I wanted to follow on Greg's comments about Loskalm. I've long had a soft spot for the place - a nice example of non-dystopian utopia. However, I think the mistake folk are having is assuming that it is feudal - which it clearly is not. Instead, Loskalm under the Ban was a Golden Age - a time of perfection without external conflict.
The Loskalmi scholar Andarlane wrote that the Ban was a gift of Irensavel which allowed men to partially transcend the corrupt material world of the evil demiurge Malkion. According to his writings, under the Ban Loskalm achieved perfect laws, perfect harmony and perfect justice, and it has been returned to the corrupt world so that the demiurge might be defeated and that all men might be shown the path to Solace and Joy.
Fwiw, some good literary models for Loskalm are Tommaso Campanella's "The City of the Sun" (1623), Roger Bacon's "The New Atlantis" (1626) or the "Liber Concordiae Novi ac Veteris Testamenti" of Joachim of Fiore (c 1200). Run with the possibilities - more than its meritocracy, Loskalm is a millenia utopia now placed in conflict with the rest of the world.
Jeff
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