Sea Princes

The Hold of the Sea Princes is a realm south of Keoland.

Overview

The Hold of the Sea Princes is a land bordered on all sides by the protection of natural terrain. To the north, its reaches extend to the Hool River River at the heart of the marshland of the same name. To the west and south, the lands of the Sea Princes are walled in by the Hellfurnaces. The Hold’s eastern border, along the Jeklea Bay, accounts for the nation’s prosperity.
The Hold is renowned for its beautiful weather and pleasant beaches. Nobles from as far as Nyrond flock to Monmurg every winter, hoping to escape the dreary north for a few months of relative paradise. The land here is fertile and suitable for farming all manner of crop. Fruit production is perhaps the Hold’s most famous industry, though a traffic in slavery brings it the most enemies (and whole ships filled with coin, thanks to the greedy lords of the Great Kingdom and elsewhere). In fact, the slave trade of the Sea Princes is so lucrative that captains call their captured Amedio slaves “two-legged admirals,” referring to the platinum coinage of the realm.

History

In the mid–fourth century CY, as Keoland made war in the north, the buccaneers of the Azure Sea and Jeklea Bay grew courageous, correctly assuming that the king’s wartime ambition would leave much of his southern holdings for the taking. Operating from hidden island and mainland bases, these pirates harried the coastline as far as the Sea of Gearnat, from Monmurg to Gradsul, from Blue to Scant.
By 444 CY, the pirates had formed a loose confederation, naming themselves for the Sea Prince, the ship of a successful pirate captain of noble Keoish blood. The Sea Princes raided the mainland coast, conquering even Port Toli and finally Monmurg in 446, breaking Keoish control of the southlands in a flurry of naval actions. As Tavish III’s northern holdings crumbled, however, he ordered the eradication of the Sea Princes, charging his military commanders to regain all of the land lost to the seafaring opportunists. The Sea Princes’ operations had expanded even to the mainland, a fact that infuriated the king. The pirates openly scoffed at his decrees and challenged the monarch to a battle by sea. Tavish III would not oblige.
Instead, in the spring chill of 453 CY, the king himself led a large army of men through the tangles of the Hool Marsh, intending to lay siege to the fort city of Westkeep. The trek through the swamp proved disastrous, however, and many of the soldiers were forced to cast away their armor in the quagmire. The army’s wagon train suffered tremendous difficulty, and many soldiers took sick within the first two days of the march. Tavish seemed indignant. Westkeep would fall, and he himself would hoist the Lion Rampant upon its highest tower. When finally the army arrived at the outskirts of the fort city, the Sea Princes forces had been well prepared. Those Keolandish soldiers who did not mutiny were cut down by an unrelenting barrage of arrow fire and magic. The Siege of Westkeep, as it would soon be known, lasted a pathetic 70 minutes. Tavish himself was slain in battle, and the forces of the Sea Princes celebrated that night under the standard of the crowned caravel.
The Battle of Jetsom Island, in 464 CY, saw the Keoish navy sink the Sea Prince, with all hands lost. Though not a decisive military victory for Keoland, the action marked a turning point for the holders. Thereafter, many of the old captains retired from piracy, settling the mainland and forming a more stabilized government. The younger captains turned from piracy to relatively legitimate pursuits, including exploration of the Amedio coast and, eventually, the sale of slaves captured within the fecund southern jungles. Thus a chaotic nation of pirates and scalawags turned their attention to mercantilism, and the coffers of the Sea Princes swelled to bursting.
With this newfound industrial power, the Sea Princes expanded their borders to the Hellfurnaces. Vast plantations, worked by imported Amedio slaves, provided shiploads of tropical fruits and sugar, goods that could be exported to foreign ports for unheardof low prices. Though the sale of human beings drew the ire of upstart radical nations such as the Yeomanry, the Sea Princes’ slave trade was seen by most of the Flanaess as a necessary evil on the road to fantastic wealth.
As the years progressed, however, the practice of slavery was less supported by the gentry of client nations. When the moderate Prince Jeon II of Monmurg assumed the throne in 573 CY, most expected the issue to come to a head. In 576, Jeon assembled a grand council of his peers and demanded an end to slave-taking. The prince of Toli, the plar of Hool, the grandee of Westkeep, and the commodores of the Isles shouted down his plan. Only the ineffectual governor of Sybarate Isle and the duke of Berghof supported him. In disgust, he withdrew his proposal.

Geography

Political subdivisions

Royal lands:

• Principality of Monmurg

Principalities:

• Principality of Toli
• Principality of Westkeep

Duchies:

• Duchy of Berghof

Governates:

• Governate of Fairwind Isle
• Governate of Flotsam Island
• Governate of Jetsam Island
• Governate of Sybarate Isle

Plardoms:

• Plardom of Hool

Settlements

Cities

• Hokar
• Monmurg 
• Port Toli
• Westkeep

Towns and Villages

Chiswell

• Ensar
• Fort Blackwell
• Fort Bodal
• Fort Easthook
• Fort Haveklha
• Fort North Azure
• Fort South Azure
• Fort Southhook
• Fort Westhook
• Gannaway
• Hallbridges
• Kusnir
• Poniard
• Port Calm
• Port Elizabeth
• Port Torvin
• Port Westkeep
• Rockburgh
• Syber
• Trevorton

Notable locations

• Adlerweg Keep
• Old Guard Station

Demography and Population

420,000 - Human 79% (Sofz), Halfling 8%, Elf 4%, Dwarf 3%, Gnome 2%, Half-elf 1%, Half-orc 1%, Other 2%

Type

Geopolitical, Principality

Capital

Monmurg

Leader

Athamas Hammandaturian

Leader Title

High Prince

Government System

Monarchy, Elective

Power Structure

Feudal state

Currency

Highlord (pp), gold admiral (gp), bright ship (ep), silver (sp), common (cp)