Margraviate of Holzmark
Backwaters of Vexan
The land of Holzmark, officially called the Margraviate of Holtzmark and in the local ancient tongue called Gwashannez, something that loosely translates to "Lands of the Streams", is a border region sitting in the mostly wooded hills between the Province of Bataque to the north-east , the The Kingdom of Abrazâr to the south-east, the Republic of Xulde to the south-west and the sea to the north-west. Although politically dependent on the Kingdom of Vexan, the Holzmarkers stand out by being only by some regarded as a culturally Vexan nation, with many of its elements being unique to the nation itself. This is thanks to Holzmark having been independent from Prabai for far longer than the other Vexan nations, having driven the imperials out all the way in the late 3rd century AZ.
Structure
Holzmark translates to the March of the Wood, which is the name the land got since it started falling under the rulership of Bataque back in Imperial times. March in the sense that it is a borderland, a buffer state between the lush green fields of Vexan and the Icy flats of Xulde.Society
Holzmarker society is marked by a large contrast between urban and rural life. In the cities and on most of the coast, Vexan culture flourishes, as carts and cogs come in to trade, acquiring money seems to be the central goal for most civilians. In contrast, in the rural lands, the rule is mostly that the deeper into the forests you go, the more independant the settlements become and the more unique the cultures. It is deep into those forests, that the ancient tongue of Gwezteodoù is still spoken, may it be in many hundreds of local dialects, most incomprehensable to any other speaker from a different village. In one aspect the trade cities and the rural villages do not differ, it's deep respect for anyone born with the Gift. People tend to test their childeren early if they got feeling for the arcane powers and if they do, both rural and urban comunities have their seperate schooling systems for those who are magic-inclined. The exact manners in which they are schooled differ per region, but in essence it is that they are from the moment they are discovered as arcane artists they are in the Sorcerers caste, a high social level of society only topped by ruling nobility. This means in many cases that when parents discover that their child has the Gift they will never see their child again, as it is given a new family of people also born with the gift. Your new parents are always two other people of the Sorcerers caste and the kid is "delivered" to them when they marry. Every sorcerer in Holzmark does this, although some choose to deny it, it is custom as a sorcerer here that when you grow up and marry another sorcerer, you get a newly discovered youngling as an adoption child. It comes from this practice that the term "Zwenkidr" comes, which means "Foundling", but describes almost anyone within the caste, as natural born childeren between sorcerers are rare because of the non-inheritable nature of the Gift. Still, it is not completely inpossible, although few take the risk of having the newborn child immediatly after birth be taken away because of it's disconnection to the Gift. As horrible as the practice sounds, few complain against it. Following Fyrhþgáster shamanistic rule sorcerers have a different energetic ballance between life/chaos and death/order then ordinary people, meaning that keeping a non-sorcerer child with sorcerer parrents is a recepy for letting the child grow up inbalanced, which could result in all sorts of desease, or worse, curses.Religion
The full article on Fyrhþgáster .The Coven of the Woodlands Spirits, or Fyrhþgáster in the Gwezteodoù language, is the ancient faith of the Holzmarkernaer people. It is centered around the worship and praisal of a biosphere of devine like nature bound creatures who inhabit the Holzmarker forests. These creatures, called the “Gástes”, inhabit many of the different biomes and layers of the Holzmarkerwald, as well as using power to feed of it.
"För unz eigane bodamding, giheizan Vexana."
"For own court of our soil, true to Vexan."
Founding Date
14 PB
Type
Geopolitical, County / March
Alternative Names
Gwashaneizh
Demonym
Gwashaner / Holtzmarkernaer
Power Structure
Semi-autonomous area
Economic System
Market economy
Currency
Vexan Florin (de jure)
Abraz Bhoggron (de facto)
Parent Organization
Official Languages
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Notable Members
Related Species
Related Ethnicities
Comments