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Author Topic: WIP Guide to the Empire:  (Read 49108 times)

Offline wissenlander

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire: Wissenland now up
« Reply #50 on: March 26, 2014, 11:30:36 AM »
RP related?
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Offline Derek Contyre

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire: Wissenland now up
« Reply #51 on: May 26, 2014, 12:45:07 AM »
Oh I hope RP related... I still have to go back and re-read it all again.
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Offline S.O.F

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire: Wissenland now up
« Reply #52 on: June 01, 2014, 04:00:32 PM »
Just an update work has picked up again so less writing time but Solland is mainly done the problem has become trying to flesh out the Imperial History of Gorbab's Waaagh to go with it or just leave that to do later. It has been a really annoying write that as since the tale first appeared in the 4th edition there have been 5-6 different versions of the events (progressively worse in how they are arranged as well). Anyone happen to have a preferred version of events of a convincing argument as to how they think it goes?

Also very tempted to make maps to the campaign route as well though that could cause even further delay....
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Offline S.O.F

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire: Wissenland now up
« Reply #53 on: April 11, 2018, 12:17:16 AM »
Does anyone want anymore of this stuff? So I have large partially finished portions of various Empire background I could post, no full provinces that don't need heavy editing sadly. If anyone wants stuff, or particular stuff, I'll post rather than it languish on my hard drive forever.
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Offline Gankom

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #54 on: April 11, 2018, 12:26:23 AM »
I'm always happy to read more! I loved your previous writings on it. They were some of the best introductions to the various areas and fluff.

Offline Artobans Ghost

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #55 on: April 11, 2018, 12:44:00 AM »
I’m with Gankom. I realize this is a massive amount of work but it is awesome. Just read the entry on nordland. I don’t think I’ve seen an army from nordland yet.
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Offline Skarpretter

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #56 on: April 11, 2018, 10:36:48 AM »
I would love to read more^^

Offline Xathrodox86

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #57 on: April 11, 2018, 12:46:00 PM »
That thread is pure gold. Some incredible stuff has presented here. :blush:
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Offline Zygmund

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #58 on: April 12, 2018, 12:56:28 PM »
Already the thread is impressive, but I'd always like to read some more.

However, don't have an idea of what, really, at this point. Some Empire expeditions out of Empire proper?

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Offline Xathrodox86

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #59 on: April 12, 2018, 01:10:56 PM »
Maybe our involvement in the Crusades to Araby? Or the Empire's campaign to Albion?
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Offline Gankom

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #60 on: April 12, 2018, 03:59:58 PM »
The Albion campaign would be pretty rad. Or maybe some expeditions/colonies to Lustria?

Offline warhammerlord_soth

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire: Wissenland now up
« Reply #61 on: April 13, 2018, 08:18:18 AM »
Does anyone want anymore of this stuff? So I have large partially finished portions of various Empire background I could post, no full provinces that don't need heavy editing sadly. If anyone wants stuff, or particular stuff, I'll post rather than it languish on my hard drive forever.


Yes, please.
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Offline Xathrodox86

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #62 on: April 13, 2018, 10:48:27 AM »
The Albion campaign would be pretty rad. Or maybe some expeditions/colonies to Lustria?

Oh yeah, I love Lustria. :blush:
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Offline S.O.F

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #63 on: April 13, 2018, 12:38:44 PM »
Hmmm well Lustria or Albion are highly unlikely with the dearth of information on Imperial interactions with these regions. I mean when know there have been some and that a prison colony is still maintained in the Southlands but its founding and operation have never been fleshed out. Albion is perhaps worse as I'd argue the Dark Shadows campaign never happened, I've already thrown out the events of Storm of Chaos so as its loosely linked precursor Dark Shadows goes as well.

The Crusades are an interesting choice but we really only have good sources for the initial campaign which saw the defeat of Jaffar. Though Imperials continued to crusade for sometime after the raison d'etre of the whole event was over we have little information as to reason. I have always figured that after over a century of civil war in the Empire, Araby looked like a good place to raid and loot to improve the depleted coffers back in the Empire.

Looking at what I do have written down I think the best to perhaps scratch this foreign adventure itch is talk about the Knights of the Blazing Sun. I've posted bits from this section in other threads over the years asking about them, so perhaps it is time I finished writing it.
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Offline wissenlander

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #64 on: April 13, 2018, 02:47:47 PM »
Definitely would like to see more if you can provide it.
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Offline Xathrodox86

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #65 on: April 25, 2018, 12:44:00 PM »
Hmmm well Lustria or Albion are highly unlikely with the dearth of information on Imperial interactions with these regions. I mean when know there have been some and that a prison colony is still maintained in the Southlands but its founding and operation have never been fleshed out. Albion is perhaps worse as I'd argue the Dark Shadows campaign never happened, I've already thrown out the events of Storm of Chaos so as its loosely linked precursor Dark Shadows goes as well.

The Crusades are an interesting choice but we really only have good sources for the initial campaign which saw the defeat of Jaffar. Though Imperials continued to crusade for sometime after the raison d'etre of the whole event was over we have little information as to reason. I have always figured that after over a century of civil war in the Empire, Araby looked like a good place to raid and loot to improve the depleted coffers back in the Empire.

Looking at what I do have written down I think the best to perhaps scratch this foreign adventure itch is talk about the Knights of the Blazing Sun. I've posted bits from this section in other threads over the years asking about them, so perhaps it is time I finished writing it.

Well if we're going with the ET timeline, then sure, yeah. However I always considered SoC and DS canon. And DS has quite a lot of info about it.
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Offline S.O.F

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #66 on: April 29, 2018, 05:25:09 PM »
However I always considered SoC and DS canon. And DS has quite a lot of info about it.

Background elements sure some of them work, like say that Middenheim employs a giant for wall repairs and to man a collection of ultra heavy artillery in case of a siege but any of the plot points nope. Dark Shadows was almost entirely plot, sure it fleshed out Albion a bit, though Giantslayer arguably did a better job.
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Offline Xathrodox86

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #67 on: May 04, 2018, 12:10:32 PM »
However I always considered SoC and DS canon. And DS has quite a lot of info about it.

Background elements sure some of them work, like say that Middenheim employs a giant for wall repairs and to man a collection of ultra heavy artillery in case of a siege but any of the plot points nope. Dark Shadows was almost entirely plot, sure it fleshed out Albion a bit, though Giantslayer arguably did a better job.

Oh yeah, it did. It was a great story as well. Never before or after, has there been a better portrayal of Albion. :smile2:
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Offline S.O.F

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Re: info dump
« Reply #68 on: May 07, 2020, 05:21:59 PM »
Chapter One
A Brief History of the Empire

Men in the Old World in Antiquity
   After the might of Dwarfs and Elves drove the hordes of chaos back into the wastes, the lands of the Old World were at relative peace. Both races were in the apogee of their civilizations and the greenskins were kept in check by their vigilance. Many elves crossed the seas from Ulthuan and built great cities on the shores of the old world. Trade flourished between the elder races and the Dwarfs aided the Elves in construction of many wondrous structures. So great was the appeal of the Old World more and more elves came to its shores and spread from their coastal cities inland found yet more settlements in which to trade with the Dwarfs.
Few men lived in the lands that would become the great kingdoms of the Old World. What modest information that was recorded by the Dwarves described them as a primitive and fearful people still using but stone implements and primitive farming techniques. Their villages where based around the ancient stone circles that have become holy places to the Cult of Taal though they did not worship any of the modern gods of the Empire. Called the Belthani by some modern scholars, little else is known of their culture. Some speculate the peoples of Albion retain similar forms of worship to this day, with Ogham stones been a central part of that cultures practices but much else is pure conjecture at least on the part of academics. The Colleges of Magic are far more interested in this era and have many theories of their own involving the fabled Old Ones of Eleven legend, the Hedge folk of today, and the significance of standing stones in the realm of magic. These studies however are almost entirely restricted to members of the colleges themselves and are most likely of little value to the scholar regardless.
   The origins of the tribes of men that would eventually come to populate the lands west of the Worlds Edge Mountains are not fully known either but it is speculated they resided to the east in those days. The greatest concentration is suggested to have resided in the plains along the Dwarven Silver Road, a land now dominated by the greenskin. Others still were part of a great steppe culture, called Scythians, which inhabited the steppes that stretch across the northern portions of the world. These lands now are the home of the Kurgan and other marauder tribes but in this time it is greatly believed that the malevolence of Chaos had yet to completely infect these hardy people.

The Coming of Modern Men
Two millennia before the foundation of the Empire, life in these eastern lands seems to have become increasingly untenable. The Dwarfs of this era were consumed with their war with the Elves and began to neglect the dangers that grew in their absence. But these are not the only signals of a change, as when the Dwarfs returned to their homes and were beset by greenskins and their annals record that their foe was now better armed than before bearing weapons of iron which not even the mightiest civilization of men for that era had yet to achieve. How these tribes came to cross the mountains is unknown, some may have already begun to cross during the great Dwarf-Elf war but soon they were in possession of the lands that are now known as the Border Princes and the Badlands as well as some stragglers that may have remained in the Wolf Lands.
For some generations in these new lands they found some peace. The mountains were a great barrier to the greenskins and Dwarfs, though depleted, where obstaninte foes. The great human Kingdom of Nehekahara was in its height and some of its more intrepid rulers brought these humans to pay tribute and some are recorded as to surving as mercenaries in the armies of the ancient kings. Others pushed farther west perhaps finding these lands over crowded or unwilling to answer to foreign kings and moved the lands that became Tilea and Estalia, intermixing with the local humans there, remants of the fabled Kingdom of Tylos. The Dwarfs could not hold back the green tide forever and the southern holds of the Karak Ankor were slowly taken over by foul creatures. Nehekharan support became increasingly intermittent. In those years Nehekhara fell under the sway of the great necromancer Nagash and their empire’s northern frontiers were largely abandoned. Though during this time men learned to craft weapons and armor of bronze their foes grew ever larger in number. Alcadiazzar, the last great King of Nehekhara, restored these tribes as tributaries but he and his entire civilization were extinguished through the machinations of Nagash.
For some centuries after Nehekhara became the Lands of the Dead, men endured in the Badlands. Some records from the Dwarfs and the oral histories of the Strygani tell of the Lodringen tribe founding the Kingdom of Strygos. These men, with aid of refugees from the southern lands, built a realm that spanned all from the Marshes of Madness to the Black Gulf, driving back the greenskins to the mountains. From their capital at Mourkain, called Morgheim, Old Strygos, and a myriad of other names, the Kings of Strygos compelled tribute from the tibes that resided north of the Blood River. Strygani say that the northern tribes grew to resent their kingdom and took up arms against it. They were a weak confederation and were summarily defeated by the better organized forces of Strygos. However, as the Kings of Strygos wasted their time against their fellow men an orc Waaagh descended from Mad Dog Pass, saking Mourkain and destroying the kingdom in a few short years.
Nothing stood in the way of these greenskins and the divided tribes to the north which again faced annihilation. It is at this juncture that the first accurate recordings can be gleaned from the Dwarfs of the Black Mountains, for enmass these tribes of men crossed into the Reik basin. Dwarfs, ever miserly, exacted a high price for the crossing and it is speculated that not all had the wealth to cross over. The Zani people that inhabit the southern foothills of Black Mountains are regarded, by some, as the last surviviors of those too poor to pay. Many however did and, in addition to the fastidious accounting of Dwarfs, survive some of the first written records of these men. Black Fire Pass is dotted with the primitive runes script of these early men marking their passing as many rock walls bear the names of those great tribes which enter written history later: Unberogen, Teutogen, Norsii, Bretonni, Fennone, and many others.
It is believed, concurrent to worsen trends in the south, the Scythian peoples of the northern steppes were confronted with the growing power of Chaos. In these years, it is reckoned, that a greater and greater number of these tribes were seduced into the service of the dark gods. The timeframe in which these developments occurred is a mystery as those that could shed the most light on the subject, the histories of Karag Dum and Karak Vlag, are lost. Scythian peoples had been known to cross into the steppes of Kislev and the moors of Ostermark at quite an early era but it is uncertain if these were permanent. The Ungols, the first promeniant a well recorded tribe is not well known to the Dwarfs until the age in which the tribes that would found the Empire crossed into the Reik basin. Further as the extent of Ungol settlement into the region ended at the edge Kislev steppe with enclaves of southern men, Ropsmen and Firkings it seems highly probable that these events were nearly congruent.
The lands of the Reik basin were of course not uninhabitated, as the old men, the Belthani still lived much as they had centuries before. The newcomers were however a far more bellicose people and gradually all those that resided were subject to or slaughtered by the invaders. The terms of this subjugation is unknown but the new gods brought from the south came to dominate and the older methods of worship vanished.

The Tribes of Men
   As there is no historical record of the conquests and defeats of these 

Sigmar and the Unification of

Expansion and Apogee


Corruption, Plague, and The ‘Skaven’ Wars
In the last centuries of the first millennium, the Empire was the most powerful nation in the old world.

The Interregnum and Civil War
   Following the death of Emperor Mandred, Imperial Elections became increasingly divisive.  With each election the Grand Theogonist of the Cult of Sigmar expended more and more energy in putting his candidate up for Imperial Election. While not always successful, the Cult of Sigmar enjoyed increasing political clout and as the landed Electors grew more unruly, the Cult preached a message of Imperial unity concealing its own machinations for power. For several centuries there were many Emperors and few of note. Each election brought the threats of civil war and during the reigns of these some of these Emperors a number of provinces were in the state of de facto rebellion, however no Elector was yet brazen enough to throw off the Imperial system entirely and enter into all out war with the Emperor.
   In the year 1360 the Imperial system suffered its first serious breach. The previous Emperor had died in late autumn of 1359 and fears of poor weather delayed the inception of the Electoral Council until after Mitterfurhl in 1360. Of the Electors convened, it was the Elector of Stirland and the Electress of Talabecland that stood the best chance at election. The Elector of Stirland enjoyed the support of many of the southern Electors and most importantly the favor of the Cult of Sigmar. When the Elections were held, the Grand Theogonist purposely held his vote until last and much as the Grand Theogonist had envisioned, the votes of the Provincial Electors had ended in a tie of six votes to each candidate. In dramatic fashion, hoping to further assert the powerful position of the Cult of Sigmar, the Grand Theogonist cast his vote for the Elector of Stirland. Rather than cow the other Electors into accepting the Cult’s place as ‘kingmaker’ of the Empire, the Talabecland candidate, the Countess Otilia, stormed out and proclaimed herself Empress without election.
   Many Electors were shocked at this brazen act by one of their peers but there was a great deal of sympathy from those lords growing weary of the increasing secular powers of the Sigmarite Cult. Most important of all was the support of the Ar-Ulric, who thanks to a row with the Graf’s of Middenheim had taken up residence in Talabheim. The Ulrican Cult was both concerned as well as jealous of the power the Sigmarite Church had garnered in the proceeding centuries and the declaration of a non-Sigmarite Empress offered them the perfect opportunity to strike back at their haughty rivals. Few expected the rebellion to come of anything, Otilia’s supporters were far flung and disorganized while the Elected Emperor could call upon the most seasoned troops and officers in the Empire. With the aid of the Ar-Ulric, the ‘Empress’ Otilia was able to assemble an army consisting of the Talabecland state troops, sympathetic neighbors, Ulrican fanatics, and mercenaries from all over known world. In a surprising display of daring and initiative, Otilia’s rag tag army engaged Stirland’s army to the south-west of Talabheim and though both outnumbered and outclassed by the Emperor’s veterans, won  a decisive victory at the Battle of the Talabec.
   Though the Empress Otillia was unable to assert control over the entire Empire, she had proved to the other Electors the fallibility of the Imperial Crown. The Emperor had not only lost the battle to the pretender but the faith of his vassals. For the next thousand years the Empire would have at least two Emperors and its great lords would gravitate to the service of one or another.   

The Crusades
   In the early centuries of the second millennium, the swarthy men from across the Southern Sea, grew in power. Arabian Corsairs came to suppliant even the Norse as the greatest pirates and raiders of the oceans, going so bold as to enslave some of the coastal villages of Nordland and in the south the Tileans and Estallians faired far worse. Arabian Dhows wreaked havoc on the merchant fleets of the south and unseated the Norse Kingdom of Sartosa in 1240 IC. As quarrelsome as Tileans are known to be they will suffer no foreign master and Arabian advances into the Tilean mainland were met with the combined arms of the Tilean cities. Estalia provided a more fertile ground for Arabian incursions for little unity has ever existed between those disparate Kingdoms. Minor Kingdoms were rendered client states of Arabian Sultans and their ports served as bases of operation for Coarsairs sailing into northern waters.
   As disturbing these events were to Old Worlders, there was little initiative to deal with it. The Kings of Bretonnia and the Emperors of the various Imperial factions felt it was little more than a regional discomfort. Merchant shipping suffered but Corsair attacks were sporadic and uncoordinated. The cities of Araby were just as disjointed as those of the southern Old World and as long as they posed no concerted threat, there was little interest in the courts of the great realms. In the middle years of the fifteenth century however Arabian politics were changing rapidly and when a new unified Arabian effort launched at conquering the whole of Estalia.
   History is uncertain of the origins of the Great Sultan called Jaffar; few books of the era survive particularly the records of the Arabians themselves. What is known is that from relative obscurity Jaffar had made himself Sultan of Al-Haikk and fought wars with the other cities of Araby for supremacy. A potent sorcerer and versed in the elemental magics of the Taureg nomads of the deserts, Jaffar united all of Araby under his rule in 1448 IC. A greedy and grasping ruler, Jaffar was not content to be but ruler of his own lands but turned his eyes toward the weak kingdoms of Estalia. Many historians, particularly those of Tilea, contend Jaffars plans were at the suggestion of the vile ratmen that plague those southern lands but no records from the Sultan’s court exist to verify these claims. No matter his motive, Jaffar organized an army like Araby had not seen since the days of the great Nehkarians; vast regiments of spearmen and bowmen drawn from the great cities of the that land, scores Arabian horsemen on swift steeds and in scale armor, throngs of the desert tribesmen mounted both on horse and the odd desert dwelling beasts, along with yet more exotic forces such as the dark skinned regiments of slave warriors drawn from the southern jungles, flying carpets carrying aloft pairs of bowmen, daemons of the desert, and the great tusked beasts. It was an army of conquest and one even the greatest of the Estalian state was powerless to oppose.
   As kingdom after kingdom fell to the invaders, those that held out sent increasingly desperate pleas to the courts of the King of Bretonnia, the Elected Emperor, and the Ottilian Emperor for aid. At first these envoys were dismissed, courteously, for few could believe the scale of invasion they described; surely a force could not have crossed from such a wasteland as Araby and if even the scale were true it could not possibly subdue all of Estalia. But as more envoys were received and word came even from the Princes of Tilea, the great courts of the Old World grew concerned, most of all King Louis, later sobriqued the Righteous, of Bretonnia. Should Estalia fall, his kingdom would be next in the path of Jaffar’s armies. His decision was further influenced by the bellicosity of his southern vassals. Barely a generation had passed since Bretonnian attempts to conquer the Tilean states had failed so humiliatingly in the lists at Rivola and many of these southern Lords saw an Estalian adventure the opportune way to refurbish their glory as well as expand their borders. Summarily, King Louis issued a call to war and thus the Crusades began.  In the courts of the Emperors, in Nuln and Talabheim, a similar conclusion was reached.  Nearly a century of civil war had taken its toll on the coffers of the Imperial magnates and war against a foreign and wealthy opponent seemed the obvious answer. Neither Emperor was in any mood to see the upstart Kingdom of Bretonnia, not even five hundred years old by that point, reap the sole rewards from expelling these southern invaders. A hasty truce was agreed upon and vast host drawn from across the Empire crossed the Grey Mountains into Bretonnia where it joined up with the forces the Bretonnian King. 
   By the time the Crusaders reached Estalia, all of the southern kingdoms had already fallen to the invader. Those forces the Estalian princes could still field had either withdrawn to the Irrana Mountains or were besieged by the Sultan’s army in the various garrisons of the north, particularly the Kingdom of Bilbali. So great was the Sultan’s ambition, that an immense Arabian army had even besieged Tobaro, the westernmost city of Tilea. In the hope that both beleaguered garrisons could be relieved the Crusader forces divided, a primarily Bretonnian force drove across northern Estalia to the aid of Bilbali while another army composed mainly of Imperial Knights would lift the siege of Tobaro. Unaccustomed either to the tactics of Old World heavy cavalry or perhaps merely over extended, both sieges were broken and the Arabian forces sent into full retreat. Each army slowly drove the invaders back across toward the southern sea liberating town and castles as they went. The Estalian invasion failing, Jaffar opted to withdraw across the Southern Sea, embarking the remains of his army from the port city of Magritta. 


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Offline S.O.F

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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #69 on: May 07, 2020, 05:23:21 PM »
The Ravages of Gorthor   
   With the Electors distracted by civil war and crusade, the beasts of the forest were allowed to multiply unchecked for generations. Each year the incursions of these monsters grew ever bolder, burning villages, slaughtering livestock, and attacking travelers but the Counts of the North had no men to spare for war with their neighbors and far off in Araby were far more profitable ventures. The Middle Mountains was the most fecund ground from which these creatures issued forth. Never wealthy in minerals, there was almost no human population to speak off in the region.


Three Emperors
   Though raiding and intermittent warfare between the Electoral and Ottilian Emperors continued through the Crusading era, Imperial politics were relatively calm. Elections continued to be held and while the Grand Theogonist continued to pick the new Emperor, his choices were generally agreeable to most parties. The Volkshale of 1546 however proved just as problematic as the Volkhale of 1360.
   Of the available candidates for the Imperial throne few were men of any ability save for the Elector of Middenland, Graf Siegfried of Middenheim. A crusader in his youth, Graf Siegfried was an energetic and charismatic figure. Beginning in the reign of Graf Siegfried’s father, Heinrich, the return of the Ulrican Cults hierarchy to Middenheim had been peaceably settled with the Ar-Ulric accepting celibacy as a tenant of the Cult. This restored the authority of the Ulrican Cult in the ‘Electoral’ Empire and the Ar-Ulric was again powerful political force. In addition Graf Siegfried had spent a great deal of time and money aiding damaged Hochland and Ostland and earning the good will of these province’s Electors in the wake of Gothor’s beastherds. The strong candidacy of Middenland’s Elector had deprived Talabecland of most of its vassals and even the strongly Sigmarite provinces of the south and west felt that, if elected, Siegfried stood the best chance of putting down the Ottillians and reuniting the Sigmar’s Empire. Siegfried was however an Ulrican and while not particularly devout, it was enough to earn the ire of the Grand Theogonist.
   When the Volkshale convened in Nuln, the Ottilian pretender, Frederick V, in Talabheim feared that soon he would stand alone against the combined might of a united Empire. The Grand Theogonist, himself fearful of the loss of the power, did everything within his substantial means in order to manipulate the course of events. Early efforts to coerce many of the marginal Electors to side with the Sigmarite Cult failed so instead the Sigmarite Cult barred the most ardent of the Graf’s supporters from the Diet. Those deemed more pliable were allowed entrance and then were strongly encouraged by Sigmarite Templars to vote for the Cult’s candidate. Graf Siegfried declared the election a sham and returned to Middenheim where, under the advisement of the Ar-Ulric, declared himself Emperor on Mondestille of 1547 ic taking many of the northern provinces with him.
   The new Wolf Emperor, as the position would come to be known, set about proving his rightful place as the true Emperor. After taking some years to prepare his treasury and forces, Wolf Emperor Siegfried declared war on the Otilla’s of Talabecland. Though able to defeat them in the field the Talabecland forces withdrew behind the great crater walls of Talabheim and for twenty years the army of Middenland sat impotent outside, for the great crater. Normally such an encirclment would have starved out the garrison but as Talabheim is not only a city but includes a number of villages and rich farmland. All this while the good will Emperor Siegfried had cultivated withered away. The contingents of his allies in Hochland, Ostland, and Nordland returned home and refused to further aid in the Emperor’s war. When finally the Emperor abandoned the siege and returned to Middenheim his own people had turned against him and he was banned from city and stripped of his title as Graf

Waaagh Gorbad
   On Hexennacht of 1707, the religious Cults of the Empire celebrated the New Year and all the omens and portents foretold that the year would be one of great importance to the lands of Sigmar. The Elected Emperor Sigismund of the Reikland was the most powerful and popular Emperor in generations and those around the court naïvely hoped that the augury of the Cults meant that once and for all the pretenders in Talabheim and Middenheim would be brought to heel and the Empire be reunited under a single elected Emperor. However,  not even Mitterfurhl would pass before all would be proven so gravely wrong.
   Out of the badlands to the south and the darklands to east came an army of greenskins of a scale greater in than ever seen even in the long histories of the Dwarfs. Its leader was massive nearly ogre-sized brute who called himself Gorbad Ironclaw. Unlike previous invasions of greenskins, which wasted much of their energy and impetus in the passes of the mountains and against the walls of Dwarven fortresses, Gorbad’s horde crossed the Black Fire Pass and swept aside the woefully under strength garrison only days after the snows in the pass began to melt.
   Following the Old Dwarf Road north, Ironclaw first invested the city of Averheim while its walls were thick, the sheer weight of greenskin numbers could not be withstood. The few remaining defenders withdrew to the city’s great keep the Averberg and could only watch with impotent rage as the greenskins sacked, looted and burned the city around them. At this juncture the Ironclaw acted in a manner uncharacteristic of orcish kind. Though he had destroyed the city, Averheim’s keep still stood and though it would have taken the greenskin forces only a matter of days to reduce it, the hordes withdrew as the Ironclaw had grander designs. Armies began to muster thoughout the Empire and the Ironclaw set about destroying them in turn rather than allow them to unite. First the bulk of the Orc and Goblin cavalry were dispatched to despoil the Moot and Stirland, while the Ironclaw and the bulk of the greenskin army turned on Nuln.

Vastly outnumbered the Sollanders were cut down as the attempted to withstand the greenskin horde, the capital of Pfieldorf sacked and the Elector and his family slain. From there the Ironclaw turned north on Wissenland and Nuln. Rather than face the same fate as his cousin in Solland, the Count of Wissenland, Erich Adolphus made the difficult decision to abandon Nuln in hopes that the Ironclaw would pursue Wissenland’s army rather than turning on the city.

The Rise of Marienburg and Dissolution of the Imperial System
   In the latter centuries of the second millennium, the Grand Province of Westerland and Nordland played an increasingly important part in the politics of the Electoral Empire. After the near collapse of the Empire during the ‘Skaven Wars’ and the early years of civil war, Westerland and Nordland were repeatedly raided and settled by Norscan from across the sea and even for a brief time made vassal of the Bretonnian Duke of L’Anguille. The Elector often petitioned his liege for aid but support was rarely forthcoming. Most Emperors were preoccupied with fighting their nearer rivals in Talabheim and Middenheim and Marienburg and the Westerland were largerly left to fend for themselves.
War in the Empire however did mean wealth for the province and Marienburg. As the merchant class increased in power, Marienburg and its Princes, garnered more and more affluence, fostered undoubtedly on the demands of war placed on imports that came through the city. Much of this money was put toward protecting the sea lanes and the lands of the Count from Norscan invaders. These battles were hard fought and Marienburg was sacked by the invaders a number of times but by the late nineteenth century, Marienburg had triumphed over its foreign aggressors.  Emboldened by wealth, Marienburg became an increasingly larger player in Imperial politics.
   During the middle decades of the twentieth century, the Counts of Westerland and their sometimes recalcitrant cousins the Counts of Nordland extended lines of credit to many of their peers in both the Electoral Empire and even the provinces held by the pretenders. When favorable credit was insufficient, the Marienburg Counts doled out lavish gifts to win the confidence of the other Electors. When the Volkshalle met in 1979 ic, the Marienburgers had full confidence that their candidate, the Princess Margritta who was not even yet in her majority, would prevail. The only significant opposition was the Grand Theogonist of Sigmar. Not since the candidacy of Siegfried of Middenland had the Cult of Sigmar’s choice faced serious opposition it was one of largest assembled since the beginning of the civil wars with only the Electors of Middenland and Talabecland failing to attend or send a vote by proxy.   

The Vampire Wars
   In the last centuries of the second millennium, the County of Sylvania grew in influence and power at the expense of its neighbors as well as its nominal vassal the Electors of Stirland. Under a seemingly brilliant line of Von Carstein counts, the province was an island of order in the other chaotic Empire.

The Great War and Magnus’s Reunification

The Marienburg Scandal and the Princes of Reikland
   In the years after the invasion of Grom, the power of Emperor Dieter IV was in serious crisis. His failure to respond to the calls for aid from his vassals had angered the majority of the Empire’s Electors. Ignoring the requests of the Dwarfs had cost the Empire diplomatically and the mountain folk were reluctant to offer anywhere near as beneficial trade terms to their erstwhile allies. Dieter only further enraged his subjects through continued lavish spending. Claiming that imperial revenues had been so severely damaged by the war, the Emperor offered no funds to cover the costs of reconstruction. Whilst alleging poverty, Dieter continued to spend lavishly on his own whims, from remodeling the palace in Altdorf, the new capital following the sack of Nuln, and embarking on a series of adventurist wars in Border Princes.


The Empire Today


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Re: WIP Guide to the Empire:
« Reply #70 on: May 07, 2020, 05:24:03 PM »
Chapter Two
On the Structures of Governement

The Imperial Governement
Current Imperial Motto: Verbum Imperatris Lex Est

List of Emperors from 2306 to present
Emperor               Province      Reign
Magnus von Bildhofen “The Pious”       Nuln          2304 to 2369
Leopold Unfahiger-Kreiglitz         Stirland       2369 to 2401
Dieter IV Unfahiger-Kreiglitz         Stirland       2411 to 2429
Wilhelm III Holswig-Schliestien “The Wise”    Reikland       2429 to 2458
Mathias IV Holswig-Schliestien       Reikland       2458 to 2471
Matheus II Holswig-Schliestien       Reikland       2471 to 2477
Luitpold I Holswig-Schliestien          Reikland       2477 to 2502
Karl-Franz II Holswig-Schliestien       Reikland       2502 to Present
 

Though Sigmar was crowned Emperor, the title and the office as it exists today has little to do with the Man-God. When Sigmar left without an heir, the kings of the Empire’s tribes, already known as Counts, were without a method for deciding who would next hold the title of Emperor. As many felt Sigmar had thought of himself not as an overlord but first among brothers, the Counts decided that the new Emperor would be chosen by a vote amongst all present Counts and the Count receiving the most votes would be crowned Emperor. Even with the breakdown of Imperial authority during the dark years of the Imperial Civil War, most claimants to the Imperial throne modeled their own elevation and powers on tradition.

The Office of Emperor
The position of Emperor is central unifying figure of Imperial government. Among the most important duties of the Emperor is to ensure peace between his vassals and defend the Empire’s borders from invasion. It is the age of Three Emperors which illustrate best the pandemonium that occurs when the Emperor is incapable of providing either of these protections.
Theoretically, the Emperor wields absolute power over all his vassals. Taxation and laws are introduced in the form of Imperial Edicts issued by the Emperor himself. All the provinces of the Empire are then expected to follow said edict, though levels of enforcement vary. The Emperor is also reserved the right to grant town charters and issue friestadt status.  Amending the Imperial Electorate is also one of the Emperor’s prerogatives. Creation or dissolution of an Electorate can be put forward by the Emperor at anytime however the Emperor requires a great deal of political strength in order to expect such measures to pass. In addition the Emperor has final say in the succession of Elector Counts and may choose anyone they see fit for the position. While the office of Emperor is granted these powers many have not be exercised in centuries.
None of these powers are officially written down as the Empire does not have a constitution. Tradition and precedent, along with pragmatic understanding of what degree powers can be used to, plays a far greater role in defining Imperial Government than any other. This has caused many forward thinking politicians to believe that it is time for the drafting of an Imperial Constitution. This faction was strongest during the reign of Emperor Mattheus II, grandfather to the current Emperor Karl-Franz. Opposition and the disappearance of the Emperor destroyed what little momentum the movement had.

The Prime Estates
   Imperial feudal government has little defense against the overextension of Imperial authority. During the reign of the Drakwald Emperors, many dubious edicts were passed on the whim of the Imperial throne, from idiotic tax levies to the ennoblement of beloved family pets. In order to provide oversight on the actions of the Emperor, each of the Empire’s Electors began sending delegates to the Imperial capital. These representatives at times convened amongst themselves to better organize opposition to Imperial power.  The semi-official organ that developed out of these meetings is called the Prime Estates. Should a large number of provinces feel that an Imperial Edict is unlawful, it is the task of Prime Estates to convey political pressure on the Emperor to see the edict repealed. The Prime Estates doesn’t have any real power and if the Emperor is powerful enough there is little the Prime Estates can do to countermand him. The presence of the Prime Estates does allow the Emperor to better gauge the feelings of his vassals and should a proposed edict seem grossly unpopular, it often is enough to stay the Emperor’s hand.

The Council of State
   The bigger check on the Emperor’s power comes from his own administration. Since the first Emperors, there has always been some body of advisors to aid the Emperor in key matters of state. It is impossible to chart the development of this political organ as the needs of state and the personality of Emperors greatly altered its substance over time. The earliest Emperors had very small bodies of councilors whilst later Emperors, the corrupt Drakwalders for instance, had a pensioned staff so large even the most mundane of tasks had its own appointed advisor. Since the restoration of the Imperial Office by Emperor Magnus the Council of State has taken a more and more solid state. In the last hundred years under the Reikland Emperors the Council of State developed into a set number of offices with well defined jurisdictions. Overall, it is the duty of the Council of State to access the needs of the Empire and advise the Emperor to pass edicts which rectify these needs. Each member specializes in a single area of expertise but the Council discusses matters of great importance as a group and they offers advice to the Emperor.

Electoral Process
   As the Empire has no written constitution, the Election of the Emperor is entirely based on tradition. When
   Upon the death of a reigning Emperor the task of convening the Electoral Diet, sometimes referred to as the Electoral Council or Volkshalle, falls upon the most important of current ecclesiastic Electors. Since the beginning of the current Reikland dynasty it has been the task of the Grand Theogonist but when the Imperial Court was in Nuln it was done by the Arch-Lector of that city. A summons is sent to all the other Electors of the Empire to convene, usually in the current Imperial capital, and decide upon a new Emperor. Generally a period of several months is allowed to elapse before the Diet actually assembles to permit the Electors ample time to get their local affairs in order and deal with potential travel difficulties.
   When the council finally assembles there are number traditional formalities that must be observed. Many of the Electors hold ancient titles that give them a particular task in the   

Chancellor of the Reikland
Current Title Holder: Count Siegfried von Walfen
Nominally the duty to the Chancellor of the Reikland is to keep the Emperor apprised about the status of his province and how it relates to Imperial decisions. In reality the Chancellor is more the Emperor’s spymaster keeping tabs on any and all potential threats or challenges to Imperial authority.

The Reiksmarshall
Current Title Holder: Kurt Helborg
   The Reiksmarshall is a title that predates the creation of the Reiksguard. For centuries Princes of Reikland have appointed there most experienced military commander to the position of Reiksmarshall

Chancellor of the Imperial Fisc

Chancellor of the Imperial Household

Supreme Law Lord

Imperial Spiritual Advisor
Counselor on Matters Magical
Current Title Holder: Supreme Patriarch Balthazar Gelt
   The acceptance of magic is a relatively new concept in the Empire. Before the time of Magnus, only the most deranged of Emperors had a wizard on their staff and these untrained ‘Hedge Wizards’ were often more trouble than they were worth. Teclis, the fabled loremaster of the Elves, was the first to…….During the early years of the reign of Magnus, Teclis advised the Emperor and oversaw the construction of the great colleges of magic in Altdorf. When Teclis departed for distant Ulthuan, the position passed to his greatest human apprentice, Magister Volans of the White Order and then head of all the Colleges of Magic. Since then it has been traditional for the Supreme Patriarch of the Colleges to sit as advisor to the Emperor.

Law Enforcement
   Most peasants believe that Chaos Cults, Demonologists, and Necromancer are as real as

Key Imperial Officers
Reiksmarshall Kurt Helborg
   Kurt Helborg is a man deeply steeped in ancient ideals about class. Able to count family members to the days of Sigmar the Helborgs and Kurt in particular feel that there is an inherent place in society for people nad classes. Helborg is not a foolish enough man to discount the opinion of the lower classes but more views them with some paternal need to steer them in the right direction. Helborg is a master at bending the Altdorf mob to his will and knows full well how to present himself in order to earn the admiration of people who if he met on a personal level he would view as his inferiors

Ludwig Schwarzhelm the Emperor’s Champion
   Other than their proximity to the Emperor, there is little in common between the Reiksmarshal and the Emperor’s Champion. Ludwig, an Averlander by birth, hasn’t a drop of noble blood in him. Everything Ludwig has, he has earned through years of hard service in the Emperor’s armies. He is a dour and serious man that no man has ever known to smile. Ludwig is an interesting contrast with Helborg his rival and foil in the Imperial Court. As commoner it would be expected that Ludwug would be better able to relate to the average Imperial citizen but his aloof and distant nature keeps from taking Helborg’s place as the people champion even though Helborg could give a damn about the people.
   Ludwig is a politically ignorant man and only knows who to get things done in a blunt and open matter.  Issues of state may seem to require an increasingly more subtle hand however Karl Frabz will not jettison the man who has aided him since his youth so readily and is also particularly adept at picking assignments that require Ludwig’s frankness.


Provincial Government
Thought the Empire is a large and powerful country, it is more the case that it is a sum of it constituent parts rather than

Military
Each and every Imperial province maintains its own military forces which serve the provincial lord and the Emperor should he request their service. In ancient times each Elector was required to maintain a certain number of troops by mandate of the Imperial Government. Traditionally these consisted of a small force of professional foot, predominately Halberdiers and Crossbowmen, supported by the provinces Knights and levied City Militias during war time. Following the breakdown of the Imperial system and the near constant state of war, the size of the professional elements in each Elector’s army swelled in number.   

Law Enforcement
While the Imperial Government deals with tariffs, traitors

Minting of Currency
Though the Empire has large Imperial government it delegates much of its minting to its provinces. The official Imperial Mint, based in Nuln, has established standards for the production of coinage so all Imperial money is of the same weight of precious metal. Stylistically however there is great variance from the square silver schillings of the Moot to the octagonal gold crowns of Talabheim.   
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Re: The Reikland Incomplete
« Reply #71 on: May 07, 2020, 05:27:32 PM »
The Grand Principality of Reikland
Elector: Karl-Franz
State Livery: White
Heraldic Devices:

Geography

The People

The Ruling House
Family Motto: Verum Mos Increbresco

Religion

Important Towns
Bogenhafen is Reiklands most prosperous city. Located at the highest navigable point of the River Bogen, the town controls most of the trade in northern Reikland.   

Eilhart is the largest town in northern Reikland. This more sparsely populated part of the Reikland is the heart of the provinces wine making industry.

Helmgart

Perhaps the oldest chartered free city in the entire Empire is the town of Kemperbad which sits the junction of the Stir and Reik rivers. Though technically located on the ‘wrong’ bank of the Reik, through some convoluted inheritance during the late first millennium, the city became part of the demesne of the Princes of Reikland.  Soon after, the city petitioned the Emperor for a charter, a petition which a greedy Drakwald Emperor was more than happy to grant. The city’s much diminished financial responsibility to their Reikland lieges allowed Kemperbad to develop into an extremely wealthy mercantile city.  Kemperbad’s trade guilds dominate much of the commercial traffic along the southern Stir as well as the towns of southern Reikland. Kemperbad is also famous for the production of large quantities of brandy as wine required for distillation is readily available from traders travelling south from Wurtbad. The Brandenburger distillery is one of the most esteemed makers of spirits in all the Empire and has for several generations been exclusive supplier of the Imperial household.

Auerswald

Commanding the Empire side of Grey Lady Pass, is the town of Ubersreik.
-Road and water junction merchant free town
-Imperial Mint Silver Mines
- Large Dwarf Population on town council and town built in Dwarf fashion
- Black Rock Keep the former Liege Lords Keep
-Magnus’ Tower sizable state/imperial garrison daemon horn alarm

Dunkelburg
Grunburg is an important market town marking the halfway point between Altdorf and the Wissenland border. Located in the Reikwald, Grunburg is the heart of Reikland’s timber industry. Though producing nowhere near the timber that is extracted from the forests in the north, the Grunburg Timber camps provide a sufficient supply of raw materials for the southern Reikland’s boatbuilding industry. Most famously the town was the site of the epic battle between the forces of Count Erik Adolphus, Elector of Wissenland, and the dreaded Orc Warlord Gorbad Ironclaw. An impressive battlefield memorial commands the town square and in ages past it was not unheard of for the Electors of Wissenland to visit the town shortly after their coronation. 

Military   
Since the time of Sigmar, the men of the Reikland have considered themselves the best soldiers of the Empire, not only because the first Emperor and later God was once one of them but that they are best at taking and following orders. The Teutogens may have been better axemen, the Chersuens better bowmen, and the Taulten’s better horsemen, but Uberogen were better all around warriors and were so thanks to drill and discipline. 
   In continuation of the centuries long tradition in turning military matters not only into a science but an art form, the Reikland boasts the most prestigious institution outside a Myrimidian seminary for the study of war, Diesdorf Millitary College.  Though such institutions have existed for longer in the Empire, Diesdorf is the currently the largest despite having only been built during the reign of Emperor Wilhelm III.  This has come to pass not only thanks to large grants on the part of the

Famous Regiments

The City State of Aldorf
Resident Electors:
Livery: Red and Blue
Heraldic Designs: Keys though as Imperial Capital Skulls, Griffons, and Imperial Crosses are very common

Ruling House:
See Reikland

Important City Locations
Empire House

Courts of Law Palace of Retribution

The Great Cathedral of Sigmar

   
College of Engineers
Civil Works –frowned upon

Military

Famous Regiments
Altdorf Honor Guard

Imperial War Wagons
From its beginning, the Imperial Engineers College has produced a wondrous amount of new and interesting weapons. Many have proved to be failures but some have been adopted on a large scale by the Imperial Military. In order to determine which ideas are worthy wider production, weapons undergo rigorous testing. While much of the early stages of this are completed within the grounds of the college itself, the conditions are too sterile to achieve a satisfactory assessment of the inventions military merit and full field testing must be conducted. This important task is conducted by crews of College’s War Wagons.
Though nowhere near as famous as the Imperial Steam Tanks, the War Wagons attract a far greater number of recruits as service with the regiment generally allows for more time to spend researching one’s own projects and carries a significantly longer life expectancy.
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Re: talbecland incomplete
« Reply #72 on: May 07, 2020, 05:32:02 PM »
The Grand Duchy of Talabecland
Elector: Helmut Feurbach
State Livery: Red and Yellow
Heraldic Devices: Eagles, Trees of Taal, and Stag Heads

Geography

The People
   Talabeclanders are (in)famous for their love of the their home made spirits. Most Talabecland households have their own still and produce great quantities of liquor for their own consumption. This usually takes place in as an outdoor setting as possible. Talabeclanders enjoy nothing more than a roaring bonfire and copious amounts of alcohol.

The Ruling House
House of Kreiglitz Coat of Arms: A Crowned Red Eagle on a Yellow Field
   Of all the Imperial Electors, it is Count Helmut Feurbach that sits most precariously on his throne. Helmut was never born to be the Elector Count and in fact was never properly elevated to the title; his current possession is thanks in part to his skills as a leader of men and being in the right place at the right time.  A decade ago Talabecland’s Elector Count, Gustav von Kreiglitz, was mortally wounded in battle. Concerned for the safety of his two young sons, Gustav appointed Helmut regent until they reached their majority. Sadly the youths never even reached their teens and tragically died only a few years ago. Many expected the junior branch of the Kreiglitz line to jump at the chance to take the Electoral throne but oddly they seemed content to leave Feurbach as acting Elector. Scandal has plagued the Kreiglitz line of late with allegations as high as demonology and cavorting with chaos. Currently only a number of family’s staff have been interrogated by the Witch Hunters but the reluctance to 

Religion
   Much like their Taleuten ancestors, Talabeclanders worship Taal, god of the wilds and nature above all other gods. Covered almost entirely by the Great Forest, Talabeclanders require so much of the woodland in order to survive that is understandable that this attachment has formed. The Priest of Taal and the interlinked Cult of his wife Rhya, have never aspired for political power. In the wake of Magnus’s reforms many believe that an Electorship was even offered to the Cults head but was turned down.
   Other than Taal the province is heavily divided into Sigmarite and Ulrican camps. The more traditional Talabeclanders turn to Ulric in times of war, as he is brother of Taal and therefore the more legitimate choice. That for a time the Ar-Ulric lead the Ulrican Cult from Talabheim adds to the considerable power the Cult has in Talabecland. However, particularly since the time of Magnus and the repeal of many anti-Sigmarite laws, the Sigmarite church has grow significantly in power. The third most powerful figure in the Sigmarite church making his residence in Talabheim……

Important Towns

Kusel
As the Feurbach line does not rule Talabheim directly, the Elector’s ‘offical’ court is in his family’s demesne in the town of Kusel. Located up river from Talabheim, Count Feurbach tends only to hold court here during seasons in which outdoor sporting is the greatest

Krugenheim
The lands that border the river Stir are dotted with a number of small communities in Talabecland but the only one of significant size is Krugenheim. Surrounded by farmland the city is an important market town famed not only for its terrestrial food stuffs but some of the greatest fisheries of the Empire. So great is the significance of this aquatic bounty that there is even a Temple of Manaan, here recognized in the aspect of governing all waters, located just outside the city. The Temple is quite an oddity for the God of the sea but it has become an important site of pilgrimage for the Cult of Manaan’s adherents.  When a sailor or shore-man grows too old and infirm for his arduous duties or is driven by some other urge to give up their sea dependent livelihood, they journey from the Great Temple of Manann in Marienburg to Krugenheim where significant maritime items are left as offerings at Mananns shrine. Though the entire passage can be done by water, Pilgrims are encouraged to walk at least some of the journey, often times the entire return leg to Marienburg, so that when the Pilgrims are blistered and foot sore their gratitude toward the mercurial Manann and the relative comfort in life that he had provided

Military

Famous Regiments
Demilancers
Riding unbarded warhorses and wearing three-quarter armor, Demilancers are a Talabecland tradition dating back to the days of the Imperial Civil Wars. Like the Taleutens of old, Talabecland nobles have always pride themselves on their horsemanship and despite the forested nature of the province, have always fought as cavalrymen. The honor of being inducted into a Knightly Order is one that must be earned on the battlefield and young Talabecland nobles do so by serving in the ranks of the Demilancers.
For the most part, Demilancers appear much the same as Pistoliers and in fact many regiments of Demilancers no longer even carry their name sake lances. What separates the two similar units is their battlefield tactics. Pistoliers are trained to skirmish with the enemy, employing the caracole to its fullest and only engaging after the foe is broken or otherwise engaged. Demilancers on the other hand operate more in the manner of ersatz Knights. Rather than skirmishing, pistols are discharged as the regiment charges into the enemy. They then drive home their assault with boar spears, light lances, or heavy swords.

The City State of Talabahiem
Resident Electors:
Livery: Red and White
Heraldic Designs; Trees of Taal. Twin Tailed Comets, and Sword Armed Maidens
Motto: None Shall Pass

The Ruling House
Kreglitz-Untern

Religion

Important City Locations


Military

Famous Regiments
The Taalbaston Guard

Talabaheim Militia

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Re: middenland incomplete
« Reply #73 on: May 07, 2020, 05:33:10 PM »
The Grand Duchy of Middenland
Elector: Boris Todbringer
State Livery: Blue
Heraldic Devices: White Wolf Heads and White Wolves Passant

Geography

The People
Middenlanders are descendents of the belligerent Teutogen tribe. In the days before the Empire, the Teutogens were the most aggressive of all the tribes of men. They constantly made war on their neighbors, pushing the Thrungians and Chreusens to the deepest parts of the forests and driving the Jutones into the western marshes. Their capital was built atop the great faulshtag rock, the last mountain at the edge of the Middle Mountains. Ruled by their King Artur, the Teutogens refused viewed themselves as the greatest of the tribes of men and when Sigmar sought to parley with Artur he was rebuffed. Undaunted, legends claim Sigmar scaled the side of the Faulshtag rock and met Artur in the shrine of Ulric, the patron god of the Teutogens. Artur was an arrogant King who would see no other but himself as Great King of all the tribes of men. He refused Sigmar’s offer of unity and instead fought a duel with the man-god. Ultimately Artur was slain and by right of conquest Sigmar was King of the Teutogens.

The Ruling House
House of the Todbringer Coat of Arms:A White Wolfs Head over a Yellow Fortress on a Blue Field
There are few noble houses in all the Empire which claim such a long and prestigious name as that of the House of Todbringer. As Grafs of Middenheim and Counts of Middenland, the Todbringer family has played a very important part in the politics of the northern Empire for centuries producing a great number of influential and powerful counts. Boris Todbringer, the current head of the Todbringer line, is perhaps the greatest of them all.

Religion
Middenland has always been the heart of the worship of Ulric and while other Imperial deities are tolerated the province is almost entirely Ulrican in confession.

Important Towns
Carroburg
In any other province, the size and wealth of Carroburg would be the capital city but as Middenheim and Middenland have been united under the House Todbringer such is not the case. Located on the River Reik Carroburg is a bussling and wealthy mercantile town as well as an important port for the Imperial Navy

About a week’s travel up the Talabec from Altdorf sits the trade city of Ahlenhof. The forests of southeast Middenland are relatively safe compared to elsewhere in the province and Ahlenhof reaps the rewards of a booming timber industry. Positioned at the mouth of the river Drakwasser, timber from as far upstream as Hochland travels to market in Ahlenhof 
Located on the Altdorf-Middenheim road, Delberz is an important stopping point for traders and merchants travelling between the two great Imperial cities. The town has a great number of coaching inns which accommodate all sorts of travelers with some even capable at housing an entire merchant caravan. The lands around Delberz also mark some of the most cleared for agriculture in all of Middenland. While staple grain crops predominate, the region is oddly enough renowned for its unique red wines, much of which is sold to parched travelers in Delberz many inns.
Grimminhagen sternhauer keep, famous unit of Halberdiers, strong walls, constant sight of beastmen activity
Delberz


Military

Famous Regiments
Carroburg Greatswords
Carroburg Greatswords
Born out of the conflicts in the era of Three Emperors, the Carroburg Greatswords are still torn on provincial lines. The Reikland regiment of Greatswords, which took part in famous siege that brought the regiment its uniform, maintains its right to bear the name ‘Carroburg Greatswords’ but generally the honor has fallen to regiments raised by the city of Carroburg itself. Carroburg and its adjacent villages don’t completely see eye to eye with the Ulrican Todbringers of Middenheim and are likewise not content to be the puppets of the Reikland princes either. The City pursues its own agenda as best it a can and boasts a powerful military of its own. A large portion of these regiments are Greatswordsmen due to the

Wolf-Kin
The world is far too often a terrible place and many times the prayers and comfort of the various cults can never heal those that have lost hearth and home. In the bulk of the Empire, where the Cult of Sigmar holds sway, these people are often drawn to charismatic fanatics and join a band of flagellants bent on redemption through pain, penance, and sacrifice. Ulric is however a god of action and more importantly self-reliance, He has little time or care for the wailings of his adherents if they would not help themselves. Northerners, Middenlanders in particular, turn their grief to rage and retribution which cannot be extracted through one’s own flesh but with the blade of an axe to those that perpetrated the destruction; these warriors are called Wolf-Kin.
Wolf-Kin are not the wretched masses similar to flagellants, but warriors bent on vengeance. Trophy taking is particularly popular among Wolf-Kin and those that have walked that path long often adorn themselves with grisly relics from necklaces of Orc ears to cloaks of Gor pelts. Most of the work of Wolf-Kin is done outside the realm of set piece battle, bands or even individuals wage a constant war with the Beasts and Greenskins of the forest. When the beasts or greenskins muster in larger numbers to attack settlements or the armies of the Graf mount punitive expeditions, Wolf-Kin often attach themselves
 There is no formal organization or real recognition of these groups by any secular or ecclesiastical authorities and they tend to exist in an ad hoc fashion with bands ranging from a handful of individuals to dozens. Northerners simply know Wolf-Kin by appearance and temperament and that is all the proof they need.

The City State of Middenheim
Resident Electors:
Livery: Blue and White
Heraldic Devices: A Tower and a white Wolf

History

Ruling House:
See Middenland

Important City Locations
-rich districts Grafsmund-Nordgarten Freiburg
-middle class Ulricsmund The Wynd Westgate-Sudgarten
-poor Altmarkt-Altquarter Southgate-Ostwald

The Grafs Palace
-Middenplatz- graf residence, all major town functions mint, cemetery Knight Panther quarters
-formal gardens
-square of martials training for Panthers and Wolves spectators

The Great Temple of Ulric
-part temple part fortress
-amazing construction

The Eastgate District
-citys cultural hub
-bars and social clubs
-Royal College of Music funded by graf

The Guild of Wizards and Alchemists
-Founded as Guilde of Alkemie 1200-1600
-Early only some elements of Wizardry
-Work for the Betterment of Middenheim
-College foundation ruins old traditions (all magical elements banned) alchemist find work
elsewhere guild closes
-old building becomes informal club for Wizards
-Guild chartered as part of the Colleges system
-headed by the Gold and Celestial Order, other orders may stay but no permanent staff



The Collegia Theologia
-built in 1762 for Ulrican teachings
-expanded to full curriculum
-chaffs from lack of official charter

The Dwarfen Engineers Guild
-small but high quality
-charged with maintaining the great viaducts
-all Dwarf work must pass through guild

The Temple of Sigmar
-second largest temple in all of the empire
-priest not a lector but Capitular of Nordland

The Undercity
-Grungi’s Tower to the dwarfs
-Middle Mts very poor holds mostly destroyed
-aided building original


Military

Famous Regiments
Ulrican Regiments
The Cult of Ulric is a very important part of Middenlander culture and upon death many wealthy Middenlanders leave a portion of their wealth to the Cult. As the decoration of Ulrican Temples is sparse at best, the sums collected are far in excess of those required to maintain the Cults station and Templars. Hoarding of such wealth is unbecoming to a church of a war god, much of the Cult’s budgetary surpluses are expended on raising and equipping regiments for Middenland.
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Re: marienburg incomplete
« Reply #74 on: May 07, 2020, 05:35:15 PM »
The Directorate of Marienburg
Elector: None since 2429, formerly in Personal Union with Nordland
State Livery: Red, Blue, and Yellow.
Heraldic Devices: Mermaids and Manann’s Crown

History
The mouth of the Reik
Though Marius bent the knee to Sigmar and later married into the line of Marbad, the Jutones connection with the Empire remained precarious. The lands between the Reik estuary and the Forest of Laurelorn had never been subject to formal annexation nor proper integration into the Empire’s increasingly feudal structure. As the union between the lord of the Jutones and the lady of the Endals proved fruitful, related branches of the same dynasty sat in Marienburg, Jutonsryk, and Salzenmund. As these holdings dominated most of the Empires coast, the lords of these lands grew rich and powerful and when the policies of the Emperor interfered with trade the Jutone lords grew displeased.
   Resolution finally came during the reign of Emperor Sigismund ‘the Conqueror’ a most bellicose ruler that invaded and brought to tribute many of the Empire’s neighboring peoples, in the year 501 ic. There are no accurate accounts to the campaign or the reasons behind it, perhaps the Jutone Counts rebelled seeking independence or merely grew wearer of wars that cut into their mercantile aspirations. While the early historians of the Cult of Sigmar say that the Jutones were brought to the Imperial fold as ‘wayward children’ the disappearance of Jutonsryk as an important city and the addition of its lands to the Barony of Westerland and Marienburg suggest perhaps a darker outcome.

Geography
The ancient histories of the Dwarfs and Elves describe the estuary of the Reik as one of great beauty and verdant fields, today however much of the region has become a dark and brackish marshland. Scholars are uncertain what caused these changes; most commonly it is attributed to the malevolent star falls from Morrsleib that have brought ruin to many other regions of the world. A few cling to folklore traditions which speak of hideous cyclopotean swamp daemons that bend the land to suit their evil hearts. A single oft cited and poorly documented tale of Sigmar’s triumph over these beasts does exist but is of little use to the serious scholar. Whatever the reason, the Wasteland, as the region is now called, consists of predominately swamp land broken by the occasional stretch of moorland. A few coastal villages dot the shore but the interior is dominated by beasts and some even say gangs of mutants. The only habitable parts of the region are found on the western side of the Reik. Here the ground is less swampy as it inclines toward the Grey Mountains. Marienburg would otherwise be completely dependent on imported food stuffs if it were not for small collection of villages that reside in this area.

The People
In the time of Sigmar the lands that are now controlled by the Directorate were peopled by not a single tribe but two. The Endals dominated the area around the mouth of the Reik from their capital of Marburg while north where the Cursed Marshes breaks into blank Hills the Jutones built their great capital of Jutonsryk. The Endals, under King Marbad, had strong connections with Sigmar’s Unberogens farther up river and where the first tribe to join Sigmar’s confederation. The Jutones were not at all eager to join with Sigmar. They were a bitter people who had been driven from their lands to the north and west by the Norsii and Teutogens and their leader Marius the Fenwolf spurned Sigmar’s advances for unity.

The Ruling House

Religion
Marienburg is a city built upon the riches that the sea and commerce bring it. It is only fitting that Marienburgs religious life is dedicated to the deities that embody these pursuits: Manann God of the Sea and Handrich, Haendryk in the di

Important City Locations
The Wasteland Export-Import Exchange

Stevedores and Teamsters Guild House

Elftown

Cathedral of Manaan
Rijkers Isle

Military

Famous Regiments
The Black Caps
Marienburg has long been a city with a large middle class. Artisans and Merchants….In the opening years of the Civil Wars, Marienburg found itself beset 

The Red Talons
-Originally band from Tilea
-Official guard regiment of Rijkers Island Prison

Norscans
-Drawn from Tributary Norscan Tribes
-Best provide honor guard for Great Temple of Manann
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