The Bossonian Marches have long kept Aquilonia’s north and western borders safe from Cimmerians and Picts, but despite this debt the Aquilonians regard the land as little more than a quaint and rustic province to be squandered. The land itself is a verdant one of hilly woodlands and open stretches of grassy plains that are excellent for farming and herding, and for this reason generations of Aquilonian kings have awarded large swaths of the best land to their barons and the landed gentry, who in some cases use the lands as hunting grounds or their own estates. These absent landowners have pushed the peasantry into smaller villages and isolated farmsteads, enforcing rule over them and sometimes unbearable tithes. This has led to an undercurrent of resentment amongst the Bossonians and, despite their overall cheery attitude and pragmatic manner, they are increasingly distrustful and rebellious towards Aquilonia.
Bossonians have medium height and complexion, brown or grey eyes, and are studier and broader than Aquilonian city dwellers and peasant farmers. Their archers are especially thick of shoulder and arm, and man and woman alike are stronger and more rugged than their Aquilonian neighbors.
“A long bow and a strong bow, and let the sky grow dark! The cord to the nock, the shaft to the ear, and the king of Koth for a mark!” - Song of the Bossonian Archers.
Life for Bossonians does not differ greatly from that of the peasants in Aquilonia, particularly those in the northwestern region known as the Tauran, but it is colored by the ever-present Pictish threat, and the more obvious requirement of self-reliance. Aquilonia is quick to call upon the Marches for bowmen and for grain, but it is less liable to send men-at-arms to help hold the territory against its enemies, or even to help ensure safety for Aquilonian settlers.
Having spent centuries living on the front lines against barbarian incursions, the Bossonians have developed defensive systems that are impregnable to frontal assaults. Central to this is their most distinctive cultural and military feature: the bow.
The Bossonians are Aquilonia’s master archers, firing in coordinated volleys during battle. They often carve their first longbow at a very early age. Some report that the presence of these archers on the battlefield instills courage even in the most beleaguered forces, and that their war songs can revitalize the downcast and defeated.
Although part of the Kingdom of Aquilonia, the Bossonians do not enjoy an easy relationship with their conquerors. They maintain a distinct identity yet are often viewed as subordinates — branded as rustics, burdened with heavier taxes, and conscripted into Aquilonian wars of expansion that yield them little benefit. When a new war breaks out, the Bossonians summoned from the Marches leave their homes more vulnerable, given the small number who stay behind. Then, more and more news of Pictish attacks emerges. This is when the Bossonians desert the Aquilonian armies to defend their homeland. If the war is lost, Aquilonia responds by massacring the Bossonians.
It is amidst this backdrop of intense politics and warfare that these people survive.
They speak their own tongue, a pidgin of the older tongue of the folk of Bori and the Aquilonian language, but can be understood readily enough by their neighbors. Like the Aquilonians, the Bossonians are nominally worshippers of Mitra, but they are less devout in their practice, and small shrines and sacred groves to Bori are still tended and used. Still though, there is no overt need for any gods in this land, and men and women alike can worship or not, as they see fit.
The Bossonian peasantry sustains the region's power structures, yet they also owe fealty to feudal lords (Aquilonian barons or kings) and pay tribute to Aquilonia. However, there is no centralization of power among the Bossonians, and the organized local population must, in most cases, defend itself on its own.
As a society of warrior-peasants, they are not rigidly stratified by noble titles; thus, although their living situation resembles that of Aquilonian peasants, their structure is semi-feudal.
They are primarily farmers living in large, fortified villages — more rustic and less sophisticated than the Aquilonians of the interior. They are rural frontier folk who have spent generations farming while knowing full well that, just across the border, someone is plotting to burn their crops.
There is no recognized aristocracy in the Bossonian Marches, although cultural resistance to Aquilonia may elevate ocasionally a leader who seeks to speak for their people. Leadership in Bossonian villages is informal and based on military experience gained in Aquilonian service.