Yurgenschmidt

Yurgenschmidt (ユルゲンシュミット, yurugenshumitto) is the country in which Ascendance of a Bookworm takes place.

The country is ruled by an absolute ruler called the Zent. Technically, both men and women can become Zent, however due to the nature of mana and the peculiarities of noble pregnancies, men are generally preferred for the position. The same holds true for the position of Aub, the archdukes and archduchesses who rule over the duchies.

Under normal circumstances both Zent and Aub positions are hereditary. As the absolute ruler, the Zent naturally has the right to take away the title of Aub and appoint someone else, though in practice this is only done in cases of treason by the Aub.

For the position of Zent there is technically a selection process that would allow archduke candidates not related to the current ruler to win the title, but this practice has been out of use for so long that most nobles in the modern day aren't even aware of this anymore.

Located at the center of Yurgenschmidt is the Sovereignty, the seat of royal power and the home of the Zent. The rest of the land is divided into duchies, each governed by a ruling Aub.

The country is shaped like a circle and bordered by a magical wall, which can only be passed through using specified gates. Likewise, each duchy is defined by a magical border around its territory. The barriers between duchies allow free passage to animals and people, but will block most forms of magic and instantly inform the archduke of a duchy if a person above a certain mana-threshold passes through in any place other than a border gate.

The country of Yurgenschmidt does not count their years in a single continuous system like Anno Domini on most parts of Earth, but instead uses a system that splits time into eras based on the rule of the kings, similar to how Japan measures their time in the eras of their Emperors.

Before the recent civil war, Yurgenschmidt was comprised of 25 duchies. However, those on the losing side of the political conflict became defunct, and the land was redivided into 21 duchies.

Each duchy has a ranking relative to the others, determined by its population, economy, political influence, scientific and magical research, new trends or fashions, and the performance of students at the Royal Academy. In addition to its numerical rank, duchies are classified as "greater," "middle" or "lesser". Although the Sovereignty is technically a duchy, it always ranks above all other duchies. Currently there are four greater, nine middle and seven lesser duchies.

The higher the rank a duchy holds, the more power and influence it wields. Lower ranking duchies must show deference to those above them, and all must defer to the Sovereignty and the royal family.

The center of the country is called the Sovereignty and houses among other things the Royal Palace and Royal Academy. Since it is the seat of the king and under the direct control of the royal family it is always considered higher than even the highest ranking duchy and thus is not included in the duchy-rankings, despite generally being treated as a duchy in most ways.


 * Scharfer
 * Trostwerk
 * Werkestock
 * Zausengas


 * Eisenreich - Former greater duchy abolished for treason against the king. Part of its territory was given to its neighbors like Klassenberg and what remained - now reduced to a middle duchy - was given to the Ehrenfest family and given their name.
 * Unknown Duchy - This former greater duchy was disbanded and its territory split into the lesser duchies of Kirschnereit, Berschmann, Lindenthal, Ossvault and Quandtreeb as punishment for treason against the crown.

* "AM #" refers to the number of years after Myne's birth. See timeline for more details.

Religion in Yurgenschmidt is based on worship and prayers to a pantheon of gods and goddesses.


 * Gods and Subordinate Gods are the deities worshipped by the people of Yurgenschmidt.
 * The Temple is the primary religious institution.
 * Priests and Shrine Maidens comprise the hierarchical clergy.
 * Religious Ceremonies form the cornerstone of Yurgenschmidt's calendar and mark milestones of life such as baptism and marriage.
 * Blessings are a form of prayer and magic used by nobles.
 * The Bible is the central religious text, and the original bible traditionally held by the king or queen is called Grutrissheit.

Despite the faith's many mythological and fantastical elements, the gods and goddesses of Yurgenschmidt have a concrete, measurable impact on everyday life and the natural world. Prayer and blessings are shown to influence not only magic, but also agriculture, governance, and strength in combat. As a result, while some are more or less devout, the people of Yurgenschmidt do not generally question the existence of the gods.

Religion is closely associated with the practice of magic by the nobility, since gods are invoked in magic circles, blessings, and spells. Mana also plays a key role in many religious ceremonies, such as Spring Prayer and the Dedication Ritual.

Legend has it that the first king of Yurgenschmidt was chosen by the gods themselves to rule the country and act as their representative in the mortal realm. He was allowed to transcribe the Mestionora's original Grutrissheit.

As such he was not only the head of the country, but also highest religious authority. With the first king also acting as the head of the temple, his children often participated in religious ceremonies. At some point in history, the positions of political and religious leaders were split, with the former being held by the king and the latter being held by the newly instituted position of High Bishop, who was chosen from among the king's children. This also extended to the duchies, with the local High Bishop being one of the Aub's children.

Over the centuries, the practice of appointing the king's and aub's children to be the high bishops fell out of practice. Regardless of whether this was the cause or the consequence, the temple lost much of it's influence, power, and respect. In living memory, the temples have been regarded as a filthy place, populated by those who were either unwanted or unqualified to become true nobles, barely above commoners, as well as a place to hide illegitimate children.

At some point in the distant past, Yurgenschmidt went into an arrangement with their neighboring country Lanzenave, that allowed a princess of the country to stay in Yurgenschmit's Sovereignty. The name of the first princess to come to Yurgenschmidt due to this engagement was Princess Adalgisa, and from this point onward, all the children a princess of Lanzenave gave birth to in Yurgenschmidt were called the "Seeds of Adalgisa", even to this day centuries after the death of Adalgisa herself.

The daughters of the such princesses are all raised to become princesses themselves and presumably sent to Lanzenave upon coming of age. Of her sons, however, only a single one is sent back home, with the others being disposed of. If the father is willing to take the child in, they can do so, but if the father is unwilling, the boys will be killed. Most Yurgenschmidt nobles in the situation to be a father of a male Seed of Adalgisa are unwilling to take the child because they can't be absolutely sure the child is really theirs and due to the problems this might cause with their wives. One of the rare exceptions was the Sixth Aub Ehrenfest, who chose to take his son Ferdinand back to Ehrenfest.

In it's long history, the Yurgenschmidt fell into civil war at least twice.

The first mentioned civil war happened a long time ago, and its resulting mana shortage led many duchies to invade weaker neighbors to steal their mana with black weapons, which led to the banning of teaching this spell at the Royal Academy.

The second known civil war happened only a relatively short time ago. For the details see Civil War.

A drastic consequence for the country was the loss of the Grutrissheit of the true heir - the second prince - and the former firth prince being unaware of the location of the original transcription made by the first king and thus being unable to create a copy of his own. Apart from the resistance of the bible fundamentalists, this also left the new king with other problems, like being incapable of redrawing duchy borders.

Despite the purges, some nobles loyal to the defeated duchies remained. In Rozemyne's second year at the royal academy, those rebels launch an assault on Zent Trauerqual and his family at the Interduchy Tournament using ternisbefallen to sow chaos among the gathered students and their families. The attackers even go so far as to launch suicide attacks, either blowing themselves up or feeding themselves to the mana-absorbing feybeasts to make them stronger. Despite these desperate tactics, not a single member of the royal family is harmed. However, several of the students are killed by the rampaging feybeasts. Immerdink and Neuehausen are hit particularly hard, since ternisbefallen appeared at their spots of the proceedings.

As a result of the attack, the king decides to put all the territories of the duchies abolished after the civil war under the control of the Sovereignty, rather than leaving some of them under the control of neighboring duchies, though this has yet to be announced at the coming Archduke Conference.

During the Interduchy Tournament of Rozemyne's third year Detlinde causes a fuss at the Dedication Whirl. In an attempt to make herself shine with light she ends up pumping mana into feystones fastened to her clothing, which is unexpectedly sucked away into the stage. Rather than stopping her attempts, the girl keeps pumping more and more mana into the stones until she passes out. When she hits the floor a magic circle briefly flashes into visibility. Later that day the Sovereign High Bishop declared that the appearance of the magic circle marks Detlinde out as a Zent candidate.

The actual truth is that in the distant past the archduke candidates performing the dedication whirl poured mana into their sincere prayers, which activated magic circles for all of them. To be considered a Zent candidate however it was necessary to pour in enough mana to make a pillar of light appear, while merely having the circle itself visible marked a failure to quality. Unfortunately this knowledge has been lost to the general noble population and is only written down in parts of the bible that can only be seen by someone qualified to become a Zent candidate themselves, as such the finer details were lost to the modern temple, leaving them reliant on incomplete transcriptions made in the past and thus open for this kind of misunderstanding.


 * As a result of Ehrenfest overtaking Immerdink, Rozemyne noticed that the dark green capes that used to gather in front of them were behind them during their second term.