The Kingdom of Gennorholn

Gennorholn, also known as Genorta, is the sacred land of Ustav and the original cradle of the religion of Uvara. They are a land divided, between Uvara and Kivishta, and between the Empire of Kizen and The Kingdom of Hain. The pristine forests here are littered with holy relics and ancient temples, and pilgrims flock from across Stildane to seek miracles in these holy places. Pilgrims and monks of different faiths fight for control of this land and its power- just as the elites seek to hoard these places and things to themselves.
Gennorholn is still a young state, born of the clash of foreign empires, Hain and Kizen. They still fight for control of Gennorholn's resources and lands, and their friction throws fuel on the fires of local violence. Faiths fight themselves and each other, foreign agents rule as petty local tyrants, and religious dissidents have turned to banditry and casual terrorism on the fringes of the state. But it would be an oversimplification to say that Gennorholn is simply a casualty in their war: there is a long history of bloodshed here. Gennorholn is a battlefield, a cemetery, and a temple all in one. The old cairns and broken ruins reflect a stolen past, a culture and language stolen by invasion and terrible occupation. The old blood and fear has soaked into the soil, it seems, granting the misty glades with a feeling of mourning and inescapable loss.
Everywhere here are monuments to both loss and hope. Statues and art to the Irunek, the foretold savior of the world, are present in every town, city, and ruin. Kivish, Uvara, and local cults alike all cry for the same salvation and healing. But in a land like this, what will healing even look like?

Structure

Gennorholn is technically an elected monarchy, though elections have been restricted to the royal family and the high priesthood since 1920. The monarch is the first among equals of the titled nobility, who are granted great autonomy and legal rights. The greatest nobles are the Margreves (border-lords) and Herzogs (major land owners). Only a few of these exist - most nobles are Grafs and Burgraves (middle and lower landowning nobles). The nobility is overwhelmingly connected to major families of The Kingdom of Hain, though a few local Gennorans have clambered into the lower nobility. City-lords known as Junkers manage the towns and cities - though most of these are under the control of local merchant dynasties. 
The current monarch is Solbrin I of the Halar dynasty. Solbrin is a Dryad warrior famous for his chivalry and skill in battle. While Solbrin is in many ways a paragon of Hainish virtue, he is also a very shy and insulated man who prefers to keep with his closer advisors and friends rather than hold court or tour the kingdom. His hands-off free-reign governing style has greatly benefited the local elites and nobility, with whom he is quite popular. And his great success fighting bandits, monsters, and rebels has earned him legitimacy and even admiration. But he largely does not know (or possibly even care) what really goes on in his kingdom.

Culture

Food Culture: Hearty and Lasting

Gennoran food has always been warm, hearty, and lasting - and the Kivish importation of meat-heavy dishes has only added more lard, pork, and fish to the mix. Salted and dill-treated salmon; potato and onion casserole; smoked sausage; all can be expected in a well-stocked Gennoran home. One can also expect rye bread - unsweetened and sometimes bitter, but good at keeping. Pickled foods are also important, from pickled cucumbers to pickled herring to pickled cabbage. Earthy tubers such as potatoes and turnips are critical to both dryad and human diets as well. 

Faith, Fashion, Hope, and Mourning

It can be difficult to discuss things like fashion, gender, and species preference in such a divided land as this. The Uvara here, for example, often wear rams horns and furs - a callback to their ancestors, who wore the flayed skin of their Kobold foes. The vibrant clothing Uvara is famous for is often hidden by dour cloaks and armors. Many choose to wear the stories of them or their ancestors, though - painting, tattooing, or sewing old hunts or battles to carry with you and memorialize. The Uvarans here are generally accepting of any species, but tend to revere stable Starspawn (particularly those with Ustav-like mutations). A sense of mourning permeates the culture here - everywhere except for funerals, ironically, which tend to be events of great song and joy. The songs, the prayers, the rituals - all focus on Ustav's death as a point of divine communion between the Gods and the community. That pain is seen as a source of unity, humility, and hope in Ustav (and the community's) resurrection. 
The Kivishta community here is divided between those who embrace the local culture and those who reject it. Those who embrace it mix in some of their introspective ways and rituals of purification. Their fashion is still distinct - artful and colorful robes with prominent religious imagery - but the songs, attitudes, and rituals are shared. The hardline Kivish, those who reject the culture, are actually much more subdued in their fashion. Instead, the hardliners imitate Kizen fashion and art as closely as possible.

History

Early History (-100 DE to 500 ME)

All Stildanian histories start with the same cataclysm: the Great Scouring, the destruction of ancient Stildane by Ederstone meteors that plunged the land into fire and darkness. All histories prior to this nightmarish apocalypse are speculation - though traces of that unknowable past do still lie buried deep in the soil. For centuries, Gennorholn was a wasteland of battling tribes and ferocious monsters. But, by the late 100s ME, things had stabilized somewhat into small towns, safe areas, and farming communes. In 209 ME, a terrible series of storms carrying Ederstone-laced dust and snow raged from the Northeast, destroying so much of what the people of Gennorholn held dear. For a century, these storms lingered like sentient monstrosities, defying seasons and weather patterns and moving by their own logic. It was an endless nightmare, and one that should have destroyed all progress local peoples had made. But a savior arrived to protect the peoples of Gennorholn and help them adjust to this harsh new way of life: Ustav, a sorcerer of unheard of power. Ustav was born in Gennorholn in 199, and always had a soft spot for his original homeland. He turned the commune of his birth-tribe, the Azgita, into the largest and most secure fortress-town in the region. This became known as @trost, which remains a holy city to this day.
In 258 ME, Ustav ascended into something more. He abandoned his body and became a powerful spirit married to the land. Trostev's temple became his refuge and home, and the cult that developed around him became its rulers. The Cult of Ustav became the dominant regional power after the Storms ended, and extracted tribute and religious deference from the other kingdoms that began to crop up in the 300s. From 300 to 460, the Cult and six tributary kingdoms slowly expanded over and secured the lands of Gennorholn. All the while, Ustav himself grew more and more distant, as if diffusing into the land itself. The Cult turned inwards, fighting to take over and blaming one another for their God's growing distance. They barely noticed the rising threat to the North - the Kivish Invasion. In 460 ME, the Kivish flooded in from the North with Ederstone weapons and monstrous warbeasts. The seven kingdoms rallied together to fight these newcomers - and actually put up quite the fight. Ustav, while distant and detached, was still a major threat to the Kivish warriors - Ederstone could not destroy him, and he turned the very land against them. While the governments of Gennorholn were all destroyed in a few decades, many of the tribes were able to continue fighting the Kivish in the hills and swamplands.

Kivish Occupation (500 ME to 1080 ME)

The Kivish never broke inland Gennorholn the same way they did other places. While Ustav slowly stopped actively harassing Kivish forces, the region had gained a deadly reputation and the locals had been given the time and opportunity to perfect guerilla tactics against the occupying Kobolds. For several centuries, Kivish and Gennorans raided each other back and forth while the invaders fortified the coastline. Rather than try to occupy Gennorholn, the Kivish used it as a dumping ground for their most dangerous and uncontrollable monsters, which infested the region. And yet, despite the monsters and the Kivish attacks, the local people survived. The local people began taming those monsters that they could, rivalling even the Kivish in their beast-handling. Eventually, the Kivish saw this nightmare frontier in the middle of their empire as a possible stability issue.
To try and tame the wilds they had created, the Kivish promised control of Gennorholn to any warlord or private actor that successfully occupied it. After many failed attempts, one Kivish merchant and warrior by the name of Omila Rugonik took a more subtle approach in the late 700s: bringing in non-Kobold settlers to create a buffer zone, slowly establishing peace with local Gennoran groups through these proxies, and then build a possible future path towards regional power. This approach proved far more successful, and Gennorholn slowly developed into an autonomous province within the Kizen Empire. The land was still infested with monsters and not very well controlled, but it was no longer a threat to Imperial cohesion. Kivish cultural and political dominance began to slowly seep into the region, mixing with the local culture and becoming something new. This process was still ongoing when the empire collapsed in 1080 ME.

The Successor Occupations (1080 ME to 1612 ME)

From the chaos of the Kizen and the Mageplague came a brief period of Gennoran independence. From 1080 to 1120, Gennorholn was ruled as an independent kingdom by the descendants of its Kivish governors. In 1120, the neighboring kingdom of Verzavek - a majority-Kivish state to the South that saw itself as an heir to the Kizen empire - conquered and vassalized Gennorholn and would rule the land until 1350. Under Verzavek, Gennorholn was feudalized - divided into aristocratic fiefdoms ruled by pious Kivish Kobolds. Those Gennorans who resisted fled East, to the neighboring non-Kobold clans that would regularly raid Westward. This low-level warfare was only interrupted by formal war: notably the second Kizen invasion launched the Empress Kazalim the Phoenix in 1350. Gennorholn was ultimately subjugated in 1379, though they were able to kill the Empress with some outside assistance. The Kivish did not relent, and the longer war only brought more devastation to Gennorholn.
The second Kivish Empire was less pointlessly violent, but more efficient and controlling. Gennoran culture was under constant siege, and this time Ustav did not answer the calls of his homeland. Perhaps that would have been the end of Gennorholn as a concept if the second Empire hadn't been so short-lived: in 1420, a massive Kivish civil war known as the War of False Prophets destroyed the empire. It also unleashed a wave of tremendous violence and chaos over the land. When the dust had settled in 1440, the new regime was willing to grant local autonomy in the name of peace and stability.
From 1440 to the late 1500s, Gennorholn existed peacefully as a sort of Kivish hinterlands. The population rebounded, and trade between the Kivish coastline and the mountain kingdoms to the East brought wealth and commerce to the growing cities there. But, in the late 1500s, the Empire of Kizen's more belligerent administrations began picking fights with the most prosperous and bellicose of the mountain kingdoms: the Kingdom of Kagaren. Kagaren had become the dominant inland power of Northern Stildane after it recovered a significant deposit of Starmetal as well as several holy relics of Uvara and Kivishta. After they publicly humiliated Kizen's ambassador in 1565, they went from a trading partner to a regional rival. And Gennorholn became the battleground for their skirmishes. Not only did these raids and skirmishes disrupt trade, but they drew Imperial attention to Gennorholn's light tax policy and cultural independence. The border began to militarize, taxes increased, Kizen's language was enforced in all major cities, and Kivish settlers followed the military garrisons into Gennorholn's interior.

The Age of Rebellion (1612 ME to 1740 ME)

In 1612, the Empire of Kizen launched a full-fledged invasion of the mountain kingdoms. The war was a clear Kivish victory, but also an expensive boondoggle that did little to improve the Empire's declining economy. Taxes were yet again increased in Gennorholn and other Southern territories to pay for the war and occupation. This provoked outrage across the land: the Southern and interior provinces blamed the distant Northern administration for the economic recession, the higher taxes, the worse monster attacks, the corrupt officials. Tax revolts broke out in the countryside, as did mass tax evasion. Local merchants and priests began sending petitions to the Empress- and then began coordinating across the empire with other cliques when those petitions went unanswered. In 1627, this discontent broke into open rebellion. The rebellion in Gennorholn was unique in its cultural and religious dimensions, but still was part of this larger movement.
The rebellion failed to win any major battles, but also avoided any devastating losses. The chaos and slow radicalization towards full secession was enough to scare the Empire into negotiating: most of the major leaders were pardoned, reforms were passed, and the taxes were lowered. The rebel lands celebrated and toasted the Empress; but the North raged at her "meekness". For decades the Kivish heartlands had sustained their economic prosperity by draining the rest of the Empire - now they were hit by the recession everyone else had been living in. Extreme religious movements began to take root, and they used Gennorholn as an object of revulsion and hate: as foreign Uvarans dictating policy, forgetful of their place. Meanwhile, some Gennorans were helped by the Imperial reforms more than others: the reforms empowered the Southern merchants more than the rural towns, and big ranch-owners began purchasing up Gennoran lands to produce more foodstock for the still-growing Kobold population. This tension between local farmers and Big Ranching was more concerning to local Gennorans than any Imperial business in the late 1600s. That was, until the Kivish 'Renaissance' of 1680: when radicals by the name of 'The Children of Verkon' seized the Imperial throne in an effort to recreate the 'Old Ways' of the first Horde.
The Children of Verkon government targeted Gennorholn as a domestic punching bag; all non-Kobolds had their lands taken, and many were taken as slaves. Resistance was punished with massive violence. For years, the people of Gennorholn suffered alone; eventually, the local Kobold aristocracy tried to stop the slaughter, but they too were targeted by the new regime. When local elites sought to raise another Southern rebellion, they were abandoned by their old allies to the South. Instead, the conquered mountain kingdoms came to their aid. From 1685 to 1730, this fragile alliance was the strongest domestic opponent of the New Kivish - and, in truth, they most survived thanks to the many foreign wars the New Kivish dove into. After almost fifty years of desperate survival and rebellion, the Southern provinces finally rose in rebellion in 1730. They rode in along with their ally, The Kingdom of Hain, and fought for ten years against the New Kivish. In 1740, Gennerholn's liberation was formalized and over half of the Empire of Kizen left to form its own state: the Kingdom of Ustavet. The New Kivish still reigned in the North, but were a ghost of their former selves. In 1750, the last of the New Kivish were destroyed and the continent was finally free.

The Failure of Ustavet (1740 ME to Present)

The Kingdom of Ustavet was led by a Hainish general and primarily populated by Kivishta moderates in the South, but was ruled out of Gennorholn. The Holy Land of Ustav was now in a substantial position of power - quite a historical anomaly - and immediately set to work rebuilding itself. The Southern lands paid heavily for this effort, which was icing on the cake for many Gennorans that silently resented the Southland's fifty years of standing by while Gennorholn burned. But the new regime was not all sunshine and roses for locals either - the new Hainish elite that redistributed the land gave much of the rural interior to themselves. These aristocrats began essentially en-serfing the local populace; Ustavet was envisioned as a second Hain, with all the baggage that entailed.
Map of Ustavet, c 1800

From 1740 to 1902, Ustavet held together. But it never really managed to sway over local elites or project power over its whole territory. Corruption, factionalism, and bad government slowly ate away at the Kingdom's authority. A succession crisis and brief civil war in 1870 made everything far worse. The royal family devoured itself in a storm of intrigue and coups, and support from the actual Kingdom of Hain dwindled. In 1902, the Southlands rose in rebellion and it was not long before Ustavet had collapsed into six pieces. Gennorholn did well in the resulting partition, and is in many ways the successor state to Ustave (Hainish aristocracy and wild factionalism included). But, for all the evils one can say of Ustavet, they were a blessing for many in Gennorholn and enabled what prosperity exists there today.
As Ustavet broke down, the Empire of Kizen moved in. They sent in their 'Corpse Carts' - trading convoys that collect Kobold corpses for delivery to Rumakel - to protect Kizen's trade interests and bind foreign Kivish communities to Kizen's priesthood. These Corpse Carts and their guard retinues cleared the roads and secured the trade routes for their favored merchants (all Kivishta) - draining Gennorholn's trading profits and raw resources North to the Empire. Gennorholn's local aristocracy fought back by organizing local villagers into "common brotherhoods", or knight-flavored religious militias. These "common brotherhoods" were used to both attack the rising Kobold merchant dynasties and to claim more land for their associated nobles. But some of these militias were not as loyal to their feudal masters as expected - beneath the new heraldry, they were communities of resistance that long predated the Hainish intervention. These rogue militias became more and more difficult to control, and were far more organized and dangerous than expected. When a group of nobles attempted to reign them in and arrest their leaders in 1973, they ambushed these nobles and occupied their estates. Only a quick intervention led by the new King himself was able to nip this rebellion in the bud. The rebels fled to the hills, where they lurk on the periphery of the Kingdom, raiding and taking hostages whenever possible.

Demography and Population

850,000 humanoids live in Gennorholn. 30% of these are Starspawn, 20% are Kobolds, 20% are Dryads, 20% are Humans, and 10% are Other. 
70% of the population is Uvara, almost all of the 30% remaining being Kivishta.

Territories

Gennorholn is 150 miles by 80 miles across, and is overwhelmingly covered in hills and dense temperate forest. Much of the population surrounds Lake Genoril - a large freshwater lake that is almost 20 miles long. Almost a dozen smaller lakes dot the valleys and lowlands. The Aslarov Mountains dominate Gennorholn's Northlands. The Aslarovs have a robust cave system that is thoroughly infested with strange and wondrous creatures, and while the surface of these mountains is mostly safe, the Northeastern corner does fade into dangerous Ederstone wasteland.

Military

The military of Gennorholn has three layers: the knightly elite, the 'common knights', and the tribal militias. The aristocratic elite is similar to that of The Kingdom of Hain; elite heavy cavalry, sometimes paladins, backed up by mounted druids. These knights often swear themselves to specific oaths or orders, the most famous of which are the Spring Knights, who have a massive complex in the Holy City of Trostev here. The 'common knights' are their support, and might be thought of as 'men at arms': somewhere above militias but below full-time professional soldiers. These common knights are a combination of light cavalry and infantry that works as the support and counterpart to the actual knights.
The tribal militias may be regarded as the least of Gennorholn's fighters, but they are not to be scoffed at. While they are not the kind of disciplined open-field battles state militaries crave, even the safest farming community here is skilled with bow and blade. Gennoran clans all have their hideouts and secret ways from which they are ready to conduct guerilla campaigns at a moment's notice. They also often have Ederstone warbeasts - typically small ones, but some clans are rumored to still breed large monsters in the depths below their hidden coves. It can be hard to bribe these families into fighting outside of their homeland and they have little loyalty to the monarchy, but they can be counted on to defend the land tooth and nail.

Religion

The majority (around 70% ) of the population is Uvara - and the state has definite theocratic overtones. The priesthood runs the courts, helps select the monarchs, and manages all magical education. Uvaran pilgrims from around the continent flock to Gennorholn for blessings and enlightenment. This is the original home of Ustav, after all. 
The aristocracy has attempted to hoard the relics of Uvara that litter Gennorholn for profit and power. The bones of Ustav, for example, are held by the Order of the Spring Knights and supposedly used for powerful magical rituals. Relics that lack immediate magical properties are either held for prestige or used as part of the Relic Industry - miracle tourism targeting pilgrims. Other relics have been carted back to Hain. There is tension between the relic-holding elites and the original owning communities here; a gap between the joyful and militaristic Hainish Uvara of the nobles and the bittersweet mourning of Gennoran Uvara. 
Around 30% of the population here is Reverent Path Kivishta - but again, this is a divided group. Most Kivish Gennorans follow the doctrine of Guru Otberna - an old Reverent Path mystic and philosopher who argued that Uvarans and non-Kobolds exist within the dream to be studied and understood as a path to greater knowledge. Friendship with non-Kobolds is to be encouraged as a kind of meditation and self-love (though intermarriage is still dangerous and unacceptable) and Uvaran religion is to be welcomed as a kind of spiritual coded message to be unpackaged by real souls. These Otbernan Kivish are better known as syncretic Kivish (which is maybe even more accurate at this point). 
But there is a chunk of the Kivishta community that rejects syncretecism entirely. These are often known as 'hardliners', for their puritanical ways and strict sense of traditionalism. The hardliners and the syncretics frequently condemn each other, but the boundary between the two groups is porous and fuzzy. Many Kobolds move between these sects according to convenience and their current place in life. The only ones who absolutely do not are the non-Kobold Kivish who sit in the syncretic camp. They are a curious lot, and generally not fully accepted or rejected.

Foreign Relations

Gennorholn is allied to the Kingdom of Hain and formally stands in friendly relations with the Empire of Kizen. In reality, it is a part of both their empires: it is ruled by Hainish nobility and also part of Kizen's "Invisible Empire" of trade domination.
Gennorholn is on rather poor terms with the neighboring kingdom of Verzavek (to the South), but is friendly with the mountain kingdoms to the East.

Agriculture & Industry

Gennorholn is overwhelmingly agricultural, with a focus on wheat, potatoes, turnips, carrots, cabbage, and apples. Ranching is a massive business here as well, with sheep in the hills, horses and cattle in the lowlands, and Giant Lobsters in the marshes. Low-level mining and foresting is also fairly common here. Fishing, crabbing, and saltwater lobster-herding is common along the coastline. Monster ranching, while not particularly common, is a notable trade here that dates back centuries. 
Dye-making, paper-milling, and textile manufacturing all take place in the towns and cities (although the Empire of Kizen siphons off a fair amount of raw resources).

Trade & Transport

Trade policy and guilds are, by law, to be controlled by local lords known as Junkers. Each city has its own legal trade zone that operates as a tiny fiefdom with its own rules, tarriffs, and independent guilds. But this system has been nonfunctional for decades. Instead, a series of Kobold Merchant Clans, overwhelmingly based out of the coastal towns and cities, manage the trade alongside the emissaries of the Empire of Kizen. The Junkers are either powerless, complicit, or actively afraid for their lives. And the Guild Halls typically back the Merchant Clans to boot - the Kobolds give them stable trade policy and total freedom over their own rules and elections. 
While this may boil down to "Hain versus Kivish" in the big picture, this gets a lot more complicated when it comes to local details. Many aristocrats actively ally with certain merchant clans to protect and profit off of the Relic Industry. The aristocrats can supply laborers, raw resources, and tourists; the merchants can supply the lodging, services, entertainment, and ultimately the gold. So while aristocrats prefer to fight Kobolds than each other, they generally pick Kobolds that rival their own friendly Kobold clans. It all mixes together into a messy stew of local elites and extended families that run the show.

Education

Temples teach what they can, but outside of the Holy City of Trostev, there is almost no education system in Gennorholn. Elites typically send their children to other countries for higher education. The coastal towns often teach their children literacy at temple, but in the countryside literacy sharply drops.

"We Await the Irunek's Call"

Founding Date

1902

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Alternative Names

Genorta, Gennorheld

Demonym

Genoran

Government System

Monarchy, Theocratic

Power Structure

Feudal state

Currency

Sunekan Gold Lions, Silver Foxes, Copper Stars

Major Exports

Wool, meat and fish, wood, stone

Major Imports

Salt, iron, luxury items

Official State Religion

Uvara

Location

Stildane

Related Ranks & Titles

• Burgrave
• Graf
• Herzog
• Junker

Controlled Territories

• Trostev

Neighboring Nations

• Empire of Kizen
• Kingdom of Verzavek
• The Nightmare Kingdom of Kazel-Karn