Duchy of Amethysts
The Duchy of Amethysts is named for the localized prevailance of the otherwise rare amethyst trees, so named for their beautiful purple leaves.
The sap of the amethysts tree can be distilled into reagents for a wide variety of potions and magic scroll inks, which is the main reason anyone travels here in the first place.
Government
The realm is a direct feudal state of Queen of Swynfaredia, controlled by the Amethyst Duchess of House Numaness.
The province is divided into three counties, the Numaness ducal demsense, a county countrolled by House Gareth and a county controlled by House Fremiss-Caedwin.
by me with Midjourney
Defences
The realm is fairly calm now, but has a violent history.
The roads are dotted with small fortifications and watchtowers. The intent was that no fortification is more than a day's journey away from the next one, so travelers could always find a safe place to spend the night.
Intent does not always work well in practice. In summer, it is relatively easy to travel in such a way, but the spring rains and winter snows make it difficult to make it from one fortress to another in a single day.
Industry & Trade
The region exports reagents, furs, and timber. They important metal goods and luxury goods.
Despite being geographically close to the Old Swynfaredia Region and politically in the pocket of House Numaness, communication and trade caravans between the Duchy of Amethyst and the rest of Swynfaredia is somewhat slow due to the rough terrain.
This relative isolation has bred a culture of self-sufficiency and minimalism, not often seen in the rest of Swynfaredia.
History
The Amethyst trees have long been coveted by many for their valuable reagents potential, but the Swynfaredian noble house House Numaness valued the trees symbolically because their founder, Numaness the Mystic, was a purple scaled dragon.
While the Kingdom of Swynfaredia and by extension House Numaness claimed the lands of the Amethyst trees fairly early in Swynfaredia's history, they had to face generations of guerilla opposition from powerful forest creatures who saw the Swynfaredians as hostile occupiers of their land.
Originally, the land was the County of Amethysts until it was expanded geographically and politically into the Duchy of Amethysts and then was split in half when the realm became too large and unwieldy for one duke or duchess to manage easily creating the Duchy of Caedwin as a breakaway province.
Geography
Forested hills and forested hills wth scattered clearings revealing farming villages connected by winding dirt roads.
Climate
Mostly temperate with hot summers and cold winters.
Natural Resources
The amethyst trees are the most coveted resource of the province. They are most heavily concentrated in the duchesses' demense, but the trees can be found sporadically throughout the whole duchy. They even occasionally show up in disparate regions of the Grey Forest, but attempts to transplant them artificially have all failed.
The amethyst trees are not even the only source of valuable resources in the forest, simply the most obvious one.
Agricultural cultivation in the region is limited largely so as to minimize impact on the forest. There is plenty of food grown to feed the realm's small population, but waste of food is greatly frowned upon here, and even the duchess does not participate much in Swynfaredian feast culture.
Type
National Territory
Location under
Included Locations
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
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