Topic: What year it is again? (Nordland fluff)

[Damar]

I am thinking of making Nordland army when I am done with my Bretonnians. So looking at Wiki, I see this bit:
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After the extinction of the Ostrein line, the Magister Counts came to power. Talius the Exalted was a powerful illusionist who managed to reunite Nordland and Salzenmund. In such a vast, fragmented domain as the Empire of Man was in the late Age of Three Emperors before Magnus the Pious reunited the nation, witch hunters and Sigmarites struggled to assert their prohibition on wizardry. Talius was an opportunist who heard about the events in Salzenmund and saw an opportunity to make his own fortune.

Today, nobody knows anything about Talius' true name, appearance, or his real ambitions. He seems to have been a devious but benevolent autocrat. Talius founded a school for poor children, introduced the Cult of Verena to the town, reduced taxes, and improved trade with Ostland and Middenland. He also restored Nordland's Electoral status through further trickery.

In 2050 IC, Talius disappeared and passed his title to a former apprentice — Countess Ludmilla Gausser, more commonly known as ‘The Sapphire Mask’. Several more Magister Counts followed Ludmilla by the same tradition of master to apprentice, although it soon became primarily a dynasty of Gaussers. The era of Magister Counts came to an end when Count Ernald Gausser inherited the title, a man who couldn’t even read, let alone cast a spell.

Baron Thorsten "Redhelm" Nikse was a bloodthirsty man and an enthusiastic hand-to-hand combatant. After he took the throne in 2291 IC, he did his best to avoid the tedious business of ruling in favour of fighting Beastmen or Norscans wherever he could find them. When Chaos began to rise in the north, he didn't wait for Magnus the Pious' call. He and his army boarded ships on the Ormsdeep to "take the fight to the enemy in Norsca." The sole survivor of this expedition returned ten years later, describing the last sight of Baron Redhelm hacking into a mutated leviathan with a boathook as the waves took them both.
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So would the ruler at the time be the Gausser or this Thorsten guy? Gausser Wiki seems to indicate that both families were present at the time but Nikses were dominant at the time.

Any ideas?

Cheers.

[GamesPoet]

Hmmm ... I'm wondering where that fluff in the wiki is coming from or is it just made up by someone?

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

@Gamespoet: As it says in the notes, it is from WFRP 4  Salzenmund - City of Salt and Silver.  As usual, the new WFRP edition changed or added a lot of fluff, creating all kind of inconsistencies and even contradictions in the process.

[lcmiracle]

Here are my timeline notes that involves either the Gaussers or the Nikses:

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1988IC:
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    Dark Elves raided the coastal town of Debneitz, and Elector Count Alfrich Gausser-Osterin of Nordland arrived with a relief force, only to find the town in ruins, and its entire populace flayed and nailed to the nearby cliffs. 'To do an Alfrich' became a Salzenmund saying for poor time-keeping. (EMP8EP16. DE7EP33. WFRP4E:Sea of ClawsP10. WFRP4E:Salzenmund City of Salt and SilverP13.)

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2020IC:
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    Talius took control of Nordland using ensorcelled nobles, generals, and guildmasters, becoming Count Talius the Exalted, first of the Magister Counts. He ordered a magical tower be built, led the Salzenmund Guard to victory over an army of Barrow Kings in the Silver Hills, and bewitched the electors in Nuln to restore the province's Electoral vote. (WFRP4E:Salzenmund City of Salt and SilverP10,13.)

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2050IC:
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   Count Talius of Nordland disappeared, his title passed to a former apprentice named Ludmilla Causser, more commonly known as ‘The Sapphire Mask', beginning a tradition of master to apprentice for the line of Magister Counts. (WFRP4E:Salzenmund City of Salt and SilverP10.)

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2083IC:
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    Green Pox gripped Salzenmund, Magister Count Florian Gausser defeated a Nurglite sorcerer in a duel over the Ormsdeep, ending the plague. The cult magus Varn'agtk was as defeated, but his parasitic worms survived in the ruins of Seeufer. (WFRP4E:Salzenmund City of Salt and SilverP13,83,87.)

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2121IC:
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    After seizing the library of the daemonologist Heinrich Strasser from his lair on the coast, the Norse shaman Sorn Ghoulskin sought to plunder the secrets of Necromancy from Dieter Helsnicht, and came onto Nordland to explore the ruins on Wrecker's Point, returning home ladened with engraved stone tablets. For reasons unknown, he became fixated on Salzenmund and attacked the town with his warhird. Ghoulskin raised the body of Chaos Lord Count Metalmane as the leader of his Undead Knights, his dying thralls raised a zombies to bolster his army, beginning a 63-year-long period known as the Time of Four Sieges in Salzenmund. Many would die on the three towers on the city wall known as the Sentries, and many corpses lay hidden beneath the walls. (WFRP4E:Salzenmund City of Salt and SilverP10,11,13,70,71.)

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2123IC:
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    In a last-ditch attempt to take Salzenmund, the Norse shaman Sorn Ghoulskin fashioned a Necrofex Colossus from the wreckage of the prison hulk Iron Fetter, which pounded at the Crimson Bastion until the siege was broken by Baron Jorgen Nikse and his army supported by Middenheim troops, and the Nikses rose to prominence. In the aftermath, Stefnir Nymus, high Priest of Ulric, declared that secular rules had failed and annexed the town under the cult's rule, his fanaticism brought harsh salvations, banishing the nobility and denounced the Grand Theogonist as an agent of Chaos, pledging his alligeance to the Wolf Emperor, even condemning anything associated with the 'soft' southern Empire. (WFRP4E:Salzenmund City of Salt and SilverP11,13.)

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2138IC:
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    After 15 years of austere rule, the exiled Nordland nobility returned to Salzenmund with tidings that Ar-Ulric himself had denounced High Priest Nymus. After a short siege, the self-appointed hagiarch was executed by the mob and the gates were thrown open. (WFRP4E:Salzenmund City of Salt and SilverP11,13.)

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2168IC:
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    After several centuries of encroachment on the Ward of Frost of Laurelorn and the western banks of the River Demst, a host of the Eonir, including many ravenous Forest Spirits, marched upon Salzenmund. The Elves mobilised so quickly the city guards barely managed to prepare defense. The Highborn ordered maelim seeds be sown beneath the city walls so spellsingers may break the defense. The siege was lifted when Count Algar II begged the Highborn Vatheleir for forgiveness. The Elf acknowledged Algar's apology and swiftly beheaded him, before leading her host away within the hour. (WFRP4E:Archives of the Empire Vol1P75. WFRP4E:Salzenmund City of Salt and SilverP11,90.)
This is the second siege

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2184IC:
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    Norse High King Helvar Ironaxe sailed up the Salz and besieged Salzenmund, Count Gunter Ostrein hid in his wine cellar, turning to liquor to numb his pain. One night Cunter cried out to the gods for help, but was answered to by a pale Elf, who offered him wisdom of generations in exchange for the village of Fracsdorf. The desparate Count agreed, and the Elf sacrificed a captured Norscan over an excavated menhir to summon spirits of past Nordland rulers, thus was created the Enduring Chamber.
    With the third siege of Salzenmund rousing both the best and the worst in them, the townsfolk rallied behind the Knights of the North Star to keep the Helvar's forces at bay. The disgruntled city, led by the Nordland Silversmiths' Guild, began pressuring the Count for the grant of a charter. The legend of the Haugfylk told of the spirit of Angmar Moltke guided the defenders and emboldened the Knights into a charge that broke Ironaxe's huscarls.  (WFRP4E:Salzenmund City of Salt and SilverP11,13,23,26,95,96.)
This one is more about how the Gaussers weren't elector counts by this point

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2209IC:
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    The Niskes came to dominate Nordland's politics, sidelining the Gaussers, though the latter remained powerful within the province. (WFRP4E:Salzenmund City of Salt and SilverP17.)

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2291IC:
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    The bloodythirsty Baron Thorsten 'Redhelm' Nikse took the throne of Nordland, and did his best to avoid the business to rule in favor of fighting Beastmen or Norscans whenever he could. (WFRP4E:Salzenmund City of Salt and SilverP11.)

One order of business is that I paraphrased and combined texts from multiple sources (if there are multiple sources), so the above content are not word-for-word from the books. Regardless the "current time" of TOW should be around 2276 IC, which would mean the Nikses are dominating Nordland at this time.

[GamesPoet]

@Gamespoet: As it says in the notes, it is from WFRP 4  Salzenmund - City of Salt and Silver.  As usual, the new WFRP edition changed or added a lot of fluff, creating all kind of inconsistencies and even contradictions in the process.

Good catch, thanks!

[Dry_erase]

@Gamespoet: As it says in the notes, it is from WFRP 4  Salzenmund - City of Salt and Silver.  As usual, the new WFRP edition changed or added a lot of fluff, creating all kind of inconsistencies and even contradictions in the process.

We do our bet to avoid contradictions, but it's not always possible. There are very few in Salzenmund's history - I worked painstakingly to combine and (where possible) reconcile every single mention of Nordland and Salzenmund in existing material. That meant dealing with various ruling counts mentioned in passing in old battle reports etc.

I have a lot of notes on the historical rulers of Salzenmund (and Nordland, because they're not always the same thing) which didn't make publication - if they're helpful, I can dig out anything relevant from this period. The ruler in 2276 IC was Baron Ivar Nikse, grandson of Adolphus Nikse and father of Baron Thorsten 'Redhelm' who ruled during the Great War Against Chaos. He was renowned for his sense of humour and attempts to enlist support from Middenheim to push the borders of Osterlund further west to cover more of the territory traditionally part of Nordland.

[lcmiracle]

@Gamespoet: As it says in the notes, it is from WFRP 4  Salzenmund - City of Salt and Silver.  As usual, the new WFRP edition changed or added a lot of fluff, creating all kind of inconsistencies and even contradictions in the process.

We do our bet to avoid contradictions, but it's not always possible. There are very few in Salzenmund's history - I worked painstakingly to combine and (where possible) reconcile every single mention of Nordland and Salzenmund in existing material. That meant dealing with various ruling counts mentioned in passing in old battle reports etc.

I have a lot of notes on the historical rulers of Salzenmund (and Nordland, because they're not always the same thing) which didn't make publication - if they're helpful, I can dig out anything relevant from this period. The ruler in 2276 IC was Baron Ivar Nikse, grandson of Adolphus Nikse and father of Baron Thorsten 'Redhelm' who ruled during the Great War Against Chaos. He was renowned for his sense of humour and attempts to enlist support from Middenheim to push the borders of Osterlund further west to cover more of the territory traditionally part of Nordland.

That's interesting there's already a named baron Nikse before Thorsten. Can you give me the sources of your notes? I'd like to seek them out and compile them into my own timeline. Thanks.