Recent History of the Greenweald Baronies
Updated in Summer 225
The following details notable events that have affected the Greenweald Baronies since the founding of the Concord during 221. While presented in an approximately linear manner, this page will follow particular events, threats, or concerns. The events herein are focused on particularly Greenweald concerns and do not cover events with wider reaching effects.
The Red Butcher of Wolstad
Baron Eugen Arnmeyer, ‘The Last Old Baron’ (as in, the last pre-Concordian Baron), in one of his last actions, had captured a monster of notable danger and ordered the creature (known as an ‘Eisen Beast’) brought to the outskirts of Wolstad so that it might be studied and then hunted. Old traditions held that the Champion of the Baronies be chosen by the foremost name within the ‘Slayers Grimoire’, an old tome that held the kills of Greenweald heroes. However as the tome was blank, the Eisen Beast was offered up as a first sacrifice. After a rudimentary period of study (the Houndspriests who would undertake such a task were dispersed and disorganised at the time), the beast was released and the heroes of the Weald were set upon its trail.
In a reversal of fortunes unplanned for by the late Baron, the beast not only eluded the heroes, but nearly slew a number of them. Retreating from the hunt, the beast fled into the outskirts of Wolstad.
Over 221-222AE the newly dubbed ‘Red Butcher of Wolstad’ hunted the people of the then-capital of Resinderholz mercilessly. It slew dozens and fed upon their blood with its barbed form. From the central streets around the city core, to the far flung cabins, the Butcher hunted and slew civilians in their homes. Even the attempts of the Champion of the Baronies, Ritter Valrick Thanshaw, were foiled and nearly resulted in his death.
Eventually, the origins of the Butcher were discovered; the burial cairn of the Wealdsage that wrought it, as this was the first of the Eisen Beasts. Late in the year a cohort of Greenweald heroes descended in the cairn of Gabrielle Slaugh, she who created the Red Butcher, the Baronsbane, the Blutharvest, the Eisen Beast. Hidden away in that burial mound they dispersed the spirit of Slaugh, and slew the Red Butcher of Wolstad, although they did so at great cost to themselves.
Since that dark Summer night Eisen Beasts have been seen in lesser and lesser amounts across Resinderholz, and none of them have risen to the level of power as the first among them, the Red Butcher of Wolstad.
The Blasserstreit
Given the role Blasserstreit had in pushing Resinderholz into joining the Concord, it should come as little surprise that it was constantly present in the Baronies. There have been numerous outbreaks across the region in the five years since the founding of The Concord. They are summarised here:
- Mugen and Amelstadt Outbreaks: Notable outbreaks in 221/222AE in the North-East of the Barony. Noted for them being the first deployment of ‘Al’Asah’s Antidote’ and the first time Concordian heroes responded to a Blasserstreit outbreak and made the ultimate choices regarding the fate of their people.
- The Zekartaal Outbreak of Krezenberg: During 224AE a tribe of Zekartaal arrived outside Krezenberg and encamped there as they suffered from starvation and Blasserstreit. Initial contact caused a small outbreak in Krezenberg as well. Under the guidance of Baroness Grasshoff the Krezenberg outbreak was treated and under the guidance of Champion Lavinia Fischer, the Zekartaal were allowed to succumb to their illness and then burned.
- The Great Outbreak of the Shadowroot War: The invasion of 225AE by the Onyx Aristocracy saw a mass outbreak across the Sableheart that threatened to consume the Barony. Thousands of cases were reported and hundreds of deaths hung in the balance as the war waged. The full outcome remains to be known.
The Graven Glade
Discovered by accident during the fighting against Brother Ash near Eisen in Winter 223, the Graven Glade was a vast field of gravestones split by a gnarled copse. Within this copse was a grand statue and mausoleum to a horrific creature known as ‘Vanguul the Feaster’.
Exploring the Glade revealed hundreds of gravestones belonging to the initial settlers of the Barony. Those many failed expeditions to settle this place given one final resting place. Their names were Artebazzani, Drummondite, Esterran and more, and they went on and on.
Eventually expeditions descended into the vaults below the mausoleum of Vanguul and foul discoveries were made. While they are not spoken of openly, and are even rarer put to parchment, what was discovered there shed moonlight on the history of the Barony and its Sovereigns, those beasts and curses of great power that rule the Weald.
The Graven Glade is still found two days' travel north-east of Eisen, and while the twisting paths of the Weald sometimes obscure its location, it is always present, ready for new occupants to join its silent companions.
The Harbringers
The same invasion that revealed the Graven Glade, also brought the Harbringer Stands. A creation of Brother Ash, the Zekartaal Grand Shaman. The Harbringer Stands were initially regarded as a sparse danger, something that the Shaman had dotted across his advance in the north. But as the year progressed the shape of the danger became better understood.
The Harbringers, massive cursed carrionwood trees that projected malevolent magical energies that corrupted the bodies, minds, and souls of those near them, were far more numerous than first thought. Particularly focused around the North West of the Barony where their overlapping magical influence created an area of nightmare that was impenetrable. This area became known as ‘The Harbringers Nightmare’ and was widely understood to be a weakness in the Concordian defences as the cruel energies had no effect on the Zekartaal, who could use the path to assault Resinderholz without warning.
Very few Harbringer Stands have been destroyed, with the broad consensus being the eventual destruction of ~3. Most notable of these being ‘The Vale of Grieving Woe’, a Harbringer on the outskirts of the Nightmare destroyed by Greenweald Heroes under the command of Chapter Kaptain Volker Klein of Houndspriest Chapter Kristov, in Autumn 225AE.
For now, the Harbringers remain an immense danger across the north of the Realm and the Nightmare is of utmost concern.
The Mouldwalkers
Throughout 223, Resinderholz was troubled with growing interactions with shapechanging creatures known as ‘Shadura’ or ‘Mouldwalkers’. These simple-minded creatures would impersonate Greenwealders of the realm and attempt to understand basic facts about the Barony. In many circumstances they were discovered quickly. However there have been a number of high-profile instances where even Concordian heroes were revealed to be shapechangers.
After 223 instances of shapechangers, particularly Shadura became less and less common. It is widely assumed that the meddling creatures were either slain by Houndspriests, died among the Baronies' many maladies, or found what they were looking for and departed.
The Fae Queen
224 saw the arrival of violent and uncouth creatures from the depths of the Sableheart. Known as Boghoffens, these creatures are dangerous and foul mixtures of insect, plant, fae, and human forms. They delight in petty violence, prankery, and cruelty. A nuisance to the Sableheart and the northern reaches of Lerona Mere, it took considerable effort on the part of both realms to stem the tide of the painful creatures, putting pressure on realmic relations.
More concerning was the Boghoffens' announcements that they served a larger power; The Fae Queen of the Sableheart. This Fae Queen had awoken from slumber and laid claim to the entire territory of the Sableheart and beyond from deep within the arcane-infused woods.
What followed was actually quite a considerable conflict, where the Sableheart became occupied by the forces of the Fae Queen and Wolstad was besieged by armies of foul-smelling, fouler-acting Boghoffens. As the conflict reached its zenith there was a moment of peace as the children of the Concordian Academy brokered a ceasefire and a possible treaty between the Concord and the Fae Queen in late 224.
However this treaty was firmly declined by The Concordian Senate at the autumn summit of 225AE. The threat of the Fae Queen to return to war was cut short by a greater predator within the space. The invasion of Danakka Rimortis and the plague it wrought (combining with the predations of the Fae Queen to form ‘The Shadowroot War’), complicated matters, but also blunted the initial threat of the Fae Queen. As of Spring 225 it remains unclear what the intentions of the Fae Queen will be in the future, but it is unlikely to be friendly.
The New Butchers of Wolstad
Not all threats to the Baronies are magical, some are very human. Following the arrival of a Lerona Mere gang into Wolstad with the intent of claiming control of the city's criminal underworld, violence erupted across Wolstad. The violence was between the city's foremost gang ‘The New Butchers of Wolstad’ and this group of imported Lerona Mere thugs.
While the Lerona Mere were quickly dispatched, the ascendant ‘New Butchers’ became a concern for the Barony which was suffering many maladies in early 225. After a pair of senatorial grand inquests and numerous actions by both the Baroness Grasshoff and other agents of the Barony, the Butchers have been pushed from Wolstad itself. However many of their leaders have escaped judgment and arrest.