The Five Kingdoms

The Five Kingdoms is a name given to the major Cymbrian Kingdoms of western Albion that have not been conquered by the Saxons, although there are many more dependencies, tributaries, and sub-kingdoms to be found within this mutable political landscape.  In fact, the greater kingdoms are themselves confederations of numerous smaller inheritances confined within former imperial jurisdiction superimposed on ancient tribal boundaries, with the king or "Brenin" chosen from that branch of the tribe currently holding the most extensive tracts of land.  The growth of these kingdoms is made possible through marriage alliances with land dowries upheld by force, claims on a particular tract of land made upon the death of the tenured lord, or even reassertion of an old right through genealogy.

The lords of these kingdoms are therefore often at each other's throats, but the whole has not yet descended into anarchy.  This is due in large part to the College of Bards at Caer Tewdrig. Those who would aspire to leadership in the kingdoms cannot hope stake a claim without the support of the bards, who hold in song and lore the lineages of the various kingdoms. Moreover, in the 300 years with which they have resisted Saxon expansion, the kingdoms have developed something of a common cause-giving rise to a tradition of unity and a prophecy that a leader will arise to drive the Saxons from the Isle of Albion itself, restoring the rightful place of the Cymbrian lords. The last instance of Cymbrian unity is thought to have been with the Battle of Mons Badonicus, or the Battle of Badon Hill, where the Saxons were repelled under a great war-leader, the inheritor of Aurelius Ambrosius. But this cooperation stretches back more than 200 years, and even the monk who penned the account not fifty years after was already lamenting the failure of the Cymbrian lords to work together in defense of their land. The unity of the Five Kingdoms is thus more of a hope than a reality.