Herske
A Gleaming Bastion
The Kingdom of Herske was founded in 521 RC by the Baefest family and its patriarch, Lyzander, after escaping a flood of the fjord whence the family came. Established atop a hill, overlooking the tail end of the fjord, the family manor grew over time to become an imposing castle, gleaming white and royal blue, with dominion over a patch of land miles wide. Its success only grew from there.
Politics
Structure
The Hersken Kingdom is organized as a hereditary monarchy with the crown falling to the eldest recogniezd son of the current monarch. Monarchs have often abdicated to their successors peacefully in order to avoid the stress of ruling in their twilight years, making the average reign of a monarch last about 25 Monår or lunar years.
The next level of power is the Hertog. The Hertogen act as lords over duchies, tracts of land that cover about a thousand square miles. The Hertogen control taxation and tolls on their land as well as manage the holdings of the lords below them, including managing land disputes. There are 5 dutchies in Hersken.
Below the Hertogen are the Grevin, who manage about one tenth of a duchy. Their powers are extremely limited even over those lords in their direct jurisdiction. Grevin are allowed to process taxation and set extra taxation but cannot change the base rates set by the Hertog. Grevin also tend to be the judges of disputes between commoners which either stretch between different lords' holdings or cannot be settled adquately by the lord of the village.
Duchies
There are 5 duchies in the Kingdom, each presided over by its respective Hertog and divided among close to 10 Grevin. The Northern duchy is Kuldsjord, the Western duchy Slagmark, the Southwestern Grøndall, the Southern Bunfjel, and the Eastern Sjøgrens. The Hersken capital, Lystehvit, lies to the East of centre with a few hundred square miles around claimed as sole territory of the monarchy.
Kuldsjord
The Kuldsjord Duchy is the least densely populated, primarily composed of a tundra, Kuldsjord is inhabited by hunters and trappers and produces most of the ice for the continent which comes from the lakes that dot the land.
Slagmark
The Slagmark duchy lies to the West, bordering Inverus. The duchy is littered with fortresses, some ruins and others fully armed, and is the beginning of the Ildvaken system, with turrets topped by magically dried kindling to act as signal fires. The land remains scarred from the near-three centuries of conflict that passed before the truce with Inverus was negotiated. The majority of the Konigstyrk, the royal armed forces resides in this duchy and the local lords keep a higher proportion of knights than the kingdom average. The region is still a rich agricultural region, surpassed only by the Southwestern duchy, and primarily exports a hearty grain called Rog.
Grøndall
Grøndall is the most agriculturally productive region of Herske and grows a mix of grains and roots. The wealthiest lords have prioritized grain for export, leaving them heavily dependent on their neighbors. Grøndall is also the birthplace of the crop plague that caused the famine (the Nød) in 288 AC, which caused significant resentment on the part of the rest of Herske. The duchy was also taxed significantly for a decade following the famine, both to keep the royal family popular with the rest of the Hertogen, and to replenish stores that had been depleted during the Nød.
Bunfjel
Bunfjel is the Southernmost duchy of the Hersken Kingdom, with a climate almost as inhospitable as its Northern neighbor, Kuldsjord, as it is situated in the base of the {moutnain range name}, which, while not at the highest point of the mountains, still experiences some altitude chill as well as the brunt of the frigid winds shedding from the tallest of the mountains. This region has the most robust land trade with Azendale to the South, and is primarily a trade powerhouse, aside from what it is able to extract in quartz and gems from its mines as material components for certain types of Tryllekøn, or spellcasting.
Sjøgrens
Sjøgrens is the maritime center of Herske, including a majority of the trade and travel between Herske and Aitilafa, as well as the majority of trade from Azendale. The duchy also has a large export of seafood and is a tourist destination for its significant access to magical sea creatures, both for simple visiting and for sale as guards or as magical component fodder.
Monarchy
The monarchy has changed hands a scant 5 times over the millenium that the kingdom has existed. The Baefest family, the original royal family, has remained a significant power in the kingdom since its inception, even after stepping down as the actual seat of royal power.
In the 271st year of the reign of the Baefestin, during the rule of Lyzander IV, the current Hertogen of Slagmark, Stefon Spydspass decided the reinforcements he was recieving to conduct the defence of the Western front were insufficient. He decided to mount a small rebellion, besieging the capital for 3 days. A combination of the inconvenience of the siege, the crumbling of the front due to a lack of troops and the grumblings of revolt around the kingdom caused the Herskong to abdicate. Stefon Spydspass assumed the crown under the name and redirected a significant part of the peacekeeping force from the rest of the duchies to the front and regained position.
The Spydspass family reigned for two generations, after which the bloodline ended, and under agreement from the Spydspason, the crown passed to Lukas av Ismat. The Ismaater held on to power for the following age, the Ismalder, which lasted for the next 418 years, ending with the reign of Ranveig III.
The Ismalder saw a massive growth of the kingdom into a formidable force, leading to the the settlement of the land to the South that would eventually become the Principality of Azendale. The truce between Inverus and Herske was called in the 2nd century of the Ismalder and the modern borders were established. The Coilleskog began to take shape during this time but had not yet grown to the impassable barrier that it is now.
In the 419th year of the Ismalder, the reigning Herskong, Ranveig III was assasinated by his financial advisor, Bolverg Gronverk, formerly Bollard Granviere of the Inveran Empire. The plot was, in fact, not a result of machinations on the part of the empire itself, but an act of petty nationalism brought on by a grudge generations old. Bolverg kept the assumed first name but revealed the Granviere gentem name, beginning the Granvalder. The Granvalder lasted but 3 generations, toppled by a coalition of the still-deeply Hersken Hertogen of four of the duchies, though the Hertog Kuldsjord, Anders av Istap, refrained from action, busy putting down a brewing rebellion over dwindling food supplies.
As the dust settled on the Granvalder, the most powerful duke, Hertog Sjøgrens, Johan Alfhild, managed to convince the other Hertogen that it would be easiest were he to take charge and the Alfhilden saw the nation through the Nød, the separation and into the modern day.
History
Founding
The founding of Herske is well-documented, though the only sentient beings to witness the exact moment the beginning of the kingdom was born were the Baefesten, so accounts are not necessarily accurate. What is generally agreed by historians and anthropologists, though, is that, in the year 521 RC,during a magical event of unknown origin, in a flood created by that event, the patriarch--Lyzander-- gained a form of enhanced magical ability, allowing him to escape as most of those in his village perished in the flood.
Lyzander then established, releasing a portion of his power to do so, a wellspring of good luck on a hill overlooking the edge of the fjord whence the family came. On that wellspring, the family established over the next 5 years a large manor and farm, which had surprising yields given the distance from what we know today as Grøndall. Over the course of Lyzander's middle age, people flocked to the spot now known as Lystehvit, to pledge their loyalty and gain the fabled luck of their new patrons.
This influx of subjects grew the kingdom rapidly, and they expanded in the most productive directions first: into the highly arable land to their South and West. The Western expansion specifically brought the kingdom into contact and, eventually, conflict with the Inverani Empire.
Det Store Samenstot
Det Store Samenstot, or 'The Great Clash' lasted for 268 years between Inverus and Herske. The war was precipitated by a series of skirmishes and disputes on the border between the two soon-to-be powers as both expanded their reach. The temperature of the area stalled as Herske turned their eyes on their Eastern border and to the North, modern-day Sjøgrens and Kuldsjord respectively. As Herske filled out and the Inverani continued to populate their border, having been hemmed in by mountains to their North and West, and feeling slighted by their Eastern neighbors most of all, conflict began anew.
The catalyst that sparked all-out conflict and mass-slaughter was a short series of renewed tiffs along the border that ended, or bled into war, depending on who recounts the story, with the death of the Legio who was heir-apparent to the Inverani throne --Quinius Marus-- the nephew of the current Imperor, Agrola Sedex, the seventh Imperor since the fall of the Republic of Inverus some century and a half prior. Official declarations of war were made by Inverus on 7th Ennaoid, 264 RC and by Herske on 22nd Ennaoid, 264 RC.
One major break in this pattern was the year 252 RC, a year when low conscription after the crowning of a new Herskong and the decision to prioritize peacekeeping forces across the kingdom meant that the Hersken forces were pushed to the brink. At the beginning of the following year, on 3rd Haonad 251 RC, the Hertog Ostengard (Slagmark was then known as Ostengard) began a march toward Lystehvite with much of his remaining force in tow. The front line cumbled over the next two weeks as the Inverani encountered much less resistance than expected, and after a 3-day siege of the castle, Stefon Spydspass was declared the Herskong as Lyzander IV abdicated. A harsher sentence for dodging the draft, better inspections and force redirection to the front were the immediate results of the new Herskong's power grab, and, with significant coordination between generals , the front was redrawn as it had been, with the 'inland' forces of the Inveran Empire encircled and swiftly dispatched.
The war dragged on claiming lives and livelihoods, those that remained along the border, for the next 254 years in just such a manner. In the 250th year, the Coilleskog appeared 50 miles South-Southwest of the border between Inverus and Herske. Over the next 4 years, it would diminish both of their holdings along the previous line significantly, expanding to completely cover the Southern edge of the Inveran Empire.
The pressure from the Coilleskog, as well as mounting pressure from both populaces and high competence on the part of the Ismaater, specifically Lukas Ismat II, a truce between Inverus and Herske was formed and signed in 4 AC. The terms of the treaty were uneasy and the occasional raid still occurred at the beginnings of reestablishment along the border for several decades to come, but both central and provincial governments were averse to response lest they destroy the hard-won peace and drag their nations into another bloody war.
Settlement of the Bortenfjell
In great debt over the defense of the border and lacking a common threat or potential room to expand, the growth of the kingdom meant that lords soon became restless, and in the year 6 AC, permission was granted by the Herskong to settle parcels of land in the Bortenfjell, the land beyond the mountains. The rights over this land was granted preferentially to the lords who held the most debt against the crown, and acted as a form of repayment. The land had been settled by some offshoots of the [country to the southwest], but they were easily cleared out or integrated into the property of most of the lords granted land.
The lords of the Bortenfjell gained power over time as their settlements increased in size and prosperity, eventually gaining enough sway to be named 2 separate duchies. These Duchies were split exactly between where the modern cities of Windfell and Caledun lie today. Over time, despite maintaing broadly close ties economically and culturally, the fact that the Bortenfjell was beyond the Wandebirge mountains caused the power of the monarchy to weaken in the territories, and a movement for independence began, the Uvenghet.
The Nød
The famine known as the Nød began in the year 288 AC, [YEAR] after the end of the Granvalder, the reign of the Granviere family, and the beginning of the reign of Johan Alfhild. A blight struck the Grøndall region, including parts of the agricultural belt outlying it, resulting in disastrously low crop yields and, as the years dragged on, mass casualties.
The Nød forced the central government to choose between supplying all duchies equally knowing it would fail and supplying those nearest and neediest first in hopes of preserving as much near the capital as possible. The latter was the obvious choice, so the people of the Bortenfjell began to starve, worse than what the depths of the famine seemed to those in the original 5 duchies.
During this time, as the people of the Bortenfjell settled the forests in the modern Suddertract to compensate, the Uvenghener, increasingly calling themselves the Unabhangken gained immense sway in the region and persuaded the Hertogen and lower lords to stage a rebellion of sorts beginning with not sending the requisite taxes.
The initial envoys sent by the Herskoenige, the royal family, failed to return, and the final, heavily guarded group of envoys barely escaped with their lives, reporting mass mobilization, a force unbeatable not through training, but through sheer scale. The statement attached to an arrow embedded in one of the guard's shields read "Free us or we will". A treaty was sent with a single envoy by cover of nights and the Council that would later become The Council of Ash met with the Herskoenige to sign the declaration of sovereignty and the treaty between the new Principality of Azendale and the Kingdom of Herske on 12th Exind 293 AC.
The Nød raged a further 2 years, and the people of Herske began to grow restless. There were talks of rebellion in the Northern duchy, and many farmers in the Grondall duchy simply gave up farming. In the 8th year of the famine, the tide suddenly turned for Herske, yields improved to better than they had been during the Nød and, even with part of the agricultural economy resigned, managed to supply just enough food to declassify the famine.
Foreign Relations
Azendale
The relationship with Herske was originally strained as the rush for independence was seen as a slap in the face of sorts by the royal family, the Koene, at the time. The rift has been somewhat repaired over the course of about a century due to efforts by several groups on both sides of the Wandebirge mountains. These efforts were aided by the significant cultural, economic and family ties that remained due primarily to the habitual maintenance of the trade and travel pathways between the two countries.
In the modern day, Herske and Azendale have one of the strongest alliances and certainly the deepest bond between any two sovereign entities. Their trade is on the order of a few hundred thousand gold pieces yearly not including the mutual defence agreement tendered in 368 AC. There are 3 primary trading routes and most connections between the nations tend to stay close to those: the port at Sjosgren1, the crossing at Grenzburg, and the direct land border at the duchy of Grondall.
Aitilafa
Aitilafa is too far for Herske to have much of a formal relationship with, though those Tryllekener who have innate magical talent or channel their magic unconventionally leaving from the port to train in the desert with more space and those more experienced with those magical disciplines.
Inverus
The current state of relations between Herske and Inverus could best be described as frigid. The truce made centuries ago now is still fragile and there are still disputes between folks over the border as related to their personal holdings. Trade is scarce, though there is a thriving black market immedately around the border which is quite profitable, and what trade does exist officially between the two nations are high-value exchanges. There is coordination between a set of departments or advisors on either side over the matter of the Coilleskog. The expansion of the Coilleskog over the last few centuries has forced cooperation in advance of its completion of the borders of Inverus first and Herske second. Workarounds are being codeveloped and tested in both nations, and the first Aerskyv (Aernavus in Inverus) is thought to take flight later this year.
Culture
Herske places a significant emphasis on the arcane, home to clerics, wizards, and some small number of artificers most of whom are keen on researching magic as well as using it to write on the face of the world. There is a general suspicion of the naturalistic societies of Vequist and most aspire to gain enough wealth to carry on the arcane traditions of Herske
Holidays
Tryllkafest
Annual festivals in honour of Magic and magic-weilders are held, in part a celebration of the Great Tryllekon by Lyzander Baefest. For these celebrations, casters are hired from across the land and brought to those places that can furnish them. There are elementary magic lessons, seminars, and magical displays and wonders in each sector of their hosting city or town. The celebrations last for three days in the middle of Ikthund of each year, though by the Herskovites to be the month with the most magical attunement
Religion
Lazarus, Veren, and Ild are the primary deities of Herske, with Locke acting as a sort of antagonist and Thanandar acting as a utility deity.
Traditions
Vindåpning
In the dead of winter, as homes are heated by stoves and fireplaces and people and their animals are bundled in as much cloth as they can afford, there is a tradition among Herskovites of leaving a window open with offerings in the sill.
These offerings and the open window were originally attempts to please Ikthun and ensure that the members of the household did not fall ill during the harsh winters throughout Herske. Now, though, this tradition has taken on a broader connotation of bringing good luck for the coming year, and connect the duration of the open window and the type of offering to the luck brought by the practice1.
Family Wells
The vast majority of Herske lies on top of natural reservoirs of clean water, which both has led to Herskovites drinking a much larger quantity of pure water than most other nations. Along with the first Herskong's well, this has encouraged every family in Herske to at least attempt to build and properly maintain a family well within their own home.
Some of those who dwell in the most major cities in the kingdom have some troubles with this and are considered less than by those who have a direct ground beneath their feet and money with which to keep up the Family Well. The wealthy often have not only a well, but one ringed by a bathing pool, and members of their family often bathe in those waters for good luck before they undertake a particularly difficult task or particularly dangerous journey. It is also thought that keeping some of that very wellwater on one's person will grant them some amount of protection against any darkness that might have sought to harm them.
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