Wildorf
Culture
Bull headed and wild can be used to describe how the people of Wildorf are seen. This is true to some extent, and exxagerated in others, but regardless Wilanders are a stubborn and free people. They have always felt unqiue in Neundorf amongst the other city states, with their Rustil origins and their position far into the north of the land. To get to Wildorf from the rest of Neundorf is a hard process, for great seas of forest block the way, and the lakes leading to it are notorious for being home to river knaves and other lowlifes, not to mention monsters. This leads to Wildorf being almost like another world for some of the people of Neundorf, being greeted by a city of industry and superstiton, black clouds roll up into the air as the hammers of forges ring out across the land.
As stated above, the city is known for its industry, only being beaten out by Ardita and its great city states. The forges of Wildorf are famed across the land of Neundorf, even recently having been experimenting with some types of war engines based off of Arditan designs. How they aqquired said designs is unkown, and some suspect foul play, but regardless they have the designs, and the cannons and other strange enginers they have made are tested and developed in the forges of Wildorf. While some complain of the great plumes of black smoke that emit from the forges, none can question how skilled the Wilanders are at crafting, with the city even housing a rather sizeable portion of dwarves. Such is the size of the dwarven population, an entire distrct of the city is reffered to as "Zwergenstadt" (literally Dwarf town) that is almost like a dwarven hold with how it is layed out. It is even built into a small mountain within the cities limitis so the dwarves aren't as nervous being away from great stone mountains.
Wildorf is also known for its strong faith in the gods of the land. While they honor every god and goddess of the Light Pantheon and Rodina, they do still have some holdouts of their old bull god Stiekrieg, much to the churches annoyance. While Stiekrieg is certinely a dying faith, due to simply its sheer age and the Church of the Flame's efforts to replace it, Wildorf is perhaps the single area that still offically recognizes Stiekrieg, and venerates them. There is a joke that Willander men venerate him to compensate, but since he is a god of "manly virility" its more of a fact then an insult. Other than Stiekrieg, all the other gods and goddesses are venerated and worshipped, with the city having some of the most intricately designed churches in Neundorf.
History
The northern most city state of the fertile lands of Neundorf is a land of superstition, industry, and a history full of war. It is said those that wandered far north did so under constant threat of monsters and other vile things, however the tribes people survived, pillaging and raiding as they went. It was in the north that they eventually settled, supposedly due to seeing visions of a local diety known as Stiekrieg, a bull headed god of battle, home, and "vigour" in love. Settling here also led them to conflict with another local tribe with ties to Ustaria, namely offshoots of the Rustil tribes. It isn't entirely known how Rustil tribes ended up all the way in Neundorf, but there is some theories that a massive land bridge existed nearby and helped the tribe migrate.
Regardless, the people would war with one another almost as much as they intermingled and paired together. This would lead into their favour, as the two tribes had more numbers when united against other rival tribes, namely warring with Grobenhan and the Kaslanders of Kaiserbruck. In fact this tendency for war led to other tribes seeing the Willanders are primitive marauder tribes of savage, pillaging warriors. Such sterotyping would be ironic given the Willanders streak for faith and family. While Wildorf was struck by monsters just like most of the entire nation, Wildorf is unique in that it actually beaten back most of the monsters, or at least enough to enter a state of stability. This ment they could again raid their neighborhing tribes, and such a conflict was in full swing against Weinslug when the newly crowned Kaiser had to step in and cease the fighting, only after fierce debate that supposedly lasted months.
With the fighting brought to a close, while Wildorf was brought into the empire, this was not without controversy. While the tribes of neundorf have always warred with one another, Wildorf was the one who made the most bad blood in their almost constant raids and pillages. Such bad blood meant that conflict and border disputes were a common reality for quite a long time. The Wine River War was perhaps the most infamous one, resulting in a near full scale civil war were it not for a local dwarven outpost having to step in and get both sides under control. However, a turn around seemd to have been begun at least by Wildorf higher society in recent years. The current ruler of the city state, one Ottiline von Loninghafen, has tried to build bridges rather than walls with the local lords of other city states. While this has seen mixed results so far, only time will tell if these efforts bear any fruit.
Foreign Relations
"Place is so cloduy you'd think you steped into the fuckin Deadlands" - Tomas Lawson, Ashenfeld pilgram
"I am strong! I am virile!!!" - an exasserpated Willander arguing with an escort
"They're alright" - Grauler Cliffthane, Dwarven Forge Master, in probbaly the greatest endorsment for a region since the fall of the keeps
Truly, while Wildorf is seperated by quite a fair amount of land and territory, Wildorf is still Neundorf through and through. If anyone was bullheaded enough to argue with a dwarf over construction practices, it would be a drunken Willander, at least so says the rest of Neundorf. While they can be bull headed for sure, even Arnsdorf is loathe to admit of the quality of Willander iron and steel.
Type
Geopolitical, City-state
Demonym
Willanders
Parent Organization
