Earldom of the Tangles
Situated north of Rift Canyon, the Earldom of the Tangles has perhaps suffered the worst under the occupation of Iuz than any other domain in the Combination. The lands are quite diverse, ranging from low rocky hills in the south, to the wide plains dividing it from the Warfields and Greenhall, to the thick canopy of the Tangles. These lands have seen considerable destruction wrought by the demigod’s forces and the once plentiful landscape has been largely reduced to scorched earth and mud. Only the Tangles appears to have survived unscathed, though not for Iuz’s efforts. For the past nine years, the humanoid armies at Splinter Keep have done their best to raze the forest and drive out the few remaining clusters of freemen who dwell within, but to no avail. The forest seems to heal these wounds overnight, magically.
Encompassing the entire Tangles, the far western Rift Barrens, and the clear plains bordering Warfields and the old Shield Lands, the Earldom of the Tangles suffered greatly from the incursion of Iuz’s armies. Formed from an easygoing adventuring band devoted to Olidammara, the folk of Tangles had their jovial nature put to the test by hobgoblin raids and ultimately full occupation of all but the most inaccessible forest depths.
Settlements and Locations within the Earldom of the Tangles:
Archer
Borjed’s Great Hunting Lodge
Grasen
Great Effeluvial Swamp
Hallorn
Splinter Keep
The Tangles
Thingizzard’s Hut
White Plume Mountain
The previous ruler of the Tangles, Earl Reynard, was slain when Iuz’s forces invaded Hallorn in 582 CY. For five years, the domain tittered on the verge of anarchy as those who managed to escape into the Tangles fought a losing war against the demigod’s infernal host and humanoid armies. Things changed with the banishing of the fiends and Furyondy’s Great Northern Crusade. A new Earl was named, tasked with bringing a semblance of order to the domain. As a symbol of his authority, Earl Aundurach was presented with a hideous scepter, crafted from the bones of Reynard. Only one as mad as Aundurach would consider his control of the Earldom “orderly,” but the priest of Iuz has managed to make the Tangles productive again, and return some sense of normalcy to these war-ravaged people. He rules from the Earl’s keep in Hallorn and is almost never seen beyond its walls except when he attends a brutal ceremony to make it clear who rules the Tangles.
The lands of the Earldom are normally quite bountiful. The plains west of the Tangles are still farmed, despite the pressing occupation on Hallorn. The Earldom controlled a few modest silver mines in the southern rocky plateau near Rift Canyon. A few small streams and rivers, tributaries of the Ritensa and the Artonsamay, run from the Tangles and provide natural sources. The Tangles themselves have always formed a natural defense, a place for the people of the Earldom to disappear when necessary. Thick with vegetation and undergrowth, the forest has always impeded war machines and cavalry forces. It has been at this central point that most of the larger communities in the domain have sprung. Few of these survived the war with Iuz, however. The once verdant fields are only now beginning to return to their previous production; many remain abandoned and overgrown with grasses, weeds, and rats. The men of the Tangles are not burdened with taxes, as there are not enough of them to make the effort valuable. Instead, all of the silver from the southern mines is used to fill Iuz’s coffers, and what food can be spared is sent to feed his armies.
Life in the Tangles, the civilized parts that is, can only be described as quiet paranoia. The domain is wholly controlled by Iuz, save for the small pockets of resistance in Hallorn and the Tangles. The failure to control these bands have led to pressure on the military commanders and to Earl Aundurach, who in turn take out their anger on the common people unfortunately enough to be in their paths. The situation has calmed somewhat in the past few years, but the people of the Earldom have learned when to keep silent and when to hide. No one can expect to go unmolested, but those who speak out are as likely to find themselves made examples of as supported by the Earl’s skewed concept of justice.
History: The Earldom’s history is one of the more stable, and certainly the most benign, in the course of the Combination of Free Lords. Hallorn, the capital, was originally founded as a waystation by a band of renegade adventurers in 400 CY. The region already had a propensity for lawlessness, as it lay somewhat out of sight between the kingdoms of Aerdi and Furyondy. Hallorn was little more than a backwater outpost at this point, but its population grew as the Rift Canyon area grew thick with bandits. The founding party, led by an outspoken priest of Oldimmara named [Doma Skelton], carved a trained militia out of the common people, and used many of the devices they’d uncovered in their career to their disposal. It didn’t take long for word to spread of a sanctuary among the otherwise lawless country. In a moment of good humor, Skelton anointed himself Earl of the Tangles. “Only an ass would crown himself king of such a place as this,” he jested. The title stuck, and the Earldom of the Tangles was born.
Time passed and the strength of the Earldom grew, fed by many fleeing the influx of bandits in the area. The title of Earl was passed down to the descendants of the original founders, and was always treated more as an honor than a title of authority. The people of the Tangles followed the Earl out of their respect for his ancestors than because of any noble calling. Surrounded by petty lordships who only flirted with the concepts of law, the people had a common interest, and a reason to work together. There were occasional skirmishes with the neighboring domains, but fortune smiled down on the small domain. It was by and large one of the most self-sufficient and productive domains in the Combination of Free Lords.
Luck began to run short for the folk of the Tangles in 578 CY when the Hierarchs of the Horned Society captured the Barony of Wormhall and the Warfields. From that point on began a near constant succession of raids into the Tangles. Horned Society raiders even found passage through Abbarra, who was traditionally neutral throughout the region but whose rulers had long had a relationship with the Hierarchs. Forced to dedicate so much of his militia to defending its western border, there was little then Earl Reynard could do to quell the [ignite] skirmishes from Rift Canyon and the Kingdom of Johrase. Neighboring Greenkeep offered some aid, but feared assaults on its own borders (not to mention the threat of Abbarra’s involvement). These assaults continued until 582 CY, when Iuz put an end to the whole thing.
Earl Reynard and his followers found themselves very much alone as the demigod’s armies swept across the bandit lands. Weakened from years of battle against the Horned Society, the folk of the Tangles stood little chance against the horde of demons and humanoids who came in waves. Yet even under insurmountable odds, the Tangle was among the last of the domains to fall. The Burning of Hallorn marked the end of their war with Iuz. Earl Reynard was captured and forced to swear allegiance to Iuz. When he sought to explain to his captors that he had little control over what his people chose to do, he was staked to the wall of his Keep and before the remaining citizens of Hallorn had the flesh rendered from his body by demons. His bones were then shipped off to Dorakaa and a full garrison stationed at the keep.
Many resourceful folk managed to escape into the Tangles. What Earl Skelton had once claimed to be the second most hideous place in the Flanaess proved to be his people’s salvation. These folk did their best to eke out an existence in the inhospitable place. Bandits from the Midlands and Joharse had also taken to hiding in the forest. Together, these folk put their allegiances aside for the common enemy, and began conducting raids against Iuz’s forces. These attacks were not always successful, and the numbers of these freemen dwindled quickly. From Rookroost, Cranzer of the Boneheart commanded the construction of Splinter Keep, whose host was ordered to carry out the razing of the Tangles and the execution of all traitors found within. Strangely, the forest proved to have incredible regenerative capabilities, and the flames did little to cut back the foliage for any period of time. A few claim you could actually see the forest grow from their vantage at Splinter Keep. Still, it was only a matter of time as teams of hobgoblins and ghastly demonic hounds penetrated the Tangles in search of resistance cells.
Help came in an unlikely fashion. In the winter of 583 CY, a trio of militant priests from Furyondy appeared before the largest cell who had been driven to the heart of the Tangles. They brought with them weapons, food, and ointments for healing which they applied liberally. Dedicated to Trithereon, these priests were bent on training the remaining freemen in guerilla tactics. Led by a priest named Otolle, then managed to join many of the remaining cells into a considerable force. The men of the Tangles have no delusions. They do not harbor hope that they will ever return to Hallorn, or wherever else they once called home. But they do wish to play the thorn in Iuz’s side for as long as they can manage. Such would do the memory of Earl Skelton proud.
Iuz rules this area from the small town of Hallorn, the earldom’s former capital and now one of Iuz’s regional capitals. Hallorn was once a grim place filled with little more than zombies, thanks to an insane priest of Iuz and his numerous demonic allies. After the Flight of Fiends and the priest’s death, the town’s current ruler restored some normalcy to the locale, albeit of a decidedly evil bent. The wildly insane Earl Aundurach (CE male human Priest of Iuz L13), a new addition to the Lesser Boneheart, commands the surviving Tangles folk harshly and ineffectively. He prominently displays a magical scepter crafted from the bones of Reynard, the land’s rebellious bandit chief, captured and slain in 589 CY. The earl is supposed to control all activities in the Bandit Lands to the north and west, but it is very doubtful that he does.
A few hundred men and half-elves have withdrawn entirely into the small woods, and from 585 CY on have gained assistance from clerics of a Trithereon sect in Furyondy, with access to considerable magic. Attempts to destroy the Tangles from Hallorn and Riftcrag have always failed, as the forest seems to regrow damage very swiftly.
Bandit Kingdoms
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