A Region of The Greenweald Baronies
Southernmost of the Greenweald Baronies, Resinderholz is a place of rumour and legend. Being so close to neighbouring regions, it is often in Resinderholz that non-Wealders experience the forests maligning corruption for the first time. As such the Greenwealders of the Resinderholz can be more understanding of outsiders, if not actually hospitable.
To the Wealders, Resinderholz is known for its low canopy, it's more insidious corruption, and its role as a gateway to the Baronies. A place where hunters lurk in the darkness off the road, rather than barrelling onto the road itself. However the light of civilisation brings monsters of its own.
The leaders of Resinderholz put particular effort into halting the spread of Blasserstreit in the past, fearful that the disease spreading into neighbouring regions would destroy any goodwill towards the Baronies and result in a humanitarian crisis of untold magnitude.
While not one of the most powerful baronies in the past, Resinderholz now stands as the final survivor, the home of the Baronies for whatever the future brings.
The Towns
Once the seat of the Barons of Resinderholz, Wolstad is the largest city in Resinderholz, and at nearly some 45,000 souls, is larger than many other Greenwealder settlements have been. A vast amount of the city’s population is drawn from its position, being a great trading post for Greenwealder Mercenaries, Merchants and Monks. The city is known throughout for its religious sites, including the Weltschmerz Abbey, a massive church dedicated to Lumos and Cervitas whose belltower rises high over the city, and The Gravetree, a dead oak nearly as tall as Weltschmerz Abbey that is festooned with the blades of defeated Greenwealders, holy to Arcadian. Wolstad continues to grow even as Resinderholz does. Even Baron Schwarz moving the Baronial Quarters to Krezenberg in 223 has done little to stall the importance of the city.
North-East by nearly a week's travel, Eisen is a far different and smaller city compared to its southern counterpart. Originally a camp for training Greenwealder soldiers, the town grew up around this concept. Forges, training fields, surgeons quarters and schools of military leadership are to be found here. As the northernmost settlement of any real size, Eisen has become the centre of the Greenwealds response to the Zekartaal wartribes. Notable is the Eisen Orchard, stretching out along the rivers western bank south of the township, its massive Thunderoaks looming over the surrounding woods. Eisen's most notable structure is the Eisen College of War, the only functioning Ritter college in all of Baronies, the College was rebuilt by Baroness Saskia in 222AE and has since been training new Ritters. This functions as a Sanctum for the Ritters Guild in Resinderholz.
Previously a place between places, Krezenberg has grown to prominence since 222AE. During an invasion by the Zekartaal lead by Brother Ash, various Havens in the northern Ravensreach found shelter in Krezenberg, which itself was under the protection of General Lavinia Fischer and the Legion of the Blackheart Bear. After the invasion was thwarted many chose to remain, growing the town considerably. The decision by Baron Schwarz to move the Baronial Quarters to Krezenberg in 223AE was a controversial one but emphasises the growing importance of Resinderholz's frontier regions. Alongside the Baronial Quarters, Houndspriest Chapter Kristov was moved from Wolstad as well by the late Baron, establishing a new sanctum and headquarters in the Old Krezenberg Monastery.
The Roads
Tracing the southern edge of the Greenweald, The Gap travels west from Lerona Mere, Passage and Wolstad towards the Tribelands and the new Andashi capital of Obregon. A busy road, the Greenweald makes its presence known when the road passes through the Hunters Wood. Given its distance from Wolstad and other Greenweald hamlets, The Gap is sparsely patrolled and the nights spent beneath the canopy are some of the most dangerous when travelling the road.
Conversely, The Barons Road is both well patrolled and maintained. As the main artery through Resinderholz, a traveller from Wolstad to Eisen could spend each night in a roadhouse, churchyard or hamlet and would be unlikely to go a day without passing a Houndspreist, Mercenary Band or Roadsmarshall somewhere along the way. The taxes to keep this route in this manner are not small but for all the hamlets that connect to The Barons Road, it is not a question.
Branching off from The Barons Road to the East, The Crusaders Road pushes towards a large stone bridge that crosses the Eisen River near Lake Ladure. Originally named for warriors that would travel from Eisen Vassertal in pursuit of onflict with the Zekartaal, it has taken on a new meaning in reference to Greenwealder soldiers that would man positions along the forest's edge with the Kingdom of Bordevar, looking out for armoured knights come seeking magical treasures.
The Lands
The Ravensreach Wilds makes up nearly half of Residerholz’s total area. Encompassing all the land north of the Barons Road to where the oaks fail to compete with birch and fir trees, marking the edges of the Resinderholz and the start of Verlorenherz. The Ravensreach Wilds are the truest representation of the Greenweald Baronies, sparse and scattered hamlets working the land amidst ancient trees that look on with hungry eyes. Many dangerous creatures prowl the Ravensreach wilds, from vicious Thorncrows as large as a dog, through to sluggish but acidic Blugrough Beast. Beyond dangerous creatures, the Ravensreach is known for its place as a battleground between Greenwealders and the Zekartaal skirmishers, with few decisive battles but hundreds of small clashes.
South across the Barons Road and stretching up into the foothills of the Western Steinvault Mountains, The Sableheart is a different beast that the Ravensreach. With colder winds blowing down from the mountains and across Lake Ladure, much of the Sableheart is a cool place with even snow in certain deep winters. Here, where the trees grow oppressively close together, as if they were huddling for warmth, the danger comes from magic, from forest magi, bloodthirsty fae and a soil itself that is tainted against the raising of homes. Villages in the Sableheart tend to be larger, due to the effort to clear space, but as such are fewer between.
The Hunters Wood is neither massively different from the Ravensreach or large enough to be worthy of its own attention, but its role as a thin sliver of rooted artery that connects Esterra’s South Western forests to the Greenweald and its position as barrier between West and East have given the wood its own mystique. With the variety of people making the journey through The Gap, the dangers of The Hunters Wood have gained a hunger and skill for the skin and flesh of humanity. A danger that is only growing.
The newest, and possibly most concerning danger in Resinderholz is the Harbringers Nightmare. A wide stretch of gnarled firs and oaks in the far north west of the Barony, the region is infested by Harbringer Stands. These dangerous and corruptive icons were crafted by the Cabal of Brother Ash during his invasion in 222AE. Wrought from the arcane infused forms of Carrionwood, a single Harbringer Stand and their dangerous influence can bring a township to destruction. A pair of them supporting each other can doom a territory. Rumour has it that there are as many as fifteen within the Harbringers Nightmare, an impenetrable crux of arcane danger and doom.
The Waters
For some, The Eisen River forms the true Eastern border of Resinderholz, and any attempts to hold the beachhead beyond it is foolish. This deep but calm river flows south from within Vassertal, pushing the wheels of Eisens mills before flowing steadily into Lake Ladure. The river is largely free of bogs or marshes, those being more common to the north and south, and is instead known for its fish, including the Lockfish (a heavily whiskered sturgeon) and the Eisenfeeder (a large and aggressive Lamprey.)
While firmly within the lands of the Kingdom of Bordevar, Lake Ladure’s shore is home to some small Greenwealder settlements. Fishing on the generally flat lake is good work, and often quite safe. For the Greenwealders, Lake Ladure as a barrier much the same as their woods, that makes the border with Bordevar that much simpler.
The Heights
Impossible to claim or control, The Western Steinvault Mountains present an impenetrable barrier and Resinderholz’s south eastern border. These colossal mountains stretch eastwards, forming the northern ridge of the Iron Valley. Standing fast against the forest, the Steinvaults are ancient and defy the corruption of the Greenweald through their might.
Visible only on the horizon from the Greenweald, The Lungo Elsa are smaller than the Steinvaults but are deeply important to the Lerona Mere, whose land their stand within. The Northernmost tip of ‘The Blade’, they stretch far to the South West.