Berrym, Marquisate of
by Michael BerryArea:
392 square miles
Population:
AC 1000 - 3500
AC 1014 - 3100
Villages: (population values are given for AC 1000 and AC 1014)
Beraan (700/625): is the main population center and cultural and political center of the Marquisate. Geerdijk (437/400): is located near the northern border. Residents tend for large herds of cattle
Carcassonne (280/250): is a Averoignian settlement in the southwest hills.
Ethnic groups:
Flaem 75%, Hattian 10%, Averoignian 10%, Thyatian 3%, Other 2%
Languages:
Flaem, Averoignian, Thyatin (Hattian dialect)
Ruler:
Marchioness Mariana Terlagand (Narda Shelyn: born 939, M15 (AC 1000) M18 (AC 1014), AL - Neutral)
House:
Ritterburg
Military:
The Marchioness maintains a very effective and brutal at times, security force of 40 F5 Hattian guardsmen. Visitors to the Marquisate are discouraged from staying and curious visitors often end up in the dungeon of the guard barracks in Beraan. After an extended all expense paid visit to the dungeon they are taken to the borders of the Marquisate with a warning never to return. The guard does not discriminate on ethnicity. Anyone who tries to stir up racial tensions is dealt with as inquisitive visitors, and if they happen to be residents of the Marquisate they would be considered lucky if they ever emerged from the dungeons. Law and order is what the Marchioness had ordered they maintain, and that is what they do with Hattian efficiency.
Food:
Surplus
Trails:
Berrym, and the surrounding hills are havens for the wizards that want to live in peace. Berrym is off the beaten tracks with no main roads or caravan traffic even approaching the area. A single fair quality trail leads north out of Beraan and leads to the County of High Sonden. This trail is the path on which livestock is taken to market and on which little commerce the Marquisate engages in comes through. Poor quality trails link the various villages of Berrym but due to the ingrained notion of privacy that all of Berrym cherish, few travelers are found upon these trails.
Economics:
The people of Berrym make a living tending cattle herds and taking them to market in High Sonden. The people earn enough to live comfortably enough under Glantrian standards and pay their taxes to the Marchioness. The people earn extra income by braving the dangers of the untamed wild Glantrian hills in search of rare herbs used for medicine or for use in magical and alchemic experiments by the wizards that live in and around Berrym.
Berrym Monthly Financial Ledger (figures from AC 1000)
Main resource: 2 animal
7 hexes: hills; rural; pop. 2800; tax 280 dc
Berrym: village; pop. 700; tax 70 dc
Total population: 3500 village/rural
Tax Income: 350 dc
Resource Income: 1400 dc
Standard Income: 2800 dc
Council Tax: 910 dc
Net Cash: 840 dc
Overhead (45%): 378 dc
Available Cash: 462 dc
With 21000 XP/year, in 10 years the Marquise could gain210,000 XP.
Alternate: 4200 XP/year.
History:
Marquises of Berrym
Michal Postbrad 829-830
Francis Postbrad 830-857
Louis Postbrad 857-859
Ernest Theski 859-861
Alexander von Taafnen 861-867
Margaret von Taafnen 867-871
Leopol Pieinants 871-879
John Bluebeard 879-898
Eric Bluebeard 898-935
Arnulf of Haaskinz 935-949
Corfitz Terlagand 949-964
Mariana Terlagand 964-
Berrym is one of the oldest dominions in all of Glantri having been settled by the Flaem soon after Landfall in AC 395. The hills around the town of Beraan were never well suited for agriculture so the hills were used for raising livestock and provided excellent locations for Flaemish wizards to set up secluded towers where they have peace and solitude to conduct their research and experiments. The town of Beraan was founded in AC398 by Henrik Vyldeaar, one of the Flaemish warlords that came to the Highlands from Veydra. Beraan was established as one of the 7 original Flaemish Duchies but due to its location and lack of resources it was not near as influential or important as the other Duchies were. In spite of the lack of prominence of their dominion the Vyldeaar were powerful mages and in fact rose to the pinnacle of the Flaemish magical power when Alyssa Vyldeaar became the Head Fire Wizard during the years of the Dragonlord.
The Vyldeaar served as Dukes of Beraan for the next two plus centuries and became a prominent part of the group of militant Flaems called the Fire Mages, an aggressive faction of the Flaemish wizards with the aim to build a strong kingdom on Mystara to continue their war against the Followers of Air in Alphatia. In a sad twist of irony for the proud family, the Vyldeaar family line ended in the first years of the 40 Years War when their Duchy was overrun by Halzunthram in his first campaign against the rebel Flaem. The few members of the family that survived the vicious battle of Baesweiler were rounded up and summarily executed for treason against the Alphatian state. With the ending of the Vyldeaar family line the Flaem later rewarded a minor noble, Dirk Postbrad, a division commander who distinguished himself at the Battle of Sonden by giving him the vacant Duchy. Dirk’s son Michal was left in charge of rebuilding the destroyed town of Beraan while his father served at the front. With the end of the war the Duchy of Beraan was downgraded by the Council to a Marquisate and was allowed to be renamed by Michal. It was renamed Berrym by Michal to honor his father who was killed at the 3rd Battle of Braastar. Berrym being the nickname Dirk had been given by his troops. The Postbrad family served as Marquis for only 30 years before moving up to a higher vacant dominion. In the years since Berrym has either been aligned to Linden or Ritterburg.
In spite of all the political changes the population of Berrym has remained overwhelmingly Flaemish in spite of an early attempt to change. Ernest Theski, the first Hattian Marquis and veteran of the 40 Years War, who decided after winning the Awards Festival what Berrym needed were a few more Hattians and less Flaem. In AC 861 he sponsored hundreds of Hattians to relocate to Berrym but the newly arrived Hattians were the victims of a systematic night of violence known in the Glantrian History books as the ‘Night of the sharp daggers’. Those that escaped the violence fled Berrym the next day, when the Marquis attempted to find and punish those responsible he unfortunately found the ringleader, a mage far his superior in the arcane arts who promptly immobilized him and burned him alive with several fireballs. The murder went unpunished as the ringleader was never found as Council investigators found an entire population that had apparently gone to bed early that night and had not seen a thing. The matter was dropped with a few snickers at Council that the fool had coming what he got.
None of the non-Flaemish rulers since Thieski has tried to alter the demographics of the Marquisate by encouraging immigration. The nobles well understand that the land has been and will always be Flaemish. The notion of privacy and living in peace has grown from a understanding to firmly established law in Berrym and attempts from a Marquis, down to mundaners to disturb the peace and privacy of the people would bring severe repercussions.
Notable sites:
Beraan today is but a fraction of what it was as a settlement prior to the 40 Years War. What the great battle of Beraan did not destroy in the great magical forces unleashed, Halzunthram finished when he raised the Ducal palace to the ground and leveled the rest of the town that had remained standing. After the war Beraan was rebuilt though it is not near as large as the old town was, which at its peak had a population of nearly 4,000. Today the village of Beraan is a quiet village with the residence of the Marchioness being a large tower on a hill overlooking the village. There is a statue of Michal Postbrad erected in the center of the village that was dedicated in AC 875 to the victims of the fighting and those that suffered afterwards. Beraan today is the main political and economic center of the Marquisate. A small Hattian population lives here and has served as retainers of the Hattians rulers for many years.
Geerdijk is a typical small Glantrian village but since the Great War has had some new residents. A band of 4 Dopplegangers, specially recruited by the Alphatians for their spellcasting ability have taken up residence in the town posing as Flaem refugees from the war, and are plotting a rather natty little scheme, ruling a Glantrian dominion by having the most accomplished spellcaster of the group, a Doppleganger named twiggy, kill the Marchioness Mariana Terlagand and impersonate her.
Carcassonne is an Averoignian settlement started with the blessing of Dirk Postbrad in AC 823. Several Averoignian wizards have their towers in these southwest hills and like much of Berrym the village folk make livings herding cattle and harvesting herbs and plants for medicines and alchemic and magical preparations and keep to themselves and do not associate with outsiders or the rest of the Marquisate outside of official business like commerce or tax collection.
Coat of Arms:
Useful links:
Glantrian Political History - AC 828 to 884 by Harri Mäki and Giovanni Porpora
The Economy of Berrym by Aleksei Andrievski
Mystaran Heraldry by Chimpman
The History of the Flaem and Narda Shelyn by Michael Berry