Kingdom of Dovenar

Dovenar is the largest and most prosperous kingdom in Andrig, and a de-facto vassal state of the Kingdom of Hain. It is a land of rich farms, conservative knights, and bountiful ruins. Every hill here has a story, if you dig for bones. Every farmer has at least one old statue or sword or painted pot they've unearthed tilling the soil. Warped skeletons of mutated dregs are so common that the children use them as toys. This feeds a romantic past-facing aesthetic, paired with the false image of a soft, cozy pastoralist. The social order is absolute here, extreme feudalism hostile to any deviance. Absolute adherence to Uvaran religion. A closed-off isolationist culture that idolizes the nameless farmer and rejects the flamboyant stranger. Things are somewhat different in the city of Keilbar, the capital and crown port, but a religious over-compensating traditionalist prevails there as well.
Dovenar is a frontier at parts; it has several counties that are actively battling the chaos wastes, that would welcome any adventurers or Questing Knights. It is also a place of Rose Knights (those knights who devote themselves to the chivalrous ideal) and a place of Elves (human-like starspawn who wield minor magic and once had lengthy lifespans).

Structure

Dovenar is entirely ruled by the Savadan family - a powerful noble house in the Kingdom of Hain. The Savadan clan chooses from its upper ranks who receives the title - though the previous monarch can make recommendations. Dovenar is also a Hainish vassal in all but the most formal terms.
Beneath the monarch are eight counts, all of whom are given great autonomy and legal freedom. The greatest of these counts is the Count of Genzlov (who is almost always a Geinmen - another major Hainish clan). Should any dispute arise between these mighty few, all of them meet in a moot to vote on the matter. In these moots, the monarch is given three votes instead of one to represent their superior standing; majority vote wins. In short, the monarch must always be sure to have three counts agree with them for their decisions to become law.
The current monarch is Queen Krozga Savadan, a human woman raised in central Hain. Queen Krozga is an exceptionally pious woman who surrounds herself with Uvaran priests and thinkers, and who spends much of her time in the capital city of Keilbar  (the only city in Andrig) overseeing religious works and charity. As a governor, she has also kept her local subordinates happy and loyal, and has maintained her allies across the kingdom - she had primarily focused on political stability and diplomacy, with reasonable success. Unfortunately, her belief that good works will purify her kingdom has led her to neglect military support for the border counts. The result has been an escalation of the existing crisis in the Northwest, where monsters have begun to undermine the counties of Tolbstorn and Rivenshal.

Culture

Dovenaran culture might best be described as "Hain-lite"; Hainish culture dominates prescribed norms (especially among the elites), but the general culture has absorbed scattered elements from across Stildane. Only a small percentage of Dovenar's population is actually from Andrig prior to 1730, and even before that the region was known for taking immigrants and settlers from other lands. Villages can contain traditions from one or more other regions, and they relate to each other with a kind of generic cultural Uvara. Religion, and the common cultural norms of Hainish Uvara, are the essential binding element of Dovenaran identity. Wastelanders and Kobolds are both kept at a distance (sometimes a polite distance) as perpetual foreigners. A recognition of a common identity doesn't instantly translate to friendliness, of course; many Dovenaran villages hate certain other villages with a passion, typically related to old feuds or resource disputes. 
If one were to make general declarations about inter-village Dovenaran culture, it would be that it is suspicious and distant. Those outside the kin or village group are to be given distance and privacy, and expect that in return. Personal space is given and brevity is valued until worship, food, or drink is had together. Positivity is generally expected, and people are socially expected to downplay or ignore negative events to strangers. The food here is a kind of cross-Stildanian mix. Pochouse, or fish stew, is an iconic local dish; as is "Sour roast", or horse meat marinated in vinegar (as well as wine and/or sugar sometimes).

History

Oldest Days (-100 to 400)

In the earliest of days, Dovenar was one of the first places in Stildane to bounce back from the radiation and chaos unleashed by The Chimera's Ederstone. The Androlg tribe grew a great confederation here in the 100s ME, to defend their scraps of farmland from invaders and monsters. It is said that the Androlgs were people from the Perfect Age, who retained ancient magic and technology from before the Ederstone rain - that they were ruled by ancient dryad kings who kept alive memories and records of what came before. Their leaders laid claim to all of Stildane, and fought hard to keep the unpure and mutated masses out of their sanctuary. They were not successful - they were overthrown by their own people and plunged into civil war before history was effectively recorded. The only reason we even know of such things is because of the involvement of the Lunar Pantheon, who vaguely remember the Androlg lords.
The last vestiges of the Androlg order were destroyed with the Cursed Storms of the 200s: a supernatural winter that refused to ever truly leave, but would wander the continent with freak weather events (such as summer blizzards, sudden hurricanes, and rains of mutated hostile specters). Ustav, the ancient hero now deified, spent a great deal of time here fighting against the Storms and building resilient communities. Sheltered by the mountains and far from the most dangerous Ederstone nodes of the time, Andrig thrived during and after the days of Ustav. The ancient people of Andrig built four great sanctuary cities with Ustav's help, but none were larger or more prosperous than Geinstenn: City of Victory. When the storms cleared, these four sanctuaries became city states competed for land and colonies, which they established up and down the coast. They feuded, competed, traded, and transformed - some would say that they re-urbanized the North Stildanian coast.

Highs and Lows of Empire (400 - 520)

In 429, a war in Andrig divided the city-states into two ruling kingdoms, led by the cities of Geinstenn (in Dovenar) and Mockenstenn (in land now annexed by Hain). The two kingdoms feuded, until finally a wily Starspawn sorcerer named Yeffra Musechosen was able to rise into a position of power in Mockenstenn (having won a tournament for the heir's hand in marriage). Yeffra's cleverness and determination allowed her to undermine the rulers of Geinstenn, plunging their rival into civil war - into which Mockenstenn intervened. Yeffra crowned herself Queen of Geinstenn while her husband remained King of Mockenstenn, and their united forces became the First Empire of Andrig in 444 ME. The united empire conquered along the coast, seizing much of the Hainish coast and clashing with the Empire of Trostev to the North. In 477, the Empire of Andrig collapsed and fragmented once again. Geinstenn's local elites slowly began reconquering the old empire, and managed to recapture the last vestiges in 493 - but the new Empire was newborn and fragile.
Alas, in 495, the first Kivish invasion arrived, and Andrig proved particularly unlucky against it. On the first battle against the Kivish, the Andrigan Emperor was struck with Ederstone and transformed; when his mutated form was taken back to the palace, he broke free and slaughtered his entire line of succession. The misguided generals of Andrig believed that the Kivish were only small warbands, and turned on each other for the crown instead of uniting. The Kivish easily divided and annihilated each group when the main body of the Kivish army arrived.
While most of Andrig fell easily, the city of Geinstenn resisted - and soon became a rallying point for all remaining Andrigan forces. Desperate people banded together there, too late to be truly salvage the empire. But the remaining imperial forces still delayed the Kivish - and even took back ground for several decades. The last stand of Geinstenn exhausted the Kivish vanguard and gave the Hainish tribes to the South time to prepare. The Kivish main army eventually arrived, though, and Andrig's densely populated compactness made any kind of "defense by attrition" impossible. At Geinstenn, the people of Andrig marched in a last desperate defense. They brought out the ancient Gods and rituals of the Androlgs - the Gods that had been alive before the Ederstone fell, that had once been a secret blessing for kings alone - to bless their people and to begin a new age of victory. The desolation of Geinstenn, and of Andrig itself, was the last military operation personally overseen by Kivish founder Verkohn the Truthful. The united forces of Andrig were overwhelmed and completely smashed by the combined forces and total focus of the Kivish horde. Verkohn ordered that Geinstenn, as a symbol of the illusory old world being cast aside, was to be completely broken. Ederstone was to be stored there, and a large group of captured prisoners were to be broken down physically amidst that radiation. In short, the Sanctuary of Order was to be turned into a new chaos waste, if only for a brief time. It was, perhaps, the most spiteful and pointlessly violent thing that the aging prophet ever did.

Survival (520 - 1200)

The Kivish invasion depopulated Andrig in apocalyptic fashion: the most densely populated part of Northern Stildane was suddenly completely empty of people. No spirits came to Andrig's aid and all the best attempts to resist were simply crushed. Those who could survive mostly fled South, to Hain. Those who fled inland discovered a whole new surprise: that the nearby forested chaos waste to the Northeast (now known as the Scouringwoods) was becoming more aggressive and destructive, and was spitting out more dangerous predators. In Dovenar, the hills to the East (now known as the Broken Hills) were the only safe place, and farming there was unproductive. Many starved.
In the 500s, the small Andrigan population in the hills prayed for aid - and, eventually, it came from the North from an unexpected place. Irradiated creatures wrapped in illusion, who came to be known as "Elves" (after a generic term for forest spirits popular in Andrigan folk religion), descended from the Scouringwoods with astonishing benevolence. The "Elves" offered to bring them new foods to save their people from the wastes, in exchange for tribute and service. The survivors gave their extra children, their labor, their worship, and even their memories in exchange for a chance to feed those who remained. The monsters avoided them, the hills grew verdant with strange fruits, and the people prospered as well as any could. This eventually caught the notice of the Kivish, who sent a small force to secure the area in the 560 as part of their Southern pacification campaign. The "Elves" turned monsters against them and aided the people in resistance, but their final victory was not one of arms. Hiding in a mortal body, one of these creatures was able to seduce the Kobold commander into defecting - crowning them Lord of the Groves and pampering the would-be-conqueror in a palace of illusions. The Kivish warband became a village that would periodically send falsified reports back to the Empire. After the Kivish defeat in Hain in 565, the warband was forgotten about entirely and the matter was dropped.
From 565 to 630, Hainish warbands raided into Andrig to attack Kivish outposts, while Kivish warbands did the same to Hainish ones. War between the two powers intensified again from 630 to 650. It went back to raiding from 650 to 703, and then it intensified again for several decades. The Kivish settlement efforts of the 700s largely ignored Andrig, and the region remained a no-man's land for the entire century. In the 850s, the legal reforms of the Kizen Empire did lead to some timid peace attempts with Hain and a feeble attempt to bring order to Andrig, but these never realized into anything much. It took the destruction of the Empire of Kizen and the retreat of the Kingdom of Hain for the constant violence in Andrig to end.
While the violence ended in the 1000s ME, it wasn't until the 1100s that communities started to really move back into Andrig's heartlands. The land was divided into feudal claims by the Kingdom of Verzavek in 1116, and farmers from the North flooded in seeking free farmland. The few Andrigan holdouts crept out of the interior to join them - with the notable exception of the Elfenfolk. The people of the "Elves" left their hills to occupy the valley now known as Genzlov, and their overlords built a mutated grove to serve as their new capital. The Kingdom of Verzavek did not find this landgrab amusing - they had already been amassing monster-hunters to clear these "Elves" from the hills, and this new offense confirmed that they were going to be a threat. In 1119 ME, Verzavek's knights and monster hunters slew the leader of these "Elves"; history is divided on whether all of them died, or whether some of them escaped. While this episode of macabre monster-rule may seem irrelevant to modern politics and society, it left behind a number of notable things: Elfcorn and Pepperfruit , the two spices grown in Dovenar, are both mutated flora planted and shaped by these spirits. Modern-day Elves, or human-appearing starspawn with pointed ears and innate minor magic, are a result of this period as well - the children of those who the spirits molded as their vessels and agents.

More Damage (1120 - 1800)

From 1116 to 1350, Verzavek ruled the land and life slowly returned to Dovenar. And then, more Kivish wars started. From 1350 to 1440, Andrig became a bloodbath again, and most people simply fled Dovenar rather than face total annihilation. Geinmenn was irradiated in extreme violence again. Monsters flooded in again. When the dust cleared in 1440, Andrig had a reputation for misfortune. People crawled back into Dovenar for the farmland, but serious resettlement was slow. Eleven tiny kingdoms formed from local communities or adventurers riding in. When the world stabilized again in the 1500s, these eleven kingdoms were largely gobbled up by Verzavek and Hain (with one notable exception - the neutral port of Yohenstern). Dovenar was divided into marchlands. Things thawed in the 1600s and populations began to rise, but a new war of annihilation began in 1680 - proving the haters right yet again. This war was particularly bad for locals of Andrig, as the new Kivish regime systematically swept the area for holdouts to enslave. Andrig was not depopulated, though: the Kivish regime imported slaves from the North to extract food, metals, and lumber for their military machine. Thankfully, this period ended in 1730, as Hainish knights rode through and liberated the land and paladins of Theia the Liberator launched dozens of tiny slave revolts.
From 1730 to 1800, Dovenar in particular became known as a place where former Kivish slaves could find a free life - a place where the Law of Theia, that no person may ever be held in bondage of any kind, held true. This was basically true 1730 to 1750, but after the Kivish threat was ended, the Hainish liberators settled down to govern Andrig properly. The people were enserfed, and Hainish knights mercilessly suppressed Theian radicals, who retreated to the ruins of the free port of Yohenstern to plan a rebellion that never came. Politics were unstable enough that peasants could still elect leaders into politics in those days - local ealdormen had great status and political clout in those days, and they organized to protect the farmers from the worst restrictions of serfdom. In 1800, House Savadan and House Geinmen conspired to completely make Dovenar their own, and they crafted a new order together that crushed the ealdormen and pushed a platonic ideal of serfdom. The dream of Dovenar as a bastion of freedom was crushed; now, it was just Little Hain.

Modern Politics

Politics since the Savadan coup of 1800 have been sleepy, as the system was designed for maximum feudal autonomy. Resettlements have continued, despite Dovenar no longer being Theia's land - now people come for cheap farmland or a new life on the frontier rather than social-political freedom. Some starspawn-elves that have grown disillusioned with their old communities have returned to Dovenar as a kind of imagined homeland; some come for kinship, others come believing that it can restore their lifespans to lengthened ones of their ancestors. Knights come here with settlers seeking glory and an estate to pass on to their children.
Dovenaran history since 1800 largely fits two phases: the Zilamen period from 1800 to 1944, and the full Savadan period from 1944 to the present day. From 1800 to 1944, the Savadan family placed their Zilamen cadet branch on the throne of Dovenar, and allowed them to pass the throne in a direct line. The Zilamen family prioritized wealth and population over all else; they encouraged immigration and pressured the counts into opening up lands for resettlement at any cost. By their efforts, the city of Keilbar rose from a small town into a bustling port city. Unfortunately, the Zilamen monarchs after 1880 struggled with stability and succession. From 1880 to 1944, three monarchs reigned - each one dealing with all sorts of rebellions and family intrigue. The Zilamen family entered a succession crisis in 1943, and began to war among themselves before the Savadan family dislodged them and took the throne for themselves again. The Savadan family has made succession into a House decision rather than a line of direct succession, and has focused on stability above all. This stability has come at the cost of economic stagnation and administrative inefficiency, but it is seen as a small price for political and social cohesion. Queen Krozga Savadan is the third Savadan monarch of Dovenar, and took the throne in 1998.

Demography and Population

Between 100,000 and 150,000 humanoids live in Dovenar; most are Starspawn.

Territories

Dovenar is about 70 miles long along the coastline, and moves 30 to 45 miles inland. It is split between three main landscapes: the Westshire, the Darkwood, and the Broken Hills.

The Westshire is basically the primary stretch of viable farmland in Dovenar - and perhaps the best farmland in all of Andrig. Most of the population lives and works here. The Broken Hills are a haunted landscape known for its many hidden outposts and sanctuaries; this is where the holdouts of Old Andrig survived during Kivish occupations. Control over the Broken Hills is loose at best. The Darkwood is essentially chaos frontier, not fully controlled by the state.
Across these three main regions, the country is divided into 9 counties:

• Anderyorn is a recreation of the ancient Andrigan imperial core province of the same name, though the northern quarter of it is now essentially contested wildlands; the Count of Arnholm has been demanding that part. Anderyorn is held by the ruling Savadan family. This is the wealthiest and most populated province.
• Gernzlov is the second largest and most important province, and it contains a large and fertile valley containing the fickle and hard-to-grow Pepperfruit and Elfcorn. It is mostly made of estates that desperately farm these odd plants. This province also contains the road to the Kingdom of Nidever. Ruled by the Geinmen family.
• Vlostrov is a hilly and inhospitable land mostly used by shepherds. The farming populace is hard to tax, as they are notoriously afraid of all authority and outsiders.
• Parstovar is a small farming province with good climate and some Pepperfruit farms - though a little hilly and rough at places. Rich in tin.
• Tolinchoff is a small farming province with good climate and some Pepperfruit farms. Wealthy and conservative. Rich in marble.
• Yohenstern used to be a city-state, but the city was razed and its people enslaved in the last scouring. Those few who remain in the rubble proudly try and retain their democratic traditions, and the nobles here must keep a loose touch.
• Tolbstorm is the most successful march into the chaos wastes - but it is under constant siege.
• Arnholm is a small, poor county that was once the last line of defense, and sees itself as entitled to great glory.
• Rivenshal is more a series of lines on maps than real occupied territory; it stumbles from crisis to crisis doing all it can to not get wiped off the map. It is so bad that a Revenant of a prior count occupies the original castle, and the new count is considering just building a new fort instead of dealing with that.

As a different county/territorial map of Dovenar:

Military

Dovenar has no centralized military, but rather a series of count-level warbands that draw men from knightly landlord families and men-at-arms from local communities. Each count runs their warbands differently. There is great emphasis on elite armored cavalry and heavy infantry, supported by light troops. Typically, the elites are nobles, but they can include favored champions among the common troops that are given status and equipment by the count. 
The merchants (Burghers) also pay extra taxes into a special royal fund for combined military action. The monarch can also call a levy of Rose Knights, an order of elite warriors dedicated to the glory of Hain and chivalrous love, in times of crisis. The Rose Knights operate a major chapterhouse in Keilbar, and a sworn to protect the city and kingdom in exchange for lodging and support.

Religion

Dovenar is a very Uvaran kingdom in the Hainish tradition. Priests here must be confirmed by Hainish priests (confirmed by the Autumn Court) to be considered legitimate; a seminary school in Keilbar trains clerical candidates for this purpose, and is the local center of regional religious authority.
Local religious symbols include the victorious Lady Zistrella, a mysterious knight who is said to have ridden on a ghostly mount from the Ruins to lead the Hainish charge against the Kivish. Her name means "of the North Star", for it is said that her shield carried a blazing star and that she could only charge North - never retreating. Some say she vanished in the chaos, others say she died during the final Hainish push to Rumakel, and still others say that she rides forever at Ustav's side.
Generally, though, religion tends to be extremely local in village life, while it can seem downright monotheistic in its devotion to Ustav on levels larger than the local. The current Queen has sought to change this - and has had some considerable success recently. After discovering a translation of an ancient text that places Varsha (Goddess of Survival and Mother of the Gods) as having been hidden in Andrig in her infancy, the Queen has been pushing Varsha as a symbol of Dovenar. While the Cult of Varsha is still in its infancy here, the new mythology has been spreading like wildfire through the countryside - and many are seeing signs of Varsha everywhere now.

Laws

Laws vary from county to county; all county-level laws are the sole discretion of the local count. There is a small number of crown laws, that apply across the whole kingdom. Each count has a handful of sheriffs, who handle formal law enforcement. Communities often play a very active role in policing; village militias are allowed to hold court for petty crimes, though the interior counties all demand that all murderers, witches, or other perpetrators of serious crimes be tried in official courts.
As for royal laws:

• All commoners are strictly divided between freemen and serfs; serfs cannot leave their county without permission, and are bound to work for their lord on the land. 
• Only nobles may grow food of any kind for sale outside the country - all exported food must be sold to them first, then typically resold to a Burgher
• Uvarans can practice their religion without regulation. All Kivish outside the Promised Path are banned from staying in the country for more than one month
• Any commoner who slanders or wounds a noble is to be punished and humiliated; if the instance is seen as particularly foul and unprovoked, the commoner will be disfigured or branded in such a way to mark them as shameful
• The Divine Contact cannot be performed by any commoner without an Uvaran priest's permission
• Commoners who commit crimes can have their sentences reduced if they were deemed intoxicated by the court; in exchange, the commoner must work a set number of years as an indentured servant (typically for a lord). 

The current Queen of Dovenar has greatly expanded the number of courts and sheriffs in the county of Anderyorn.

Agriculture & Industry

Dovenar is an agricultural and extractive kingdom; the people farm, mine, and lumber more than they manufacture. While most communities produce what they can for themselves, luxury goods and superior tools must be imported from Keilbar - and often shipped in from Hain or Verzavek.
Agriculturally, most of what is produced are staple grains (wheats, corns, mutant grains). However, there are two local spices that are grow effectively only here: Elfcorn  and Pepperfruit . Elfcorn is a magical plant that feeds heavily on insects and small animals, and grows a colorful shell of sugar crystals around its stalk to attract them. Pepperfruit trees are fragile and tender, and grow fruit that can be easily refined into powdered spices. Both plants are grown in large noble estates for export.
Aside from grains and spices, Dovenar mines a great deal of marble and tin from the hills. Trappers and hunters also hunt for exotic monsters and animals in the Northeastern borderlands.

Trade & Transport

Trade in Dovenar that goes beyond a village market is generally looked down upon; only Keilbar and Yohenstern have any kind of merchant presence beyond small shops and peddlers. Only Keilbar has Burghers - titled merchants given royal permission to conduct trade and command urban guilds. Guilds outside of the two towns tend to be small and fragile.
Lumber is kept from export in Dovenar, and is instead reserved for either shipbuilding, crafts, or masonry.

"Glory Never Dies"

Founding Date

1729

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Capital

Keilbar

Demonym

Dovenaran

Government System

Monarchy, Constitutional

Power Structure

Feudal state

Economic System

Traditional

Gazetteer

• Keilbar, capital city
• Yohenstern, the rowdy Theia town
• The Haunted Ruins of Geinsteinn 
• The Elfengrove, irradiated and fickle

Currency

Sunekan Golden Lions, Silver Foxes, Copper Stars

Major Exports

Tin, pepper-fruit, elfcorn, marble, fish

Major Imports

Copper, steel, textiles, mounts, tar

Official State Religion

Uvara

Parent Organization

The Kingdom of Hain

Location

Andrig

Official Languages

• Hainish language

Related Ranks & Titles

• Burgrave
• Graf
• Junker

Controlled Territories

• Anderyorn Crownlands
• Elfengrove
• Fangwood
• Geinsteinn Ruins
• Geinsteinn Wilds
• Gernzlov
• Hollowed Hills
• Keilbar
• Keilbarbolk
• Kokech Reliquary
• Krivsha
• Tolinchoff
• Vlostrov
• Wovenwood
• Yohenstern
• Yulgern

Neighboring Nations

• Halvzarmarch Preserve
• Kingdom of Nidever
• Kingdom of Vetenka
• The Kingdom of Hain