Bandit Kingdoms

The Bandit Kingdoms, more formally known as the Combination of Free Lords, is political entity in the central Flanaess.

Overview

The lands of the Bandit Kingdoms are arable but not especially fertile, being rocky and grossly overfarmed. Some scholars believe the rowdy disposition of the natives can be traced to these agricultural difficulties, since they discourage large settlements and set the stage for banditry by poor farmers against trade caravans moving from city to city. Despite being largely a land of flat, featureless horizons, the area is home to one of the most stunning geographical features of the continent: the foreboding Rift Canyon. Hundreds of tales and legends tell of how the great canyon came to be. Most know it as a den of foul creatures and strange magical conditions.
Weather conditions here are generally temperate, though winters tend toward harsh storms and even blizzards throughout late Sunsebb and early Fireseek. In contrast, high summer often brings drought, threatening grain crops and cattle production.

Fiefdoms

• Abbarra
• Duchy of the Artonsamay
• Grand Theocracy of Dimre
• The Fellands
• Defenders of the Greenkeep
• Grand Clans of Grosskopf
• Kingdom of Johrase
• The Mighty Freehold
• Great Lands of Reyhu
• Men of the Rift
• Domain of Rookroost
• Domain of Stoink
• Earldom of the Tangles
• Unified Bands of the Warfields
• Barony of Wormhall

History

As the migratory Oeridians ranged eastward in their search for a land that would support them, they passed through many regions of inhospitable climate, infertile land, and unfriendly local populations. Chief among these lands were the rugged plains north of the Nyr Dyv, which resisted meaningful human settlement for centuries, even as a strong Aerdi empire created the Viceroyalty of Ferrond to the west. Long held by ill-favored nobles, these “Middle Lands” fell to complete degeneracy when Furyondy cut relations with its progenitor and the courts of Rauxes became inept and mad.
In time, these petty barons established formal, independent domains, loosely aligning themselves as the Combination of Free Lords. This alliance served little purpose internally. The locals fell upon each other with zeal as each lord attempted to solidify his holdings while stealing those of his neighbors. When foreign states threatened the borders of the Combination, however, the lords reacted fiercely, banding together impressive armies to discourage meaningful invasions.
By the early 300s CY, the Bandit Kings had become such a threat that the lords of the Nyr Dyv’s northern shore banded together in their own alliance, a bulwark against banditry and lawlessness forevermore known as the Shield Lands. For more than two centuries, northern and southern lords made war on each other with great regularity. Iuz conquered the far western Bandit Kingdoms between Whyestil Lake and the Ritensa River, which the Horned Society then took for its own in 513 CY.

Founding Date

Around 300 CY

Type

Political, Confederation

Alternative Names

Combination of Free Lords