Kingdom of Kleinreich
Kleinreich is a small kingdom in the hills and valleys of the eastern slopes of the Saxon Hills, directly east of the Nachstein mountains. It is a kingdom, and has been for many centuries, though its history and origins are very unclear.
Geographically, it is a small place, claiming an area about 80 miles wide and 50 miles tall, north of Dietz, in the hills. In the east, it is in the low foothills above the great plains, reaching to a fork where the Jericho river flows into the Kringle river on the plains. This is rolling farm and grazing land, relatively fertile, but completely unprotected. The center of the country is around Kringle Lake, where the city of Kleinstadt and most of the towns are located. This is hill and valley country, but very fertile, supporting farms and animals, cattle and sheep. Rising above the central valley, both north and south, are higher ridges, scored by valleys and streams, with alpine meadows and pastures, used mostly as pastureland. Finally, in the west, the kingdom abuts the Nachstein mountains, that rise very high (and bare, thus the name), and are mostly uninhabited (by humans at least.)
Most of the people live around the lake, with a fair number in the Valley Fork Region. There are five administrative divisions, thought here are many other sources of power and ways of dividing the country. As we will see, this is a very nobility heavy country.
1. The Kleinreich - the Relbeek Valley, around the lake, the location of the capital, most of the major towns, most of the people. Good farmland, rolling hills, rivers and streams and so on.
2. Lower Valley - the lowlands, near Valley Fork - also fairly populous, though more vulnerable
3. North Piedmont - hill country north of the central valley; pastures, farms and small estates.
4. South Piedmont - same, south. Both grazing country, with some decent valleys for small farms. Both considered strategically important.
5. The Alps - western highlands, reaching into the Nachstein mountains. High, wild, though with many decent mountain pastures. Very dangerous.
Structure
This is a small, feudal state, an absolute monarchy, though the king is in fact constrained byt he nobility. The kingdom's location, in the hills, easily defended, thoughsomewhat isolated, have left it fractured, in many ways, and heavily ridden with nobility. Every valley has had its own lord, from time immemorial. Every town has its own land and associations and priveleges,a nd the ability to protect them. Over the years, titles have accumulated, with many small barons holding small estates in the crook of a valley or between a pair of hills.
Despite this, for the most part, the country has remained unified. The small nobles maintain their loyalty to the king, who keeps the peace. But they do compete and contend for power in the court.
Public Agenda
They are mostly a quiet, isolationist place, content to live in their own way without interference from outside, and without involving themselves in the affairs of the world. They have occasionally departed from this plan, and usually suffered for it.
Assets
Agriculture, grazing (cattle, sheep, ponies, mainly, some horses, etc.), timber, water power, some mineral wealth.
History
This kingdom has been here for centuries, usually limited to its present location, though it sometimes has expanded into the neighboring areas. It has been claimed through the years by different groups, though its location and geography have always made it hard to conquer or hang on to. Once the great empires of the Kingdom retreated south, this place had claimed and maintained its independence.
Independent, yes, but they have never been important. It is a sparsely populated area between the wilderness of the hills and the plains, divided among a dizzying array of local warlords and knights, an unattractive target, and seldom strong enough to expand. they have, occasionally, been afflicted by ambition - sometimes stretching out into the plains, as far as Immanuel, Hegelburg (to the north), into the highlands to the north, and so on. They have occasionally been involved in Dietz' political ambitions as well. But none of these expansions have lasted.
Whatever remained, thy lost in the religious wars. They were Universalist - Dassal and Dietz were taken over by the Reformed Church, and stripped Kleinstadt of any territory it had outside its valleys and hills. In the subsequent century, there were some incursions from the Little Kingdom into the plains, but the Regelsburg wars chased them away again.
Demography and Population
Mostly human in the towns and central valley, though much more mixed in the highlands. The human population is mostly descended from the Germanic people who lived in the Northflood Valley from ancient times. There is some influence from other ethnicities, but they are small,a nd usually absorbed without a trace.
There is a sizable dwarven population in the hills. The kingdom abuts the high mountains, which contain many ongoing dwarven kingdoms and settlements, and there is frequent and extensive contact between those groups and the dwarves of Kleinstadt.
Elves also live in the hills and forests in numbers. The Saxon Hills contain one fo the larger and more important Elven lands in this age, and again, they exert a good deal of influence on the kingdom. Elves and half elves live throughout the margins of the kingdom, and manyt have settled in the towns and cities.
Halflings are also common, usually living in small self-contained shires throughout the hills and valleys. Some of these settlements are of great antiquity, and maintain a sense of themselves as an ancient place and people. Others are more comfortable interacting with the humans in the region, and get along well.
Gnomes can also be found through the hills and valleys of the region. They tend to be extremely loyal to the king - they have a special relationship with the royal family. They often turn up in his household, and as advisers and assistants.
Finally, the margins fo the country harbor many "monsters" - orcs, goblins, gnolls and the like, usually making trouble, in and out fo the country, though some are at least partly willing to behave themselves. There are more dangerous creatures as well - giants in the mountains, with hill giants and gres interfering more with the ways of humans, but stone giants and others living in the hills. There are rumored to be dragons, drow, and many dangerous things in ther NAchsteins and the higher qwilder parts of the Saxon Hills.
Territories
They basically only hold their own traditional lands.
Military
Feudal, with a small standing army, split into two parts: the Marchers, a ranger like organization charged with patrolling the wilderness, and the King's Guard, a more conventional standing army stations in the valley.
Religion
They are mostly Universalist, though with some Reformed enclaves. There are a fair number of fairly radical elements - the Knights of the Tru Confession, notably - most of the country is fairly tolerant. There are pagan and non-human elements as well, especially in the hills and forests.
Foreign Relations
Isolationist, for the most part. They maintain relatively peaceful relations with their neighbors, most fo the time. Dietz, the lords of the western plains, the dwarven and elven lords int he hills and mountains, and Lenay. Kristian, the previous king, was closely tied to Regar, which caused rifts int he kingdom, as other factions preferred to ally with Lenay against Regar.
Infrastructure
The central valley is able to travel on the lake. There ain numerous rivers, but they tend to be fast and treacherous, and unsuitable for transportation. There are roads running mainly along the side fo the valleys, up and down the rivers - with some crossing the hills, at intervals. This creates an odd segmentation fo the country, though.
Type
Geopolitical, Kingdom
Capital
Alternative Names
Little Kingdom
Leader
Head of State
Head of Government
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Feudal state
Currency
PP - Platin/Reich
GP - Mark/Konig
EP - Kroner
SP - Shilling
CP - Penny
Subsidiary Organizations
Location
Official Languages
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Notable Members
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