The Cragenmarch

[Esterlen 4499]

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

THE CRAGENMARCH

THE EMPIRE’S WESTERN FRONTIER

 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

I. Introduction  

II. Background and Brief History

III. Map

IV. Settlements and Landmarks

V. Demographics 

VI. Government

 

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“In the long grass and amidst the moor, man hunted man, like wolves or antelopes. All might hunt who they wished. The outlaw sought refuge in the wild frontier, the shepherd completely armed, guarded his flocks, the elf sought his fortune, robbers sought plunder, the Imperial sought the Nordling and the Nordling sought the Imperial.”

 

An excerpt from the chronicle of Malcolm Macdroch-Armas, artillery engineer in the army of Philip III, c. 1860s.

 

I. INTRODUCTION

 

The Cragenmarch is the westernmost region of the Holy Orenian Empire, comprising the frontier bordering the territories of the Nordling tribes and the Kingdom of Haense. At the center of these untamed lands is the eponymous Lake Cragen, cradled in a valley, the various mountains and hills forming a natural border with which the area is roughly defined. Cragenmarch is mostly associated with the greater subregion of Outer Arentania within the Empire, however, it does possess a number of characteristics which render it unique. To the east lies the remainder of Outer Arentania, including Halstaig, and the forebodingly steep Arentanian alps. Lake Halstaig constitutes the easternmost point of Cragenmarch. 

 

Cragenmarch is of a temperate climate and consists mainly of rolling grasslands and karst rock formations. Perilous fens dominate the central north-west of the region. Despite the verdant appearance of those areas fed by the waters of the lake and its adjoining streams, the Cragenmarch is deceptively dry, with relatively little rainfall year-round. The climate becomes drier with greater proximity to the Cloud Mountains in the north, just over the Nordling border. The grasslands, and sparse trees, make it ideal pastoral land for grazing sheep, albeit unsuitable for growing most crops. Strange flora and fauna unknown anywhere else in the Empire thrive on this frontier, fostering a unique and thus-far mostly undisturbed ecosystem. 

 

Despite Imperial settlement, Cragenmarch is effectively a lawless land, and is one of the poorest regions of the Empire with very little noteworthy economic productivity. It exists on the fringes of the country and in the recesses of the Imperial public consciousness, having a reputation as a bleak land full of unsavory characters. 

 

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Emperor John VIII’s victory at the Battle of Outer Arentania, 1821.

 

II. BACKGROUND AND BRIEF HISTORY

 

The Cragenmarch was officially brought into the Empire with the signing of the Treaty of Providence in 1824, the document whereby the unified Nordling tribes surrendered to Emperor John VIII after their ill-fated invasion, known to historians as the Tenth Nordling War. Prior to that time, the region was effectively terra nullius - no man’s land - serving as a buffer between the Empire and the Nordlings. 

 

The original etymology behind the name ‘Cragenmarch’ is thought to originate from the Nordling krag, or kragen, believed to mean ‘fortress’. This terminology originates from a mistranslation involving a group of Imperial surveyors who made first contact with a tribe of hospitable barbarians. Through the medium of a poorly-equipped translator, the cartographers inquired as to the name of their tribe. The barbarians, who thought that the explorers were asking the name of their hill-fort, responded that it was the ‘krag’. These tribesmen would become known to Imperials as the Kragens, and this name subsequently lent itself to the nomenclature for the broader region. The Kragens - whose true name was never discovered - would eventually disappear without a trace, their fort subsequently becoming overrun with criminals and dubbed Fort Alba.

 

For many decades after the Tenth Nordling War and Imperial acquisition the frontier remained uninhabited by civilized parties, with most regional investment focused on closer and more arable parts of Arentania. Settlement of Cragenmarch began in earnest in the 1850s, when Borderpost Centurion was constructed as an Imperial State Army outpost. In that same decade, the Duke of Azor’s government invited a number of Uradran dark elven clans to colonize the borderlands and guard them against the rapacious tribesmen to the north. 

 

There are some rumors that there is silver to be found in Cragenmarch, as exists in the remainder of Arentania. However, thus far, prospectors who have ventured to the region have left disappointed, or not at all. 

 

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“Never shoulda come here!” 

 

A former Alstionish aristocrat, having fallen on hard times and taken up life as a Cragenmarch outlaw.

 

III. MAP

 

Preliminary surveys complete. Map to be published at a later time. 

 

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An Uradran hunting camp in the hills of the Cragenmarch.   

 

IV. SETTLEMENTS AND LANDMARKS

 

Fort Alba

 

Originally constructed as the krag of a local barbarian tribe whose endonym is lost to history, Fort Alba was later settled by Imperial exiles when these tribesmen disappeared without a trace. The exiles were rebel supporters of the forgotten Alstion family, who later turned to itinerant banditry and named the castle Fort Alba, after one of their old holdings. The gang of outlaws terrorized the Cragenmarch for decades using Fort Alba as their hideout, until they were driven off in 1860. 

 

Since that time, Fort Alba has served as the seat of the governor of Cragenmarch. Despite its new occupants, it retains the decrepit character of a bandit hideout far more than it resembles a governor’s residence. 

 

Bosara

 

Bosara is a village founded and inhabited by the semi-nomadic Uradran clans as part of their colonization of the Cragenmarch. It is a small hamlet where dark elves tend to their cash crops.

 

Centurion 

 

Centurion is an Imperial Army outpost in Cragenmarch on the borders of Nordlingia, erected in 1856. It is poorly garrisoned and is primarily used to observe the tribes from a safe distance.

 

Crowsvetch

 

The tower of Crowsvetch is a mysterious building located in the southern part of Cragenmarch, near to the road leading into the region. It is rumored to be home to a conclave of dark wizards, although this is surely an exaggeration. 

 

Edenia

 

Edenia is a small village in the northwest of Cragenmarch, atop a mountain that forms a natural barrier with the land of the Nordling tribes. Very little is known about the tribe who inhabits it, the Edenites, although they are not believed to be related to the Nordlings.

 

Nordlingfall

 

Nordlingfall is the colloquial name for the location of the Battle of Outer Arentania, where the Imperial Army defeated the invasion of the united Nordling tribes in 1821. Thousands of combatants from both sides are buried here, which attracts the interests of both historians and rogue necromancers. It is a dour and unnerving place where one cannot dig for half-an-hour without finding bones.

 

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Seamus O’Carroll, a notorious Harrenite highwayman and living folk hero in the Cragenmarch.

 

V. DEMOGRAPHICS

 

Life in Cragenmarch is bleak, and so those that survive here are typically hard, ruthless and miserly. The region is thinly populated. The Harrenite presence is more evident in the east, closer to Lake Halstaig. Non-Harrenite Imperials are settled in the area mostly as part of the barebones Imperial governance of the province, including the rare soldier. Semi-nomadic dark elves known as Uradrans constitute the majority of the region’s population, having settled the pastoral grasslands at the invitation of the Duke of Azor some time in the 1850s. These mali’ker clans are experts at living in harsh and unforgiving locales, forming semi-military communities in order to thrive in the most inhospitable of places.

 

Warbands of Nordlings or stateless criminals, bandits and highwaymen are frequently found wandering Cragenmarch or encamping themselves in cave hideouts. As an Imperial province, the overwhelming majority of the region’s inhabitants are Imperial subjects, and the humans of this number typically belong to the Canonist faith. However, most Uradrans confess a mysterious religion known as the Kheltiruai. Polytheistic folk faiths are also intermittently present in the area.

 

Low Imperial (Common), Ancient Elven and Nordling are all spoken to varying degrees in the Cragenmarch.

 

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“The Cragenmarch is the far country, beyond which Nordlings scratch a living off rocks. There are insects there the size of dogs, nothing grows, and it is full of dark elves. There’s nothing there worth crossing the alps for. But if you’re hiding from the law… that’s a different story.”

 

Vincente Falcone, an Imperial ‘businessman’ of ill repute, c. 1859.

 

VI. GOVERNMENT

 

As a frontier province on the fringes of the Empire, Cragenmarch is one of the least efficiently run places in the country. Crime and corruption are both rampant. The local government frequently pays raucous outlaws to keep the order as an amateur police force, however, other outlaws extort the locals under threat of violence. There are not substantially enough Imperial soldiers garrisoned there to make a difference.

 

The current governor of Cragenmarch is Horace Strickland, a grossly obese Imperial gentryman who comes from a long line of colonial administrators dating back to the early 18th century. 

 

List of governors of Cragenmarch

 

Horace Strickland (1859 - present)

 

[Narthok 10416]

Spoiler

you can write this epic blog post with tiny font but can't write a forum poast for me. I see how it is...

 

[Nectorist 12869]

Governor Horace Strickland overlooks the rather barren, desolate lands of the Cragenmarch. His once-esteemed line, serving capably in the Imperial bureaucracy since the time of Peter III, had fallen into great disfavor by the reign of Joseph II, with a few family members having joined the Sedanites in their insurrection against the crown. With the power vacuum in the aftermath of the Aster Revolution, Strickland had used his few remaining connections to secure him a spot as governor of this small, insignificant province. It was from here that he would restore his family's name and return them to the graces of the Imperial Crown.

[Axelu 4333]

12 minutes ago, Nectorist said:

Governor Horace Strickland overlooks the rather barren, desolate lands of the Cragenmarch. His once-esteemed line, serving capably in the Imperial Bureaucracy since the time of Peter III, had fallen into great disfavor by the reign of Joseph II, with a few family members having joined the Sedanites in their insurrection against the crown. With the power vacuum available in the aftermath of the Aster Revolution, Strickland had used his few remaining connections to secure him a spot as governor of this small, insignificant province. It was from here that he would restore his family's name and return them to the graces of the Imperial family.

The widowed Dowager Countess of Temesch considers remarriage with the captivating governor Strickland, although only for a moment. She’d best not let temptation take hold of her.

[Taketheshot 3834]

 

Elvvis Bethke trudged into the markets of Bosara, a healthy possession of withered crops within his clutches that were all between him starvation of his family. Halted by an Imperial State Army Trooper Elvvis perked his brow. "Wha's goin on 'ere sirrah, Ah've just come to sell moi crops!" The soldier in the polished armor grinned a yellow smile. "Not today you 'avent, youve come to delivah govnah Stricklands crops..."

 

The Dunmer could do nothing as the corrupt soldier of the Imperial State Army stole his crops, he would have no choice but to seek employment within the Urguani ranks now, that is how he would earn his living, and hopefully support his family.  

[Hephaestus 1326]

Spoiler

 

 

 

Bolnor Bentley, aptly dubbed the 'Buckshot of Bosara,' quietly mulled over n'wah slander and libel of his home province. "Oh, ho! Now, these fellers' seem to think they know a lot about my home. My home. Let me tell you sum'n': you know nothin'!"

[LithiumSedai 5750]

Roy Mor sat atop the crumbling wall of Alba, the "governor's residence", missive in hand, watching the still-standing Alstion flag above fluttering in the wind in contemplation. His presence had previously sent a number of Providence thrill-seekers fleeing in terror, no doubt having mistaken him for an "Alstion outlaw". The Daelishman considered their mismatched garbs - wigs paired with striped Carolustadt breeches and ill-fitted Pertinaxi cuirasses and padded shirts; Aurelian fashions were, although clumsily applied, once more in vogue now that the Orenian ministries have scrubbed the records of a century of war and persecution, insisting once more that their rule derived from the mighty and Divine Emperor Aurelius and not the Glorious Josephite revolution anymore, once they saw the need for Pertinaxi blades in the wake of the Siege of Southbridge.

 

He had never harbored any particular connection to the cause, or any significant affection towards the old ruin - he had no real ill will towards the Orenians, and he and his Daelish kin had moved from Fort Alba to Savoy two decades before the Imperial cuirassiers supposedly conquered the "bandit fort" and drove them out - though there was a sense that, with some repairs, it could have stayed a good home for both Alstion and Gromach. Another glance at the missive, however, seemed to reassure him as he realized...

 

His kin already lived in Imperial heads rent-free.