Barony of Dunrick
The Barony of Dunrick is both the newest of the northern Baronies and the least populated. High King Max II made one of his cousins, Gill am Borri, the first Baron of Dunrick in the spring of 225 AF.
The largest population center in the barony is the City of Dunrick. With the entire barony having only 23,000 souls, the baronic center is barely a city at 6,000 people. In the eight years that he has been Baron, Gill has rapidly come to realize that he has not been given a gift. His holdings are at the extreme edge of the kingdom, ripe for attach from the wild western steppes, and he is far from any support that might come to his aid from further east.
Structure
Baron Gill am Borri has two Briars aiding him in the running of the Barony, Guy Stepman and Jon Fenward.
Culture
The Baron is trying to create a system of land grants similar to what the Kingdom of Lesser Imesse is doing in the Teboba region, where land is given as reward or incentive for settling at-risk areas of the frontier. These grants would require the construction and maintenance of a stronghold and certain elements of infrastructure (roads, canals, bridges, etc.) to further the development of the frontier.
Demography and Population
The Barony has a population of 23,000 souls. All but 200 of them are Human, and those 200 Halflings live in a village on a tributary river of the Manisar River called the Dunloth. The City of Dunrick has 6,000 of those souls within its walls (more than a quarter of the entire baronial population).
Territories
The Barony covers just over 5,000 square miles (slightly smaller than the State of Connecticut), much of it high prairie and rough, rugged hills.
Military
The defense of the Barony is one of the primary concerns of the Baron himself. Knowing that the region still has not recovered from the The Second Great Orc War of nearly 100 years earlier, the western approaches to the Barony as almost completely defenseless. What fortifications there were have never been rebuilt or maintained in the 83 years since the end of that crisis, and very few new ones have been completed.
This is a growing source of anxiety for the leadership of the Barony, as rumors persist of a looming menace in the Manitar hills to the west of the Barony's frontier... an oft whispered name: Yatoth Tog.
Foreign Relations
The Baron has established a semi-permanent camp site one mile west of the town of Stepford. This campsite is for the twice-annual visit of the Belkoplemya and provides the herders places for their araks and animals where fresh water, fuel and trade opportunities can all be easily accomodated.
Agriculture & Industry
Much of the Barony is dry broken prairie and rugged hills covered by scrub oak forest. Only the eastern edge of the territory has enough fertile soil and groundwater to allow for productive cereal farming. A large and very profitable timber industry has sprung up in the northeast of the region, and the far west is limited to root vegetables and herd grazing. There is a growing eel farming effort on the Dunloth River in the Briary of Marlowe, mainly managed by the small community of Halflings that have settled there. Peat, timber, vegetables and cattle are the primary exports of the Barony. Some efforts are being made to develop mines and quarries in the hill regions, and several hunting ventures have been established to harvest the wild and exotic game that frequently are found on the edge of the The Junn Steppe.
Trade & Transport
There are only three navigable rivers available to the Barony: The Manisar River in the south, it's largest tributary the Dunloth, and the Wessloth River along the northern corner of the territory. Nearly all other transportation must be done by road, and there are not many good roads in the Barony.
Infrastructure
Rivers are the fastest and most reliable means of moving goods and people in and out of the Barony, but the three rivers do not access very far into the interior. Four functional canals have been built, but they are not maintained to the highest standards of operation. The only truly functional road in the barony is called the Great Road by residents, and it runs directly from the City of Wessridge to the City of Dunrick, a distance of almost exactly 40 miles. There are several places on even this road, however, that become rivers of mud and mire given hard rains or wet winters.
Founding Date
225
Type
Geopolitical, Barony
Capital
Ruling Organization
Head of Government
Parent Organization
Subsidiary Organizations
Controlled Territories
Notable Members
