Liston

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History
Liston was, before the monarchy, a land ruled by clans and tribes. These clans and tribes were the native people, usually ruled by one chieftain and his wife and then, after the chieftain's death, the chieftain's first son. The people were settlers for sure, for no trace of a nomadic nature has been found to date, and settled along rivers, the ocean, and at the edge of forests where food was found easily and the water was accessible for travel.

Indeed, scholars have found it that the rivers of Liston were traversed by a boat of the tribal people to visit the other clans. Communication was hard to conduct given the lack of true reliability in travel and so on but the tribes somehow managed it with their long journeys. Nevertheless, it was difficult due to some of the extreme distance between some villages (sometimes 200 miles up river).

To cure this, the scholars of today believe that the villages and tribes held a "Clan Gathering" where, each year in the height of summer, all the clans would get together, celebrate their metting, settle debts and bargains and trade with one another. Also, during this time, marriages were performed and thought out (the fathers would arrange it between the two of them and then the marriage would be settled the next year should the bride and groom still be living). Children were blessed as well and sometimes given to other tribes. In the case of the children of Shamans and such, the children were traded with another shaman's child so that they might learn the secrets of the other tribe and join their knowledge about the afterlife, medicine, and the spiritual world.

However, the widespread villages and clans were about to find out that their way of life that they had enjoyed for thousands of years was coming to an end when an outside force decided to try to take over the clans, one by one. From across the sea, invaders came. They put men, women, and children to the sword. Some women were taken as slaves or wives. Some children were taken as slaves. These invaders put to an end any idea of separation with the clans for though each separate clan fought its hardest against the foreign force, they were overwhelmed and destroyed.

Finally, seeing that unless they banded together or else all was lost, one chieftain spoke up and demanded that all the clans join together under his banner. The chieftain was none other than the ancestor of the current Howard dynasty though the surname was, at the time, different to be sure. The man's name was Broan Haward (the title of Haward meaning "High guardian" in Ancient Listonese.) Broan was only twenty five when he banded the clans together and declared himself High Chieftain of the Clans. He attempted, after getting each clan's permission to be the High Chieftain, to drive the invaders off the land with every ounce of strength in his body.

To be sure, Broan was most certainly a strong man. One legend said that he chased off a giant simply by bulging his muscles. Another legend stated that he was so frightening in battle that when he growled at the enemy, they ran back to their boats and grew afraid to venture back onto the shore. Whether or not these tales are true is up to the listener or reader, but the Howard family today maintains, through tapestries and family stories, that Broan was indeed as strong as the tales say and just as handsome and bold.

In anycase, Broan managed to defeat the invaders from the land and retake any slaves or "wives" that the invaders had taken amongst themselves. From there, he set about created the first town in the history of Liston.

Until 10 C.E., Liston had been mainly the clans with their separate villages. Broan proposed, in a radical way of thinking, that all the clans attempt to come together one more time to build more of a town (though to them, it was a city) and to build a Great Hall there where delegates or the chieftains of each clan could come and address Broan with problems that were too difficult for someone inside the tribe to decide. In other words, Broan wanted a place where the tribes could truly mesh together, a place that they could all call a piece of theirs and yet be able to share with everyone else.

His idea was met with some adversity and, naturally, some adoration. Some complained that Broan was never meant to be High Chieftain after the invaders were taken care of and demanded his removal. Others said that they appointed him for life and so he could make the decision to make such a "city" as he was proposing. The battles between the tribes on this manner waged back and forth. The most underlying issue, truth be told, was the fact that the tribes had never really shared anything. Always, they had been in their separate lands and never truly meshed before in their lives. Some were scared of the idea, thinking it would ruin their unique culture. Others embraced it, thinking that it could only benefit others after the invaders had proven how easy it was to overtake separate areas rather than one huge force.

Finally, in 15 C.E., the matter was decided. Broan, with some careful bribery and political manuvereing, managed to keep his position as High Chieftain and was able to build his city, which was located in the very center of Liston, where everyone could reach it. He called it, "Caer Haward" and to everyone that ever laid eyes on it, it was a most beautiful place that even included a grove for the shamans to do their work.

Eventually, Broan died in 30 C.E. at the age of 53. His body was burned on a pyre with most of his belongings and his son, Tiernan, took over the place as High Chieftain. Under Tiernan, Liston would become truly unified and the other major tribes would begin to build "cities" of their own, sometimes housing more than fifty families along a river's edge. Trade between the tribes floruished as well, with Tiernan's own proposed changes to the way the boats and ships were built that carried the goods. Tiernan died at age 21 on his wedding night, supposedly of poisoning, before he could really bring the Ancient Liston into a Golden Age but it is, without a doubt, true that he would have brought them one had he lived.

With Tiernan gone, his youngest brother, Ciaran, stepped to the empty Chieftain's chair. Ciaran was to become a warlord king, the first to ever make a true army of Liston and use it to strike back at their once-invader enemies. After taking over territory across the sea and campaigning himself for several years, Ciaran then took it upon himself to change the religion of Liston as well, going from the shamans to druids.

Ciaran claimed that, as he lay asleep in the invader's lands, he dreamt of a goddess of great beauty and passion. Her name was Dana and she told him to worship her for victory in all things. Ciaran, overcome with devotion, built an altar to her the next day, sacrificed a wild boar upon it, and was granted victory throughout his campaigns for the rest of his life. Upon arriving home, Ciaran had the groves uprooted and instead had the timber from the groves build a temple to Dana in the city his father had built. The people, angry at their gods being so rudely displaced, called upon Ciaran for justice and mercy, saying that he should be killed for his blasphemy.

A myth says that, that night, all the people who refused to turn to Ciaran's goddess either died of a sudden illness or went completely blind. The ones who were blind confessed their faults and cried to Dana for mercy and love and she grantes it by giving back their vision. This story was conveyed across Liston and the result was a frightened populace doing as Ciaran told them to on the matter of religion. Soon, the old groves were replaced with temples made of the groves' timber and the cries to the old gods were replaced with prayers to the goddess Dana and her husband, Lugh.

Eventually, in 501 C.E., Ciaran's descendent would lose the lands he had fought so hard for and reduce Liston to simply Liston, with no other lands attached from far away. Furthermore, this same descendent would change the name from Haward to Howard and change them from High Chieftain to High King and then, eventually, to just King. In 622 C.E., the religion would be changed to Christianity (most specifically: Catholicism) following a sudden journey of two monks from the mainland to the isle of Liston. In the end, all Ciaran's doings were for nothing for hsi descendents proved themselves too weak to hold onto it.

Today, Liston is still an isle but a powerful one indeed. The Beaumonts, a family that holds power in the form of supplying over twenty of their daughters as queens of Liston, has considerable influence in Liston. The Howards still rule though recently, they have become a bit weaker in lieu of the fact that the king, Edwin, has only one son and the country has been wracked by war with Sundaril since 606 C.E. (when a Sundaril Moreau king stole a Listonese princess for his bride in a raid.)

Some wonder if the king might have something up his aging sleeve to protect them from diplomatic submission to other kingdoms. Others think that this new ploy of playing friends with Sundaril is a tactic to get Sundaril to lower its guard that the king might take it over and prove his own mettle once more. In anycase, Princess Alys has married the king of Liston, becoming queen in her own right, and the prince remains, worryingly enough, still immature in the eyes of the people and hardly ready to rule if his father dies unexpectedly.

Clothing
The women of Liston try, in vain, to keep up with the latest fashion from Sundaril. However, the current craze was inspired not by Princess Aoife of Sundaril, but, rather, by Lady Mary Hart. This new craze involves more flow in the dresses (it's actually a hybrid of what Princess Aoife started in the summer but Mary has insisted she changed it to an original design) and more movement for ladies. With short sleeves in the dress, a square neckline, and an Empire waist, the dresses have caused quite an interesting effect in the dancing styles from Liston, which now favor those with more flowing movement to show off the ladies' graceful bodies. The fabric itself has grown a bit sheer (something which Ophelia Seraphin might change upon her own arrival) and so the outline of a ladies' form might be seen beneath it. Lately, this is becoming more acceptable as a nightgown for a lady's wedding night rather than something you would actually go out in. The fathers of the young girls wearing these clothes have been complaining, obviously, and the husbands of the older matrons have been calling for more modesty as well. As a result, the fabric is growing, once more, to the heavier side so that bodies might be truly covered up. The waistline, however, continues to be Empire and the neckline remains square in shape. The sleeves have accustomed themselves to autumn by getting a bit longer.

Men have maintained the latest styles coming from Sundaril's Prince Anrai. So far, it has not differed so completely from the norm that men don't have to do much beyond simply order their private seamstresses to adjust a few things upon their clothing. The hose, doublet, and undershirt with the bits of shirt pulled through the random slashing are the same. The same thing that is in fashion in Sundaril as Liston is also the new craze for large necklaces that are more like chains around the neck, with links and so on decorated with jewels or symbols and commonly made completely of gold or some other random metal.

Men have started adding a bit of a emphasis to their shoulders, however, by adding a piece of stiff fabric to the shoulder of their clothes. The result is that they appear a bit stronger than they actually are and appear to have broader shoulders.

The calves are also being emphasized more with a cord running down the leg or a piece that was originally designed to keep a stocking up but instead has more color to draw the feminine eye to strength of a man's calf. Recently, men have started to remove the idea of slashings away from their clothings and gotten rid of the idea of pulling cloth out of the slashing to reveal a second shirt altogether. Instead, the sleeves on a man's doublet are complete and whole.

Food
Food in Liston is a bit different than Sundaril. Listonese cooks are just now beginning to understand that cabbage and lettuce, something that is normally boiled, can be eaten as it is with only a bit of cleaning off. They are also beginning to add such things as meat (chicken and venison) to the lettuce bowls that they are serving and adding dried fruit and other boiled vegetables and sauces to it. With this, they are beginning to realize that some vegetables CAN be eaten raw.

Before this, it was a given that when serving fruit or vegetables, they would be served boiled or baked. The idea of eating them raw was uncomfortable and considered a bit unhealthy. Since the dawning of the "salad", the Listonese cooks are starting to serve other things raw as well and enjoying the results. Some of the juice from the raw fruits is even being used in beverages and in sauces now when, before, the sauces were made primarily of boiled milk, some boiled vegetable pieces and a few spices.

Wine is drunk with every meal as the water is considered unhealthy in Liston except in rural areas where there is no other option. The royalty and the nobility, while at court, drink wine at each meal and even when there is no meal. If one prefers water, the court members will put a few tablespoons of wine in as well to give it flavor and in the hopes that it will make the water better.

Meat is a staple in Liston as the land is overflowing with deer, boar, fowl, and fish. Fish, actually, is one of the main sources of meat as Liston is surrounded by water and has more than a hundred lakes as well as twenty or more rivers.

Something that is considered a dessert in Liston is now cake with a coating of sugar flavored with fruit juice. The sweetness of it is highly demanded for with the royal family and whatever guests they have at their court at the moment.

Courtship and Marriage
Courtship in Liston is rare enough considering that most children are bethrothed at the time of birth. The ceremony is not really much of one considering that all that is necessary for a bethrothal to take place in Liston is for the head of the household or male guardian of the children be present to sign their signatures on a piece of parchment declaring that the two children will be wed whenever the girl child goes through puberty. If one of the children die before the age of maturity (15 for boys, 12 for girls in Liston), a noble will normally offer his next daughter for bethrothal or, if no girls or boys are available, they will declare the contract null and void.

In the case of a pair that is not bethrothed, women can be courted upon reaching the age of 12 and being brought into court. Normally, the parents wait until the age of fifteen so that she resembles more an adult than a child but others have been known to introduce their daughter to society upon her first bleeding, sometimes at the age of nine. The introduction to the Listonese court is important as first impressions are hard to erase. Parents take caution in planning the event and even teach their daughters what to say to whom and make them memorize the faces and names of certain people. After her introduction to the court, it is unofficially stated that she is ready to be courted.

Courtships last from anywhere to several years to several days. If a couple has been bethrothed since childhood, normally the parents will wait a year or two after maturity and then marry them. Courtships, usually, end in bethrothals that last a year when the two have already been of age for some time. During the bethrothal, they might undergo a handfast in which they act, by all means, as if they are truly husband and wife for a year and a day. If, after this period of time is over, the two wish to be man and wife, they are married immediately. If they do not (these are often ended in the idea that the woman is barren as the couple might share the same bed under a handfast), the trial marriage is considered null and void and the bethrothal contract is destroyed in hopes of finding a better match.

Naturally, women that are dropped from a bethrothal and handfast for the sake of being barren are hardly ever looked at again and become spinsters.

Courtship involves dancing, serenading, reciting poetry to one another, and sometimes asking a ministrel to perform a song for the other person. If the male in the relationship is a knight or has experience in jousting, he might tie his lady's favor around his neck during the joust or around his lance. Kissing is hardly ever done for sake that it is considered scandalous and, if done, is done in secret.

That isn't to say that there aren't marriages that are sped up for the sake of a child on the way, however.

Laws of Succession
Unlike Sundaril, women do have somewhat of a sway in the laws of succession but only (note: only) if they have no brothers. Should a lord die and only have three daughters left and no living sons, the estate and everything that goes with it will go to the eldest daughter's husband. The other two daughters will have to live off their husbands or, if they are unwed, their eldest sister's husband will provide a dowry to marry them off.

For this reason, Liston supported Alyna when she came to the throne in Sundaril since, by Liston rights, she would have been Queen anyway when she married and her husband was given kingship over Sundaril.

To date, there has been no occasions in Liston where the throne has not had a male heir. The kings are quite ruthless about this, divorcing or annulling their marriages to their wives on whatever grounds they can if there has been no male heir as of yet.

Current Line of Succession

 * 1.	Edward Howard
 * a.	Any Male Children
 * b.	Any Female Children &gt;Future Husband
 * 2.	Alys Seraphin nee Howard &gt; Aldrin Seraphin of Sundaril
 * a.	Any Male Children
 * b.	Isabel Seraphin of Sundaril &gt; Future Husband
 * 3.	Adam Greystone, Duke
 * 4.	Jonathan Greystone
 * 5.	Archer Greystone
 * 6.	Sansa Greystone &gt; Future Husband
 * 7.	Amelia Greystone &gt; Future Husband