The Warlands
A basic overview
A large area of land in Central Gilden defined by warfare, divided up into many smaller territories ruled by various warlords that are in constant conflict with each other over land and resources. Because of this the inner borders of the Warlands are frequently shifting, and one part of the region might be under different rule from one year to the next. The vast majority of the population are extremely poor, frequently suffering violence, famine, and disease, with little or no access to medicine and education, at the mercy of the warlords and their armies that rule them. Hardship is the status quo in the Warlands, but with the major surge of adventurers flocking to the region in the last few years, it seems that change might be rumbling in the distance.
History
Many centuries ago, the Warlands was one kingdom, though the name of it has since been forgotten. It was ruled by only one king who founded it, called the First King, or the King of Men. His rule was long and prosperous, and when he died, he divided the territory between his five sons, who all became kings of their own lands, now five separate but allied kingdoms. It took less than three entire generations for the kingdoms to start going to war with each other. Several of the current rulers desired to expand their borders and conquer new lands, to prove themselves worthy of the great legacy of the First King and to establish a magnificent and powerful kingdom just as he did. The region saw several decades of rapid expansion, but eventually none of the kingdoms were able to invade any further without stretching their armies and resources too thin, and inevitably losing to the remaining neighbouring nations, creating a wide-scale military impasse. This was when they directed their armies inward, turning on each other and breaking their allegiances in bloody battles. An informal competition began, to see which king would emerge the victor as the new ruler of the entire land, and prove himself the true successor to the legendary King of Men.
Over decades, this evolved into a brutal, war-obsessed culture, and there was no longer such thing as trust or cooperation. Kings were betrayed and overthrown by their own generals or advisors, and they would too be deposed by their soldiers, as the dividing and conquering intensified to an extreme. War raged, the land was torn apart, and people suffered. The kingdoms that weren't destroyed altogether were continuously split into smaller and smaller factions, cannibalizing each other until the kings weren't kings of anything, anymore, their kingdoms now mere territories, the rulers now warlords. However, the region simply could not sustain such a severe level of conflict for any longer. Weakened and smothered by decades of death and destruction, the blazing inferno of war died down to less of a raging burn nearly a century ago. Though the violent conflict between warlords persists, it all seems like petty squabbles compared to the epic battles once waged. Now, utterly gutted, the entire region crawls slowly and pitifully through a period of extended, perpetual collapse. Few people anymore even remember the names of the old five kingdoms.
The only reason surrounding nations haven't taken over the Warlands themselves is because either they haven't the military strength to contend with the Warlords that still push their borders, or because they believe the decades of war have cursed the region and condemned it to endless strife. That, and also since the region is so unstable, it would take an immense amount of time, effort, and resources to bring it back to a sustainable, livable condition. There is also the fact that even divided as they are, many of the current warlords are very powerful with strong, ruthless armies, a force to be reckoned with even in their period of decline. An external invading force could risk uniting the warlords against a common, foreign enemy, at which point their combined military power could be disastrous for the rest of Gilden. The reason none of the current Warlords now still aren't declaring themselves king of their own lands, is due to the lingering air of competition that sparked the wars in the first place, an unspoken understanding that none will have the right to call himself king unless he can conquer all of the Warlands.
Culture and Way of Life
Cultural Values-- strength and survival
Many outside the Warlands see the region as a barbaric wasteland. Many within the Warlands would be quick to agree. With little in the way of education and enough hardships faced each day to last a lifetime, most people in the Warlands don't know how to read or write. There is little time for, or value given to most arts, but bards, troubadours, jesters, and dancing troupes are fairly common, and popular. With such bleak and dreary lives, everyone in the Warlands is always starving for entertainment and distraction. Though, for as lauded and admired as these entertainers are, it is unlikely any native Warlands family would support or accept their own progeny striving to become one-- there is too much work to be done just to survive, and even if some folk did have the means, physical might is held in much higher esteem than song and dance. There are two kinds of people in the Warlands: the strong, who are powerful, and rule over the rest, who are the weak, and who are beaten down and subjugated by the strong. Those who are not strong don't usually last very long in the Warlands. If one lacks skill or prowess in battle, they must find their strength in other ways if they want to survive. If you can fight, you become a soldier. If you can read and write, you become a merchant, or clerk, or a warlord's scribe or chamberlain. If you can't do either, you're a farmer, or some other kind of labourer, in some other trade. If you're not a soldier, or literate, or cut out for manual or trade work, you'll either starve as a beggar, or find some other way to scrape by. And if you've ended up all the way down here at the bottom of this list, in that last 'other' category, you're probably a prostitute.
Gender, Sex, Marriage, and Power
The social culture of the Warlands is extremely patriarchal, with extremely rigid views on gender, sex, and sexuality. All that is valued most in the Warlands-- physical might, strength in battle, and power in general, are strongly associated with maleness and masculinity. Women are seen as inherently weaker than and inferior to men, whose role is to serve men and bear and raise their children. In the Warlands, polygamy isn't technically practised; a man may 'have' and 'keep' several women, but would only take one wife. Most common men don't have any claim staked on multiple women, though, it is mostly Warlords or men in other positions of power who would actually have concubines that they 'own'. Even still, brothels around the Warlands are numerous. Most decently sized towns are more than likely to have at least one. Despite being in high demand, prostitutes are treated poorly, as they are seen as women who failed to be worthy of being anyone's wife. Although, not all prostitutes are women. A vast majority are, but though only relationships between a man and woman are seen as legitimate, homosexuality is not an unheard of concept in the Warlands. That said, those who are seen as such kinds of 'deviants' are extremely marginalized, whether they be men who desire other men, women who desire other women, or individuals who were born as one but wish to be the other.
Religion and Spirituality-- a Pagan Pantheon
Though there are few remaining priests, oracles, or sages of the old religion, the dominant religion practised today in the Warlands is the same polytheistic, pagan spiritual culture as it was back in the days of the old First Kingdom. The mythology and actual practises and traditions have changed over the centuries, as have many of the core beliefs, but what they have now is still firmly rooted in the same old pagan cults. The Warlands have their own pantheon of gods, but the main god that is currently worshipped as the most important one is the bear god Bjernkungr, god of might. The legend tells that it was he who first saw potential for greatness in mortal man, and who taught them strength and power. The legendary First King of Men was said to be a demigod, sired by Bjernkungr. Other prominent deities are the mother and father who created the world: the mother, who is the land, and the father, who is the sky. All the other gods in this pantheon are their children, including Bjernkungr, and his sister Gwenarha, a moose goddess whose domain involves fertility, birth, and guardianship. She and her brother are both nature gods-- most of the gods in this pantheon are some type of nature god.
To read more about the mythology and folklore of the Warlands, check out the article here (if you're reading this before I finish and link that other article, uh, sorry)
The Warlands' primary belief system also involves the belief in multiple different afterlives one might go to when they die based on how they were in life. They have a concept of a separate afterlife for the good, for the wicked, and also for powerful warriors, the last of which is the highest and most honourable afterlife, referred to as 'the eternal golden fields'.
Rarely does anywhere in Gilden forbid magic period, given how integrated and apparent it is in the world, but views on different types and practises of magic vary, especially 'darker' kinds of magic. The Warlands is no exception. Their religious beliefs see demons as evil entities, and chaotic spirits as dangerous, and the invoking or worshipping of these entities is extremely taboo. Blood magic, black magic, and especially necromancy are all forbidden in the Warlands, however, it also happens to be where practitioners of those types are most common. Due to the chaotic, lawless condition of the region, it's where necromancers, warlocks, and rogue sorcerers have the easiest time getting away with their dark arts. Witchcraft is where the lines start to blur-- some people in the Warlands have no quarrel with witches, while others despise them. The Warlands folk are extremely wary of bad fortune and curses-- their lives are hard enough already, any little thing could be the difference between business as usual and certain doom. Witches tend to have a bad rep, often associated with bad fortune and curses, so most people are at least somewhat biased against them.
Danger and Misfortune-- Not Just Man-Made
There is more to the constant hardship of living in the Warlands than human-generated violence and oppression, evil mages, poverty, plague, and famine. There are deadly marshes, dark, cursed forests-- especially around the edge of the Valley of Ashes-- and even in the sunniest meadow in broad daylight, there might be fearsome, deadly monsters about. Scarecrows, rat titans, grizzlyclaws, wraiths, basilisks, hulkers, and spider-wolves are as likely to attack hapless travellers on the road as bandits or reanimated skeletons are.
Military Forces-- Warriors and Brigands
Given that the Warlands are ruled in conflict by a dozen or so different warlords at any given time, and they all have their own army, it should be obvious that there's a strong military culture and presence. Most of the armies that are consistently kept armed and ready for combat are fairly small, but pretty much any established warlord could quickly summon up hundreds more men to fight, usually by drafting as many able-bodied men under their rule as possible. At this stage, though, large-scale field battles or sieges are less common than smaller skirmishes that are fought quicker and dirtier than formal battles. These professional soldiers are often seen patrolling the lands of their lord, making stops at the towns and villages under the lord's control to enforce his power and collect taxes and 'mandatory donations', which the villagers and townspeople are required to provide in exchange for the protection of the warlord and his army. The quality of that protection varied, of course, and often, the soldiers could be as bad as bandits or raiders themselves.
In addition to established lords and their armies, there are also two other main types of militarized force consistently present throughout the Warlands: bands of raiders, and mercenaries. These bands move around the Warlands in mobilized encampments, and can number from a dozen to over a hundred men, some of the larger groups even rivalling the forces of some warlords. Raiders are exactly what they sound like. They plunder and pillage villages, towns, and keeps, looting food, supplies, and valuables. They have a tendency to take prisoners and task them with the labour and daily chores necessary to keep camps of their sizes running, as well as keeping them for entertainment, of one kind or another. Mercenaries are essentially the same, but will also oftentimes be hired to bolster the numbers of a warlord's army if he plans on fully invading and taking over the territory and fort of another lord, or they might be sent on smaller ambush missions if a lord doesn't want to send his own soldiers on a risky campaign.
All of these forces are absolute terrors on the peasant population, regardless of if their allegiance is to a lord or to coin.
Maps
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The Warlands
Current Notable Warlords
Many warlords come and go year to year, but some have managed to accumulate much more power and renown. The more established a lord is, the harder it is to depose him. Among the most notable warlords of the past few decades are Lord Arnvald, Lord Cormac, Lord Odrich, and Lord Wildrad. Referred to by some bards as 'the four winds of war' these warlords have all proven their mettle as rulers through conquest, cunning, and sheer governing competence.
Lord Arnvald is a fierce and fearsome warrior of legendary renown. His castle fortress is in the northern area of the Warlands, in a naturally defensive spot right on Bolder Lake. His territory includes the very nearby Boldershore, a large town that is the nearest thing the Warlands has to a proper city, as well as numerous other smaller towns, villages, and farmlands. Though his active army is technically the second largest in numbers in the Warlands, it is the most feared for his men's ferocity and skill in combat. The warlord with the largest army is lord Odrich, whose fortress is near the western border with Drogberg. He is particularly relentless, and has recently been making renewed efforts to expand his territory outwards into Drogberg. Drogberg's own defences have been holding fast so far, but it is uncertain how long it will be before they are pushed back.
Towards the south is the castle of lord Wildrad, whose skills as a battle tactician and strategist are unparalleled. He also has more of a mind for diplomacy than most other warlords, and has garnered good favour with the southern mercantile guilds of Wicksfroth and Orkaire. This means more foreign trade and imports come into the Warlands from the south, but it also means once it crosses the border, lord Wildrad has more control over those imported goods. The longest established lord in the Warlands with the most stalwart legacy is Lord Cormac, the only currently living warlord to have inherited his rule rather than seized it. Lord Cormac has for many, many years ruled a large expanse of land in the central Warlands that was conquered first by his father. He is well known for his seemingly impenetrable defences, as well as his skills with people and governing ability. He has a grown son who also has been primed to succeed him someday, and talk in the Warlands says the two most likely contenders to actually become king are him and Lord Arnvald, though people believe Lord Cormac is more fair compared to the dictator-in-the-making that is Lord Arnvald.
Rumour also has it, however, that terrible misfortune befell the house of Cormac recently, though no one knows for sure what exactly, and from the outside, the rule of Cormac appears as strong as ever.
Adventurers-- a New Economy
Within the last decade or so, a new type of interloper has appeared in the Warlands: adventurers. After such a long and bloody history of legendary ancient kingdoms and lands that were once prosperous and promising now gutted by ages of war and destruction, the Warlands have become the perfect harmony of ruin and possibility to draw adventurers to it like flies to a carcass. Adventurers are hired swords (or people with other combat-compatible skills) often working in small groups, called teams, or parties. They differ from the typical cutthroat mercenary by having grander ideals of fame and glory, and they pretty much all come from outside the Warlands. At first, people thought they were a newfangled oddity that would fizzle and fade, but they've only grown in numbers and reputation, especially in the last few years. Now, the Warlands folk are divided on whether adventurers will be their salvation or final destruction. Adventurers have made a significant impact on the Warlands' daily functions and economy-- they take jobs, or 'quests', that often involve rescue missions, protection and escort, monster slaying, or treasure hunting-- endeavours that are often crucial to the common folk that they don't have the capacity or means to take care of themselves, but that the warlords and their soldiers don't bother with. Plus, with an influx of adventurers also comes an influx of coin. Adventuring teams need food, supplies, weapons, equipment, lodgings-- all things or services that they pay for with foreign gold coins, introducing to the region far more circulative wealth than is ever generated from meagre merchant trade. Lately, there has even been talk of an Adventurer's Guild which steadily grows in influence and access, called The Knights of Terith, and the warlords are starting to see it as a threat.
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