Barony of Eternity
Tentative Geographic Assignment: Spot 5
Basic Concept: The Barony of Eternity is known for condoning a very controversial practice, it allows for the legal creation of undead.
Character of the Realm: Flawed utopia. The locals enjoy a decent standard of living in terms of material possessions and leisure time, but there is the omni-present offputting troupes of undead plowing fields and toting loads of goods.
Religion: Most of the locals are not very religious but they have picked up a couple priests and priestesses that are outliers in their priesthoods for their tolerance or interest in using undead. Greymoria priests and priesthoods rarely have many compunctions about using undead but there aren't as many Children as one would guess because the Children don't like being subjugated to a secular lord imposing many rules and limitations on them.
Challenges: The Barony of Eternity is unpopular with its neighbors for their sanctioned use of necromancy. The Dragon Springs Barony is watching them carefully and waiting for them to make a mistake so they can implement a new Baron more to their liking.
While the other Baronies do not like the Barony of Eternity, they don't have the inclination to outright attack them. Many refuse to trade with the Eternalists and they have no mutual assistance treaties with any of the other nearby Barons. They also have very little support from most priesthoods (even the undead friendly ones are lukewarm at best). This forces the Barony to be self-sufficient.
Map of the Border Baronies by Pendrake
Demographics
The realm has about 52,000 living inhabitants about about 5,000 undead workers and soldiers. Even the best necromancers can only maintain about 300 undead minions, but they can create "primed" undead so once they are down to 299 undead minions, they can quickly activated one of their "primed" undead. About 90% of the living and undead people here are humans.
The realm have just under 30 necromancer residents helping maintain the undead force. About three in four of them are arcane necromancers not divine necromancers. Non-resident necromancers frequently pass through and visit the area.
Of the 30 necromancer permanent residents, 10 of them have significant magical ability besides necromancy and 6 of these individuals are in the Baron's inner circle.
It is believed that the Eternalists have at least 20,000 primed undead buried in various catacombs beneath the barony.
Government
The Barony is ruled by ruler with patrinlineal hereditary succession, called simply "the Baron of Eternity" or simply "the Baron"
The Baron does not go through pretensions of feudal power structure, every lieutenant is a direct appointee without hereditary titles. A majority of his lieutenants happen to be necromancers.
The current Baron is little more than a figurehead who serves as a mouthpiece for edicts and proclamations drafted by the more powerful and more entrenched necromancers.
Industry & Trade
The Barony of Eternity has enough farmland to feed their living population and produce a small surplus. They also have a few modestly productive mines. In both cases, skeleton workers do most of the heavy lifting while the living perform the finesse jobs that require more manual dexterity and thought.
The living denizens of the Barony do get enjoy more leisure time than commoners do elsewhere in Scarterra. All for the low low price of knowing there is a good chance their corpses will be doing the hard labor later.
The Barony produces a lot of home grown reagents which invariably goes to the local necromancers to maintain their undead workers and soldiers. Even then, their local reagent supply is rarely enough requiring the Barony to import additional reagents. They can usually negotiate good deals from reagent mongers as there are relatively few places where necromantic reagents can be sold legally.
History
"Skeletons don't eat, sleep, or disobey orders. After the initial reagent expenditure to reanimate them, you never have to pay a copper piece in wages to them. -Baron MonroeThe current Baron's grandfather ended up in a tight spot dealing with external attacks by brigands, of the goblin, human, and orcish variety and simulataneously dealing with internal rebellions (largely for not defending against the the brigands). Some necromancers swooped in to solve both problems with undead troops to both slay the brigands and crush the internal rebellions. Shortly afterwards, the the Baron formally legalized the creation and use of undead soldiers in his realm which led to a gradual expanding of undead use that continues to this day.
Tourism
A lot of people go out of their way not to visit, not wanting to go to a realm where undead openly walk the streets.
Some necromancers make this an informal hub for exchanging knowledge with each other and bartering for reagents or other resources.
The local necromancers are tightly regulated in the Barony of Eternity, and there many things they are not allowed to do, including creating carnivorous undead or binding ghosts. Less restricted necromancers use the Barony as a hub for black market magical services and black market reagents.by Eron12 with Heroforge"Pah, the necromancers of the Barony of Eternity are to real necromancers what tiny lap dogs are to mighty wolves." -Magnati, independent necromancer
Natural Resources
The farmlands are fairly fertile and there is enough timberland to meet the populations needs for building and fuel. Plus there are decent mineral resources and natural reagents.
Local maleficium laws
The Barony of Eternity has several public laws restricting necromancy, but no so restrictions are on the creation, keeping, and use of zombies and animate skeletons. If a necromancer orders a bunch of zombies or skeletons kill someone in the territory of the Barony of Eternity, the necromancer could theoretically be charged with murder, but they won't charge her with maleficium. If the necromancer in question is one of those favored by the Baron's advisors, she would probably be tried and acquitted for "acting in self defense". If the necromancer is not in their favor, she would probably be executed publicly to show off the Baron's justice. The use of ghouls are banned because they have a tendency to slip the leash and eat random bystanders. In the past, only one metnally deranged necromancer was executed in the Barony for violating this rule. Vampires are not allowed in because of their predatory nature, though this has never been tested. The creation and upkeep of more powerful undead are not allowed because it is believe these undead entangle the souls of the deceased rather than simply the body. Liches are not allowed in because of their supposed soul warping effects and their infamous mental instability. There has been clamoring for the creation of laws on who can or cannot be reanimated. Many realms that allow for limited necromancy have laws on the books that state some variation of "only criminals, traitors, enemy combatants, or those who volunteer their mortal remains in their last will and testament may be reanimated by means necromantic". In the case of the Barony of Eternity, there is an informal guideline that only criminals and slain enemy outsiders are reanimated but there is no law backing that up. About one in four of the living Eternalists volunteer their mortal remains to the Barony after thier natural death and this has been more than enough to replenish losses to their undead hordes. The binding of ghosts is also prohibited by law, but it is widely believe this law on the book is not enforced."The priests and the scroll heads say that skeletons and zombies don't harm or enslave the souls of the deceased while other forms of undead do. They THINK this, but they don't KNOW this. It feels wrong. I don't believe for a second the honored dead want their corpses to be used in a mockery of the natural order. If ghosts are not bound by necromancers in the Barony of Eternity, why is this realm so conspicuously absent of all signs of the Restless Dead. Why do spirit loas like myself always feel ill here. It wouldn't surprise me if liches or vampires were hiding in this cursed realm as well." Demid the Reluctant Loa Hero
Type
National Territory
Inhabitant Demonym
They call themselves "Eternalists", the other Borderlanders tend to call them a variety of vulgar names with "corpse kissers" being one of the less vulgar nicknames
Location under
Related Traditions
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