See also Greenweald Baronies Historic Events
The Foundings
Thirty years before the establishment of Niccolo’s great church, a motley group of his followers in Southern Esterra considered the great forests that dominate the centre of the continent. This Greenweald has long existed as a natural barrier and a source of great danger. Its cursed boughs produced monsters, curses and dangerous wartribes of all kinds and was a constant fear for those nations that bordered it.
The exact motivation for the original foundings of the Baronies remains a mystery, despite its relatively recent history. Some believe it was to escape religious persecution for their worship of the Spheres, others believe it was in pursuit of greatness of the Spheres, perhaps it was a great hero, or perhaps a great curse. But for some reason, their motivation is lost to time.
What is known is that the group was largely made up of a series of Drummondite Houses (the constant warring nature of Drummond often cast off such groups), large amounts of local Esterrans (likely Bayfolk and Bailites) and smaller smatterings of others (such as Andashi wanderers and High Valleyfolk). Funded and founded by the noble Drummondite Houses, it is from these people that the Greenwealders would gain their system of governance and the deep adherence to The Spheres. From the Esterrans they would gain a superstitious streak and knowledge of the land. What remains gave them the spark of inspiration and heroism.
The first Barony settled was that of Verlorenherz under the leadership of House Bleichherz in the year 24BE. The Greenwealders, which they had come to call themselves, had spent four years travelling the forest, leaving small camps everywhere in their wake. They were still learning to survive in this place, protected by their religious dedication and what weapons they could muster. These small camps would grow to become many settlements seen today, but it was the Castle Oxstone in Verlorenherz that was the first deliberate settlement, although some would argue the Abbey at Wolstad is older than it.
It was little more than ten years before the Baronies at Ritterswald, Resinderholz and Vassertal were settled (in that order). There have been scattered histories as to what allowed for such an expansion of the settling of the Greenweald, but those records are thought to have been lost with the fall of Castle Oxstone to the Zekartaal. What is known is that the first Council of the Baronies was held in 19AE, in Verlorenherz. It agreed upon the borders of each Barony, formally bound them as four distinct polities that would be obliged to defend each other in times of war and offer aid in times of peace. While not truly one nation, the Baronies were a unified league more so than independent groups.
The Quartet Years
Following this agreement, a period of growth and consolidation lasting more than a hundred years began. Known as the Quartet Years (referring to the four baronies) it was the greatest time of peace in the Greenweald. Which is to say it was constantly endangered from both within and without.
The greatest change was the disempowerment of the Barons between 52AE and 60AE. For eighty years the Baronial Houses had ruled with almost complete power, raising large armies in the Drummondite tradition and using them to maintain peace and to battle the forest. However such a tactic is in itself defeating. The Greenweald is a reactive entity and appears to respond to strength with strength. It is said that the first eighty years of the Baronies saw some of its greatest monsters and most persevering curses. To worsen this situation, the nature of the Greenweald allows for commonfolk to obscure themselves and evade capture. This led to an overstretched military that could not protect the ruling class from its own people if discontent became civil war.
After a number of assasination attempts and uprisings in both Vassertal and Ritterswald, the baronies became changed.The Barons would retain much of their legal powers, remaining powerful rulers with advisors rather than a parliament. Local towns would elect Mayors who would act as connections between them and the Baronies. The army and constabulary would be dissolved and their duties divided. Defence of the nation from outside foes would fall to the Ritters, trained soldiers and commanders who would raise and train militias. Defence against the curses and monsters of the Weald would fall to the Church, whose Houndspriests would seek out danger with a lighter touch than hundreds of soldiers. Finally, the pursuit of criminals, spies and assassins would be the responsibility of the Huntsmarshalls guild, rather than Baronial guard.
This shift would result in a unique system of government, where the Baronial houses were in theory absolute rulers with control over legislative and judicial powers, but the executive arm of government was heavily controlled and essentially held in common with all people.
The quartet years also included skirmishes with the invading knights of Bordevar, which eventually resulted in an uneasy border after a protracted conflict between Vassertal and these new arrivals. It included the complete settlement of the Baronies from as far north as the Stillmeer (the vast inland sea that is said to have no travelers upon it) and south to the Steinvault mountains. Truly this was the height of the Baronies.
The Fall
The Fall of the Baronies has lasted nearly seventy years, but even in this it has felt inexorable as the Zekartaal and Blasserstreit undid more than two hundred years of history.
First to fall was Ritterswald, the Barony of Steel. Baron Ritter Vokker was a might tactician by all reports, a true son of the Ritterswald. But The First Shaman of The Zekartaal was a mighty foe. It took the wartribe six years and the loss of their First Shaman to the blade of the Barons son, but in the end, the great school of war in Sohnsterben was a ruin and the beasts of the Wartribe hounded the fleeing civilians south. Such was the Shaman’s War.
The Zekartaal, lead by their new trio of commanders would spill out onto the Andashi plains, claiming Sarimento and coming into conflict with the people who dwelt there. For thirty years, the trio of Baronies that remained discussed and prepared. The northern border of Verlorenherz appeared stable, there had even been limited diplomacy with the Wartribe and Baroness Meyer of Verlorenherz was confident there could be a trio of Baronies, at least in the limited future. But the revelation of a widespread cult of ‘Thorn’ and the lack of the war-minded Ritters from the north shattered this foundation.
After twenty-four years of tense inaction in the Weald, the Zekartaal came for Verlorenherz. Cultists sprang from the wilderness where their worship had rotted the seams of society, Sister Oak led warriors trained in mocking parody of Ritterswald, and the second shaman, Brother Ash brought great magic to the destruction of the Barony. While the war took six years, it was rarely a point of contention. Rather the land had erupted into such chaos that it was difficult for Zekartaal to bring all their forces to the fore. While The Shamans War had been a unified military advance, The War of Molten Moon was madness. All the danger of the Greenweald swept Verlorenherz and the destruction was complete. In the end, all that remains was Oxstone, which was crushed by shards of molten stone and magic as Brother Ash brought the moon from the sky to defeat the last holdouts of the Barony.
In this time, Both Vassertal and Resinderholz had offered aid, sending warriors and support to Verlorenherz. But the chaos made it difficult to make a true difference. The forces of Baronite Bullherz (the child of Meyer) were often cut off from the south and east. Add to this the risk of cultists of Thorn entering Vassertal or Resinderholz and it was difficult for aid to be given securely and effectively. In the end, there were only two that remained and once again conflict receded deeper into the woods. At this point, Vassertal and Resinderholz bound themselves tightly together, sharing military forces and networks of scouts. More and more powers were granted to the Huntsmarshall’s guilds as ferreting out cults and spies descended into paranoia that swept the Baronies.
But doom came once again, from within. In Eastern Vassertal, among the foothills of the mountains, a sickness grew. Trade was so sporadic here between these hidden mining towns and hunting shacks. But the wound festered, growing and changing. When the Blasserstreit finally swept along the rivers of Vassertal, it was a virulent and deadly disease. During a harsh winter where the Barony was buried under snow and its marshes froze solid, the Blasserstreit slew thousands.
While Resinderholz took refugees for a time, it once again had to cast itself free from its dying companion, just as it had with Verlorenherz. Baroness Meyer was wrong, all those years ago. The Baronies could not stand as anything less than four and they will not again be returned until they are whole. It is in this fearful future that Resinderholz found The Concord. And strength in a new unity.
See Greenweald Baronies and Greenweald Traditions for more information.