Förening
Förening (literally "association" in Wortsproke) is an Orkanan practice, mainly in the Mellanhand tradition, organising armed defence of Orkanan places, shrines, possessions and communities as a whole. Once an important part of the military system and Orkanan culture in Mellanhand nations, mainly in Stoldavia, these days a förening functions more as a cultural heritage association with strong links to the Orkanan religion.
History
Förening has its roots in the decentralised defence mechanisms against Wolgos raids and attacks since the Union of Skara. The Wortsproke word förening is similar to the Stoldic term Verein which was used in this context in southern Stoldavia. Each stim would have an arms' bearer and/or an arms' master whose task it was to engage in the defence of Orkanan shrines and places of gathering within the socken. It was part of the stim's contribution to local society, where the joint arms' bearers as an association (förening) formed a local militia strictly for Orkanan purposes. This association did not perform any duties in worldly matters and operated parallel to law enforcement. Förening however was a pool for the lord's or king's army in case of a war breaking out.
During the era of the Greater Stoldavic Empire most förening were replaced by a professional army serving the emperor, combining national defence with the more local defence of Orkanan shrines and gathering places. But without imminent threats to Orkanan possessions during the imperial age, this local defence was limited to portal towns and border fortifications. Inland locations did not need any protection aside the regular law enforcement.
After the fall of the empire, local defence against individual criminals, landless stims and travelling bands became more important again, which led to the reinstatement of förening as an institute in local Orkanan society. In the Mellanhand tradition of northern Stoldavia, a stim could contribute to the förening by making one or more people available as arms' bearer. In case a stim was not willing or able to supply a person for this task, they could contribute to the förening system by making some quarters available for unaffiliated soldiers supplied by the local nobility or king. In this post-imperial era, wordly and religious leadership often was combined within the same noble family, royal family or line marriage. The soldiers being detached at local förening could be orphans, landless and unaffiliated individuals or come from poorer stims that contributed with more armed staff as a source of income. In some cases, criminals could serve their sentence in the form of a lifetime soldier contract, which in practical terms often was until age 42 or 45.
The förening served as the military in case of a war, roughly from the early 7200's until deep into the 7600's. Some nations, like Liden, abandoned the system in the 7620's when the Pan-Anarian War required a more modern military organisation, which was achieved by drafting able young men. But even after the formation of Vittmark there were still several förening active around the country, mainly in the south, in inland Central Hagen, in West Hagen and some coastal regions of Dunsvik and Laxholmen. Today, the förening is more of a ceremonial association of defenders of Orkanan values and possessions, where owning, maintaining and handling of classical weapons as part of the local heritage is still practiced. In Vittmark, all förening are open to women by law as well these days.
Impact on Mellanhand Orkanan society
Many settlements had so-called föreningstorp or soldatstorp, freestanding accommodation at the stim's or socken's settlement. Different kingdoms had different requirements, in Ådalen for example the association house should have an internal dimension of 8x4 meters, almost 2 meters high, providing year round shelter against the elements of weather with at least one full size door and two 1,2 by 1,0 m windows or similar, as well as a minimal tunnland (about 5000 sqm) of productive land for home grown produce.
Since the lodged soldier usually only was a part-time function, the soldier helped out the local community, at first only in agriculture but later even in workshop and industrial production. As such the soldier became more or less a temporary stim member, even though he would be living apart from the extended family. It was not that uncommon to have female arms' bearers, but female soldiers were pretty rare. In most localities, there were about equally many local arms' bearers in a förening as lodged soldiers in association accommodation, which contributed to the overall integration of stately and religious matters across the nation. Most arm's bearers served a short period in a different locality as well, in order to dissiminate knowledge and experience.
Current state and functions
TBA