Ratik

The Archbarony of Ratik is an independent feudal monarchy in the northeastern Flanaess. Small but prosperous, it is known for its snowy climate.

Overview

Ratik is a small but prosperous nation located in the northeastern corner of the Flanaess. It is seated in a cultural crossroads between the Great Kingdom of Aerdy and the northmen of the Thillonrian Peninsula. Ratik stretches between the Rakers and the SolnorCoast, where the modest city of Marner, the capital, is its only major port. Its southern border is marked by the fortified hills separating Ratik from Bone March. These extend east all the way out to the Loftwood, where the hearty woodsmen are allied with the archbarony. Ratik’s northern border divides the Timberway between itself and the Fruztii, a long-standing informal boundary that has been respected by both sides for centuries. While these barriers have profoundly isolated Ratik from the rest of the Flanaess, they also have served to protect it from invaders for centuries.
The climate of Ratik is wintery much of the year, with heavy snows swollen with moisture from the Solnor falling steadily during the height of Telchur’s sway. The windswept Timberway remains the greatest focus of the realm. It is a hunting ground that produces the pelts and furs used widely in the dress of the nation. It also provides Ratik with its greatest bounty, the timber and shipbuilding supplies that drive much of the economic activity of the archbarony. The western border of Ratik is an endless range of foothills, inhabited by dwarves for millennia. These mountains are dotted with mines of gold and precious gems situated between citadels of stone that protect the ways from the denizens of the deep mountains. Some farming is conducted during the short growing season in the open lands between Marner and Ratikhill.
Ratik is populated chiefly by folk of Aerdi descent, with an Oeridian-Suel mix being common. Few Flan are here, though many Fruztii and some Schnai are present, expatriate farmers from their homelands. Dwarves and gnomes are numerous in rougher lands. Only humans prefer the coasts, where their fishing villages are located. Ratik is well settled despite being located so far north of the population centers of the Great Kingdom, partly because so many refugees fled here from Bone March.
While the rulership of the realm rests completely with the hands of the baron or baroness, its lord takes counsel with numerous constituencies, including the Council of Great Lords (fourteen human and dwarven peers), as well as the burghers of the small cities and towns. The current baroness, Lady Evaleigh, is the widowed stepdaughter of old Baron Lexnol, who yet lives but has been incapacitated for several years. Baroness Evaleigh is mistrusted by many in the archbarony, for she was not born in Ratik and does not always seem to understand its precarious position. The dwarf and gnome lords respect decisiveness, and Evaleigh has shown little during her short tenure.

History

After the defeat of the Suel barbarians who invaded the northern Aerdy hinterlands from the kingdom of the Fruztii in 109 CY, Bone March was established by Overking Manshen as a fief to reward his victorious commanders. However, it soon became clear to the leaders of the Aerdi military that a further buffer was required if these new lands were to be protected from additional incursions from the north. General Sir Pelgrave Ratik of Winetha, a wily veteran of the barbarian campaigns, appointed in 122 CY to oversee an expedition that would attempt to drive the Aerdi frontier all the way to the foothills of the Griff Mountains. Ratik and his forces inaugurated their expedition by crossing Kalmar Pass, taking the town of Bresht in a blustery winter campaign that cost the Fruztii dearly. After brokering an alliance with the dwarven lords of the eastern Rakers, Ratik proceeded to force a retreat of the Fruztii up the narrow coast and into the northern fastness of the Timberway. He wisely refused to follow them into an obvious trap and instead broke off the pursuit and fortified his gains. He was immediately hailed a hero in the south and his legend grew quickly.
Over the ensuing months, General Ratik established a military fort overlooking Grendep Bay at Onsager Point. He called the place Marner, and used the newly founded town as a base of operations from which to secure the whole territory. Ratik soon began exploiting the shipbuilding opportunities afforded by the tall pines of the Timberway, and Marner grew from a sizable stronghold to a small port city. Ratik sent glowing reports to his superiors in the south and was shrewd enough to back them up with a steady stream of riches, including highly prized furs and precious gems acquired in trade from the dwur.
In 128 CY, the Fruztii and Schnai allied to create an invasion flotilla. They launched a concerted attack on Marner during the spring that almost caught the Aerdi by surprise. In defence, General Ratik set the major approaches to the port ablaze, forcing the armada through a narrow approach where it was cut to pieces by the siege engines of the fort and a squadron of the imperial navy. The overking was sufficiently impressed with the victory that in 130 CY he elevated Pelgrave Ratik to the aristocracy, granting him the title of baron and the new lands as a personal fief. The family of Ratik gained the status of a minor noble house within the Great Kingdom. The walled town of Bresht was renamed Ratikhill in honor of the new baron, and it quickly prospered from trade with Spinecastle passing through Kalmar Pass.
The baron and the marquis of Bone March became fast allies, and their descendants enjoyed a great deal of peace and success over the next two centuries, needing only to fend off infrequent raids from the Timberway and the Rakers until the middle of the fourth century CY. However, a massive invasion by a unified host of Fruztii and Schnai threatened to overwhelm the nations and sweep into North Province in 356 CY. The Rax Overking Portillan was concurrently embroiled in a struggle over the secession of Nyrond and had assembled an invasion force to head west, which he was forced to divert north to counter the new threat. The attack was soon turned back, though at great cost. So fierce was the defence of the men and dwarves of Ratik that even the Fruztii were impressed.
The barony and the Great Kingdom averted disaster, but at the price of losing all of the province of Nyrond. Ratik and Bone March gained semipalatinate status following the Turmoil Between Crowns, which saw a shift of power from the Malachite Throne to the provinces. Few of Ratik’s riches headed south in tribute, and Alain II of Ratik took to calling himself archbaron henceforth. The two states prospered greatly under the increased freedom, forming an alliance that allowed them to keep both North Province and the Suel barbarians at bay. House Aurix of Eastfair desired these rich provinces, but it was unable to successfully act against them until tragedy struck. In 560, nonhuman tribes from the Rakers and Blemu Hills struck into Bone March, subjugating the land in 563 and slaying its leaders. Herzog Grenell of North Province reached out to these usurpers, seeing an opportunity. Ratik and its baron, Lexnol III, had been forewarned and deflected most of the invaders, but could not prevent the disaster that befell the march. Lexnol, a skilled leader and tactician, realized that he was now isolated and no succor would be forthcoming from the south or the court of Overking Ivid V. Ratik subsequently became fully independent from the Great Kingdom and had the might to both hammer the orcs and gnolls of Bone March and dissuade an invasion from North Province.

Geography

Political subdivisions

Royal Lands:

• Freehold of Marner

Holds:

• Hold of Abonhoth
• Hold of Bredivan
• Hold of Bresht
• Hold of Cormik
• Hold of Devonmeek
• Hold of Fadric
• Hold of Keth
• Hold of Optwall
• Hold of Ulthek

Autonomous Holds:

• Clanhold of Ukakane
• Clanhold of Ukaloa
• Clanhold of Ukamanini
• Freehold of Loegrimm
• Nonizhold

Settlements

Cities

• Marner

Towns and Villages

• Abonhoth
• Arumagaelen (Gnomes)
• Aurburgh (Dwarves)
• Aurichold (Dwarves)
• Baerlen (Gnomes)
• Coldspur
• Cormik
• Daberestead (Gnomes)
• Devonmeek
• Fadric
• Frostcrown (Dwarves)
• Grassflats
• Harrin's Glen
• Haudver
• Keth
• Layakeel
• Loegrimm
• Longtree
• Ollaku (Dwarves)
• Optwall
• Orokeep (Dwarves)
• Pine Barrens
• Pine Hill
• Pine Vale
• Ratikhill
• Skoradifen (Gnomes)
• Stenigar
• Thellonsfield
• Timbercross
• Tinker's Cove
• Ulthek
• Woodshire

Notable locations

• Chapel of Llerg
• Circle of Procan
• Fang Mountain
• Forsaken Mountain
• Fort Bredivan
• The Great Oak
• The Slaughtered Unicorn

Demography and Population

138,500 - Human 79% (Sof), Dwarf 8% (Mountain 80%, Hill 20%), Halfling 6%, Elf 3%, Gnome 2%, Half-elf 1%, Half-orc 1%

Founding Date

130 CY

Type

Geopolitical, Barony

Demonym

Ratikan

Government System

Monarchy, Absolute

Power Structure

Feudal state

Currency

[Modified Aerdy] Orb (pp), Crown (gp), Scepter (ep), Penny (sp), Common (cp)