Strathclyde
Strathclyde lay west of Northumbria from the Antonine Wall to where the lakes of Mercia yield to the moors of Powys, holding many fishing villages and industrial ports along the Inner Sea. Mining and timber are major industries, and Lirr maintains shipyards here for his navies.
The coast has cold beaches that rise gently eastward to the Northumbrian border, and in these mountains before the plateau of Northumbria are the nests of the baobhan sith(pr.bah-VAN-shee), a race of parasitic monsters that absorb life force and creativity to maintain their unnatural forms. They house themselves in remote castles where the eldest rules as Prince (in deference to Lirr) amid courts as extravagant and gaudy as any and nest politics only constrained by truly ancient traditions. The ogres of coastal Strathclyde mine here but know the baobhan rule and thus, they will be drawn into the machinations of the nests, so they learned to play the game. Strathclyde mine owners wade the morass of baobhan sith politics while still meeting obligations, and the two species are closely allied. Ogres do not acknowledge titles save king(held by Lirr), but baobhan sith have the rights of property owners, including nest defined hunting ranges.
Strathclyde soil grows a variety of herbs. Nut trees grow in lowland orchards, but they are grown as a timber crop with the nuts kept mainly for seed and baiting prey, as ogre and baobhan sith alike are carnivores primarily. (A victim drained by baobhan sith loses about half it's nutritional value but the ogres consider this acceptable enough, so baobhan sith often gift their kills to be rid of the remains.)
Homunculi were a specialty of Strathclyde alchemy, and many aberrations are the result of famhair delving into the primal earth they sought for the Philosopher's Stone, one of the alchemical dreams, a font of resources drawn from the primal earth itself. Famhair alchemy distills the primal earth from lesser matter and refines it to their desires, a messy and toxic process the famhair struggle to perfect. In the north, famhair alchemy generated homunculi attuned to the earth to scout mining sites. They proved not only viable but fecund, spawning the rust monsters who are northern Strathclyde’s primary prey species.
Alchemy also produced Earth Dragon, climbing vines that grow thick as tree trunks, and petrify upon death. These thorny vines produce sap the alchemists can harvest the primal earth through, refining it into whatever is desired. The vines are harvested and cut into wood, and many Strathclyde structures are supported by an exoskeleton of Earth Dragon that wasn't harvested in time. Earth Dragon fruit is cased in iron shells that feed the rust monsters. They are such a fecund prey species the famhair took to herding them in the north, and they became domesticated.
Alchemical wastes coalesced in the Black Marsh as catoblepas, a toxic byproduct that also became a viable prey species.
Such creatures seem to thrive in the toxic dump sites the ogres have tainted for generations, but other long-term effects have yet to be determined.
Strathclyde dominates Inner Sea trade not only through their advanced but crude crafts but fine ports and roads to the rest of the Heptarchy. The shipyards here are held to be the finest of the Tin Isles.
While initially heavily forested, Lirr’s shipyards and ships generated a demand that outstripped the land’s produce and caused much of Strathclyde’s topsoil to be blown over Northumbria or washed into the Inner Sea. Famhair alchemical attempts to repair the damage worsened things as homunculi were created for various purposes began to thrive and cast out native species, supplanting them and creating a new, aberrant system that sustains the famhair and the baobhan sith but not other species. Catoblepas replaced roe deer in southern Strathclyde, rust monsters in the north.
Government
Lirr is King, but his interests lay in the Inner Sea so he is largely a figurehead, held sacred by the fey ogres of the land and greatly feared by the old natives who truly rule.
The ogres operate industry, claiming land as needed in the hills, but the mountains of the east hold the valleys where the baobhan sith place their nests, picturesque tall spired castles, each lead by a prince (in deference to Lirr). Baobhan sith nests are incestuous snake pits where the slightest error brings death, and the ogres of Strathclyde navigate their territory cautiously.
The internal politics of a nest and the property rights expected by ogres have melded into a functional government where all the excesses of monarchy and mercantilism combine into the compost that feeds Strathclyde governance. Noble and landowners crush those not powerful enough to compete, and feed off the land like vampires.
Defences
Lirr's warships protect the Inner Sea, and forts outside the major ports protect them. Nearby islands are often converted into naval stations, but the folk of Strathclyde build great stone halls for defense as well.
Famhair are feared warriors, moreso with aerial support from baobhan sith who accompany them and supply aerial intelligence and support.
Industry & Trade
Mining is common, as is timber, mainly for the shipyards. Lirr's ships are sturdy, serviceable vessels, about as maneuverable as whales but supporting siege engines. Tanneries and leather abound, and alchemicals are a burgeoning industry building a reputation as fast as they accrue profits.
Infrastructure
Private roads run from collection points-mines, timberlands, and herding ranges, to manufacturing facilities then to the ports.
Port cities have public wells and Lirr has put the worst of his lot to installing sewage and overflow systems under the Imperial model with expected results-wardens to divert waste and excess water have become home to things that date not see the sun, and a criminal underworld flourishes.
Port markets rent stalls on a daily basis, though enterprising fishmongers have installed ponds to keep their produce fresh which are privately owned sections of the marketplace or adjoining it.
Assets
Strathclyde produces donkeys in abundance, used to haul timber and coal to port before being made into leather. There are a few iron mines inland, but care must be taken as the plateau of Northumbria rests on brittle rock that crumbles easily without the support of the iron veins so tunneling tends to stop at the border.
The ports of Strathclyde dominate Inner Sea trade, and roads to Mercia are busy trafficking these goods to the rest of the Heptarchy and back. Strathclyde markets offer more Imperial products than anywhere on the island but Lowonidas. Earth Dragon vines are cultivated for wood, it's fruit rough fare while the vine itself grows thick as trees and petrifies after being cut into planks. While barely edible to natural species, it is a primary food source to the many aberrations alchemy has unleashed on the Strathclyde ecosystem.
Guilds and Factions
Almost any industry in Strathclyde forms associations to compel government action through numbers, and alchemists are endowing universities and libraries to improve their influence and crafters. The nests of the baobhan sith dip their claws in all of these, plus nest politics often form factions for their purposes.
History
Strathclyde has had baobhan sith since the Dawn of Time, and these fell predators had divided the region into hunting ranges long before the other inhabitants arrived.
A series of invasions all turned into migrations as invaders moved on to greener fields,but the baobhan sith fed on them all, hastening their departure.
Bran the Blessed founded the shipyards here to cross the Inner Sea, but that went poorly. The ruins were still here when the ogre mercenaries of King Lirr moved in, and a series of skirmishes too small in scope for even the participants to call war ended with the ogres and baobhan sith pacting as brothers, the first (and only) treaty the baobhan sith have made.
When Lirr swore fealty to Idris,Strathclyde joined the Heptarchy and has remained.
Architecture
Baobhan sith built delicate castles with tall spires for themselves, buried deep in picturesque mountain valleys, but the bulk of Strathclyde architecture are the sturdy stone and timber of it's ogres. Most markets have a second floor office set on pillars under which the marketplace stalls rest, a uniquely ogrish innovation allowing constant observation.
Geography
The coastal areas are fine sand beaches that rise into green rolling hills then low mountains. The plateau of Northumbria rests up about ten feet above the low mountains of Strathclyde.
Natural Resources
Coal, oil, timber, iron, tin, and silver fill the mountains. Most herbs used in alchemy thrive here, as do at least trace amounts of all minerals for that work and no few gems. Onyx lies below the castles of the baobhan sith but goes untapped.
Famhair alchemy has replaced the native fauna with pseudonatural counterparts or outright aberrations. Homunculi released here become viable and reproduce species of aberrant life or such things spawn in the toxic waste dumps the famhair dotted the land with, as does Earth Dragon root, an alchemical hybrid that permits translating lower material to higher form.
Earth Dragon vines are cultivated for wood, it's fruit rough fare while the vine itself grows thick as trees and petrifies after being cut into planks. While barely edible to natural species, it is a primary food source to the many aberrations alchemy has unleashed on the Strathclyde ecosystem.
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