Exeter Province
(ECKS-eh-ter)
Exeter is a loyal province of the Kingdom of Foere, ruled by a Lord-Governor appointed by the Overking. It is cut off from the rest of the Kingdoms, and for the last ten years has been governed on the principle of defending the borders at all costs, without preemptive attacks against raiders, and without regard for the decline of law and order in the interior of the province. The population of the rural areas is under constant threat from roaming brigands and monsters of all kinds.
At present, the Lord-Governor keeps his troops carefully deployed in camps and small forts to watch for further incursions from the north in case of a repeat of the Wilderlands Clan War. A chain of signal fires has been arranged to warn the capital if battle is joined in the highlands. One unintended result of this caution is that the rest of the province is currently short on troops and patrols, with most of the soldiery concentrated along the northern border or walled up in Albor Broce. Ten years of this defensive strategy have caused burgeoning problems with beasts and monsters in the rural countryside, and unchecked banditry is on the rise.
Structure
A Lord-Governor, residing in the capital of Albor Broce, administers Exeter Province on behalf of the Overking of Foere. The current Lord-Governor is Benevic of Lortsbar, a knight-commander who rose to fame in Foere after successfully holding off a massive assault upon a border castle under his command in the Duchy of Mains. Unfortunately, Lord Benevic’s military expertise and attitudes are entirely defensive; on behalf of Exeter and Foere, he created a brilliant system of defenses and fortified the borders against attack, without focusing on the problems created by emptying the province’s interior of troops.
Assets
Foodstuffs, livestock, grain, trade hub (Albor Broce), gems (common), tobacco.
History
Exeter Province once extended all the way down to the Helwall, the completion of which was the cause of Exeter Province's founding, and in its early role as a military frontier played a major role in battling the Heldring raiders at the dawn of the Atlantean Empire. After the Battle of Oescreheit Downs and the final defeat of the Heldring, the lands now known as Cerediun were divided away from the original, much larger Province of Exeter. The early history of the province is a long recitation of war and ruin: Heldring armies marching through the area to raid along the Towers and Kal'Yugoth Mountains, Atlantean and then Foerdewaith armies marching to bring them to battle, refugees, fire, and pillage. Ten years ago, Exeter Province was spared from the violence of the Wilderlands Clan War that was fought almost exclusively in Keston Province and the Wilderland Hills of southern Suilley. This was an exception to the norm, however: Over the course of history, vast numbers of incursions into the regions between the Kal'Yugoth Mountains and the Forlorn Mountains have pillaged their way through Exeter Province, skirting around castles and forts but ravaging the countryside unopposed by the province’s much-weaker armies. Exeter Province has long held the uneasy position of serving as one of civilization’s buffer zones.
As a result of this dismal and violent history, the province is not heavily settled.
Demography and Population
Territories
Exeter’s capital is Albor Broce, which is built around the site of an ancient Atlantean fortress. Its territory extends north to the Wilderland Hills, east to the intersection of the South Road and Provincial Military Road, south to the edges of the Wiltangle Forest, and west to the Forlorn Mountains.
The wilderness is creeping in like nightfall. Troops no longer make regular patrols, and rural garrisons have been bled of their soldiers to man the forts and castles along the edge of the Wilderland Hills to the north. The population of Exeter Province has never been large, and settlements tend to be isolated, unguarded, and ripe for the plucking. Heroes are needed to stem the rising tide of chaos, and protect the lands of civilization. This area has the potential for all kinds of adventures, for there is wilderness in between almost every village and hamlet except along the high roads.
Technological Level
For most areas:
Some isolated areas are:
Foreign Relations
Exeter maintains its loyalty to the Throne of Foere, though it has little contact with its liege state. The Overking’s court sends a new Lord-Governor once every decade or so, and the former Lord-Governor assembles his retinue, guards, and profits for the journey home to Courghais. The Province has virtually stopped paying taxes to the Court at Courghais after more than one large shipment of silver was annihilated by bandits while in transit. Small shipments of tax money are often sent, along with guards, with merchant caravans on their way to the County of Vourdon. The total of these sums, though, is a slight fraction of what the Overking could normally expect if the Province were not cut off from the rest of the Kingdoms.
In return, Exeter Province receives less help from the Royal Court in Courghais than it would ordinarily expect as a loyal province, even though it would send the taxes if it could.
Trade & Transport
Exeter conducts and regulates overland trade with Qiram to the east, which generates most of its revenue, and to some extent also trades with Firemount to the south (though this goes through the Cerediun region of the Hellsreach Bandlands first, taking the most lucrative cut of tolls and taxes).
Founding Date
24573 A.E.
Type
Geopolitical, Province
Capital
Demonym
Exterian
Leader
Head of State
Head of Government
Government System
Monarchy, Elective
Power Structure
Feudal state
Economic System
Traditional
Parent Organization
Location
Neighboring Nations
Comments