moral vampires are subject to intense, violent cravings, and the hunger for blood - whether it's given freely or not - is always something they will have to fight. Vampires are often treated with distrust. They're often considered manipulative creatures that would like nothing better than to make a meal of someone. I use "often" because it's one of those things that depends on how a character was raised and things like that. It's a pretty common attitude, but not universal by any means. Let's just say they're controversial and living openly with one's vampirism can be difficult, but it's not impossible. Still, many vampires masquerade as mortals, finding it ultimately easier. Werecreatures - Like vampires, werecreatures are often distrusted, and people are afraid of them. It's expected that they'll leave town as the moon waxes, because people don't trust them to be able to control themselves in their animal forms. This is sometimes a misinformed idea, because some werecreatures have the same level of sentience and morals regardless of what form they're in. A lot of them become pretty feral, though. The Vampire/Were Relationship: They might fight for territory sometimes, but it depends on the specific weres/tribes, it is NOT necessarily a given that the two hate each other and fight and it's always this big quasi-political thing. We're not playing WoD here! Note: Government and technology  sections of this page and Espyn City will be identical, as will much, if not all, of the society page.