Troth

The Commonwealth of Troth is the country where Morgan Locke of the Blood Ladders trilogy grew up.

Geography
The continent on which Troth is situated is a mixed-humid to cold to very-cold (in the north) climate zone. The majority of the arable land is concentrated on the eastern side of the continent. The north and much of the west is mountainous; this includes the area surrounding a western bay which would otherwise have made a good port site. Therefore the high population centers are in the east, particularly along a corridor arranged north to south from mid-Troth through western Help-on-High to mid-Concord.

The far north of the continent is nearly untamed wilderness, with high, young mountains and dense forests.

Early, Early History
In the long, long agos, when Troth was just a loosely confederated monarchy barely a fifth of the size it is now, mostly abutting the wild northern marches, they were known to, and knew the elves. From an early history found in Vigil's athenaeum:

''Once elves were our allies before they betrayed our trust and we drove them from our borders. Let them find their own country, the King said.''

The first King/Red Prince stories date from this period in history.

(Go look up the rest from the end of the book.)

Once we get past the betrayal, Troth began to grow as a country, and led to its expansionist eras. The reckoning changed, also; at the Cleansing (which is what it was called when all evidence of the elves was tossed), the date system changed to post-Break.

The early pre-Break history of Troth spans some nine hundred years.

History
At the first year post-break, Troth was as a monarchy that loosely encompassed what are now the provinces of Help-on-High, Clemency, Candor and parts of Diligence. This period of loose integration lasted some six hundred years. During this six hundred years the kingdom changed size several times, losing and gaining different provinces in marriages and several small-scrabble wars.

At year post-Break 637, the monarchy became actively imperialistic, partly to fight over lucrative land features and partly because wars were an excuse to keep taxation rates high. The wars of annexation lasted over a century: a hundred and twelve years that encompassed sixteen wars, four of which were concurrent. At the conclusion of the final conflict (called "The Twin War" after the brothers who fought it over the territories of Troth and Diligence), in PB 749, the kingdom renamed itself formally the Empire of the Vow. It had annexed almost everything south of the Wilds border, with the exception of small parts of the western bay provinces. The Vow Empire lasted two hundred years with periods of greater and lesser unrest. The last and most extreme, began at post-Break year 949 on the eve of the anniversary of the founding of the empire. This period began with a fight in the capital of Steadfast during the celebration and continued for another eighteen years until PB 967 at which point it erupted into a full-blown war.

The Revolutionary War lasted twenty-two bloody, bitter years. In 989, however, the commoners overthrew the Empire of the Vow and instated a democracy with six member provinces: Troth itself, Diligence, Candor, Clemency, Help-on-High and distant Concord.

The Revolutionary War was followed by a decade of chaos, known as the Red Prince years after the son of the fallen Emperor, who was used by both sides of the quarrel as a standard-bearer for their cause: the fallen nobility, who claimed he backed their return to power; and the risen commoners, who claimed he sided with them against his father. The real prince was never seen following the close of the war.

It is worth noting that the prince was not known as the Red Prince in any formal way; the Red Prince is in fact a mythological character which sees resurrection frequently throughout Troth's history.

(stopped at page 88)

Prior to the revolution, there was a monarchy, which was spreading into empire. (There's a note here: "ruinous taxes, serfs confined forever to farms they can't own")

The current democracy has a president. Previously there was a king--there are at least nine ones that start with R.

I note here that elves killed off the dragons, but that belongs in the elven history file.

Religion
There is some intimation (through the notion of a vigil chapel) that there were knightly orders. They also swear by God (in Heaven).

Customs

 * Upper class habit of using surnames as familiar names.
 * There's something about hair lengths/styles. Look that up.
 * Duels have been outlawed by Morgan's time.
 * Upper-class women still have chaperones, perhaps as hold-overs from imperial times.

Cities in Troth (the Province)
About Vigil: ''Vigil's Athenaeum was legend. Perched on the northernmost tip of the country, the city faced the barren winter wilderness from which, folklore maintained, demons and dark wizards crawled to feast on the blood of the living and weave abominations from their magic. History had little to say on the subject of demons and dark wizards, yet entire sections of Vigil were built on inexplicable ruins too recent for paper to have disintegrated, and Vigil's college had basements and vaults not only locked against intrusion, but cemented shut.''
 * Steadfast (former imperial capital)
 * Evertrue (has university on it, Leigh).
 * Virtue (port city)
 * Vigil (with the athenaeum).