Foole
an excerpt

Lord Seven is a good Lord.

The people of Seventh have never been fond of their Lord. They respect him, yes, and they fear him. But they never show the kind of loyal affection that some Lords in other provinces and other Kingdoms have been heard to receive. They don't gather around Castle Seventh every Saturday to petition for the Lord's ear and aid, or even just his blessing.

Lord Seven never opens his gates for the citizens. He does not see his people at all, unlike those tales of peers riding out to greet the market-goers on Sunday mornings, or of holding councils for Guild representatives. He keeps to the Hilt, the upper level of Castle Seventh, and occasionally leaves to visit other Lords, but never does he step into the town proper. He is too busy for that.

Despite this, his presence is strongly felt.

Lord Seven is a Gods-fearing man who believes in honest toil. He works his serfs from Sun-up, at the fourth hour of the day, to long past Sun-down, at midnight. He forbids his serfs to father more than one child, but what he allows them to grow for their own consumption is never enough to support even one child. If the child dies, the serf is allowed to father one more. But sometimes it is too late already, and the serf has grown old, or his wife is dead.

Lord Seven is a holy man. He abhors sin, and is not lenient with those he thinks have committed sins. To truly repent, says Lord Seven, one must pay what one desires the most. So from thieves, he takes lives, and from lechers, he takes - well, he takes what you think he takes.

Lord Seven is a generous and patient man. He does not gather taxes in fixed quantities that men must labour to produce. He instead takes an even half of whatever the farmfolk produce. This way there is always something leftover. Percentages leave profit, says the good Lord Seven.

Lord Seven is an understanding man. He provides jobs for his craftsfolk, and often sets them tasks that keep them working all week and sometimes all month, and if his craftsfolk look thin and gaunt, it is because they have worked with the glory of full strength, and moderated their sinful desires and excesses.

Lord Seven is a good Lord. But his people do not love him.