OOC: Although not labeled on the map, the Enmire is the major swampy area on the far western end of the peninsula.
The Lords of the Vein
The Lords of the Vein have long been neglected by the remainder of the realm. Left to their own devices, in lands both impressive and isolated, the great men of this country have gradually traveled through generations of fratricide and incest into the borderlands of madness. In a land where, as some legends tell us, Luseysi’s eyes never fell, relics of a darker time come forward: Cults, feuds, and ancient traditions both violent and grim. This land produces little but sorrow, and a thin trickle of those people lucky enough to escape.
[1] Vyrnal – Lord Mayor Kellin Errolis
Vyrnal is both the largest regional population center and an entrance point for those seeking to go deeper into the Undulation. So, naturally speaking, it is the last port of call for the traditionally sane. Run by a council of merchants, the city is avoided by the local noble and priestly classes, who view the entire site as unclean. Sandwiched between the black crags of Mount Utesyi and the Balyr River, the city rises steeply against the mountain, with rich, loamy, and previously-volcanic soils nurturing a number of terrace farms.
The House of Errolis, a non-noble merchant family, gained their ascendance over the city by an ingenious oxen-powered pumping system which carries water up the terraces during the dry season. Tolls from the farmers (who are also expected to upkeep their sections) funded their political success. Shipments of copper and silver downriver from the Godspires are also transshipped to oceangoing ships at Vyrnal. The city is known for its colorful shrines; nearly every street corner has its own small spirit-house, clad in bright cloth and lacquer. Neighborhood associations of worshippers decorate these spirit shrines, which range from the benevolent to the dark. And each demands its proper sacrifice.
The city is torn by factionalism, however. Many farmers who resent Errolis’ control over the irrigation works have begun to petition the surrounding lords to intervene and take the city for their own, in return for giving them control over the works. Furthermore, refugees from Godspire mountain clan raids on the Fork and the upper Balyr have swelled Vyrnal’s population further, adding an underclass with an element of instability and desperation. For his part, Errolis maintains the support of the craftspeople and his fellow merchants, who between them have raised a strong militia and a palisade around the dockside inner city. A shrine to the Carpenter lies further up the mountain, but the priests do not associate themselves with town business, accepting donations of food from the farmers to survive.
The Seal of Vyrnal – A rushing river below a black mountain with a green tree at its peak.
[2] Requin - Lord Derrick Arhelm
Requin is a grim castle on the stony western shore of the Mariner’s Solace. It is spared some of the violence of the deeper Vein because of its proximity to Naïs, but the small villages outside of Castle Requin are frequently terrorized by raiders, half-naked men and women covered in a mixture of ancient armor and body paint in outlandish colors, seeking captives. Lord Arhelm and his retainers are hard pressed to secure even a thin strip of coastline from these terrors, and attempts to reopen the ancient mines further inland have been long-abandoned; as rumor has it these terrors have taken up residence in the deep tunnels. What they do with their captives is unknown.
Culturally Lord Arhelm and his population are much closer to the Shorelands, but the dark and misty peaks of the Lharasi Range mark this as a vastly different land from the gentle, green country across the Solace. Technically independent from Duke Tarquelin, Lord Arhelm frequently petitions him for help against the raiders, but the Duke has far more pressing matters occupying his attention.
House Arhelm – A sword, axe, and spear crossed, on grey.
[3] Zek – ???
Just over a hundred years ago, the Priest-Lords of Naïs sent a number of warrior-priests to clear the mountains of the wild, Rayakiin-blooded clans that lived in the Lharasi Range, and convert them to the proper worship of Luseysi. They succeeded in clearing a small area of the tribes, at the base of a great, dark mountain whose name has been lost to time, and there began to dig a subterranean monastery complex. Perhaps they were interested in mining as well as praying – their motivations have also been lost to time.
All record of this expedition vanished about forty years after their departure. It was assumed that they were killed. But their true fate was worse than death. If a scholar (of which there are none) saw the painted raiders coming out of the mountains, he might identify the ancient pieces of armor the priests once wore on their bodies. He would also identify ceremonial markings associated with the ‘extinct’ Rayakiin language. Then this scholar would be captured and either enslaved or sacrificed, depending on the omens and the lunar cycle.
No outsider has determined the goals of its accursed inhabitants and survived.
Zek - Heads. On Pikes.
[4] Sturon – Lord Teriasi Taulesi
For generations, the Lords of Sturon have been convinced that they are the reincarnated scions of Taulesu himself. During the Solemn Age, there was once a shrine in a stand of holy pines where Taulesu himself was believed to have laid his axe, and his head, to rest. Around this shrine, and the holy pines, Sturon was built, a strange castle to protect a garden. Lord Taulesi is more occupied with the elaborate religious ceremonial surrounding his person than the fact that his lands are continually ravaged by the painted raiders. Despite the eccentricity of its lord, Sturon is a mighty castle, likely built by more sane forebears, so it has a considerable number of farmers who pay loyalty to the Carpenter’s Son, in return for a convenient place to flee when necessary.
House Taulesi – A golden axe on a field of brown.
[5] Roscart - Count Eridos Sarançu, Count of the Golden Hook
Three Emperors ago, the Emperor was very concerned about the state of affairs in the Far Lands. In fact, he could care less about that backwater hellhole, but he was concerned enough to assign its pacification to a troubling half-Esurkish bastard with jade-green eyes who he wanted as far away from the court as possible. Unfortunately for the Emperor, Kedir Sarançu (claiming his mother’s house) proved to be extremely successful, destroying a nest of pirates, a bandit encampment, and bringing the entirety of the Golden Hook under his control. He also notably avoided the parts of the Vein with serious unsolvable problems.
The semitropical climate was not very different from parts of Surotsi where Kedir had grown up, and he rapidly organized the local peasantry into work gangs for cotton production. Then he built Roscart, (originally Rusqartin,) an elegantly cruel, asymmetrically towered castle with a deep and terrifying dungeon. After a series of revolts, he organized a clever incentive system, whereby productive serfs could buy their way up from cotton farming to orange farming, and potentially to service in Castle Roscart itself, or even freedom. Even if most peasants never achieve this goal, a little bit of hope keeps them quiescent.
The Counts Sarançu have not proven to be known for their kindness in years since, mostly because the extremely labor-intensive process of cotton farming leaves most of their peasants dead by middle age. However, they have become quite wealthy by local standards, expanding their control with new holdings and even minting their own coinage, which is extremely popular in regional usage. Due to their antipathy to the old line, Sarançu’s grandson was quick to support Auren during the war, and he was rewarded with the title of Count and tacit Crown approval for his continued expansion. Now Eridos Sarançu, great-grandson of the original outcast, is preparing to make his play for control in Vyrnal, once he can free himself of other distractions.
The Count is not of the Vein, and he considers its petty superstitions beneath him. Like his fathers, he is a ruthless and skilled political operator who will stop at nothing until total regional control is his. Naturally, Lord Mayor Errolis is at desperate pains to stop him. And he has found an unlikely ally further to the west…
House Sarançu – A wolf on a field of jade.
[6] Duston - Count Eridos Sarançu, Count of the Golden Hook
A small but well-maintained port on a deep bay, Duston was built by the current Count Sarançu’s father. House Sarançu makes a tidy profit on repairing and resupplying damaged ships making the Naïs-Pale City run. The port is currently in disarray after a massive raid by Lord Rastev sacked it.
[7] Atreyis – Lord Derrick Arhelm
Technically under the sovereignty of Lord Arhelm, Atreyis is too far from Castle Requin for Lord Arhelm to properly protect. The citizens of this decently-sized fishing town have instead entered into an unholy agreement with the painted raiders. Each year, five randomly chosen townspeople are given up to the raiders; in return the people are left in peace. All of the townspeople hate this devil’s bargain, but the raiders are certainly strong enough to leave Atreyis a smoking heap of ash if they refuse. As with all captives, the ultimate fate of the townspeople is unknown.
[8] Diyaka – Elder Maro
This is a tribal village distant from the concerns of lords and empire. It is home to many who have fled from elsewhere in the Vein, as well as shipwrecked sailors, but mostly simply its native inhabitants, the Diyakii. While they occasionally suffer from them, they are distant from the painted raiders. The village is mostly peaceful, and pursues fishing in the shallow and dangerous waters (for larger ships) of their great rocky inlet. The Diyakii and their tributary villages mostly worship the Rayakiin themselves, who they believe remain alive somewhere in the dark and deserted places of the world. Their cult is far less bloody than that of the Zek, however, and far more open to outsiders.
[9] Ladreli – Lord Wendris Effeldoff
Even by the standards of the Lords of the Vein, House Effeldoff is mad. Ladreli is a prosperous market town by merit of its strong walls, but the city itself has been turned into a gaudy carnival under the influence of Lord Wendris Effeldoff. The inhabitants of the town sleep during the day, and come out at night to gaily sing, dance, and drink the night away. Of course, it is all a tragic farce, as Effeldoff forbids any of his townspeople to leave Ladreli under punishment of death. Effeldoff finances his madness by selling off many of his less enthusiastic subjects, one by one, to House Rastev or Sarançu. Of course, it is not slavery in the strictest sense, but being sent to either of those houses is effectively a death sentence, far worse than putting up with Wendris. For this reason, the people of Ladreli try to outdo each other each night, as their neighbors look on with revulsion and amusement. Surely it is only a matter of time until someone puts Wendris out of his misery…surely…
House Effeldoff – A dancing bear on a field of motley.
[10] Altyra – Lord Arrick Shulensii
A few days’ ride from Ladreli, Altyra could not be different from that town. Spare and spartan where Ladreli is gaudy and commercial, Altyra is a sturdy hill fortress, guarding the wan and deserted lands below. The knights defending it are not a traditional house, but rather an alliance of men sworn to Shulensi. Mostly discarded younger noble sons who have wandered far from home, they have been gathered by Lord Arrick Shulensii. Originally Arrick Kalyesi, he abandoned his house (after a personal revelation) to dedicate himself to the service of Shulensi, doing battle for the meek and the defenseless. As a quest you could not find one more quixotic, but the new idea of ascetic devotion to a god in a warrior brotherhood seems to be catching on among landless sons looking for a job.
The Sons of Shulensi set up shop near Ladreli to keep the painted raiders or House Rastev from rolling over the town and killing everyone in sight, and thus far they have managed to do so. Lord Arrick is generally respected far more than the errant Lord Wendris, though the local calls for intervention have fallen on deaf ears; Arrick considers the Sons of Shulensii to be protectors, not rulers. Even so, Shulensii and Effeldorf forces have already clashed over the issue of peasants fleeing from Ladreli to Altyra.
As of now their strength isn’t great enough to challenge either Rastev or the painted raiders directly, but the brotherhood is strong enough at least to keep Rastev on his side of the Enmire for now. Far more pressing is the trouble the brother-knights are having with farming their own crops…maybe they should take over Ladreli after all…
The Sons of Shulensi – A mailed fist raised high, on a field of white.
[11] Skull’s End – Lord Urthex Rastev
While Lord Sarançu metes out cruelty with a purpose, Rastev delights in cruelty for cruelty’s sake. With a towering mountain on one side, and the impenetrable swamps of the Enmire on the other, Skull’s End is not a place where anyone would want to live, unless they were a blackhearted pirate, which Rastev is. The land around Skull’s End, while virtually impossible to take without a large fleet and army, has no timber, or arable land, or anything of use. Skull’s End itself is a large but ramshackle assembly of haphazardly rebuilt walls and towers. Others lived here once, but their names and purposes have been lost, except to perhaps some dusty forgotten tome in the Pale City.
As an openly declared pirate lord, Rastev has attracted a crowd of criminals, unemployed mercenaries, and ne’er do wells, filling his cavernous hall with the feasting and drinking of their pilfered booty before the pirate lord’s throne. The rise of Count Sarançu has alarmed Rastev, as a powerful regional lord coming to power in the Far Lands would mean the end of his heyday of violence and chaos. He wouldn’t mind being that sort of a power himself, though that comes secondary to his main pastime of piracy. He has already viciously raided Sarançu’s port of Duston, and threatens to do more if the Count does not respond, which he surely will. An escalating feud is in the making, and there are no depths to which the pirate lord will not sink to win.
In addition to his main holding, Rastev has a number of hideaways and hidden coves on the smaller islands of the southern coast, populated by lesser pirate captains. While they typically work alone, in a time of crisis Rastev could raise as many as twenty ships. It is rumored that Duke Tarquelin pays him a bribe not to attack his personal fleet.
House Rastev – The skeleton of a horned lion rampant, on black.
