TEXT: PERRENLAND CULTURE FOR BEGINNERS (by Patrick Williamson) 
   
  Perrenland is a very complicated setting created from the rather bland pre Living Greyhawk canon 
  material.  Much of the creative energy that has been injected into Perrenland is in the form of a 
  complex and intertwined culture and history.  It is very difficult to condense all of this into a two-page 
  primer but this attempt should serve well as a rough guide for those new to the region. 
   
  • 
  Perrenland is a lawful good nation with a twist to that theme, in that Perrenders are lawful good in 
  relation to their own clan and most other Perrenders but can be less good and more lawful towards 
  outsiders (Uitlanders) and traditional Clan rivals. 
  • 
  Perrenland is a very new word (about 150 years old) to describe the unified inhabitants of the area 
  around Lake Quag.  A more apt name in many respects is the Quaglands and this name is used in 
  adventures to describe areas both within and without the defined boundaries of Perrenland.  For 
  example, the Wolf Nomad town of Ungra Balan in not in Perrenland (well, not yet) but it is “in” 
  the Quaglands. 
  • 
  In the past, before the twin cataclysms of 1000 years ago, the Quaglands were dominated by the 
  human Ur-Flan city-states of Guur-Zwaan.  Despite the demise of this Ur-Flan civilisation, the 
  majority of human Perrenders are direct descendants of these people and retain much of the culture 
  and habits of the Ur-Flan. It is thus difficult to state with certainty that the Ur-Flan are a dead 
  culture in the Quaglands. 
  • 
  The Quaglands are dominated by seven major cultural groups: Perrender humans and non-humans, 
  Khund Dwur, Kershane Olves, Quagaloogal Lizard Folk, Guurhok Hobgoblins, Tiger Nomads and 
  Wolf Nomads. 
  • 
  The Quaglands are divided into four nations: Perrenland (which includes the independent city-
  states of Kershane, Exag and Ulmt, as well as the Gurrhok and Quagaloogal nations), Khundholm, 
  the Tiger Nomads and the Wolf Nomads.  With the exception of the Tiger Nomads all these 
  nations are allied with Perrenland. 
  • 
  Perrender humans are by far the dominant and most numerous cultural and racial group in the 
  Quaglands.  Perrender humans are divided into three subsets, Flan Clans (60%), Oeridian Clans 
  (20%) and Uitlanders (refugee Flan for the most part, 20%). 
  • 
  The two major human non-flan Clans - the Morgenroods and the Roodbergs - are Oeridian/Aerdi 
  clans. This means they see the world a little differently to the Flan clans, the Morgenroods less so 
  than the Roodbergs.  The Flan word “Rood” means “strong jawed”, or possibly “big mouth”, and 
  was first used by the ancient Flan to describe the tall chiselled-featured Oeridian invaders of the 
  Quaglands who won territory from the Vuurzwald clan and established the city Exag, 
  • 
  Perrenland is a federal republic composed of a number of semi-independent states called Cantons; 
  Cantons have their own government and militia (the Landwehr).  The political head of a canton is 
  a member of the Concatenated Council of All Perrenland, the federal parliament.  The Council is 
  ruled over by the Voormann of all Perrenland. 
  • 
  The Voormann of Perrenland is elected by all Perrenland clan members every eight years.  A 
  Voormann can be re-elected, but that is not guaranteed.  Perrenland thus undergoes a period of 
  political restructure at least once every decade.  One way to look at Perrenland is as a republic 
  where those who have suffrage (members of a recognised clan) elect the most popular candidate to 
  rule over them with king-like powers for the next eight years. 
  • 
  Recently several non-human clans have been recognised as having the same standing as the 
  traditional human clans: the Ooster-Khund (Dwarves) and Kershane (Elves) have already been 
  recognised, while the Guurhok (Hobgoblins) are in the process of being recognised. 
  • 
  Perrenland is a technologically advanced nation, more so than say Furyondy or Keoland - think 
  renaissance rather than medieval when thinking of Perrenland.   
  • 
  Perrenland is for the most part civilised and dominated by well-planned, well-constructed urban 
  centres with organised rural districts in the surrounds.  At the same time, Perrender culture is not 
  like other parts in the Flanaess for a number of very good reasons. 
  • 
  For example, most of the Flan Perrender still live a traditional existence in communal 
  arrangements called Clan Stadts, even in the big cities.  Clans themselves are amalgamations of 
  sub-clans (Septs), which in turn are amalgamations of families.  
  • 
   Some Septs belong to none of the eight Clans – for example, the Bruinsmen of Schwartzenbruin.   
  • 
  A system of nobility exists that places political power in the hands of the Clan’s nobility.  
  Perrender clan nobles (Grafs and Hetmen) are for the most part elected from a short list of suitable 
  candidates with blood ties to the dominant family within a Sept.  That said, all of the eight major 
  
  human clans do things differently, especially the Roodberg clan who follow the rule of 
  primogeniture for hereditary title.   
  • 
  From the elected Grafs is generally elected a Pfalzgraf (Prince/Duke) who rules the entire clan.  
  Sometimes the election process goes wrong and a clan goes to war with itself or splinters into two 
  or more clans, as happened to the Meerijder clan. 
  • 
  A Graf generally rules over one or more Clan Stadts (from whose population he/she was elected.) 
  • 
  Depending on the size of the Clan Sept, its location and so on, a Clan Stadt can range in size from 
  one or two families to huge arrangements housing dozens of families.  For example, some of the 
  Bruinsmen Clan Stadts in the city of Schwartzenbruin have several hundred members living a 
  communal existence.   
  • 
  In Perrenland, Family comes first. 
  • 
  Most of the Flan clans still practice a form of seasonal migration between Stadts, moving between 
  rural and urban Stadts for planting, harvest, winter, and so on.  Most prefer to be in the big urban 
  centres for deep winter, although a Stadt is seldom ever abandoned altogether.  Thus, in winter the 
  cities swell in size while the rural villages shrink. 
  • 
  As a result of this most Flan Perrenders do not place great value on the accumulation of personal 
  possessions. “If it can’t fit on a horse what is the point of owning it?”  For this very reason most 
  Flan Perrenders are also horse-folk, with the exception of the Meerrijder clans who are ship-folk. 
  • 
  Flan Perrenders practice a form of ancestor worship that involves the preservation of the heads of 
  famous ancestors of their family.  Most Stadts have their greathall adorned with these heads.  
  Perrenders also collect and preserve the heads of honourable enemies who have been killed in 
  single combat by a clan hero.  It is not uncommon in a Clan Stadt to have a conversation with a 
  preserved head that has been magically imbibed with its memories.  Thus most Perrenders are in 
  touch with the past.   
  • 
  Religion is perhaps the most important single factor in Perrender culture, as Perrenland is 
  dominated by the ways of life promoted by the Old Kerk and all Stadts are also places of religious 
  worship. 
  • 
  The Old Kerk is a pantheon of Flan gods attended to by a complicated priesthood of Druids, 
  Clerics and Bards.  If you want to understand Perrender culture then you need to understand the 
  Old Kerk.  In a nutshell the Old Kerk is what the Old Faith has developed into within the 
  Quaglands.   
  • 
  Little that is important can happen in Perrenland without the involvement of the Old Kerk, from 
  the coronation of the Voormann to the birth of a child the Old Kerk is involved at some level.  In 
  the past the Voormann was head of both the government and the Shool, the separation occurred 
  after the defeat of Iggwilv in 491CY.  Even the current Voormann – Orgus Bildgear, a Roodberg –
  renounced his Oeridian religion and became a lay priest of the Old Kerk in order to effect his 
  appointment to the position of Voormann by the three branches of the Old Kerk 
  • 
  All land in Perrenland belongs to the ruling branch of the Old Kerk, the Grove.   
  • 
  The Grove gives out Land to the clans for permanent settlement and for farming.  It is taken back 
  when the Grove declares an area has been depleted and returned to seed (New Seed) for 
  rejuvenation.  The Grove has been known in its past to decree a city no longer habitable, as it did 
  long ago with the cities of Guur-Zwaan.   
  • 
  Some areas in Perrenland are taboo to all folk: these are Old Seed areas, places held in perpetual 
  guardianship by the Grove.  The highways and rivers that bisect Perrenland are the only 
  permissible routes through many of these old Seed areas.  Some groups have the right to enter 
  some Old Seed areas; for example the Rosrijder clans can roam freely across the Feronwold. 
  • 
  The third branch of the Old Kerk, the Voice and its Bards has the sacrosanct right to defame any 
  person regardless of their power or position.  In fact many of the more powerful political positions, 
  such as the Voormann, have a requirement that a Bard of the Voice be allocated for the purpose of 
  crying shame on the holder if they stray outside of what the Bard considers to be for the good of 
  the folk.  It is one of the highest of all offences in Perrenland to strike a Bard of the Voice. 
  • 
  Finally the Old Kerk controls all of the higher courts in the land, and most of Perrenland’s judges 
  (Rechters) are members of the Shool of Allitur.  Justice in Perrenland is based upon Kopprijs 
  (compensation payment) and the amount and type varies depending on the offence. 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Living Greyhawk/Metaorg Material/Perrenland/PER perrenland_culture_for_beginners.pdf