Rouel

Introduction
This document details the society within the Kingdom of Rouel. The people, the royal family, the army and everything surrounding them.

The Common Man
The people of Rouel live fairly well. Though the rich are pretty rich and the few poor people are really poor, everyone in between is doing fine.

Everyone enjoys a rather extensive amount of freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom to move around as you please, freedom to start your own business and handle your own money.

Commoners can take up more or less any occupation you could possibly think of, even blacksmiths have their uses in this mixture of modern technology and medieval mindset.

Though free, the people of Rouel are not allowed the right to carry firearms, or swords, axes maces and spears for that matter. However they can apply for the army at their own leisure in case they really want to handle firearms.

Nobility
The noble families of Rouel are plenty, some small and unimportant and others large and the center of attention at the court. Some way or another, most of them are derived down from the royal family or the royal families of nations long lost. There are some exceptions, such as the family of the duke of Latterdam, who designed and manufactured the first Chevalier and was made nobility by decree of the King.

The nobility typically enjoys fine art, music, food and wines. They move in large social circles within the court, and smaller social circles with their own little gatherings without. The ladies and gents of the court might seem a pleasant bunch, but rumors spread fast and they could tear your reputation apart if they don't like you.

The Royal Family
Though King Christian the second is loved by the people and respected by all, he holds no actual power over the nation.

That's right, the royal family has no actual power over the nation, but serve more as figureheads and public figures to the more low-key government.

The family currently consists of seven members. There's King Christian, 63 years old and his Queen Margaret, 57 as well as their five children Gwinfred, William, Lotviem, Charles and Cecilia 35, 33, 25, 20 and 18 respectively.

Prince Gwinfred is the crown prince, current heir to the throne, and second to him is the Princess Lotviem, known to the common people as princess Lottie. Prince William would be second to the throne, had he not resigned his place in the throne order in favor of forming his own knightly order; Les Chevalier des Rose Blanc, or "Knights of the Rose".

Prince Charles, and whoever his latest romantic endeavor is, is always a crowd favorite among the court socialites. The ladies of the court can't get enough of his roguish ways and quick romances, but they fear he might end up dead in a duel someday. That day hasn't come quite yet though, since he's quite the fencer, and has six notches on his belt.

Princess Cecilia, youngest of the five, has something of a cult following among the young men of the court since she occasionally performs at the royal opera as a most pleasant tenor.

The Government
Despite being a monarchy, Rouel has a democratically elected government. The different political parties of the nation get a certain amount of people in parliament based on the percentage of votes they get from the people.

The largest party within the parliament decides on a prime minister from within their ranks, and he appoints other ministers under him.

Every four years there's a new parliament election, and so far the anti-monarchy party has never had more than three people in parliament.

Cultural Influences
The greatest cultural influences on Rouel are nations of medieval Europe, mainly France and England. Architecturally Rouel is filled with castles sporting high arches with sharp peaks, as well as giant cathedrals left from a time when religion had its place in the society.

Nowadays, the cathedrals have mostly been converted into museums and the castles have been given modern interiors and are used a very expensive houses for noble families.

General architecture of commoner housing etc is pretty modern. Apartment complexes, houses and villas aplenty. Shopping centers typically form the hubs of a city, with extensive metro lines in just about every city worth the name. Every major city has at least one opera house, and several minor cities as well.

The Army
Tanks aplenty in the regular army, as well as less advanced mecha. Occupation and peacekeeping forces work together with welfare organizations to supply minor nations in strife with necessities. The army is mostly there for defense, either for defending the Kingdom itself or other smaller nations that might need it.

The navy sports large aircraft carriers and battleships, and a few submarines carrying cruise missiles for taKing out key strategic targets.

On the air force, fighters and bombers aplenty. As well as heavy drop ships for mecha transportation and insertion, pretty much giant cargo planes that drop mecha via parachute.

Knighthood
The knight orders are the elite soldiers or the Kingdom. They're in all the branches of the military, not just the army but navy and air force as well. A knightly order typically deals in only one kind of combat, and is always looKing for potential prospects to add to their ranks.

Ceremony, as well as training, are two very central things to the orders. Tradition and ceremony is common practice, such as initiation ceremonies and award ceremonies for medals. Some orders even adapt to honor codes, such as defending the innocent even if it means they risk their lives. Training and exercise is mandatory for a set amount of time every week, typically squads do their training together.

The knighthood have exclusive rights to the Chevaliers, the special kind of mecha developed and manufactured exclusively in Rouel. Knightly mecha tactics typically goes towards extremes of both range and armor. High-speed, lightly armored machines for close combat fighting alongside heavily armored siege platforms on one side, and on the other heavy-hitting slow melee powerhouses in tons of armor and flight-capable Chevaliers with sniper rifles.

Common Physical Traits and Fashion
The people of Rouel have rather varied appearances. From fair skin and hair, bright eyes and high cheekbones to dark curls and olive skin around light browns.

The further north you come in the Kingdom, the lighter and taller the people get. Some characteristics are rather consistent though, such as impressive facial hair among males and curvy bodies among women. The women of Rouel are commonly said to be the most beautiful in the world, this isn't necessarily true since people have different tastes and you have to judge appearance on a case-by-case basis.

Fashion in the Kingdom is pretty simple for the common people. T-shirts, sweaters, hoodies and jeans. Something of a skate subculture is emerging among the young commoners, with large bright t-shirts and large shoes.Among the nobles, fashion is flashier. Sometimes very flashy. Stylish suits, long coats and lots of frills is the norm for male nobles while the womenfolk wear sometimes ridiculous dresses with excess of frills and lance.

The knighthood typically wear uniforms in their family or order colors, as a sort of modern coat of arms. Nobles among the knights wear flashier custom-tailored outfits in similar styles.

Chevalier
The Chevalier, a type of machine developed by the duke of Latterdam and presented to the King at a public gala, is the cutting edge of Rouel mecha.

A frame of impeccable structural integrity moved by artificial muscle packs with fibers reacting to electrical currents directed by the machines computer systems. The cockpit holds a harness with controls for arms and legs in a semi-master-slave system. When wearing a chevaliers pilot suit, the pilot connects to the harness through several rods that extend from the harness and screw into holes in the suit, this gives some minor advantages in controlling such as neural targeting and control of subsystems.

Chevaliers have been around for a couple of years, so unlike the Imperial Cuélebre, there are quite a bunch of different models and types. The cutting edge of Chevalier technology is prince William's personal Landsknecht, a suit using a high power GES system to charge the enemy and run them through with its revolving lance-drill.