The Sovereign City of Hanseatia
The Sovereign City of Hanseatia is one of the wealthiest, most cosmopolitan and politically influential states of central Goerath. Although commonly referred to simply as Hanseatia, the city is entirely independent, owing allegiance to no king, duke or emperor. Its sovereignty extends beyond the walls to a considerable territory of prosperous farmland, villages, market towns and river settlements whose inhabitants enjoy the protection, and pay the taxes, of the city. Hanseatia stands upon a great navigable river at the meeting point of several ancient trade routes. Barges crowd its quays, caravans arrive daily at its gates and great warehouses dominate whole districts along the waterfront. Goods from across Goerath pass through its markets, and Hanseatian merchants can be encountered hundreds of miles from their home city. Humans form the majority of the population, but Hanseatia has never been particularly concerned with where somebody comes from provided they obey the law and can pay their bills. Dwarves, halflings, half-Elves, elves and numerous less common peoples maintain their own neighbourhoods, businesses, temples and associations within the city. It is a crowded, noisy and occasionally bewildering place. Hanseatians would have it no other way. Hanseatia is governed by the Sovereign Council, a body whose origins lie in the ancient guilds and merchant associations that first won the city's independence. At its head stands the First Burgomaster of Hanseatia, elected by the Council from amongst its own membership. The Burgomaster possesses considerable authority but is neither monarch nor dictator. A sufficiently determined coalition of councillors can frustrate almost anything the officeholder wishes to accomplish.
Council seats are dominated by the great merchant houses, guilds and old patrician families. Some positions are elected, others appointed and a handful exist by rights so ancient that nobody has successfully managed to abolish them. Hanseatian politics consequently consists of shifting alliances, commercial interests, family rivalries, bribery sufficiently sophisticated to be called patronage, and endless arguments over ancient privileges. It is not always admirable government. It is, however, surprisingly effective.
The guilds are amongst the most powerful institutions in Hanseatia. Merchants, smiths, armourers, shipwrights, moneychangers, teamsters, innkeepers, scribes and dozens of other professions maintain organisations regulating their trades. Guild membership provides training, contacts and protection, while the wealthier guilds possess sufficient influence to affect the decisions of the Sovereign Council itself. Even professions that respectable Hanseatians prefer not to discuss have acquired a certain degree of organisation. The city's thieves are notoriously well regulated. The authorities officially deny the existence of any formal Thieves' Guild, although remarkably detailed rules appear to govern professional theft within the city. The Watch is particularly intolerant of independent thieves. Not necessarily because they are thieves. They simply aren't licensed.
Hanseatian law is extensive, ancient and sometimes contradictory. The City Guard has little patience for visitors who assume that Hanseatia's independence means an absence of rules. Murder, robbery, arson and public violence are punished severely, particularly when they interfere with trade. Weapons may be carried, although drawing one without good reason attracts immediate attention from the Guard. Magic is legal but regulated in certain circumstances. Necromancy, magical coercion, uncontrolled summoning and destructive spells within the walls are regarded particularly seriously. The city is nevertheless pragmatic. A drunken adventurer breaking furniture is principally a matter between the adventurer and the innkeeper. A wizard throwing a fireball in a crowded marketplace becomes a matter for the Sovereign Council.
Few cities of Goerath attract as many adventurers as Hanseatia. The surrounding territories are littered with ancient ruins, forgotten tombs, abandoned fortifications and entrances to extensive underground complexes. Some predate Hanseatia itself by centuries, while others are the remains of the numerous petty kingdoms that once fought over the region. Adventurers consequently arrive in considerable numbers. An entire economy has developed around them. Armourers sell equipment intended for circumstances no sensible citizen would voluntarily encounter. Alchemists produce potions by the crate. Temples provide healing, sages identify obscure artefacts, moneychangers convert ancient coinage and taverns provide endless opportunities to recruit replacements for companions who failed to return from the previous expedition. Hanseatian merchants particularly enjoy successful adventurers. Few other customers arrive carrying twenty thousand crowns in ancient gold and absolutely no idea what anything should cost.
The Undercity
Beneath Hanseatia lies another world. The modern city has been built repeatedly upon its own past. Cellars descend into forgotten foundations, old sewers intersect ancient tunnels and entire streets belonging to earlier settlements lie buried beneath newer districts. Collectively these passages are known as the Undercity. Some are used by smugglers and criminals. Others contain forgotten shrines, tombs, wells and chambers whose original purpose has long since been forgotten. Creatures occasionally emerge from passages nobody realised existed. The Sovereign Council has commissioned numerous surveys of the Undercity. None is complete. Hanseatian folklore maintains that somewhere beneath the city lies an entrance to a vast dungeon complex extending far beyond the walls. Adventurers periodically announce that they have discovered it. Curiously, they never seem to agree upon where it is.
The Korvaj Peninsula
The Korvaj Peninsula lies to the south-west of Hanseatia, projecting into the western seas. Mountainous, heavily wooded and divided by numerous valleys, rivers and stretches of difficult upland country, the peninsula has rarely supported a single strong central authority. Instead, its history has been dominated by small kingdoms, lordships, fortified towns and fiercely independent communities. The peoples of Korvaj are predominantly Human, although Dwarven settlements are found amongst the mountains and Elven communities survive in some of the older forests. Trade follows the coast and the larger river valleys, while much of the interior remains comparatively wild. For generations the peninsula was notorious for local wars. Rival rulers fought over land, trade routes and old territorial claims, while mercenary companies found almost permanent employment amongst the competing states. Alliances were frequently temporary and yesterday's enemy might readily become tomorrow's employer.
The Korvaj War
The greatest conflict in recent Korvaj history began when a succession of local disputes developed into a much wider war. Several states attempted to exploit the instability, drawing neighbouring rulers and mercenary forces into the fighting. What might once have remained another short regional conflict instead expanded across much of the peninsula. Amongst the mercenary forces drawn into the war were the Copper Crests, a regiment of light cavalry whose green standards bore the white unicorn which became their emblem. The war transformed the regiment. At the Battle of Low Harbour, the Copper Crests suffered heavily and much of their senior command was lost. A relatively junior Half-Elven officer, Dîmeril Laeghartha, assumed command during the fighting and succeeded in extracting the regiment from what might otherwise have become its destruction. She was subsequently confirmed as its captain. Under Dîmeril, the Copper Crests became particularly effective at reconnaissance, screening, raiding and the rapid movement of small bodies of cavalry. Their reputation grew during the later campaigns, and by the end of the war they had become one of the better-known mercenary formations operating on the peninsula.
Their history after the war was considerably less distinguished. The supreme commander of the victorious forces, Gimdaruth, distributed lands and titles amongst favoured officers while Dîmeril received neither. The resulting dispute led to her resignation and eventually to the departure of several others associated with the regiment. The full story belongs properly to the History of Dîmeril Laeghartha, but the Copper Crests remain remembered in Korvaj as one of the many mercenary companies whose fortunes rose and fell during the peninsula's long period of warfare.
Korvaj Today
The great war ended, but it did not transform Korvaj into a unified country. The peninsula remains politically fragmented. Old rivalries survive, borders are disputed and local rulers continue to maintain their own soldiers. Mercenaries are still common, although the enormous armies assembled during the war have largely disappeared. Trade has recovered along the coast and the principal roads, while abandoned fortifications and battlefields remain scattered across the interior. For adventurers, Korvaj offers almost everything that has always made the peninsula dangerous: old ruins, disputed borders, ambitious nobles, isolated valleys, forgotten battlefields and rather too many people who still remember exactly what somebody else's grandfather did during the war.
The Duchy of Averneth
The Duchy of Averneth is one of the larger and more prosperous Human realms of Goerath. Its territory encompasses fertile agricultural country, old market towns, extensive woodland and a network of roads connecting the interior with neighbouring lands. Averneth is an old feudal state, governed by a hereditary Duke and a hierarchy of landed nobles beneath him. Much of the countryside is divided amongst baronies, manors and estates whose lords possess considerable local authority, although the ducal government remains strong enough to prevent the realm from fragmenting into the competing petty states found elsewhere on Goerath. The Duchy has traditionally regarded itself as orderly, civilised and well governed. Its neighbours do not invariably agree. Averneth's rulers have a pronounced tendency to regard instability beyond their borders as something which ought to be corrected, preferably by Averneth. This has produced periods of genuine peace and security, but has also drawn the Duchy into disputes in which its involvement was neither requested nor particularly welcome.
The People of Averneth
The population is predominantly Human, although Elves, Half-Elves, Dwarves, Halflings and Gnomes are familiar sights in the larger settlements. Agriculture forms the foundation of the economy. Grain, livestock, timber and wool are produced in considerable quantities, while the towns support craftsmen, merchants and the usual collection of guilds. The principal roads are generally well maintained and patrolled, making travel through the settled heartlands considerably safer than in many parts of Goerath. Away from those roads, matters become less predictable. Old forests survive within and around the Duchy, and Averneth's eastern and more remote territories gradually give way to wilder country. Ruins, abandoned settlements and places considerably older than the Human realm itself can still be found amongst them.
Law and Authority
Averneth possesses a strong tradition of local lordship. Nobles are expected to maintain order within their lands, provide soldiers when summoned and protect the communities under their authority. In return they exercise considerable freedom in the administration of their estates. This system works well when the lord in question is competent. When he is not, Averneth's celebrated order can become rather less impressive. The ducal authorities periodically intervene in disputes between nobles, suppress banditry and remove particularly troublesome officials, but distance and local influence mean that justice can vary considerably from one district to another. Visitors are therefore advised to remember that the law of Averneth and the wishes of the local lord are theoretically two different things. In some places the distinction is clearer than in others.
Dîmeril Laeghartha and Averneth
Averneth later became an important place in the life of Dîmeril Laeghartha. After leaving Ardenfell, Dîmeril and her companions eventually became involved in events within the Duchy. What began as another temporary adventure developed into a dispute serious enough that they eventually withdrew into the Caledor Woods. Attempts by the authorities of Averneth to locate Dîmeril contributed to her decision to seek one of the strange paths through the Veil, leading her companions away from Goerath and once again into the Fey World. Those events are described more fully in the History of Dîmeril Laeghartha. Averneth itself continued perfectly well without her. As Averneth would undoubtedly point out, it had been doing so for centuries beforehand.
The Veyrwood and Silvermere
The Veyrwood is one of the oldest surviving forests of Goerath, a vast expanse of ancient woodland whose history stretches back far beyond that of the Human realms surrounding it. Unlike the more loosely settled Caledor Woods, the Veyrwood has been home to established communities for countless generations. Wood Elves, Humans and Half-Elves live throughout the forest, particularly around its rivers, clearings and the great lake known as Silvermere. The peoples of the Veyrwood do not regard this mixture as particularly remarkable. Families of different ancestry have lived alongside one another for centuries. Intermarriage is common, Half-Elves are numerous, and the distinctions which elsewhere divide Human and Elven communities have never carried quite the same importance here. A person of mixed ancestry is consequently unlikely to attract much comment. In the Veyrwood, there has always been someone whose grandmother was an Elf, whose grandfather was Human, or whose family history becomes considerably more complicated if followed back far enough.
Life in the Veyrwood
There is no single great city dominating the forest. Instead, settlements are scattered throughout the woodland: villages beside rivers, small market communities, isolated homesteads and old Elven settlements hidden amongst enormous trees. The inhabitants make their living from the resources of the forest without attempting to clear it on the scale common in Human agricultural lands. Hunting, fishing, woodland grazing, beekeeping and carefully managed timber are important, while farms occupy the more open country and natural clearings. Trade follows the rivers and established forest roads. Local rangers play an important role in Veyrwood life. They patrol the more remote country, carry news between settlements, track dangerous creatures and guide travellers through areas where conventional roads become unreliable. They are not a single organisation, nor do they answer to one authority. Rather, ranging is an old and respected tradition amongst the peoples of the forest.
Silvermere
At the heart of the Veyrwood lies Silvermere, a great freshwater lake surrounded by some of the oldest woodland in the region. Its clear waters support fishing communities and provide an important route between settlements around its shores. Small boats are a familiar sight upon the lake, while several ancient paths and roads converge upon the surrounding country. Silvermere is also associated with numerous old stories. Some are undoubtedly folklore. Others are more difficult to dismiss. The lake and its surrounding woods have long been connected with Fey creatures, particularly nymphs and other spirits associated with water and woodland. Even those inhabitants who regard such tales sceptically tend to show considerable respect towards certain springs, groves and secluded stretches of shoreline. There are places around Silvermere where cutting down a particular tree, fouling a pool or disturbing an ancient stone is considered an extremely bad idea. When asked precisely why, local people sometimes provide several mutually contradictory explanations. The practical advice remains the same. Do not do it.
The Laeghartha Family
The Veyrwood was the childhood home of Dîmeril Laeghartha. Dîmeril was born here to the Wood-Elven Laeriel Saelwyn and the Human ranger Edric Laeghartha. Her mixed ancestry was entirely ordinary by local standards, and she grew up amongst Humans, Elves and Half-Elves without thinking of herself as belonging exclusively to any one of them. Edric travelled extensively through the forest as a ranger and encouraged his daughter's fascination with the wilderness. One of his closest friends, the centaur Caerodan, also became an important figure in Dîmeril's childhood, teaching her woodland lore and much of what she first knew about horses and riding. The forest therefore shaped Dîmeril long before war, adventuring or the Fey World entered her life. Many of the skills for which she later became famous began here.
The Nymph of Silvermere
There is also an older and considerably less certain story attached to Dîmeril's family. According to Laeghartha family tradition, one of Dîmeril's distant Human ancestors took as his lover — or, in some versions, his wife, a nymph of Silvermere. No reliable genealogy survives to prove the tale. Dîmeril herself has always treated it as family folklore. Others are less certain. The unusual ease with which Dîmeril has formed relationships with unicorns and other creatures, her affinity with the Fey and the occasional suggestion that there is something subtly unusual about her have all encouraged speculation that the old Laeghartha story may contain at least a little truth. There is no proof. This has never prevented Sabine Thornmere from regarding the matter as settled. Dîmeril regards Sabine's conclusions as nonsense. The argument has continued for years.
Despite its long settlement, large parts of the Veyrwood remain genuinely wild. Some trees were ancient before the oldest nearby Human kingdoms existed. Forgotten ruins lie beneath the canopy, creatures seldom encountered elsewhere survive in its deeper reaches, and there are places where even experienced rangers tread carefully. The people of the Veyrwood have never attempted to tame the entire forest. They live within it. That distinction has shaped their culture for generations. For Dîmeril, however far her travels eventually carried her, the Veyrwood would always remain something simpler. It was the place where she first learned to ride, first learned to track, first followed her father beneath the trees and first imagined that the world beyond the forest might be worth seeing. It was home.