Gonewald

Once the territory of a great ally of Verdon, the Gonewald forest region is now a protectorate of the Empire of Verdon, on the same level as Centralia, the Reach, and the Northern Heartland.

History

The Amathiri pennant

Amathir was a small country on the coast of the Placid sea, that had strong trading ties with most of the Centralian countries as well as Verdon and Idrion. Established sometime around 1100 PE, Amathir was notable for escaping some of the violence of the Sixth Thalassan Crusade  . Its ruling house of Palith managed to maintain a single ruling dynasty until the year 452 PE, when the King died with no heirs. The country descended into civil war, and its neighboring realms all sponsored a noble house to claim the throne.
Verdon took interest in the small kingdom, as the Archduke of Enviridian had married a daughter of its noble house of Melencor, giving him a claim on the throne. Verdon entered the civil war to back his claim, and the much larger kingdom easily won the fight. Rather than annexing the territory, Amathir subsequently became an ally to Verdon. The next hundred years would be a time of great expansion for Amathir, taking for itself most of the less dangerous areas of the Gonewald Forest in 439 and 362, and consolidating its hold on the Southeast Placid Sea Coast in 390.

Map of Verdonese and Amathiri conquests. Amathiri/Gonewald Federation expansion in Blue.
However, even with Verdonese assistance, Amathir had great difficulty expanding into the deepest parts of the Gonewald, which was not only mostly uncivilized but full of very powerful magical creatures. In 172, Amathir was finally able to create a deal with the most powerful tribes of the Gonewald to help bring order to the region, creating the Gonewald Federation. The Federation would last for more than 250 years.
The Federation of the Gonewald joined the Union of Granmor upon its formation. By this time, the country's residents had considerable magical wealth resulting from the heavy occurrence of ley line confluences in the Forest and the large number of magical creatures there. Many families had magical heirlooms going back generations, magical creatures as pets, or either traded or crafted reagents and enchanted goods for a living. Even in the non-forested coastal regions, the comparatively large Halfling populations were heavily invested in hitherto unregulated magical professions and had collected family treasure troves of enchanted items.
To join the Union, the Federation had to accept the rules of the Magocracy and create a counterpart organization to institute government control of magic and many enchanted items that were deemed dangerous or threatening to the social order had to be surrendered to the newly formed organization. This incensed the people of the Gonewald, and in EY 97, they broke out into a full scale rebellion. With powerful mages and savage cheiftains arrayed against the Amathiri elites, the country's armies suffered defeat after defeat. Palithrace was all but destroyed by beseigers in EY 99. At this point, Verdon stepped in and pacified the rebellion, annexing the entire Gonewald as a protectorate of the Empire.
Nowadays, the situation in the Gonewald is much more stable. However, it is widely understood that the advantages of having the Gonewald as contiguous territory far exceed the benefits of giving the territory its independence back. It is therefore unlikely that the Amathiri kingdom will be given the same treatment as New Southmark and granted independence again any time soon.

Type

Geopolitical, Protectorate

Alternative Names

Amathir

Demonym

Gonewalder

Parent Organization

The Empire of Verdon