City-States of Mettenheim
Current Month: Julwar 2nd: 209, The Fifth Age
While the Tremalking Empire dominated most of the continent during the third age, it never controlled it in its entirety. One such bastion against the red bull was the volcanic peninsula called Mettenheim.
While the Tremalking Empire was expanding its control over its own continent, another power expanded its maritime power, this was the Hegemony of the Reik, which would eventually evolve to become the many different kingdoms of Reikland.
Based on a large island off the coasts of Midway, the Hegemony wished to expand their ocean based and economic power, but to do that they needed to look beyond their home continent; they had already colonized much of Midway's southern shores, expanding as far east as the island of Ostland near the Sea of Midway, and north were the various Caliphates of the D'shar Deserts.
So they looked west, and eventually settled in the Mettenheim Peninsula, founding the first and only colony, Mettenheim City. Strategically placed to take advantage of the strange yet valuable ore eventually coined Mettenese Steel, they began mining the element and used it to arm their armies and clad their ships in steel, inventing the first primitive ironclads, only possible due to the steel's light weight.
Seeing the riches the Hegemony was collecting, the two rival empires waged several long and bloody wars against each other. While territory changed back and forth, the Tremalking Empire never captured Mettenheim city or its mines. Eventually the Tremalking Empire collapsed, and the Hegemony was free to mine to their heart's content.
In The Fourth Age, the Mettenese began to whisper about independence from the distant home island. After all, why should the wealth of their home go to a Hegemon they have never seen? A war for independence was fought led by the Mettenese hero Alaric von Bruahaha, and they won their freedom, using the lands natural rocky terrain and their monopoly on the mettenese steel to gain their independence.
For over a hundred years after, the Principality of Mettenheim exported their metal in controlled amounts, ensuring it could never be used en masse against the, and reaping the riches it brought home.
During the year preceding the The Second Fall, Mettenese citizens began to disappear, vanishing close to the mines themselves. it wasnt until the Knights of Harmony came that the truth was discovered; Ilithid, vile aliens from the voids between stars, had been abducting them for their dread master... the Nemesis.
Following the Ilithid trail deep into The Ways beneath the world, the knights eventually discovered the Heart of Titan, the essence of the creator and god, The Twin Titans. They learned that it was Titans' lifeblood which formed mettenese steel, and the ilithid were corrupting it to their own uses.
Continuing to follow their trail, they found deep beneath the crust of Azure the Impossible City, the legendary craftworld of the Ilithid, filled with nightmarish terrors. Venturing into the city and defeating its elder brain, they rescued the civilians, and earned the loyalty of Mettenheim for the war to come against the Sundered.
The Mettenese fought on the side of The Mandate during the Second Fall, providing steel and muscle to their allies. Only a small portion of their population survived, but once the battles were done, they returned home, to discover that their once volcanic and almost inhospitable land has become fertile ground, fit for colonization.
From there, they never recolonized the original Mettenheim city, seeing that the steel was no longer centralized within the volcano Mettenheim city was built against, and separated, colonizing different cities on the peninsula, becoming the independent city-states of Mettenheim to this day.
All armor and weapons in Mettenheim are produced from Mettenese Steel. Their foot units don thick plate armor, their oversized buster swords can tear through even the heaviest shields like butter.
The Mettenese do not ride horses; though rumors claim that the horses' faces remind the Mettenheim men too much of their own wives, in reality the terrain in Mettenheim is unsuitable to raise and maintain a cavalry force of any notable size.
Mettenheim is home to many minor knightly orders collectively called the Rieze-Panzerkrieg. Though they differ in their motives and ideology, they all fight on foot and wield massive buster swords.
Those that wield the Buster swords are referred to as Zweihandlers, and they have been known to cut down horse and rider in one cut.
The Hauptmänn are elite infantry force of the Mettenheim Army and are a force to be reckoned with. Hauptmänner are the officer class of the Buster sword regiments, and are armed in a similar manner to the Buster swords themselves. They are however better trained, and tougher.
The legendary Hauptmänner Obrist Heynrich has been one of the few people in history to have slain a Clarion Knight in single combat, a near impossible feat.
The Spieszknechts have adopted the use of long pikes, long awlpikes and halberds to counter any cavalry forces. Their weapons' longer reach allows them to halt cavalry at a safer distance than the two-handed swords normally allow, which allows them or their comrades to safely march right up to the doomed cavalry forces and deliver a killing blow.
Those in support are often armed with heavy crossbows, which provide the punch needed to pierce most heavy armors.
Their navy is almost always composed entirely of Mettenese steel ironclads.
The Mettenese prefer to dress in dark and muted colors. This is not because they are a drab people, far from it, but they do have to contend with the constant smoke and soot from their metal mines, and its easier to clean dark clothing than brightly colored ones.
Though most people know of Mettenheim because of their steel, they do produce other goods; They have been known to produce high quality porcelain, music, jewels also mined in Mettenehim, artisanal chocolates, and invented the new age style architecture used in Refugean Abbeys, continent wide. Another product that widely comes from Mettenheim are Magnets.
A Mettenese specific holiday called Sigrblot or Sumarsdag celebrates the first day of summer occuring on Junshin 1st. This holiday was a time to celebrate planting and make animal sacrifices to Obricht the Warbringer for blessings on summer travels and wars.
The Mettenese mint their own currency. At one point in time they even used Mettenese Steel as a coinage, but this fell into disuse, due to foreigners melting down the coins for the materials.
The Mettenese copper coin is the Kessel, the silver coin is the Stilven, and the gold coin is the Gud. Like most societies, they do not mint electrum or platinum, using instead the old coins of the Tremalking Empire.
History
While the Tremalking Empire was expanding its control over its own continent, another power expanded its maritime power, this was the Hegemony of the Reik, which would eventually evolve to become the many different kingdoms of Reikland.
Based on a large island off the coasts of Midway, the Hegemony wished to expand their ocean based and economic power, but to do that they needed to look beyond their home continent; they had already colonized much of Midway's southern shores, expanding as far east as the island of Ostland near the Sea of Midway, and north were the various Caliphates of the D'shar Deserts.
So they looked west, and eventually settled in the Mettenheim Peninsula, founding the first and only colony, Mettenheim City. Strategically placed to take advantage of the strange yet valuable ore eventually coined Mettenese Steel, they began mining the element and used it to arm their armies and clad their ships in steel, inventing the first primitive ironclads, only possible due to the steel's light weight.
Seeing the riches the Hegemony was collecting, the two rival empires waged several long and bloody wars against each other. While territory changed back and forth, the Tremalking Empire never captured Mettenheim city or its mines. Eventually the Tremalking Empire collapsed, and the Hegemony was free to mine to their heart's content.
In The Fourth Age, the Mettenese began to whisper about independence from the distant home island. After all, why should the wealth of their home go to a Hegemon they have never seen? A war for independence was fought led by the Mettenese hero Alaric von Bruahaha, and they won their freedom, using the lands natural rocky terrain and their monopoly on the mettenese steel to gain their independence.
For over a hundred years after, the Principality of Mettenheim exported their metal in controlled amounts, ensuring it could never be used en masse against the, and reaping the riches it brought home.
During the year preceding the The Second Fall, Mettenese citizens began to disappear, vanishing close to the mines themselves. it wasnt until the Knights of Harmony came that the truth was discovered; Ilithid, vile aliens from the voids between stars, had been abducting them for their dread master... the Nemesis.
Following the Ilithid trail deep into The Ways beneath the world, the knights eventually discovered the Heart of Titan, the essence of the creator and god, The Twin Titans. They learned that it was Titans' lifeblood which formed mettenese steel, and the ilithid were corrupting it to their own uses.
Continuing to follow their trail, they found deep beneath the crust of Azure the Impossible City, the legendary craftworld of the Ilithid, filled with nightmarish terrors. Venturing into the city and defeating its elder brain, they rescued the civilians, and earned the loyalty of Mettenheim for the war to come against the Sundered.
The Mettenese fought on the side of The Mandate during the Second Fall, providing steel and muscle to their allies. Only a small portion of their population survived, but once the battles were done, they returned home, to discover that their once volcanic and almost inhospitable land has become fertile ground, fit for colonization.
From there, they never recolonized the original Mettenheim city, seeing that the steel was no longer centralized within the volcano Mettenheim city was built against, and separated, colonizing different cities on the peninsula, becoming the independent city-states of Mettenheim to this day.
Military
All armor and weapons in Mettenheim are produced from Mettenese Steel. Their foot units don thick plate armor, their oversized buster swords can tear through even the heaviest shields like butter.
The Mettenese do not ride horses; though rumors claim that the horses' faces remind the Mettenheim men too much of their own wives, in reality the terrain in Mettenheim is unsuitable to raise and maintain a cavalry force of any notable size.
Mettenheim is home to many minor knightly orders collectively called the Rieze-Panzerkrieg. Though they differ in their motives and ideology, they all fight on foot and wield massive buster swords.
Those that wield the Buster swords are referred to as Zweihandlers, and they have been known to cut down horse and rider in one cut.
The Hauptmänn are elite infantry force of the Mettenheim Army and are a force to be reckoned with. Hauptmänner are the officer class of the Buster sword regiments, and are armed in a similar manner to the Buster swords themselves. They are however better trained, and tougher.
The legendary Hauptmänner Obrist Heynrich has been one of the few people in history to have slain a Clarion Knight in single combat, a near impossible feat.
The Spieszknechts have adopted the use of long pikes, long awlpikes and halberds to counter any cavalry forces. Their weapons' longer reach allows them to halt cavalry at a safer distance than the two-handed swords normally allow, which allows them or their comrades to safely march right up to the doomed cavalry forces and deliver a killing blow.
Those in support are often armed with heavy crossbows, which provide the punch needed to pierce most heavy armors.
Their navy is almost always composed entirely of Mettenese steel ironclads.
Culture
The Mettenese prefer to dress in dark and muted colors. This is not because they are a drab people, far from it, but they do have to contend with the constant smoke and soot from their metal mines, and its easier to clean dark clothing than brightly colored ones.
Though most people know of Mettenheim because of their steel, they do produce other goods; They have been known to produce high quality porcelain, music, jewels also mined in Mettenehim, artisanal chocolates, and invented the new age style architecture used in Refugean Abbeys, continent wide. Another product that widely comes from Mettenheim are Magnets.
A Mettenese specific holiday called Sigrblot or Sumarsdag celebrates the first day of summer occuring on Junshin 1st. This holiday was a time to celebrate planting and make animal sacrifices to Obricht the Warbringer for blessings on summer travels and wars.
Currency
The Mettenese mint their own currency. At one point in time they even used Mettenese Steel as a coinage, but this fell into disuse, due to foreigners melting down the coins for the materials.
The Mettenese copper coin is the Kessel, the silver coin is the Stilven, and the gold coin is the Gud. Like most societies, they do not mint electrum or platinum, using instead the old coins of the Tremalking Empire.
City-States of Mettenheim
Wissentrum
Home to the world's third largest library, and a renown arcane training school, Das Universtitat Arcanumtrum. Home of Sheev.Tehnctbinkolm (see nees tee colm)
A Trading city attached to a mining colony. Home of Rogendel.Dresenberg
Home city of the legendary Hauptmänner Obrist Heynrich. one of the few people to have slain a Clarion Knight in single combat. Also the home city of Alamaric for most of his life.Bezzledorf
Home city of the mercenary company Stahl Der Eisenboren, or "The Steel of the Ironborn", as they are called in common. lead by Grimble von Bezzledorf.Noricksberg
Home to the Noricksberg Baugeschaft, "Noricksberg Construction Company" in common, co-owned by Rickon Von Noricksberg and Lynda Klaus.Nurin
This city is reknown for its mastery of gunpowderAltstadt
One of the largest fishing ports on the PeninsulaKeisenstock
Home of the largest Rieze-Panzerkrieg order, the Weirmarch der Bullwerk. Renown for fighting with massive tower shields.Monchenhof
The largest trading city in Mettenheim. Merchants from all other city-states come to Monchenhof to sell their goods to eager ship captains to sell across the seas.Telamund
Based in a fertile valley, it is promarily a farming community that sells crops that can only grow in in Telamund soil.Brenschen-Schelwig-Unterstadt
Three towns that grew into each other to form the current city. It is the location of the largest Mettenese Steel mine in Mettenheim. Heavily guarded by several battalions of Spieszknechts and crossbowmenStrength through independance
Founding Date
5th Age
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Predecessor Organization
Demonym
Mettenese
Currency
- Kessel (copper)
- Stilven (silver)
- Gud (gold)
Subsidiary Organizations
Location
Controlled Territories
Related Ethnicities
Comments