Duchy of Anjev
"Enora de Chinon circled the ballroom, the sun glaring in through the crystal windows that surrounded her. The brassgaurd clicked and whirred, spinning its torso to face her as its legs remained still in the center of the room. The noblewoman lunged with her Schiavona, feinting with its tip as she drove it towards the pulsating red bag in the center of the machine. At the last moment, she brought the blade up above her head, blocking the attack as the column swiveled again, bringing its sword down towards her. She slid the weapon, driving it back as the Silversteel flashed in her other hand. She drove the parrying dagger into her target. The automata stopped.
Enora stood, untying her long golden hair from its ponytail and sliding her blades back into their scabbards, letting her curls cascade over her back. She walked across the shining ballroom floor, picking up her Limoges porcelain teacup from the proffered silver tray held by her valet. She continued, not breaking her pace, throwing open the great doors to step onto the deck. Her white Windship glistened in the blue sky as is cut through the clouds. Below her, the valley of the Liger River stretched out, a blue ribbon twisting across endless green and yellow fields, the trees of the forests blowing in the breeze. As far as she could see, the white-stone castles of the Anjevin nobility dotted the landscape in their immaculate gardens and landscaped pastures, a perfect canvas of carefully planned estates. Even here in the clouds, the machinations and one-upsmanship of her high-born ilk was in play as each jostled to illustrate their wealth and good taste in elaborate games of social standing. It was a game Enora played well. She ship began to descend towards Anjev, her real work about to begin."
Structure
The Duchy of Anjev is a powerful vassal state sworn to the Kingdom of Gallia and one of the most powerful regions under Gallian control. In spite of this political reality and its proximity to the Gallian Crownlands, Anjev maintains significant ties to the Kingdom of Logres and other sovereignties, a complex network of political treaties, marriages and alliances, granting it a good deal of autonomy and influence over the affairs of its neighbors.
While the King of Gallia maintains Sovereignty over the region, de facto rule falls to the powerful Duke of Anjev, a position presently concurrent with that of the Count of Angiers. Influence over the Gallian Crown has allowed the Counts the leverage to secure several prominent vassals of their own, most notably the affluent Counties of Cenomannie and Touraine. The Ducal tile typically shifts between the three counts in a constant shuffle of noble intrigue and political maneuvering. In practice, the three counties are similar and political influence within the state, preventing one from ever fully dominating Anjevin politics. As with Anjev's own relation with its "sovereign", Gallia, the powers and autonomy of the Dukes, Counts and Lords within the Duchy are constantly shifting as noble houses make and break alliances as they vye for power. Most noble houses operate with some degree of autonomy in their own direct holdings
The Duke, in their role as Count of Angiers, also directly controls their own holdings and the vassalages of the Lordships of Beaufort , Beauveau, Brezé, Craon, Château Gontier, Durtal, Fleche, Le Lude, Montreuil Bellay, Pouancé, Précigné, Saumur, Segré, and the Viscounty of Mauges. This tightly packed country of small, wealthy noble fiefs makes up the most populated region in Anjev.
The Counts of Touraine control their own holdings as well as the Lordships of Amboise, Loches, Montbazon and the Viscounty of Vendôme. Touraine is the economic powerhouse of Anjev, controlling a vast banking empire from the city of Tours, which sets the currency exchange rates for much of Kornôgel, the Livre Tournais. As such, the region controls the pursestrings on the nobility, both of Anjev and beyond. Most Anjevin and Gallian nobles and merchant guilds maintain some presence in Tours to generate income for their estates and oversee their financial operations.
Once the rulers of an independent Petty Kingdom in their own right, the Counts of Cenomannie control the largest territory in Anjev, overseeing their own vast estates directly. While they control numerous minor lordships, deaneries and fiefs, few rise to any level of prominence outside of the County.
Culture
If the Crownlands are the head that directs Gallia, Anjev is its beating Heart, serving as the home of many of its most prominent noble lines and the wealth that they control. It is common for Gallian nobility to hold titles and property within the Duchy, further entangling the two states with one another. Status, wealth and political clout are the measures of Anjevin success.
Anjev is defined by a pursuit and display of its affluence, illustrating the wealth and power of those engaged in the political games of the Duchy. Whether Noble, merchant or clergy, Anjevin society is locked in an unending battle for social dominance, spending vast amounts of capital and influence to construct vast estates centered around luxurious castles, full of perfectly maintained gardens, private hunting forests and fountains. These become havens for artists, inventors and bards to give each castle an air of sophistication and prestige. Nobles hosts lavish parties, showing off their lands and entourage, using their wealth to bring entertainment, food and drink from the farthest reaches of both Bedouar and Faerie.
This pageantry and fanfare is the chosen battlefield of the upper classes, showing off their wealth and affluence in an attempt to curry favour, form alliances and send messages to their peers. Every aspect is carefully orchestrated for maximum impact, the fortunes of families and sovereignties determined over a full course meal or formal dance.
To support this lavish lifestyle, vast armies of workers, gardeners, foresters and farmers surround the estates, overseeing the needs of the nobility and operating large swaths of farmland and mills. The Liger River and its tributaries, slow moving and wide, are among the most well traveled waterways in Kornôgel, with mills of all types lining their banks in a constant stream of activity. Despite large gaps in wealth between the nobility and the peasantry, many of the lower classes consider themselves more well-off than the peasantry living in more remote farming communities in other regions.
The cities of Anjev are well positioned to work in tandem with the nobility to increase the holdings and powers of craftsmen and trade guilds, such as the Merchantmen, whose leaders seek to emulate the nobility, maintaining large and lavish townhouses and manors within the cities and sponsoring artists of their own. This affluent middle class of merchants and craftsmen is a rising force in Bedouar, and nowhere is this more felt than in the Noble's Playground.
Public Agenda
An Anjevin saying explains that all roars lead to Per-Ys, but they must first pass through Anjev. Anjev's centralized location makes it both threatened by and in a position to influence its neighbors, Akitainia, Gallia, Letha, and Normaundie. As a result of this long history, the Nobility of Anjev has established themselves as part of the ruling class in each of these regions and beyond, through strategic marriages and alliances. The political aspirations of Anjev extend far beyond its own borders. Most recently, the House of Blaez has begun a direct play to rule the Duchy of Breizh, while others set their sights on Gallia. These overt actions have divided Anjev as the noble families shift their alliances and resources to position themselves for the coming conflicts. In the end, an Anjevin house only has one true loyalty... itself.
Assets
Even among the affluent realms of the West, the wealth of Anjev is astounding. Noble families pout funds and influence into building their great castles of white stone along the Liger river, ornate gardens and lavish fetes. Artists, alchemists and artificers of all kinds are brought to the region by wealthy noble and guild patrons. The Windships of the noble families lazily cross the skies and pleasure barges ride the rivers, extensions of their terrestrial holdings.
Beyond the follies of the nobility, Anjev is also an agricultural and manufacturing powerhouse, with a burgeoning middle class of landlords, bankers and merchants plying their wears in Ar Mans, Tours , and Angers.
History
For much of its history, Anjev was menaced by its larger, aggressive neighbors to the West and North, Briezh and Normandi, respectively
While there is evidence on Fae activity in ancient times perhaps even before the Tear (a heretical belief according the the Church), this declined as the Remusan Empire and later the Southern Church rose to prominence, driving out the Sidhe and Re Vihan with brutal purges and Inquisitions and attempting to erase all traces of their existence.
After the fall of Remus, Anjev spent the next several centuries at war with its neighbors, especially Breizh and Normandi, the latter of which launched viking raids into Anjevin territory on a regular basis, culminating in the The Battle of Brissarthe and the loss of the Marches of Neustria to Briezh.
Internal struggles and erratic warfare continued, with Anjevin control of Naoned, Saumur and the March of Neustria lost and gained several times before settling in their present situation. The County also gained Touraine and Cenomannie, solidifying its influence as a political power and allowing it to become a Duchy. Long sworn to Gallia, the noble families of both have become almost indistinguishable, with Gallians having Angevin lands and Angevins taking important roles in the Royal Court in Per-Ys.
Demography and Population
Bediz (Human) make up the largest population group of Anjev, with the genders split roughly evenly. Largely free of a major bleed, only a small amount of the population is Boermerzh or Milliget. Centaurs, long though wiped out, have made a resurgence near the town of Saumur. Few true fae make permanent residence in the area compared to "Korrigan-infested" Briezh.
Populations are largely centered in the cities of Ar Mans, Tours and Angers, but their is a siazable agricultural population outside of these areas, with most dwellings within site of its neighbors, with the exceptions of the vast estates of the nobility.
Territories
The County of Cenomanee is a large vassal state taking up the northern area of the Duchy, with Breizh to its West, Normaundie to the North and Gallia to the East. The County of Angers, now the seat of the Dukes, takes up the Southwest of the region, bordering Breizh to the West and Aquitaine to the South, the Southeast taken up by the County of Touraine, bordering Gallia and Akitainia.
Angev is largely defined by the Liger River, making it a fertile and prosperous land for agriculture and construction. Hills of limestone and chalk, carved out in caves and tunnels, border the river in many places, their gentle slopes taken up by vineyards.
Military
The Knights of Anjev are well equipped, well-trained and well-organized, making the Houses of Anjev some of the most powerful martial forces in Bedoaur, making up the majority of Gallia's fighting forces. Noble Houses typically maintain their own private armies and castles, ranging from the great stone fortresses of Angers and Chinon, to the more modern, "civilized" castles lining the Liger, which lack many of the impressive, monolitic stature of their predecsessors, but instead are protected by powerful alchemical and runic defenses. The skyships of Angev are luxurious to the point of excessive, but also serve as powerful weapons from which to command their vast armies of footsoldiers, automata and knights.
Technological Level
Angev has benefitted greatly from its wealth and access to alchemy. Glass globes of alchemical light are used in the noble and merchant houses of Anjev, lighting up castles, barges, gardens and skyships in dazzling white-blue glow in the dark of night. The cities of Ar Mans and Tours are constantly lit up. Automata, ranging from simple training equipment and basic servants to elaborate musical contraptions and even, in exceptional cases, soldiers, can be seen in increasing numbers, capable of following preprogrammed patterns and simple instructions. The skyships of Anjev are truly impressive craft, floating manors with every conceivable luxury.
Religion
The Southern Church maintains an iron grip on Anjev, free from conflicting beliefs like those found in Breizh and Normandi, as indigenous religions in the region have long since been exterminated. The Order of Albi maintains an active regional presence here to act against the Duchy's troublesome neighbors where needed. An often violent rivalry exists between the Arch-bishoprics of Touraine and Dol, which has become a point of conflict between the Dukes of Angev and Breizh in the past as the two states fight to influence Church Dogma in the region.
Foreign Relations
The court intrigue of Gallia plays out in Angev on a daily basis, with powerful noble families, like the Houses of Blaez, Chinon, Chambord and Tydorel, among others, vying to position themselves to improve their social status by displays of wealth, political subterfuge and shows of force. As a result, many nobles rule their own fiefs with great autonomy, although power has became more centralized since the reign of King Philippe Le Bel of Gallia, who put down a series of Angevin rebellions and stripped them of much of their political power. Angevin families either make up, or exert significant ties with, the noble families of its neighbors and beyond, controlling vast estates and political power outside of their borders by marriage, sword and coin.
Agriculture & Industry
The Liger River valley is one of the most fertile in the Gallian sphere of influence, and the agricultural sector of the Angevin is unparalleled. The vineyards of the region are especially noteworthy and are considered among the finest wines produced exported throughout Bedouar.
Salt mines are plentiful in the region, to the extent that a salt tax collected on them is one of the major revenue streams of the Gallian treasury, with dedicated Royal representatives personally overseeing the industry.
Mining of shale and tufa stone is a major industry. Tufa mines, long winding tunnels cut into the chalky hills are repurposed for wine storage and maturation, and the cultivation of mushrooms, which thrive in the subterranean environment.
Trade & Transport
A Remusan Road connects Poitiers with Tours, Angers and Naoned, as well as points further south, forming a major intersection on the network.
The Liger is a major shipping route, packed with transport barges from Tolosa to Naoned (+), but is heaviest in Anjev, ranging from tree carrying orchard ships and humble bee-barges to the pleasure-barges of the Angevin Nobility.
Skyships have become popular among the nobility and wealthy merchants as signs of wealth and status, elaborate and lavish aerial craft of beautiful design and ornamentation.
Infrastructure
Anjev is known for two architectural extremes: Its grand, stately castles and its troglodyte villages.
The castles of the Liger Valley number in the 100s, a cultural arms race among the nobility for status, each gamily attempting to outdo each other with ostentatious displays of wealth and prestige. These homes reject the solely defensive nature found in other regional castle architecture, instead focusing on ornamentation and livability. Inspired by the beauty of Faerie, these luxurious residences, often of shining white stone, are elaborately decorated with floral patterns and depictions of mythological scenes. Gardens and decorated lands are common as well. Some retain defensive elements as well, such as curtain walls and turrets. Often constructed with aid from Sidhe and Re Viahm artisans, they are unlike any ever seen before in Bedouar.
The subterranean troglodyte villages, built into the winding tunnels of abandoned Tufa mines are surprisingly spacious and dry, standing high in the hills overlooking the river valley.
Par la Foi et la Grâce (Faith and Grace)
Founding Date
723 SI
Type
Geopolitical, Duchy
Capital
Alternative Names
The Liger Valley, the Noble's Playground, Valley of 100 Castles
Training Level
Professional
Veterancy Level
Experienced
Demonym
Anjevin
Leader
Leader Title
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Feudal state
Economic System
Traditional
Currency
The Livre Tournais, minted in the banking center of Tours, is considered the most stable currency in Bedouar, serving as the baseline for coins minted elsewhere. It is the official currency of the Merchantmen and the most commonly accepted coinage in Anjev.
The general breakdown of value is as follows: 1 Golden Livre is worth 20 Silver Sol. A Sol, in turn is worth 12 Copper Deniers.
Major Exports
Major Imports
Legislative Body
Laws are set by Royal or Ducal decree, with a great deal of autonomy granted to the Counts, Viscounts, Barons and Lords in their respective territory. Because of its small size, Anjev is considered, perhaps incorrectly given its sizeable bandit population and corrupt merchant houses, to be one of the more lawful regions of Gallia's influence.
Judicial Body
See Seigniorial Justice
Justice is carried out by the Royal Senechal of Anjev, appointed by the King of Gallia, but ultimately approved by the Dukes as a concession to noble power. These Senechals are required to accompany the Duke in times of war, and are therefore assisted by Baliffs, chosen under their direction to take over their civil duties during these periods.
The Southern Church is exceptionally powerful in Angev, specifically the Arch-bishopric of Touraine and several monastic communities, allowing them great liberty to enforce ecclesiastic laws at their discretion.
Official State Religion
Parent Organization
Subsidiary Organizations
Location
Neighboring Nations
Notable Members
Related Ethnicities
Comments