Mastery is prosperous market town, a little bit isolated, in a wooded area in the south of Yorkshire, about 3 to 4 days travel to York. It lies at a ford, where the trading route from the south (from Sheffield and Lincoln) crosses the river Aire to run to the north to York. Its human population numbers about 700, all huddled together in the protection of a wooden palisade. Mastery is graced with the big St.Gilmore church in Romanesque style (the largest stone building in the honour), the main manor of the Gilford family (a large wood structure on stone monuments and a solid but small donjon) and the large stone warehouse-cum-family residence of the Lundquist trading family. In addition, Mastery sports two large (and fiercely competing) inns, a second (wooden) church (St.Mary) tendered by A