Fenria
The county of Fenrith (or earldom, as male Fenrith-Dragul lords style themselves earls instead of counts) is a long slender march in the eastern Westmarches that stretches from just north of Caer Dire in the north all the way to the coast in the south, and bordering on grand ducal lands the whole way. The seat of the Fenrith Earldom is Fenria, for which the original Fenrith family was named many centuries ago.
Fenria is located about halfway between Eckland and Gilboath, and about halfway between the Western Reme Road and the southeasternmost tip of the Green Mountains. It borders a small lake and a pretty little wetlands between itself and Eckland that are known as Brightfish Lake and Birdsong Marsh respectively. Since the end of the Westmarch civil war, a road-building project has begun from the Western Reme Road out to Fenria, though there has, of course, long been a hard-packed dirt road for trade and transport.
Fenria is located about halfway between Eckland and Gilboath, and about halfway between the Western Reme Road and the southeasternmost tip of the Green Mountains. It borders a small lake and a pretty little wetlands between itself and Eckland that are known as Brightfish Lake and Birdsong Marsh respectively. Since the end of the Westmarch civil war, a road-building project has begun from the Western Reme Road out to Fenria, though there has, of course, long been a hard-packed dirt road for trade and transport.
History
Fenria is a strange city and highly reflective of the strange and often secretive Fenrith-Dragul clan. It is the oldest city in the Westmarches, having been continuously settled since even before the Hyperborean expansion through the region. The oldest foundations in the center of the city are of elven origin, and the oldest surviving temple in the city is an ancient elven-style animistic earth temple. Some of the later temple additions indicate to scholars that Loreclannic humans and elves lived together peacefully here for perhaps a century or more before the warfare between humans and elves reached Fenria.
Scars in the ancient stonework and destruction of other elven temples indicate that the conflict eventually reached Fenria as well, and that the elven inhabitants were either driven away or massacred by hostile human invaders, but the city as a whole was not destroyed and was never abandoned through all the long centuries since its founding.
Some say the Fenrith family is just as old as the city and has always been there since its founding. Scholars find this highly improbable, but no solid proof can be found in either direction. What is known is that the Fenrith family were once very small-time landowners, baronets at most, but that through thick and thin, throughout recorded history, their power and wealth slowly and steadily grew until just the last few centuries.
The Dragul family, by contrast, enjoyed a meteoric rise from near anonymity, until they claimed the status of duke and took authority over their former rivals, the Dunavens. At that time, the Fenrith family were indirect vassals of the Draguls, beholden, in fact, to the Dunavens. The Draguls’ fortunes changed, however, after the tragic events that led to the downfall of the Dunaven house, and some say that the murderous Lord Dunaven laid a powerful curse on the Draguls before drinking himself to death in his rapidly deteriorating castle.
It is true that Dragul fortunes plummeted after Dunaven’s death, though whether these two facts are in any way related is unknown. The Lord Dragul of that time was a known gambler, so it is not surprising that he found himself deeply in debt and ultimately falling from the king’s and the grand duke’s good graces. By the time Reme declared its independence from Foere, the Dragul family holdings were reduced to little more than the Dunavens had held as their former vassals, and their lands were impoverished and sickly, with one exception: Fenria.
However bad things got, Fenria continued to prosper, and the Fenriths, having founded a small bard college and a college of wizardry in their city, grew significantly wealthier than their lieges, and were promoted to the lesser peerage as barons. During that era, which also corresponded with a spate of petty (and bloody) intrigue-feuding between the Draguls and Harrings (relatives by marriage to the fallen Dunavens), a lesser Dragul daughter and Fenrith son fell in love and secretly married, much to all four parents’ fury. This young couple moved to Eckland, where they and their descendants (the first Fenrith-Draguls) gained a reputation as canny diplomats and wily economists. They made many connections with other nobles of many houses and were well-liked in all the most powerful circles (other than among the Harrings, of course). Meanwhile, the main Dragul family continued to decline.
Eventually, only one Dragul countess remained, childless and twice widowed, while the Fenrith-Draguls (and the Fenriths) still prospered. The last Countess Dragul was said to hate the Fenrith-Draguls passionately, and she wrote in her will that no scion of the Fenrith-Draguls should inherit her title and holdings under any circumstances. Unfortunately, the same pox that killed her also killed her adopted heir, leaving her march without a head. The grand duke and the duke of the Westmarches weighed the deceased countess’s will against the Fenrith-Dragul’s claim, and ultimately decided, in the name of expediency, that the will should be disregarded and the well-respected Fenrith-Draguls granted the march seat. The first Fenrith-Dragul count of Dragul March styled himself an earl, as a playful dig at the Harrings who’d been making fun of the Brodcheks for calling themselves earls instead of counts.
Within a single year of the Fenrith-Draguls accepting the Dragul county seat (at that time nearer to the coast, in Sheffen), their fortunes plummeted as the other Draguls’ had. Their ventures lost money, their allies deserted them, and their reputations fell. In each individual case, the causes seemed normal and coincidental, but taken in total, it was, indeed, an eerie pattern. It is said that the earl’s personality changed dramatically as well. Before his title as a peer, he was cheerful, witty, charming, and known for his lilting and insightful poetry. After becoming an earl, he grew withdrawn, unreadable, his wit sarcastic and biting, and his poetry lost all popularity.
The Fenrith-Draguls mended fences with their Fenrith relatives generations previously, but now Earl Dragul became strangely obsessed with his distant cousins, visiting their home in Fenria for months at a time and prowling their baronial mansion at all hours of the night. He took a younger Fenrith cousin (a very distant cousin) to be his wife, and their marriage seemed happy enough, but after a few years and a few children with her, he became obsessed once more with the Fenrith family home. Eventually, he frightened the Fenrith baron, and they quarreled. Earl Dragul went home, apologized to his in-laws and distant relatives by letter and gifts, and his apology was accepted.
Then a plague hit Fenria. As the disease spread with unnatural swiftness, Fenria’s healers soon discovered that their magics did them no good. The greatest healers in Reme were called to intervene, but to no avail. It seemed this plague could not be cured by magic, and several who came to aid the sick fell ill themselves and died. It was the worst and deadliest disaster to touch this otherwise ever-fortunate city in all of its recorded history, and the nobility were for some reason the worst affected. The grand duke quarantined the city, and the plague took three years to finish running its full course. By the time it was done, two-thirds of the population of Fenria had died, including every single member of the Fenrith family other than the earl’s wife.
Earl Dragul and his family went into public mourning for their cousins and vassals for three years, and the rest of the Fenrith-Dragul clan followed his lead. To honor his fallen family members, he said, the earl requested and received permission from the duke and grand duke to change the earldom’s name to Fenrith and his own title to Earl Fenrith. After this mourning period, he held a great ritual of “life and peace” in Fenria, to which he invited priests of every religion in the region, dignitaries from all over the Crescent Sea, and even the Harrings, who did deign to send a lesser daughter to the event. The ritual is recorded to have been beautiful, and all who wrote about it claimed to feel the blessing of the gods upon them that day, though three also recorded disliking Earl Fenrith and shivering as he passed them.
Earl Fenrith then moved his earldom’s seat to Fenria and invited many of the other Fenrith-Draguls to join him there. Many accepted his offer. He also expanded the bardic and wizardry schools and founded an alchemy school in the same part of town, then sent messages far and wide to draw students from all over the world. Though the Fenrith-Dragul coffers were somewhat diminished since his ascension to the nobility, they were still at that time quite wealthy. They offered monetary incentives to artisans and teachers, craftsfolk and even serving staff from many lands and cultures to help repopulate poor Fenria.
And Fenria, once again, prospered. More interestingly, the strange descent of the Fenrith-Dragul fortunes seemed to cease. The family, when asked, laughed it all off as an unlikely series of coincidences, and resumed their former dealings, seeming to prosper once more. Less than two years later, a terrible earthquake struck the former Dragul seat in Sheffen. The old palace crumbled to the ground, killing three of the newly-appointed baron’s family. Hundreds of others in the town lost their lives as well. Sheffen was rebuilt but has remained underpopulated and rarely visited by outsiders in the following years.
Since that day, Fenria itself has continued to prosper, and its people are known to be happy and well-off, nearly untouched by the war. It is currently at the highest population it has ever known, and its bards, wizards, and alchemists are employed far and wide when they leave their respective schools.
The Fenrith-Draguls, on the other hand, largely keep to themselves. They are known now for intrigues and mystery instead of diplomacy and finance, and no one really knows for sure how wealthy they are, as they seem to have mastered the art, as a family, of always appearing wealthy regardless of the reality. The rest of the Fenrith Earldom is doing better under the Fenrith-Draguls than it did under the Draguls after the fall of the Dunavens, but outside Fenria, it can’t truly be said that Fenrith lands are prosperous. The people mostly get by, sometimes better than others, and they are glad the war is over. No more, no less.
Many in the Westmarches and beyond suspect some eldritch mystery to the bizarre fortunes of the Dragul and Fenrith families, but if such a thing exists, the Fenrith-Draguls guard the secret jealously. Nothing of import has ever been found in the ruins of the old Dragul palace outside Sheffen, and no one has ever been permitted to search the Fenrith mansion as the first Earl Fenrith died before it became his own home. If someone were to investigate the place, perhaps the secret history would finally be unlocked, or perhaps it really all has just been coincidence.
Scars in the ancient stonework and destruction of other elven temples indicate that the conflict eventually reached Fenria as well, and that the elven inhabitants were either driven away or massacred by hostile human invaders, but the city as a whole was not destroyed and was never abandoned through all the long centuries since its founding.
Some say the Fenrith family is just as old as the city and has always been there since its founding. Scholars find this highly improbable, but no solid proof can be found in either direction. What is known is that the Fenrith family were once very small-time landowners, baronets at most, but that through thick and thin, throughout recorded history, their power and wealth slowly and steadily grew until just the last few centuries.
The Dragul family, by contrast, enjoyed a meteoric rise from near anonymity, until they claimed the status of duke and took authority over their former rivals, the Dunavens. At that time, the Fenrith family were indirect vassals of the Draguls, beholden, in fact, to the Dunavens. The Draguls’ fortunes changed, however, after the tragic events that led to the downfall of the Dunaven house, and some say that the murderous Lord Dunaven laid a powerful curse on the Draguls before drinking himself to death in his rapidly deteriorating castle.
It is true that Dragul fortunes plummeted after Dunaven’s death, though whether these two facts are in any way related is unknown. The Lord Dragul of that time was a known gambler, so it is not surprising that he found himself deeply in debt and ultimately falling from the king’s and the grand duke’s good graces. By the time Reme declared its independence from Foere, the Dragul family holdings were reduced to little more than the Dunavens had held as their former vassals, and their lands were impoverished and sickly, with one exception: Fenria.
However bad things got, Fenria continued to prosper, and the Fenriths, having founded a small bard college and a college of wizardry in their city, grew significantly wealthier than their lieges, and were promoted to the lesser peerage as barons. During that era, which also corresponded with a spate of petty (and bloody) intrigue-feuding between the Draguls and Harrings (relatives by marriage to the fallen Dunavens), a lesser Dragul daughter and Fenrith son fell in love and secretly married, much to all four parents’ fury. This young couple moved to Eckland, where they and their descendants (the first Fenrith-Draguls) gained a reputation as canny diplomats and wily economists. They made many connections with other nobles of many houses and were well-liked in all the most powerful circles (other than among the Harrings, of course). Meanwhile, the main Dragul family continued to decline.
Eventually, only one Dragul countess remained, childless and twice widowed, while the Fenrith-Draguls (and the Fenriths) still prospered. The last Countess Dragul was said to hate the Fenrith-Draguls passionately, and she wrote in her will that no scion of the Fenrith-Draguls should inherit her title and holdings under any circumstances. Unfortunately, the same pox that killed her also killed her adopted heir, leaving her march without a head. The grand duke and the duke of the Westmarches weighed the deceased countess’s will against the Fenrith-Dragul’s claim, and ultimately decided, in the name of expediency, that the will should be disregarded and the well-respected Fenrith-Draguls granted the march seat. The first Fenrith-Dragul count of Dragul March styled himself an earl, as a playful dig at the Harrings who’d been making fun of the Brodcheks for calling themselves earls instead of counts.
Within a single year of the Fenrith-Draguls accepting the Dragul county seat (at that time nearer to the coast, in Sheffen), their fortunes plummeted as the other Draguls’ had. Their ventures lost money, their allies deserted them, and their reputations fell. In each individual case, the causes seemed normal and coincidental, but taken in total, it was, indeed, an eerie pattern. It is said that the earl’s personality changed dramatically as well. Before his title as a peer, he was cheerful, witty, charming, and known for his lilting and insightful poetry. After becoming an earl, he grew withdrawn, unreadable, his wit sarcastic and biting, and his poetry lost all popularity.
The Fenrith-Draguls mended fences with their Fenrith relatives generations previously, but now Earl Dragul became strangely obsessed with his distant cousins, visiting their home in Fenria for months at a time and prowling their baronial mansion at all hours of the night. He took a younger Fenrith cousin (a very distant cousin) to be his wife, and their marriage seemed happy enough, but after a few years and a few children with her, he became obsessed once more with the Fenrith family home. Eventually, he frightened the Fenrith baron, and they quarreled. Earl Dragul went home, apologized to his in-laws and distant relatives by letter and gifts, and his apology was accepted.
Then a plague hit Fenria. As the disease spread with unnatural swiftness, Fenria’s healers soon discovered that their magics did them no good. The greatest healers in Reme were called to intervene, but to no avail. It seemed this plague could not be cured by magic, and several who came to aid the sick fell ill themselves and died. It was the worst and deadliest disaster to touch this otherwise ever-fortunate city in all of its recorded history, and the nobility were for some reason the worst affected. The grand duke quarantined the city, and the plague took three years to finish running its full course. By the time it was done, two-thirds of the population of Fenria had died, including every single member of the Fenrith family other than the earl’s wife.
Earl Dragul and his family went into public mourning for their cousins and vassals for three years, and the rest of the Fenrith-Dragul clan followed his lead. To honor his fallen family members, he said, the earl requested and received permission from the duke and grand duke to change the earldom’s name to Fenrith and his own title to Earl Fenrith. After this mourning period, he held a great ritual of “life and peace” in Fenria, to which he invited priests of every religion in the region, dignitaries from all over the Crescent Sea, and even the Harrings, who did deign to send a lesser daughter to the event. The ritual is recorded to have been beautiful, and all who wrote about it claimed to feel the blessing of the gods upon them that day, though three also recorded disliking Earl Fenrith and shivering as he passed them.
Earl Fenrith then moved his earldom’s seat to Fenria and invited many of the other Fenrith-Draguls to join him there. Many accepted his offer. He also expanded the bardic and wizardry schools and founded an alchemy school in the same part of town, then sent messages far and wide to draw students from all over the world. Though the Fenrith-Dragul coffers were somewhat diminished since his ascension to the nobility, they were still at that time quite wealthy. They offered monetary incentives to artisans and teachers, craftsfolk and even serving staff from many lands and cultures to help repopulate poor Fenria.
And Fenria, once again, prospered. More interestingly, the strange descent of the Fenrith-Dragul fortunes seemed to cease. The family, when asked, laughed it all off as an unlikely series of coincidences, and resumed their former dealings, seeming to prosper once more. Less than two years later, a terrible earthquake struck the former Dragul seat in Sheffen. The old palace crumbled to the ground, killing three of the newly-appointed baron’s family. Hundreds of others in the town lost their lives as well. Sheffen was rebuilt but has remained underpopulated and rarely visited by outsiders in the following years.
Since that day, Fenria itself has continued to prosper, and its people are known to be happy and well-off, nearly untouched by the war. It is currently at the highest population it has ever known, and its bards, wizards, and alchemists are employed far and wide when they leave their respective schools.
The Fenrith-Draguls, on the other hand, largely keep to themselves. They are known now for intrigues and mystery instead of diplomacy and finance, and no one really knows for sure how wealthy they are, as they seem to have mastered the art, as a family, of always appearing wealthy regardless of the reality. The rest of the Fenrith Earldom is doing better under the Fenrith-Draguls than it did under the Draguls after the fall of the Dunavens, but outside Fenria, it can’t truly be said that Fenrith lands are prosperous. The people mostly get by, sometimes better than others, and they are glad the war is over. No more, no less.
Many in the Westmarches and beyond suspect some eldritch mystery to the bizarre fortunes of the Dragul and Fenrith families, but if such a thing exists, the Fenrith-Draguls guard the secret jealously. Nothing of import has ever been found in the ruins of the old Dragul palace outside Sheffen, and no one has ever been permitted to search the Fenrith mansion as the first Earl Fenrith died before it became his own home. If someone were to investigate the place, perhaps the secret history would finally be unlocked, or perhaps it really all has just been coincidence.
Settlement
Fenria, City of
Type
City
Owning Organization
Comments