Aristocrat. The aristocratic class in Mankara includes the members of the seven Noble Houses (Belaph, de Brandt, Finnehake, Magyr, Orlando, Stryker, and Thau) as well as the more prominent magician and merchant families. Players may choose a 1st level aristocrat as their initial character or they may opt to "multi-class at first level" by taking an apprentice level as an aristocrat and an apprentice level as some other class (usually cleric, fighter, or wizard). There are factional divisions among the Mankaran elite, with blocs known as the Nobles, the Merchant Princes, the Admirals, and the Mysterium vying for position and influence with the Lord Protector. The Finnehake family is generally aligned with the Noble faction.
Bard. The bardic tradition comes from the Lannish cultures who once occupied the coasts of the Western Sea; the ancient Lannish bards were ceremonial kings whose great knowledge and oratorical skill made them leaders in times of war and crisis. In contemporaneous Western civilization -- what is called High Oerian culture -- the bard is much reduced, having become a minstrel and troubadour rather than a sacerdotal king. However, there are still hints of the Lannish bard in the competitions of song and poesy that occur during holiday festivals and in the traditional recitations by paid performers that are used to open courts of law, celebrate births and anniversaries, and mourn the beloved dead. Such performers are more often classed as experts or even commoners than as true bards. A Finnehake youngster bard will probably either be the illegitimate child of one of the Young Finnehakes or a foster child adopted by the Old Finnehakes out of deference to the ancient ways. In either case, the PC would have been brought up under the tutelage of Darrian of Arcaster (b. 460 p.e.), a bard of the old school who has been a family friend for years.
Cleric. Mankaran clerics are also called "heralds"; they are schooled in the legends and history of the Great City in addition to the broader mythic cycles and philosophical traditions received from the classical cultures of the West (the ancient Cerolians and their Lannish successors). Heralds form the backbone of Mankara's bureaucracy, and undergo their training in schools called scriptoria.
Most heralds are in fact classed as experts, but those who study and understand the lessons of the Iter Hieromesaxorum (the Journey of Iermesach) gain access to the class abilities of the cleric.
A Finnehake cleric's holy symbol is the Finnehake coat of arms (a Field quartered (1) quarterly Or et Azure three bezants Or; (2) Gules, a cross Argent; (3) quarterly Or et Azure three bezants Or; (4) Gules, a saltire Argent -- that is, a field in four quarters, with the top left and bottom right quarters each subdivided into four quarters also. The subdivided fields are each from the top left and going around clockwise gold, blue with three gold balls, gold, blue with three gold balls. The top right is red with a white cross. The bottom left is red with an X-shaped white cross emblazoned in it). His or her tutelary ancestral spirit is that of Lord Olfund, and his or her divine domains are Strength and Protection. He or she has two granted powers, in that he or she may (1) perform a feat of strength once per day, and (2) use protective ward once per day by touch.
Mankaran clerics have good access to a number of different prestige classes, including the armiger (a master herald who specializes in abstruse symbolism, ciphers, riddles, and puzzles and has some access to arcane spells, especially those related to runes and glyphs), the Mankaran factor (a mercantile adventurer with tough bargaining powers and some roguish skills as well), and the emissary (a divinely inspired diplomat with almost mystical abilities to awe, charm, and intimidate).
Clerics who serve the Old Gods (the Oerian pantheon) are referred to as "oracles." Players may choose to play a Finnehake youngster who has been dedicated to one of the temples.
Fighter. Mankaran fighters typically find employment within one of the military arms of the city. These include (in descending order of prestige) the Black Watch, the Great City Guard (including the mounted Patrol), and the Constabulary. Veteran fighters may become private soldiers, warriors who muster in mercenary companies when chartered by the Lord Protector or as household troops and bodyguards to the noble houses and merchant princes.
A Finnehake youngster who is classed as a fighter may have received weapons training from Onrico Doun (b. 443 p.e.), the Master of Arms at the Winter Palace and a formidable warrior. A grizzled veteran of the Black Watch, Onrico is a stern taskmaster who nonetheless possesses a nearly inexhaustible store of battlefield tales that he happily relates when in his cups.
Fighters have good access to a wide variety of prestige classes representing the members of elite military units and martial specialists. These include the dragon knight (martial companion to one of Mankara's seven mighty dragons), the swordmaster (an expert fencer and duellist), the dragoon (a mounted soldier equipped with a brace of warloque pistols--gunpowder weapons) and the Mankaran lancer (a heavily armed and armored private soldier who has trained and outfitted his or her own celestial destrier, an equine creature of considerable grace, intelligence, and power).
Monk. The organized martial ascetic tradition is relatively new to the West, and is still associated with Eastern religious mysticism. A Finnehake youngster classed as a monk would most likely be a member of the Gatekeepers, a monastic order which maintains its mother abbey in the Great City as well as several small hostels on the pilgrim trail throught the Quickstone Mountains to Wizards' Clash. The patron spirit of the Gatekeepers is Seger, one of Iermesach's Companions, who guided the Great Mage to the entrance to the Underworld.
Paladin. The paladin in Mankara is an aristocratic warrior who epitomizes and embodies the Mankaran ideology. He or she is the model Mankaran warrior: virtuous, energetic, and sporting. Paladins are represented throughout the military organizations of the city, appearing as particularly upstanding guardsmen, good-hearted constables, and incorruptible watchmen. The special class abilities of the paladin are presumed to derive from the blessings of virtue, and to validate the special status of Mankaran belief as right and proper. The Order of the Gryphon includes paladins who revere the Oerian goddess Karan. A Finnehake youngster who is classed as a paladin is thus a veritable Galahad whose background otherwise resembles that of a fighter-type.
A prestige class that is particularly appropriate to paladins (but also available to sufficiently martial heralds and lawful fighters and rangers) is the gryphon knight, an aerial combatant who is also known as a "knight of the air," engaging in rarefied duels above the battlefields of Uerlan with flying monsters and enemy fliers of other sorts. Others include the bloodguard (a warrior sworn to defend the life of the Lord Protector with unswerving loyalty and devotion).
Ranger. A Finnehake youngster who is classed as a ranger is probably a member of the Great City Scouts, who patrol the Upper Settlements and the mountain passes leading to the Garlands. He or she may, of course, simply have spent a lot of time in the company of his or her Uncle Smotem, the Chief Great City Scout, and had lots of opportunity to practice woodcraft in the area near Mount Overlook, the Finnehake family's chief holding in the Upper Settlements. A Great City Scout's first favored enemy should probably be dwarves, since Black Mountain renegades from the Kingdom of Farsalia lurk as bandits in the passes, preying upon overland trade with the Garlands. Another option is for the Finnehake youngster to be a Quickstone Mountain Man, in which case the goblin or morlock would be a good favored enemy.
Rogue. A ne'er-do-well Finnehake youngster might have misspent his youth, falling in with bad company while learning a number of useful albeit unorthodox skills. Such a character would be unlikely to be a professional thief. Rather, he or she is most likely a smart and ambitious youth with little patience for the established pieties and stifling regularities of upper class Mankaran life.
Rogues have good access to prestige classes, including the sharp (a gambler who never gives a sucker an even break), the rakehell (a profligate upper-class wastrel with a good sword arm and a touchy sense of pride), and the sneak thief (a specialist in clandestine breaking and entering), as well as more respectable lines of endeavor, like the Mankaran factor, the emissary, and the Mankaran mariner (an expert sailor with an elemental connection to the sea).
Sorceror/Wizard. Sorcerous talent is relatively common in Mankara, and those who possess such talent are encouraged to develop their abilities at the College of Wizardry. For this reason, many Mankaran magicians are dual-classed sorceror-wizards, with the sorceror component reflecting raw arcane talent and the wizard component an assiduously cultivated magical discipline. Since magical training and talent are so common, multi-classed fighter-sorcerors and cleric-wizards are not uncommon at all.
Prestige classes typically most accessible to wizards and sorcerors include the mystic (one who pursues the deeper mysteries of arcane lore and spellcraft) and the scholar (an expert in some more-or-less abstruse field of lore or philosophy).
Restrictions. Players may not choose to play barbarians or druids, since the PCs will for the most part be civilized city-dwellers. Opportunities may arise later for a character to pick up a level or two in these classes.