you got fucking kings, Torygg, Helseth, living gods of the Tribunal.... under an "Emperor"? who puts some garrisons around but does.... what exactly?
theres an "East Empire Trading Company"? whats that do?
it kinda seems like a holy roman empire, kinda seems like a regular roman empire. they've got knights, dukes, but a Legion...
yes i know the answer is technically "these jackoffs just made it up as they went" and don't care a lick about political theory but this is exactly the kind of excercise that makes fun speculative historiography
skyrim is a very poor reflection of a medieval economy, because it was made by people with no understanding of non-capitalist systems
but housecarls being non-compensated is, in a vacuum, completely real. Housecarls were not paid. you have your 'Thegns' being entrusted with some piece of land of the realm, and they've got a group of warriors in their household who benefit solely from war-loot and the gifts from the thegns and jarls. again, its not capitalist so feeding these guys and letting them keep what they loot, plus an odd gold bracelet and sword is all it took.
get a food/sleep mod with companion functionality for all the immersion required in skyrim's housecarl system. they autonomously take weapons they want so it counts
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