Berngaard

Languages: Talahaean, Osvari (aristocratic language,) Gaardin (folk language)
Cities: Osvar, Arvisberg, Vrahgis, Yelmsgrad (town)

Geography

Berngaard, in the north of Westhaea, is the northernmost province of the Sacred Republic, sheltered from warm northern breezes and sunlight by the looming bulk of the Goblin Bluffs, which also cast a more metaphorical shadow over the citizens of the Province. The climate is cool and dry, with warmer summers as the sun rises higher over the bluffs in the morning.
Berngaard is heavily forested with fast-growing evergreens, allowing a good trade in lumber, but its farmlands are poor. The land requires constant irrigation and fertilisation, but few farms have or use technical methods to achieve this, instead relying on extensive manual labour.
There are a number of major rivers in Berngaard. The Little Nordforce runs from the Bluffs past Vraghis, bending west through Argea, while the aptly named Short runs just a dozen or so miles from the eastern end of the Bluffs into the Aino. The River Arvis runs out of the mountain hold of Arvisberg, joining the course of the River Aelian, which flows east from the slopes of Mount Aelian.

History

Before the Regime, the land that is now known as Berngaard was home to a number of chiefdoms of various races, including many northern Goblinoids, Wood Elves and Gnomes. They were beginning to form larger tribes and early states when the Regime arrived and established their own rule over the land. For many centuries, Berngaard was a quiet, sheltered land, where contemplatives pondered the nature of the Gods. This peace was disrupted when the Regime undertook to drive all of the Goblins out of Talahaea in the wake of the Horde's involvement in the Legion War. The targets of this persecution were forced north beyond the Bluffs, but there they schemed and seethed. They clustered on the border, threatening to cross the Bluffs, and in answer the contemplatives of Bergaard took up arms – in a strictly magical fashion, mixing their clerical training with arcane practice – and moved the region to a war footing.
Many began to receive training in battle Magic from their parents, and certain families emerged who turned out more and more powerful practitioners than others. Foremost among these were the Paragons of the Aelianov Dynasty, who rose to prominence as the Regime collapsed, with the senior Paragon eventually coming to rule the sovereignty, with the title ‘Little Mother’ (or ‘Little Father’ on those occasions when the throne of the first Little Mother passed to a male Paragon.)
When the Union rose up, the Paragons responded by renouncing the crown and their arcane practice, falling back on their divine magics and joining the rebellion. A few of the older Paragons – including the last Little Father – fought, dying with their library to ensure that the rest of the bloodline would survive with their position in the Church and the Estates more or less intact.

Social/Political

Berngaard has two distinctive local cultures. The Gaardir is the culture of the lower classes, including rural serfs and the urban poor, which descends from the insular culture of the original tribes of the region, including wood elves, northern Goblins, Humans and gnomes. The Osvarir is the more prestigious culture which grew up around the Regime's governors and the contemplative orders who defined the region's external reputation and became the ruling Paragons in the time of the Sovereigns.
The bulk of Gaardiri are rural serfs, belonging to the land. This means that they are beholden to the estate where they are born and raised, and without liberty to relocate or take initiative in developing their working methods. Those in the towns and cities have a little more liberty, but often live in even more grinding poverty, although some have managed in recent years to establish themselves as merchants. Although the infantry levies who form the numerical bulk of the military are drawn from the Gaardir, they are not permitted to own personal weapons or armour of steel - muster halls about the country provide both training space and armouries for these levy forces - and as a result, rural communities often prove easy prey to bandits and other opportunists.
The Osvarir are the upper class, encompassing the nobility, landed gentry and established merchant families. The Osvarir are also associated with the military culture of Berngaard, and the Gaardiri levies are led by a hereditary Osvari officer class. Senior church members are also most likely to be Osvarir, given the level of education needed for advancement. The Estates in Berngaard continue to control much of the economy, with the Guilds a growing, but still relatively modest power bloc in the province. The rural estates are managed by local officers called boyars, who are not themselves - usually - noble, but instead work for the owners. Urban areas larger than a small town are governed by mayors, who are elected by and from the Osvarir population.
There is a substantial gap between rich and poor, with the Gaardir peasantry working the land in a state of virtual slavery and Osvarir nobles - in particular the Premier - or the Church owning almost all of the land. Achieving any sort of status is only possible for Osvariri, and those raised in the Gaardir and wishing advancement are invariably required to steep themselves in Osvarir culture and language in order to get ahead. This is a difficult thing to achieve, given the expense in money and time required for education, and social mobility is rare except among Gaardirir merchant families. Criticism of this inequality is usually met with assurances that the system is 'necessary for the security of the province and Republic.'
The civil government is based in Osvar, on the slopes of Mount Aeilan, and headed by the Premier, who is the hereditary heir of the former royal family. The extended family of the Premier hold many important offices, thanks less to direct nepotism than to the inequalities in educational opportunities which favour those whose parents already have power and status. Familial association with the Exemplars of the Little Mother (a paladin order swearing the Oath of the Crown) cements the links between Church and Estates, and coupled with the threat of the Goblin Fiefdoms and Giants to the north, the Guilds in Berngaard have little power compared to those in other Provinces, and the Estates control much of the economy.
Berngaard suffers a major trade deficit, which is made up by support from the rest of the Republic in recognition of the province’s security role. In addition, the border forces launch raids against goblin farms in the more militant fiefdoms, both to bolster their supplies and to reduce the enemy’s.
The province attracts more than its share of suspicion from the greater authorities of the Sacred Republic, because of the current administration's ties to the Sovereigns, and the continuing militaristic outlook of the province, which makes it one of the most powerful in terms of armed strength, second only to Malahma.

Notable Factions

Exemplars of the Little Mother

The Examplars of the Little Mother are a paladin order of the Church that was formed from those members of the old paragon bloodlines and their households who threw in with the rebellion in the War of Hubris. They revere the Little Mothers and Fathers as holy sages, and swear their fealty to Church and Crown.

Osvar Dragoons

The Dragoons are a mobile infantry force, formed mostly of the second children of wealthy families, who defend the capital against attack. Given the limited need for that defence, the Dragoons also serve as a roving security force, upolding the laws of the Republic and the decrees of the Premier.

Drovangir (Peacebringers)

The Drovangir are Berngaard's security service. Uniformed officers of the Drovangir organise and oversee the activities of local watches and the road wardens, but it is the officers who do not wear uniforms, the secret police, who are truly feared.

Angrathir (Lightbearers)

The Angrathir are the 'philosophical defenders' of Berngaard;s status quo, a force of soldier-scholars trained to counter the growth of dissident ideologies. Some simply engage in debate with radicals, while others are tasked with forming militant organisations in order that their membership can be arrested. It is not unheard of for members of the Angrathir to go rogue and create genuine dissident movements.

Makham Dar (Hearts of Iron)

The Makham Dar is a very loose network of popular philosophical movements resisting the Premier and the Church. Most follow some variation of the philosophies of the half-elven sage Cerencissia, who proposes that hierarchical authority and private ownership are inherently immoral and corrupting, and that all land and major property should be managed collectively for the good of all. Cerencissia is currently under house arrest at the University of Osvar, but many variations on the theme of Cerencism have taken route among the Gaardir.
The Makham Dar consists of dozens of small organisations, loosely allied in a cell structure. Some are purely philosophical movements, but the network is primarily formed of militant Cerencists. Ironically, the attempt to unite followers of Cerencissia's principles has resulted in the growth of an intenral hierarchy. The leading light of the network is Veroxar Ironheart, a dwarvern soldier-scholar, former deltor and author of Veroxism, a militant offshoot of Cerencism.
Less militant groups often assist Gaardiri families in relocating from one estate to another,

Type

Geopolitical, Province