Yulgern
Yulgern is the dark and bloody Northern forest of Gernzlov, the long and thin mountain valleys that make up the Northeastern frontier against the Scouringwood Wastes. Yulgern is a place where criminals, outcasts, and runaway serfs are sent, to act as "settlers" reclaiming the tainted land from the great wastes; it is a place of brave Questing Knights on journeys to prove themselves; and it is a place of commerce and cooperation for the many communities and travelers of the wastes, who seek markets for their magical treasures. It is all of these and more. What may seem like the "end" of civilization to some or the unimportant "periphery" of kingdoms is, in its own way, a vibrant region of intermixture and exchange.
While the difference between the Crown villages and the Wasteland villages is murky at best and often actively crossed, there are plenty of symbols of crown and noble authority that designate the legal line between "civilized" and "wild pagan". One is consumption; the Count of Gernzlov subsidizes a ration of low-alcohol 'small ale' for all residents of Yulgern, which is stamped and distributed along the road. To drink ration beer and toast the Count and Queen is one form of performative loyalty. Another is religion; Uvara is civilization here, and the more one can perform Hainish Culture and Hainish religion, the more civilized one is considered. Lunar cults, monster-worship, and Liberated Path Kivish are all found here, so this is notable. (Indeed, the Crown law banning Liberated Kivish from residing in the kingdom is not enforced in Yulgern.)
Yulgern is a dangerous place, sparsely-populated from constant monster attacks and mundane interpersonal violence. The power of the crown is minimal here, and independent actors can contribute to this violence by mustering their warriors for extralegal raiding excursions. Monster attacks do not lessen the violence of the land by unifying people, but rather they normalize violence and make for militarized local societies. This is prime territory for adventurers, monster-hunters, mercenaries, and other sorts of sellswords eager to extract wealth at the end of a blade with minimal consequences. The Questing bounties are numerous and the monster-corpses are ripe for harvesting.
Yulgern is ruled by the Count of Gernzlov, though many decisions are made by on-the-ground knights, who control plots of land and may be appointed by the Count to a march-castle. Those unappointed knights are rarely long-term residents; it is a bit of a "revolving door" for nobles, with most not having what it takes to retain holdings for decades or generations.
Geography
The following map does not contain every minor village, hamlet, or farmstead, but rather the march-castles that serve as the foundations for Hainish occupation:
Brumheg's Watch, founded by the legendary berserker-knight Brumheg Nernendarv, is the primary gate dividing Lower Gernzlov from Yulgern. Watchtowers and walls criss-cross the gap of the mountain pass, making it difficult for any large or obvious monsters to cross the threshold into the kingdom proper. Some do occasionally break through, but they are often injured in the process and can be easily tracked and slain. This is where the grand brewery and ration hall of Yulgern is: where supplies are imported, stored, counted, stamped, and eventually sent out for distribution across Yulgern. The dark, thick, oatsy, and herbal taste of Brumheg Herbal Ale, called in Yulgern Queen's Ale, originates here.
While much of the land and labor that fuels Brumheg's Watch are serfs attached to local feudal lords, the de-facto leader here is the chief administrator of the ration bureaucracy: Father Pardel, a war priest with great experience in feudal skirmishes and wasteland campaigns abroad; he almost became a Horned Knight, or religious warrior, before being denied and assigned here. Father Pardel is a rude and brutal man, more of a zealous war mage than anything a parish could call a priest. Unable to access the upper echelons of power, the ambitious Pardel has accumulated every shred of authority and influence possible here. Even the knight commander of the fortress is more of a partner than an overseer for him. The Knight Commander, Harfren DevYelgen, is an excellent fighter but absolutely mediocre administrator known as an erudite scholar-warrior and who serves as the de-facto face for Pardel's regime. The soldiers call Father Pardel "Father Padlock"/Pardlock for his intolerant and exacting attitude towards anyone entering from Yulgern. It is easy to leave out to Yulgern, but be sure to keep your notes of entrance to be able to leave again through the main gate. For all of Pardel's many issues, he and Harfren have been keeping up with the security and rations work astonishingly well.
Yulgern Keep is the official center of command, assessment, and response in Yulgern. It operates and manages the day-to-day containment of the Horrorpass - a thin valley leading straight into the heart of the wastelands, where the worst horrors of the Scouringwood Wastes regularly attack. As Yulgern Keep is the command center for the worst of the violence, it is seen as most aware of any pressing threats currently facing Yulgern as a whole (a notion that isn't particularly true). Certainly, though, the Keep is the most vital position to hold in perhaps all of the marchlands; its regular battles at the mouth of the Horrorpath are some of the most brutal in Yulgern. This is where the finest knights of the frontier are assembled, and morale here is high. The local castle town has the best Monstercrafting and Monster-butchery in the region; able to process the great and terrible beasts of the Horrorpath and either create new items for their defenders or identify and ship off valuable pieces to Keilbar.
The local garrison and village is incredibly diverse, a mix of Questing Knights seeking glory, permanent men-at-arms, wasteland auxiliaries, and mercenaries of many stripes. The current commander, Lady Yokon, bears a cold demeanor but an open mind. She is a paladin and an idealist, who threw away her former life as a businesswoman and Burgher to embrace a new identity as the bulwark against evil. She keeps discipline tight around here, but also does her best to keep a big tent approach: more than ever, Liberated Path Kivish and pagan warbands have found a warm welcome here in Yulgern Keep.
Yulgern Keep is built around a wasteland anomaly/irradiated entity, that, when exposed to the sound of bells and the warmth of flame, sings a haunting song across the entire valley and releases dancing lights across the sky. This is used as an alarm by the keepers of the castle, to signal if something has gone terribly wrong. Recently, servants of the commander have been drilling locals on how to prepare to evacuate or bunker down if the alarm goes off; the soldiers of Brumheg's Watch are already taught to lock down and muster their arms if they see the alarm.
To the Northwest of Yulgern Keep is the Battlewoods, a place of small fortified outpost-hamlets and self-sustaining semi-mercenary bands. The old local village there is Klugstel, a fortified small village that has long mixed Uvaran, pagan, and Lunar cult ideas. It has since formally become a fully Uvaran vassal village of peasants like any other, though the old culture remains. The village is known for its perpetual cover of mist and strict internal hierarchies around age and martial ability. It has been developing a monstercrafting tradition and has been very tied into the Keep's artisan economy.
To the East of Yulgern Keep is a much more habitable area: Getvenkel Valley, a region claimed by Dovenar but really more of allied than occupied. Getvenkel is inhabited by a number of wasteland tribes and communities, including a number of ancient 'Wood Elves' left over from the old days. Currently, there are two Getvenkel villages on either end of the valley, that serve as meeting places for local homesteads and bands: Moddledov and Velnerdech. These two villages are also the main areas where Lady Yokon keeps a small garrison presence.
Moddledov, in the West, is a semi-Uvaran village traditionally presided over by a cult to Orchid of Blue and Lily of Red (conceived of in a kind of Yin-Yang balanced-but-opposed divinities way, where both are good but in opposing ways). The Cult still rules (with Orchid cultists currently dominating the institution). The people of Moddledov are largely Wood Elves, but include many starspawn, and the Lunar Cult is led by a druid-paladin pair. The village includes a small outpost for the Exorcist's Guild, which the village has long been enamored with and which serves as the primary instrument of royal rule over Moddledov. Recently, there has been some minor religious tension in Moddledov.
Velnerdech in the East is a Liberated Kivish village, though it has a number of Uvarans and pagans. Velnerdech also sits at the start of a long, winding, semi-marked path through the hills and mountains to the Prism and Dwarf communities North of Tovelkarn - a valuable but extremely difficult path. Velnerdech is known for their excellent poisoners and gardens of extremely toxic plants, which they rely on to dispatch monsters. Recently, though, the village has faced an issue that poison cannot fight: a strange and terrible illness that seems to have sprung from the mountain path.
Elsked is a formidable keep that guards the East-Central mountainpass. Elsked and the Elsked valley to its West are known to be perhaps the safest and most stable areas of Yulgern at the moment - it is well-insulated from the Horrorpath, but also has been under competent administration for a few generations. Obviously, it isn't safe by normal standards, but that's Yulgern for you.
The local commander of Castle Elsked is Gundren The Restless, a Questing Knight who abandoned his family to quest eternal - and ended up being granted this castle for his valor and cunning defeating local monsters. Gundren is competent and well-meaning, if somewhat stern and stubborn. He has even entered personal debt to ensure that local monsters are hunted punctually and that the outposts are well-supplied. Despite his rowdy subjects, he has managed to maintain order and generate respect through his deeds.
Elsked as a castle-town is notably pious, with larger-than-usual shrines and a large cemetery for the fallen heroes of Yulgern. Knights passing through often pray at the cemetery for blessings of heroes-gone-by, and donate what they can. Elsked projects power not just through military force by through its large inclusive festivals held at its temple and shrines, which people flock to from the surrounding villages and farmsteads.
The most controversial local village lies along the road West: Little Yostern, short for Little Yohenstern, which is where peasant rebels or fleeing serfs caught and exiled to Yulgern often gravitate to. Founded by such exiles, Little Yostern has a Temple to Theia the Liberator, a resident paladin, and a very rowdy attitude. It also often attracts other exiled criminals (who consider Yohenstern a pirate cove), and so can sometimes have some antisocial behavior. The lord tolerates them, since they pay taxes and their rowdiness can translate to military support, but he openly finds them distasteful and foul.
To the North, deep in the forest, an allied band of mixed pagans and Liberated Path Kivish operate in the village of Jollerdof. This is a semi-mobile village, which prefers camoflouge and mobility to rigid defenses, and which moves around the valley hunting local game. It isn't fully nomadic, though, as their campsites are mostly pre-prepared and seasonally consistent. Jollerdof's pagans are increasingly turning from their local monster-god (The great badger-bear known as the Kepperdesh) to Ustav.
Trontleg is the crisis point of Yulgern, having lost much of its periphery to monsters and pulled back to the keep itself while the wasteland lays siege. Lord Teshkel, the castle commander, was once reasonably competent, was known as a hyper-traditionalist big game hunter, apathetic but tolerant to his peasants and capable of slaying beasts. Monsters of unusual lethality surged through at once, though, and injured Lord Teshkel and ambushed his forces outside of the village of Zolmkof. Zolmkof, the largest village along the road West, was butchered and devoured, and revenants of the former inhabitants now haunt the ruins ambushing travelers. The local wastelander village, sensing their own demise, fled Southwest to Zwenkern Pass in the Wovenwoods.
Another group, the previously hostile Trolnchep Band who traded and raided with Trontleg, has also fled the forest Westward following omens from their leading sorcerer-augur towards Shlebben Pass. This is also bad news for Lord Teshkel, who certainly could use a potential ally. Seeing his allies vanish and his peasants die or flee, Lord Teshkel has begun lashing out dramatically in a downward mental spiral.
Currently, the plan is just to let the monsters rampage around the local forest - called the Whisperwoods for their ominous nighttime whispering - hunting local peasant farmsteads until reinforcements arrive. This total abandonment of the road and the valley has severed the connective line wrapping around the valley, and has allowed monsters to enter the mountains and Wovenwood beyond. Thankfully, the mountains should prevent any kind of mass monster invasion, but lone threats may wander over them.
Shlebben Pass guards the way from the Wovenwood and Trontleg Keep into the far Northwest - the area of weakest crown control.
The castle of Shlebben Pass, which guards the mountain pass and controls most traffic between the West and Trontleg, is currently dealing with critical supply shortages and morale problems. The commander of the fort is an older drunkard Haltia who has slowly fallen into despair.
Beyond Shlebben Pass is Taryolf, a former wasteland village that has been Hainified into a peasant vassal village on the road North. The local lord, Lady Krivilla, is a total outsider to the land and deeply isolated from her peasants; she is most interested in surveying the land for sources of potential irradiated wealth. She gives the village autonomy and does well enough by them to face minimal resistance, but she is in the dark about the village's inner culture and workings. The village of Taryolf is very militarized, and has a dark secret: the village is constructed on top of a prison for an old and dangerous monster, and the villagers consider themselves the wardens of this prison. According to their ancient legends, outsiders will want to free the monster, so it is kept secret from all but the villages' closest allies.
Lastly, in the furthest reach of Yulgern, is Aldmog, the Ancient Prison - the cursed ruined city that once was ruled by the tyrannical "Elven" spirits of old. Aldmog is coveted by those spirits and other dreaded things that seek to rule over mortals, despite being in ruins. It is a cold, isolated city of elegant architecture carved into the mountainside, now militarized as an outpost by the Crown. It is not known why malevolent creatures would want Aldmog, but it is considered reason enough to deny them access to it.
Aldmog is currently in a crisis: its commander, a "down-to-earth" knight known for her calmness and gregarity named Lady Kowesha, vanished mysteriously not long ago. The garrison's courier to the outside world was intercepted and eaten, and the garrison is now bickering about what to do while they wait for help that isn't coming. Meanwhile, a dark presence of some sort has started to infiltrate the old and ruined halls. Aldmog needs aid more than it knows.
Brumheg's Watch
Yulgern Keep
Yulgern Periphery
Elsked
Elsked Periphery
Trontleg
Shlebben Pass and West
Aldmog
History
The history of Yulgern is somewhat brief. It was once a marchland for the Empire of Andrig, which became an area of sanctuary for refugees from that empire when it collapsed in 520 ME. The Old Elf spirits took over the region afterwards, primarily based out of their city of Larethian - now known as the Aldmog. The Aldmog was once the sole city of Elfkind, a former Prism town with deep mines and ample housing for refugees, far from the center of conflict. Over time, the Spirits enslaved the prisms as workers as well as the refugees as thrall-puppets. The Aldmog became the sole rival to the Elfengrove's glory, a great mountainside city of strange architecture and excessive aesthetics, built more for form than function. When the prisms tried to lead a rebellion in 839 ME, they were slaughtered to a man. The ghosts of the prisms remained and could not be exorcized, but were captured by the Spirits in vessels known as ghost lanterns - some of which remain to this day. In 1125, the horrors of the Elf Spirit rule ended when an army from the Kingdom of Verzavek stormed the Aldmog and drove their spirits away, freeing the mortal servants we now call Elves.
After 1125, there was little interest in such an unstable and dangerous region, and Yulgern was abandoned to become part of the chaos wastes for the next seven hundred years. In 1800, though, the new monarchy of the Kingdom of Dovenar had new interest in Yulgern: like the ancient Andrigans, they hoped to secure Yulgern as a safe marchland that might better insulate the inner provinces from the wastes. Maps were made and the mountain passes fortified in the 1810s and 1820s; from 1830 to 1880, the real work began. It was a war against what was then wasteland, brutal and direct. Wasteland survivor communities that did not cooperate were driven away; suspicious species were culled in large numbers; supply and support for settlement was treated as a united military operation rather than a feudal land grab. It should be noted that it wasn't total destruction or total war; more wasteland communities were co-opted than expelled, and more species were tolerated than culled. Nonetheless, the violence and intensity of the campaign was more in line with occupation than the softer "internal colonization" approach of expanding internal settlement. This harsh and direct approach, imported from the Kingdom of Hain, was successfully planned and executed by a series of Gernzlov counts and Dovenaran monarchs who prioritized expansion over short-term profit or feudal stability. To them, expansion ensured both.
Of course, the cost of such campaigns mounted in both financial and political terms, and the politicial unity of the Kingdom declined in the 1890s through 1940s. The Yulgern campaign steadily lost inertia. The defensive infrastructure had yet to be finished by the time politics set in, and supply lines were soon punctured. Construction stopped. Holes in the line appeared and widened. In 1943, a series of monsters coming down the Horrorpath breached the main defenses and led to a cascading series of monstrous invasions. Yulgern's garrisons were islands in hostile territory now.
In 1945, the main branch of House Savadan seized control, and the kingdom stabilized. Monsters were repelled, and the mountain pass was secured. Yulgern was quietly evacuated and its defenses were restructured around containing the Horrorpath and mountain passes again. Yulgern as a strategic asset seemed basically lost - even as Questing Knights ventured out regularly to try and support the allied wastelanders there. In 1962, the Queen and Count cooperated with several other vassals and Hainish clans to begin a massive re-occupation of Yulgern: a great campaign was undertaken 1962 - 1970, the defensive infrastructure was finished and staffed, and the monsters were finally, mostly, stopped from crossing the mountains. That Queen, who reigned until 1981, built Yulgern into a fully functioning and largely sustainable border march, even as she threw around money and debts she didn't have good plans to pay back.
The following Queen of 1981 to 1998 managed to stabilize Yulgern while paying off her predecessor's debts - a careful balance that the new Queen, Queen Krozga Savadan, has not kept. The new Queen has left Yulgern to the Count of Gernzlov to handle, as per their feudal contract, while she focuses on her crownlands. To some, she is simply shifting priorities; others, including many in Yulgern, argue that she is holding the land hostage until the Count provides more for the Crown's authority. Regardless of why, the what is a notable shrinkage of resources. Men and coins have rerouted towards major areas of violence, notably the Horrorpath. The under-funded Western reaches have suffered. At one castle in the West, Trontleg, the line has broken - though the castle holds. Monsters have become more common in the Wovenwood as a result. That said, this crisis isn't entirely irregular and is hardly irrepairable; this ebb and flow of power happens here even when well-funded. That said, the resulting vulnerability in West Yulgern is a bit more pronounced than it would have been, and some worry that the Westen half of the march may be close to partial collapse.
Modern History
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