Cerediun Province
Cerediun is the southernmost province of the Kingdoms of Foere, lying to the south of Exeter Province between the Wiltangle Forest and the Scar-in-the-Sky Peaks, and just north of the Helcynngae Peninsula. The province still maintains its loyalty to Courghais and Foere, although this is mostly lip service. The current lord-governor is clearly playing a waiting game until he can declare himself to be an independent king.
History and People
The province’s history reaches all the way back to the dawn of the Hyperborean Age, when the fierce Heldring of the Helcynngae Peninsula halted the all-conquering legions of Polemarch Oerson’s march in –88 I.R. The imperial legions fell back and established Cerediun Province as a buffer state and began construction on the Helwall. The capital of Trebes surrendered to the expanding Kingdom of Foere in 2748 I.R. and was quickly absorbed, though the Heldring held back the Foerdewaith as they had the Hyperboreans, and the overking’s advance stopped at the Helwall.
Cerediun has since had a long history of being the first line of defense against the invading Heldring, though after the Battle of Oescreheit Downs and the Heldring conversion to the faiths of Thyr and Muir it has since maintained friendly trade with the Heldring. It was primarily Ceredian monks and missionaries who carried the faith of the sibling gods to the Heldring in those fraught times, and more than one became a martyr to their faiths in the process.
Sparsely populated and quite rugged, most of the province’s population lives in the capital city of Trebes, with the remainder scattered in small villages, the most notable of which is the town of Greybriar that is home to about 1,000 halflings and a few hundred humans. Peace with the warlike Heldring has reduced Cerediun’s importance, and many feel that Foere has forgotten the province altogether.
Religion
The Ceredians are a sober and devout people, most of whom worship Thyr and Muir, though a significant number also revere Oghma, the patron of Bard’s Gate. Halflings are more likely to be found with shrines to the nature-goddess Arialee, whose faith predates the human deities. There are persistent rumors that a secret cult of Demogorgon has adherents in the province and that these cultists meet on moonless nights to perform sacrifice and other forbidden rites. Most sensible Ceredians dismiss these tales as nonsense, but they are careful to lock their doors during a new moon nevertheless.
Trade and Commerce
A small frontier state, Cerediun is largely self-sufficient, growing crops and raising livestock in small farm communities, none of which could be considered larger than a village. In good years, the province produces sufficient surplus to be exported, and the new trade relationship with the once-hostile Heldring has opened new markets for Ceredian farmers and merchants. Goods such as fish, spirits, and copper have also begun to flow from the south, further cementing the two regions’ new relationship. Increasingly, Trebes is becoming less a military citadel than an important hub of trade between the province and its southern neighbor.
Loyalties and Diplomacy
Ostensibly a province of the Kingdom of Foere, Cerediun has always been something of an unwanted stepchild to the overking, existing primarily as a buffer between the kingdom and the violence of the Heldring raiders. With the Heldring’s newfound faith and improved attitude, Cerediun has been largely neglected and left to its own devices, a situation that suits the easygoing inhabitants quite well. In recent years, the growing accord between Cerediun and the Helcynn Kingdom has in fact made many feel closer to their southern neighbors than to the distant nobles of Courghais, a situation that the lord-governor hopes to use to his advantage.
In addition, Lord-Governor Bryntwis hopes that the new trading relations with the Heldring can be leveraged into a military alliance with his realm’s old enemies, and that the southerners could be persuaded to support his move to establish an independent state. He is no fool, however, and knows that the warlike Heldring may not be the best of allies, for a vulnerable new nation on their frontier might reawaken their martial spirit and inspire them to surge past the neglected Helwall to take Cerediun for their own.
Government
The Ceredians are not an especially nationalistic people, preferring instead to see to their own concerns before that of any greater kingdom. As a result, the rule of Foere is usually thought to have little in the way of either benefit or hindrance, but simply as a fact of life. Lord-Governor Bryntwis Carlarion, an ambitious Foerdewaith nobleman who was assigned here due to his political connections, is nowhere near as pragmatic as his people and seeks to one day be the ruler of his own kingdom. He is a patient man and hopes to play the Foerdewaith and Heldring against each other, winning him a crown in the process.
Wilderness and Adventure
The land between villages tends to be fairly rugged and undeveloped, with small stands of woods, lonely valleys, and cold streams — much like the lands to the south beyond the Helwall. It’s said that some areas are plagued by undead such as ghosts, revenants, and draug — the remnants of the ancient battles fought in the region. More substantial creatures such as small goblin clans, lone trolls, ogres, and other humanoid threats can be found here as well.
The adjoining Wiltangle Forest, once controlled by royal foresters and patrols, has grown more perilous in recent years, and creatures there have grown bolder, forcing some villages and farms to see to their own defense.
Given its violent history, Cerediun is not without its various legends, the best-known of which was the Witch of the Valley, a hag said to prey upon travelers and spirit them off to her hidden cave where she and her half-hag sons kept them alive while devouring them one limb at a time. Said to have been slain by the hero Devisha Parneux (or others, depending on the story), the witch supposedly left behind a hidden treasure that remains unfound to this day, but is guarded by (once more, depending on the story) the witch’s ghost or a host of her reanimated victims.
Region
Cerediun Province
Parent Organization
Controlled Territories
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