See also Iron Valley Historic Events
The Age of Stone
The history of the Iron Valley has no start, it always was. People have lived in the foothills of Windholme and Brotherslee for thousands of years, raising livestock, hunting and existing in small family clans. From these clans came a simple religion of three parts that worshipped the skilled hunters of the lands. The Stone Bear, Iron Wolf and Star Owl. Those who died would walk in the footsteps of these beasts and those that managed to catch up to these spiritual creatures would be born again as one of those creatures. This faith rewarded strength and endurance (Stone Bear), skill and cunning (Iron Wolf), wisdom and faith (Star Owl).
As the population increased the Valleyfolk spread far and wide, encountering a wide variety of peoples, such as the forest-dwelling Bailites, the warring Bayfolk, and agricultural Endemani to the North. In some cases they fought, but the Age of Stone was generally a time of trade. Life was simpler and it was far harder for people to become expert craftsfolk, meaning that your neighbours were far more often a source of needed goods than a point of conflict.
In this age existed some of the oldest Iron Valley heroes, whose tales are some of the most outlandish. Dori The Narwhal, who gathered up his entire village in his arms and swam to the ‘Eastern Land’ to overcome a drought (used to teach children the importance of doing their part). Bundrendar The Massive, who lifted the heaviest stone in the land (which has since been lost, some say Bundrendar threw it into the sun), and Kafrida the Carver, who wrote the first histories of the Valley into the stones of the Steinvaults (in a raunchy limerick).
It is broadly agreed upon that The Age of Stone began to draw to an end around 750BE with the creation of Baelags Holdfast. As the Valley and surrounding lands had become more wealthy and skilled, the ties that bound the land together in codependence faded away. Protected from danger and masters of their lands, the Valleyfolk dwelled in strength, ensuring that the next age would be one of War.
The Age of Steel
The Age of Steel is marked by numerous conflicts both within the Valley and eventually without. During this time The Valleyfolk would refine many skills they are still known for, such as construction, warfare and violent directness.
The first events of note were the ‘Mountain Wars’. A series of conflicts fought throughout the Iron Valley as the high places attempted to find unity. Various Warlords, Royalty, and Religious leaders gathered power and supporters; they attempted to gain control over each other and rarely through diplomacy. Great figures such as Red Makrod The Slayer (Who gathered an army of berserkers and raided from the Valley for sixty years), Freydis Longarm (who assassinated the Forest King Kasiox and cursed the Bailites to fear the Valley), and ‘Unther the Many’ who appears in more fables than any other hero of Iron Valley legend (despite rarely doing anything of note) wandered the land during these times.
These Mountain Wars did succeed in sharing a unified cultural experience across the high places. Common clothing, language, and styles coalesced into something recognisable as a primitive version of what is seen today. This led the Warlord Baelag the Ninth to declare himself High King of the Iron Valley (or King of the High Iron Valley, records differ), which immediately began ‘The Last Mountain War’ as the valley split into two warring factions. Those that supported a single unified ruler and those that didn’t.
In the face of a defined system of rulership, the rebels needed their own system as a guiding star. They drew from the Iron Valley’s history of family clans and local leaders, from before the Age of Steel corrupted it with greed. They championed the cause of small-scale leadership, where each group of Valleyfolk would be sovereign and only give up that sovereignty if they chose so. Baelag’s declaration that he was chosen by the Stone Bear, Iron Wolf and Star Owl were empty, his attempt to sanctify his greed.
In a moment when his guards were missing and his fortress undefended, Caldreda Seacaller, Reave of Anderslee would climb to the top of Baelag’s fortress and throw him from it. Ending the Last Mountain War and ensuring that the Valley would have no king, and the new system of local boroughs would spread across their lands.
But the Valley was still a martial culture, and with their own wars put aside, they began to war on others. The history of conflict between the Iron Valley and the Bailites of the south is a long one, but it was The Axemans War that put an end to it. Nearly thirty years of grinding conflict consumed both cultures. For some years it was an extreme war with sieges and grand battles, but for many, it was a constant state of skirmish and raid. Both nations toyed with success but in the end, Bailes Fealtoiri and Fein fell, their kings were deposed. They were named as Thralls, required to pay tithe to the High Valley and swear fealty to the High Council of Reaves. As a defensive buffer and access to the Bay of Promised Gold, Baile Abhein was granted recognition as Boslterlee, becoming part of the Iron Valley, if the Low Valley at that. Finally, Baile Lochra, southernmost and poorest, remained independent. King Lysax the Wild being too canny and thorny to be removed.
Its is broadly thought that the arrival of the Artebazzani settlement of Posta Lerona heralded the drawdown of the Age of Steel. Just as the changes hundreds of years ago had shifted the nature of the Valley, so would the outside make itself known in pursuit of change.
The Age of Stars
The Age of Stars speaks to looking outward and upwards. It is in this Age that the Valley would learn more of the world than ever before, would change time after time and will become what we know today.
The Cult of Nicolo swept through the Iron Valley from West to East, as citizens of Bolsterlee interacted with believers from Artebazzan. The worship of the bestial trio of the Iron Valleys' past had slowly faded over hundreds of years since the Last Mountain War, with the ever-pervasive ancestor worship largely replacing it. But the Church of the Divine Spheres enabled these varying emphasises on personal traits, rebirth, and setting an example to absorb the cultural practices of the Valley while also adding to them ambition, community, and knowledge which had largely been missing. The gradually complete conversion of the Valleyfolk to the Divine Spheres over one hundred years is one of the most prominent aspects of the Age of Stars.
Then cultural change became war. The First Mercenary War between Lerona Mere and The Iron Valley was a swift and damaging war that was far closer to the Last Mountain War than the Axemans War. Pitched battles of maneuver and vast sieges rather than skirmish combat and raiding. At the time, there was none better at this task than the Artebazzani Imperial Legion and the Valley found their own imperialism broken, the Age of Steel was truly over. The war resulted in the construction of the last great Iron Valley Fortress and the loss of Bolsterlee to the Lerona Mere. The Heroes of this time are far more mortal, being only one hundred years removed from life. People such as Gryphni of Abelard (who was said to be the first Summiter), Sytrkar Fairwind (the First Jarl to sail to the roof of the world and see a horse), and Deorling the Hero (whose courage, leadership and sacrifice built the newest fortress of the Iron Valley and perhaps saved their entire nation.)
With their imperial might broken, their thralls lost (along with their tithes) the Valley experienced a long malaise. They were no longer the undisputed rulers of Southern Esterra. They fought with the petty Kingdom to the North and chased after shadows past glories. For the first time, emigration began, with Valleyfolk leaving for greener pastures in Lerona Mere, Drummond and beyond. Although none would expect it to be swift, perhaps this was the long end of the Valley.
An Age of Heroes?
The Living Sea and the Risen Dead would see that the Valley’s end is swift. In thirteen years the Valley would fall, ushering in the long retreat as even the fortress of Baelag the Ninth fell to silent monsters. Pushed to the edge and with no allies, The Valley reached out for the first time in its history. It cast aside pride and history for new hope. Finding it in The Concord.
Since the signing of The Concord in Wolstad a fervour has come over the Valley. History does not end. The stones do not shift. The Valley is iron and Iron it shall remain.
We stand together.