Hollenburg

Hollenburg, or The Great Hedged Lands, resides in a heavily wooded region towards the east of the vast stretch of land known as the Outer Provinces. Of the many provinces given to the Empire after their victory in their war with Duma, Hollenburg ranked in among the largest in sheer size. However, despite this, it has always housed a comparatively low population when compared to it's neighboring, and often smaller provinces. A fact in no small part due to the increased difficulty of settlement caused by the abnormally dense brush and undergrowth the region has become known for. As such the size of towns and villages within the province are extremely difficult to grow and enforce a natural form of population control. Due to the size of these settlements, they often share a stronger sense of community then the already community-driven provinces around them.

Given that the lands of Hollenburg proved extremely difficult to cultivate, and since it's natives were already adept at both navigating and surviving withing the treacherous wilds, when House Iversen was given ownership over the province they decided that rather than trying to change the land, they would simply attempt to harvest what resources the region already had... lumber. As such, the amount of Trailblazing performed within Hollenburg was relatively low, especially for a province of its size. Given how difficult the land was for foreigners to traverse, the task of sectioning off and clearing out lumberyards was often best left to those who's families had spent generations living off the land. A factor that has kept the ethnic diversity of the province quite low, with most of its citizens tracing their linage back to Hollenburg natives. However with this cultural homogeneity, many of the values Bryonsworth began to foster and adopt over the centuries never fully bled into the isolated settlements of Hollenburg. With the most glaring and contentious example of this disconnect proving the continued widespread belief in Animism within the province.

Animism, or the belief that all things animate and inanimate possess a soul, is one of the oldest religious beliefs still practiced. While there are no records of when exactly it began, ruins in Ithlane far predating even the early city-states indicate that Animism has been around for over a thousand years. A large factor in its ability to persist over such a wide continent has always been its simplicity. Rather than most organized religion, there are no scriptures or strict definitions affiliated with it. Animism simply aims to instill the values of compassion and respect towards others and nature. How this value is then interpreted and acted upon ranging wildly depending on where one is, as different communities alter this belief to address their circumstances.

Due to the heavy connection the Hollenburg natives had with nature, it had always been one of the strongest bastions for Animism. Something that even the waves of invaders couldn't shake. Even as the rest of Bryonsworth moved to shift away from Animism, adopting the polytheistic national religion of Praeto, the Outer Provinces as a whole were slower to adapt. However over time, while it's neighboring provinces began to shift their views, the oddity that was Hollenburg's outdated belief in Animism stood out more and more. While many initially thought the province would merely be slower to adopt, it became clear that the natives were rather adamant about retaining Animism. The practice was too baked into their way of life, and the Gods and beliefs of Praeto could not speak to them or their struggles. As such, a dark cloud of stigma began to settle around Hollenburg. The stigma of pagans with degenerate or savage values.

While this stigma itself was largely inconsequential for the residents of Hollenburg, it has had a rather marked effect on the relationship between House Iversen and Hollenburg itself. For while the disdain and disgust found towards the pagans of Hollenburg largely went over the heads of those isolated within the province, House Iversen had no choice but to bear the brunt of the ridicule. While staunch practitioners of Praeto themselves, many saw them as, at best, either sympathetic to degeneracy or too weak-willed to control such rampant savagery within their lands. This constant embarrassment continued to prove a massive stain on Iversen's name, and in matters relating to the aristocracy, reputation means everything, As such, it's unsurprising that House Iversen made several efforts to wipe out Animism from Hollenburg, often to... mixed results.

Attempts were made at first to outright render the practice of Animism illegal, however, there were several issues with such a strategy. For one, enforcing such a law would be difficult in most of the Outer Provinces, with most settlements already lacking adequate law enforcement. A lack of manpower that not only made constant monitoring and frequent searches difficult but also made the expenditure of time enforcing religious crimes extremely hard to justify. This process was further slowed by the fact that due to Hollenburg's cultural homogeneity, Iversen was often forced to hire outside religious crime enforcers, lest the Animistic native town leaders unofficially refused to prosecute the religion. Eventually, however, at great expense to the Iversen's and in turn Hollenburg, a large enough anti-Animism watch was formed that most public displays of faith and group communion began to stop, While this couldn't stop private practices, it did prove extremely effective at damaging the communal aspect of the faith.

In response to this new need for community Iversen brought in a small influx of Praetic missionaries and diverted a portion of settlement taxes towards constructing modest churches within as many towns and villages as possible, putting the province in line with most of the other Outer Provinces at the time. While the reception to and involvement with these churches' services were largely that of disinterest, there was a single element of the establishments that even those who refused to practice Praeto found value in. Amunsday School. A service the church provided to the young every Amunsday while adults attended the traditional service. Where they would be taught not only about Praeto Gods and values, but skills such as arithmetic, reading, and writing. Skills that could rarely be found elsewhere in the Outer Provinces, much less in an establishment that was not only open to the public and lower class, but completely free.

Thus the rising generation was raised with exposure to both Animism and Praeto and slowly began to form their own composite religion. While the explicit text of the Divine Prose technically made any true compatibility impossible, many were willing to overlook or were unaware of these contradictions as they fused both the respect of nature and the flow of life from Animism and the social values and virtues from Praeto. Despite this, due to the bans on Animism, most of these dual practitioners identify themselves only as followers of Praeto. Saving Animism for a single silent prayer before felling a tree or hunting game.

It is this mixing and repression of faith that seems like it may be the death of Animism, slowly and quietly. For while the stigma that has come to loom over Hollenburg like a dark cloud looks like it may never fade, it is undeniable that its cause is slowly dying out. In a manner almost void of the bloodshed that seems to come of all religious strifes... almost.

While the number of puritan Animists has fallen, they have far from vanished. There still remains an adamant few who reject the views of Praeto, and among these purists are those that call themselves The Wooded Children, a group of religious extremists who harbor an extreme disdain for what they see as the destruction of their way of life. Particularly they focus their attention on the persecution of Animism and it's replacement with an intrinsically oppressive religion with a strong emphasis on harsh punishments for wrongdoings, and the rampant destruction of nature needed in order to construct the Shoffenway through the province. Going so far as to commit acts deemed as terrorism in order to obstruct the creation of new lumberyards or tracks.

While their active members are unknown, they are estimated to be rather small. Yet despite this, they have managed to acquire enough in the way of resources to prove a consistent thorn. Never the less the group has continually struggled with recruitment. As while many of the bases of their arguments hold water, many of the youth they seek to recruit have already long since adopted Praeto. A crushing reality that has only served to distort the Heirs disdain for their oppressors, for a similar disdain for those who capitulated while they struggled and bled. With some going so far as to label the Praeto-Animists as traitors. An attitude that has only given the unsavory, brutish members who are naturally drawn to any violent organization an excuse to harass these perceived traitors. Leading only the belief that the Heirs are nothing more than a group of brigands masquerading as humanitarians.

Industry & Trade

Despite it's internal religious conflicts, Hollenburg has always been and remains a relatively stable and productive region from an economical lens. With their primary export of lumber only increasing in demand as the nation continues to grow. A swell of demand that has been met with a large uptick in supply, as loggers have moved to significantly expand the areas in which they harvest wood. A practice that while almost necessary in order to increase supply has resulted in far more workers being placed in conflict with the beasts that stalk the wilds. Never the less, as the province responsible for exporting the largest amount of lumber to the rest of the Empire despite growing complaints, this rate of expansion doesn't seem anywhere close to slowing doing.

Spearheading this expansion of industry within Hollenburg are the three largest landowners within the province. House Iversen, The Zandyk Company, and House Issmet. Each eager to turn the investment they've put into the land into profit by selling access to their land and their trees to either private loggers, or in the case of The Zandyk Company, their loggers. These loggers, often a small group of men from a single town, or slightly larger guilds will then move into survey the land and cut down any mature trees while leaving the younger ones to repopulate the area. The trees harvested are then transported by ox or donkey into settlements, or in the case of large logging fields purposefully set up near streams, these logs are often floated downriver in order to save both time and labor. Given the province's trade, no matter the size of the settlement, most have been built near a source of running water for the sole purpose of facilitating a sawmill. As such most loggers will establish an agreement with town officials to use their mills to cut and clean the raw logs into something slightly more manageable. All before the lumber is sent out towards Oksbree, sold to brokers and shipped across the nation.

Of course, far from solely growing and harvesting trees, the Hollenburg economy is fairly self-sufficient, with family-owned quarries, blacksmiths, farms and tailors filling the small settlements littered around the province. This self-sufficiency is something that Hollenburg is almost required to have, due to the difficulties that importing anything through the unforgiving terrain can prove. With even simple goods such as bread often running for above a common worker's pay. As such, most of the food is grown within Hollenburg itself. Causing most of the agriculture and recipes in Hollenburg to be fairly distinct. With the wooded land providing little space to build large empty fields for grain or grazing cattle, and instead, providing the perfect environment to grow mushrooms under the heavy foliage, grow and grind nuts into flour, and raise pigs, chickens, and fowl on the bugs and grubs that live in the damp undergrowth. While none of these are nearly developed enough to provide resources on a national scale similar to their lumber, these local industries have been the backbone of the province since long before even Duma governed them, and now they make up for what Hollenburg is unable to source from the outside.

Alternative Name(s)

The Great Hedged Lands

Type

National Territory

Inhabitant Demonym

Hollens

Location under

The Outer Provinces

Owner/Ruler

House Iversen

Owning Organization

The Empire of Bryonsworth