Valland
Valland is mighty South Realms empire laying in the far west of Midgard, north of Andalus and west of Hunaland.
History
This empire was held together by the great king Karolus, whose health has begun to decline. The emperor struggles to hold his lands together, despite pressures from Hunaland to the north and Serkland to the south (in Andalus). Karolus relies primarily on his elite knites, the paladins.
During the time of the Old Kingdoms, Valland was controlled by the Bragnings. After the fall, the remaining Bragnings intermarried with the indigenous Valls. Valland broke into numerous petty kingdoms for a time, until the rise of King Hlodowig. Hlodowig abandoned the native religion of the time (Vanirism) after being swayed by a Miklagardian emissary he encountered among the Cadizians (of Andalus). This led Hlodowig to adopt a variant of the god-emperor worship found in Miklagard, following a deity often called the Risen God. Hlodowig’s faith soon spread throughout the realm, which began to condemn native religions as pagan blasphemy. Eventually, the kingdom of Valland became the Vall Empire as they conquered and subsumed surround lands, including encroaching into Andalus and Hunaland.
Inspiration
In Norse mythology, Valland is the land of Celtic peoples. Snorri refers to this as a name for Gaul, the approach I take here. The kingdom itself is loosely based on the empire of Charlemagne (the Carolingian Dynasty).
