Oestbernia Northern Forts
On the northern borders of Oestbernia sit five forts, protecting the kingdom from the roving raiders of the Frozen North. These forts were constructed over the course of five years just after the turn of the Ages. The Nordtveiner king Ott XIV had seen his kingdom suffer raids from the northern peoples every year as long as he could remember, and he finally decided to do something about it. The king sent teams of men and carts full of materials to the northernmost five towns and villages, hoping to build up the fortifications and begin training a ranger corps to monitor the border and prevent future raids. The construction was slow, as the sites suffered the usual raids, and the accompanying soldiers were only marginally successful at preventing the attackers from destroying or looting the construction materials.
As part of the new fortifications and rebuilding of most of these towns, Ott renamed them in honor of his five children: Sibilla, Albrecht, Lorentz, Brida, and Lucia (from the westernmost fort to the one furthest in the east). He began retraining a large part of Nordtvein's army to be rangers in this northern area, scouting the forest and tundra plains for signs of raiding activity. The first few years these forts were operational, they began to see success against the raiders for the first time in Nordtvein's history. The raids were repelled from the walls of the towns, or in some cases even spotted and stopped in the wilderness before they reached the towns. The next few years, the forts saw fewer and fewer raiding parties, and to this day there are only one or two raiding parties each year. One of the aspects of the fort line that makes it easily defensible is that the towns are an average of only a day's march away from one another, in case one needs reinforcing; the forest slows travel and means that Fort Brida is more than one day from both Fort Lucia and Fort Lorentz.
One of the responsibilities of the forts is to safeguard innocent people traveling across both sides of the border. Some of the people coming from the north are looking to resettle and peacefully emigrate, and the rangers have to assess which ones fall into this category versus the raiding parties. To this end, modern ranger intercepting parties often bring along linguists or translators to help communicate with the "targets" and determine their motives. If they are deemed to be peaceful travelers or settlers, the rangers escort them back to one of the forts where they are interviewed and the bureaucracy of Oestbernia decides where they can live. This protection also applies to people from Oestbernia that wish to visit the northern lands, which typically fall into two categories: scholars and anthropologists who wish to visit and study Camp Frostbite or other northern peoples, and pilgrims seeking out the Stones of Olmytria.
Government
Citizens from each of the five towns elect their own mayor every five years, during the elections in which they choose their five representatives for the Oestbernian National Council. These mayors work closely with the military commander of each garrison, in an intricate power-sharing model that can get wrapped in tough politics from time to time. The military members, who often move between towns and interact with a variety of leaders, are able to vote on the five people they think would be the best leaders. Combined with assessments from the nation's top generals, these votes determine the five officers who will be in command of the five fortified towns. There are no term limits for these military commanders, who can serve for life if they stay active in the military and want to continue running for the positions.
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