Bailiff of the Downs
Overview
The Bailiff of the Downs is an Imperial title created by the Senate in Spring 384YE to oversee the Bounder's Hall constructed in Sarcombe in the Mournwold. The position of Bailiff is a sinecure, producing a steady stream of income each season. It has extensive responsibilities to protect the farms of the Mournwold, especially those belonging to the pacifistic former Jotun thralls.
Responsibilities
The Bailiff has the responsibility to protect Mournwold thrall farms and settlements from those who wish to take advantage of their non-violent ways, coordinating with local militia, willing stewards, and beaters to drive off outlaws and bandits. In the event that farms belonging to human Marchers were threatened in a similar manner, the Bailiff would also be expected to come to their defence.
Powers
Appointment
The title is selected by unanimous decision of the Marcher senators at the Autumn Equinox. If a unanimous decision cannot be reached, the title may be appointed by the Imperial Senate instead.
The title can be held by any Marcher citizen. The Bailiff serves until the next scheduled election. They can be revoked by the General Assembly, the Marcher National Assembly, and by the Assembly of the Nine.
| Summit | Elected |
|---|---|
| Autumn Equinox 386YE | Thomas Oak |
| Autumn Equinox 385YE | Thomas Oak |
| Autumn Equinox 384YE | Hob Cullach |
Recent Elections
This title is currently held by Thomas Oak; it will be reelected at Autumn Equinox 387YE. The table to the right shows the citizens who have been elected to hold this title in the years since Empress Britta died.
Bounder's Hall
In Winter 383YE, there was a distrurbing increase in reports of serious problems with scofflaws and brigands in the Mournwold. Part of the problem is that while the former Jotun thralls are industrious and rich, their peculiar beliefs mean they will not defend themselves with weapons. While perfectly at home in the rough-and-tumble of a ball game, even games with sticks make their elders nervous. When it comes to fighting, they would rather die and be reincarnated than risk condemning themselves to oblivion by picking up a weapon. When they travel - and the orcs do travel to other parts of the Marches to buy and sell like any other citizens - they are able to hire caravan guards. At home, however, the task of protecting acres of farmland and small villages is one that they are finding insurmountable. And unfortunately this makes them easy prey for the worst elements of Marcher society - outlaws, bandits, and thieves. They gravitated to the Mourn, and stole with impunity, knowing that the orcs would not fight to protect their wealth. It became a serious issue. In the west, the responsibility to protect the thralls from predators - whether they go on two legs or four - would fall to the Jotun. In the Marches there was nobody to officially take the role of protector. Worse, the problem began to spread. Bandits and thieves were emboldened by the ease with which they could rob the orc farmers, and some turned speculative eyes to the least well defended farms of human Marchers as well.
The Mournwold orcs own some of the most prosperous farms in the Mournwold. They are not poor. Their problem is not paying for guards; rather it is finding and coordinating those guards. As such, and inspired by the example of the Bailiff of the Grand Market, they proposed the construction of a Bounders Hall, where groups of beaters could work with the pacifist orcs to keep their farms free of thieves and bandits. The Senate agreed to commission such a hall in Sarcombe - probably the best place for such a structure.
The actual building is not especially large - the practical work of dealing with bandits, outlaws, and raiders takes place out in the wilds not in a comfortable office. Built partially with donations from the Mournwold orcs themselves, it is a sturdy two-story building that shows a few accents of Jotun architecture amidst the more familiar, practical Marcher style. Matriarch Hamma the Lame of Eversweet Orchard paid for the eaves to be decorated with beautifully carvings depicting the bounty of the Mournwold farms - sheafs of wheat and plump apples - with a pair of crossed scythes adorning the peak of the roof. Inside are the offices themselves, but the majority of the ground floor is taken up with a hiring hall where farmers and caravan masters can post notices and interview guards, and where the Bailiff of the Downs can round up bounders prepared to help deal with any threat of banditry.
When news of the proposal began to spread, a counterproposal was put forward by the people of Sarcombe itself. Mournwold can be a dangerous territory. The hills are ideal for bandit hideouts, there is the constant threat of Jotun raiders crossing the border, and the vallornspawn of Liathaven have never been shy about boiling across the border. They proposed that in addition to protecting orc farms, a position with a much wider remit to keep the Mournwold free of threats to farms, towns, and mines alike (such as the raiders who recently attacked the Singing Caves for example) could be established. The Senate declined at this time, but there may be the potential in future to expand the Bailiff's remit.