Shield Lands, Holy Realm of the Faithful of the

Ruled by Her Most Honorable Ladyship, Countess Katarina of Walworth, Knight Commander of the Shield Lands

The Shield Lands consisted of two dozen provinces of various size, stretching from the Ritensa River in the south to the Vigilant Highway, from Plague Fields to Alhaster (which joined the Bandit Kingdoms in 577 CY as part of Redhand). The nation's northern border has shifted throughout the centuries, but it was generally defined by the southern margins of the Rift Barrens.
The current nation, often referred to as the "New Shield Lands," encompasses only the 20-30 miles surrounding the city of Critwall and Scragholme Island, at the mouth of the Veng-Ritensa River. A keep on Scragholme Isle, Bright Sentry, guards a small bur growing port that bears the same name and serves as the island domain's local capital. The current government proclaims that the recapture of all lost lands is its primary goal, though fighting has ground to a virtual standstill within the last year.
The rest of the Shield Lands are under the administration of Iuz, through his agents in Admundfort, proclaimed a regional capital in 587 CY. The effectiveness of the rulership in Admundfort is questionable, as the island is currently besieged by the Furyondian navy and occasionally invaded by fanatical adventuring groups. The isle is thought to be defended entirely by orcs, who may have killed everyone else present. The current ruler is a Lesser Boneheart mage, Vayne (CE male human Wiz17), about whom little has been heard since the Great Northern Crusade. Tens of thousands of humans live in the occupied lands, eking out a horrible existence of slavery and degradation. Towns such as Axeport and Stahzer were completely leveled and depopulated.
Prior to the wars, the Shield Lands had established perhaps the most modern and well-cared-for system of roadways in the Flanaess. When armies overran the nation from the north and east, these roads helped to speed the land's downfall. Most roads remain in good condition, and are used by the forces of Iuz to ship goods to northern lands.
The local climate is temperate, and less harsh that the Bandit Kingdoms to the north. Though far from tropical, the southern coast of the Shield Lands provide the most hospitable beaches in all the Nyr Dyv coastline.
Iuz controls a chaotic array of nonhumans here, numbering in the tens of thousands. The Shield Lands forces, stationed in Critwall, consist of some 5,000 infantry and cavalry. Though most of these men and women are elite, battle-hardened veterans, they are war-weary and know that the sheer numbers of nonhumans in their homeland makes a direct assault suicidal.
The people of the New Shield Lands have changed considerably in the last two decades. What once was overweening pride has changed to determination to regain lost lands. These are good, dedicated (if occasionally overzealous) folk who see their mission clearly. They are willing to sacrifice their lives to regain what once was theirs.

History

In the ruins of the Shield Lands

When Ferrond broke from the Great Kingdom in 254 CY, the nobles of the Nyr Dyv's north shore refused to acknowledge the new king in Dyvers. Loyal to the ideal of ancient Aerdy but wholly opposed to the decadent regime in Rauxes, these nobles failed to declare complete independence, instead existing somewhere in-between autonomy and their former status as vassals to the viceroy.
When similar circumstances resulted, ultimately, in the formation of the lawless Combination of Free Lords to the north, the southern nobles banded together, forming the "Shield Lands" as a bulwark against the depredations and chaos of the north. Since the earl of Walworth commanded Admundfort, at the time the only notable city in the region, he was chosen as the knight commander of the combined forces of the nobles. Within a handful of years, the new capital saw the formation of the Knights of Holy Shielding, a Heironean order that both formed the core of the new national army and served as an example of good, clean living through dedication to strict, militaristic goals.
The first true challenge to the authority of the shield came during 420-445 CY, when a local warlord gained the Hand and Eye of Vecna, two surpassingly evil artifacts. The lord, Halmadar the Cruel, conquered the region near Delcomben and laid siege to Critwall before being drugged by his subjects and interred alive in the Kron Hills. After the Halmadar affair, the earl of Walworth increased the size of the Knights of Holy Shielding, stationing his holy warriors as advisers throughout the land.
When the Horned Society appeared after the disappearance of Iuz, affairs in the Shield Lands reached a desperate crescendo. Here were enemies dedicated to vile darkness and evil sacrifice, who had sworn upon the ashen altars of Molag's Hall of Dread that they would march to Admundfort and line the walls with the earl's intestines. Though years passed without significant military activity, the period between 550-570 saw heavy skirmishing along the western banks of the Ritensa River. Great forts such as Torkeep were raised, but such defenses soon proved inadequate.
In 579 CY, the Horned Society banded together with the lords of the bandit realms Warfields and Wormhall. With hobgoblin and mercenary armies supported by daemons and demodands, the vast host swarmed the western territories, bypassing strongholds and laying waste to villages and farmsteads. Thousands of Shield Landers gathered at Axeport to halt the invasion, but their line was broken and their bodies thrown as fodder to inhuman beasts. By 581, all but Critwall had fallen to the invaders, who had been joined by other Bandit Kingdoms' troops. The victors carved up the Shield Lands, dividing it into chaotic holdings ruled by bandits, goblinoids, and agents of the Horned Society.
Though many Knights of the Shield remained in Critwall, hundreds more spread to the good countries of the Flanaess, pleading with their leaders to send armies and aid to their fallen land. The gruff arrogance of the Shield Lands nobles had caused deeper rifts than anyone had imagined, however, and despite faint agreements that something must be done, little came of the recruiting effort.
In the early months of 583 CY, however, the occupiers began fleeing the country, leaving only handfuls of easily defeated bands behind. Though few understood at the time, reports that Iuz's armies were on the march frightened even the cold-blooded Hierarchs, who ordered all armies back to the heartlands to prepare for a defense. By Coldeven, when the Hierarchs were nearly all slain and the Horned Lands quietly fell to Iuz, the battered Shield Lands had been reconquered in the name of Earl Holmer, Knight Commander of the realm.
Furyondy, which had great experience dealing with Iuz and his armies, dispatched emissaries to Admundfort, offering military and financial support for the grand invasion that surely was to come. Fearing annexation so soon after reclaiming his damaged homelands, Holmer curtly refused these offers and expelled Belvor's agents from his realm. Within months, Iuz's armies, which had savaged the western Bandit Kingdoms, stood on his eastern border.
Outflanked and unable to support resistance on two fronts, the Shield Lands crumpled swiftly. Over 11,000 Shield Landers fell in the invasion, with as many dying in the subsequent occupation. While life under the bandits and Hierarchs had been difficult, at least the rulers had been (in most cases) human. Now, under Iuz, farmers were forced to work for orcs, necromancers, and demons. These creatures knew nothing of mercy, and life in the Shield Lands became that of fearful persistence, of not knowing if the next day would bring death or disfigurement, knowing that it would not bring hope.
Except for lone fortified keeps and minor pockets of rural resistance, the whole of the Shield Lands fell to Iuz. A daring defense of Admundfort allowed much of the capital's population to flee via ship to Willip, but the evacuation was not completed. Earl Holmer, ever the noble knight, remained with his homeland, only to be carried off to the dungeons of Dorakaa. (A daring group of Furyondian heroes rescued him in 585 CY, but he was a broken shell of a man by then and died, insane, late that year.)
Occupied Admundfort was taken by Iuz as the new regional capital, to be administered by a Lesser Boneheart mage, Vayne, and assorted demons. The rest of the country fell to lesser leaders, including several fiends. The fertile lands of the Shield Lands became the breadbasket for Iuz's entire army, much of the physical labor carried out by zombies or humans under the constant threat of murder and subsequent revivification.
When King Belvor IV called the Great Northern Crusade in Planting 586, the ranks of Furyondy swelled with Shield Lands exiles. Belvor appointed Lady Katarina, Earl Holmer's young cousin, as Lady Marshall of an entire army of Shield Landers, Knights of Holy Shielding, Furyondians, and foreign mercenaries. This force distinguished itself in early victories and was instrumental in the recapture of Grabford.
Thereafter, Lady Katarina turned her attentions to her homeland, smashing into Critwall with zealous military precision. By 588 CY, with Critwall cleared of enemy forces, the government of the Shield Lands was reestablished, albeit over a very small area. Katarina was named Knight Commander of the region.
Lady Katarina and her knights now look east, planning surgical strikes against the enemy, confident that they will reclaim their lost land. ("Perhaps not this year or the next," they say.) Heironeous has shown them the path of righteousness, and it is long and lined with great sacrifice and furious battle. Those shackled by the Lord of Pain will be released, they cry. Those who fear the break of dawn will be taught the art of war and the strength of courage. The lost lands will be reclaimed, they promise. The Shield will rise again!
Soldiers outside the knighthood, however, view the prospects of liberating the rest of the Shield Lands as bleak, at least through the rest of the decade and probably longer. The forces arrayed against them are overwhelming in numbers, arms, and fortifications. It will be a long and bitter fight.

Government: Commonwealth of local lords ruled by highest ranking noble of Walworth Isle, who is also Knight Commander of local religious army
Capital: Critwall
Major Towns: Admundfort (pop. 5,000? [occupied by Iuz]), Bright Sentry (pop. 2,700; Scraghohme Island), Critwall (pop. 14,300 all other towns destroyed
Provinces: (Formerly) twenty-three petty noble domains on the mainland, ruled from Admundfort (the island was its own separate domain (now) two free domains (mainland area controlled from Critwall, and Scragholme Island), with the remainder of the land overrun but badly controlled by Iuz's forces
Resources: Livestock and foodstuffs in northern occupied lands, not exported; few resources in free lands
Coinage: Currently none, but a mint is being prepared; old coinage is used when found: knight (gp), axeman (ep), shield (sp), sheaf (cp)
Population: 27,000—Human 79% (Osf), Halfling 9%, Elf 5%, Dwarf 3%, Gnome 2%, Half-elf 1%, Halforc 1%
Languages: Common, Halfling, Elven
Alignments: LG* LN, CG
Religions: Heironeous*, St. Cuthbert, Mayaheine, Pholtus, Trithereon
Allies: Furyondy, Veluna, Verbobonc, Dyvers, Greyhawk, Duchy of Urnst, County of Urnst, Highfolk, church of Heironeous
Enemies: Iuz, all remaining forces of the Hierarchs of the Horned Society, all remaining forces of the Bandit Kingdoms; disliked greatly by Knights of the Hart

  Location in the Flanaess