Exeter Province
Exeter is a loyal province of the Kingdom of Foere and is ruled by a lord-governor appointed by the overking. It is cut off from the rest of the kingdom, and for the last 10 years has been governed on the principle of defending the borders at all costs, without preemptive attacks against raiders, and without regard for the decline of law and order in the interior of the province. The population of the rural areas is under constant threat from roaming brigands and monsters of all kinds.
Exeter’s capital is Albor Broce, which is built around the site of an ancient Hyperborean fortress. Its territory extends north to the Wilderland Hills, west to the intersection of the South Road and Provincial Military Road, south to the edges of the Wiltangle Forest, and east to the Cut Horn Gap.
History and People
Exeter Province once extended all the way down to the Helwall, built 83 years before the Imperial Record began to chart the years, and as a military frontier, played a major role in battling the Heldring raiders at the dawn of the Hyperborean Empire. In 2802 I.R., after the Battle of Oescreheit Downs and the final defeat of the Heldring, the lands now governed as Cerediun Province were divided away from the original, much larger Province of Exeter. The early history of Exeter is a long recitation of war and ruin: Heldring armies marching through the area to raid along the March of Mountains, Hyperborean and then Foerdewaith armies marching to bring them to battle, refugees, fire, and pillage. Ten years ago, Exeter Province was spared from the violence of the Wilderlands Clan War of 3506 I.R. that was fought almost exclusively in Keston Province and the Wilderland Hills of southern Suilley. This was an exception to the norm, however; over the course of history, vast numbers of incursions into the regions between the March of Mountains and the Forlorn Mountains have pillaged their way through Exeter Province, skirting around castles and forts but ravaging the countryside unopposed by the province’s much-weaker armies. Exeter Province has long held the uneasy position of serving as one of civiliza¬tion’s buffer zones.
As a result of this dismal and violent history, the province is not heavily settled. At present, the lord-governor keeps his troops carefully deployed in camps and small forts to watch for further incursions from the north in case of a repeat of the Wilderlands Clan War. A chain of signal fires has been arranged to warn the capital if battle is joined in the highlands. One unintended result of this caution is that the rest of the province is currently short on troops and patrols, with most of the soldiery concentrated along the northern border or walled up in Albor Broce. Ten years of this defensive strategy have caused burgeoning problems with beasts and monsters in the rural countryside, and unchecked banditry is on the rise.
Trade and Commerce
Exeter conducts and regulates overland trade with Hawkmoon to the east, which generates most of its revenue, and to some extent also trades with the Helcynngae Peninsula to the south (though this goes through Cerediun Province first, which takes the most lucrative cut of tolls and taxes).
Loyalties and Diplomacy
Exeter maintains its loyalty to the Throne of Foere, though it has little contact with its liege state. The overking’s court sends a new lord-governor once every decade or so, and the former lord-gov¬ernor assembles his retinue, guards, and profits for the journey home to Courghais. The province has virtually stopped paying taxes to Foere after bandits annihilated more than one large shipment of silver while in transit. Small shipments of tax money are often sent, along with guards, with merchant caravans on their way to the County of Vourdon. The total of these sums, though, is a slight fraction of what the overking could normally expect if the province were not cut off from the rest of the kingdom.
In return, Exeter Province receives less help from the Royal Court in Courghais than it would ordinarily expect as a loyal province, even though it would send the taxes if it could.
Government
A lord-governor residing in the capital of Albor Broce adminis¬ters Exeter Province on behalf of the overking of Foere. The current lord-governor is Benevic of Lortsbar, a knight-commander who rose to fame in Foere after successfully holding off a massive assault upon a bor¬der castle under his command in the Duchy of Mains. Unfortunately, Lord Benevic’s military expertise and attitudes are entirely defensive; on behalf of Exeter and Foere, he created a brilliant system of defenses and fortified the borders against attack, without focusing on the problems created by emptying the province’s interior of troops.
Wilderness and Adventure
The wilderness is creeping into Exeter Province like nightfall. Troops no longer make regular patrols, and rural garrisons have been bled of their soldiers to man the forts and castles along the edge of the Wilderland Hills to the north. The population of the province has never been large, and settlements tend to be isolated, unguarded, and ripe for the plucking. This area has the potential for all kinds of adventures, for there is wilderness between almost every village and hamlet except along the high roads.
Region
Exeter Province
Parent Organization
Controlled Territories
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