The Southern Hills, Free Province of
by Michael BerryAC 1000
AC 1014
Area:
AC 1000 - 3,864 sq. miles
AC 1014 - 3,528 sq. miles
Population:
AC 1000 - 24,060
AC 1014 – 5,183
Ethnic Groups:
AC 1000 - Alphatian 57% , Kerendian 25%, Hattian 7%, Thyatin 5%, Belcadiz Human 3%, Erewan Elf 2%, Other 1%
AC 1014 - Kerendian 35%, Fen 20%, Thyatin 15%, Belcadiz Human 10%, Alphatian 10%, Erewan Elf 4%, Hattian 3%, Belcadiz Elf 1%, Other 2%
Selected Villages: (population values are given for AC 1000 and AC 1014)
Huledain (2500/300): see notable sites
Mylissis (700/1050): large village on red river adjacent to border with Principality of Erewan
Shalander (250/350) small village just to west of Camp Huledain providing support and services to troops of the camp.
Government:
AC1000 - Propraetor appointed by the Council of Princes, in charge for seven year term of service. Seat in village of Huledain
AC 1014 – Governor General appointed by the Council of Princes, no set term of service. Seat at Fort Huledain.
Administrator:
AC 1000
Propraetor Nergüi Bayarmaa (born AC 960, F4, AL- L) Appointed in AC 1000. MIA village of Huledain AC 1007. Never found and was officially classified as Missing in Action until being finally being declared deceased in AC 1011.
AC 1014
Governor General Qenildor Erewan (born AC 911, Elf Lord 10th Attack Rank D, Al L). Appointed in AC 1009.
House:
AC 1000: Singhabad, AC 1014: Elleroyn
Under the administration of Propreator Bayarmaa the Southern Hills Free Province (SHFP) was nominally loyal to House Singhabad. Prince Jherek had no particular special interest in the SHFP and Nergüi had relative free hand to administer the province subject to the mandate of the Council as a whole. However after the decimation of the SHFP after Thar’s invasion the Council has taken a great interest in this area. The Council appointed a military governor instead of a government bureaucrat after the humanoids were driven back into the Broken Lands. Qenildor Erewan was a natural choice as a brilliant commander and first born son of a Princess of Glantri.
Territory:
AC1000 - The SHFP is bounded north to south by the Red River and Darokin border respectively and bounded west to east by the Huledain River and the Broken Lands respectively.
AC1014 – The SHFP in addition to substantial depopulation lost approximately 15% of its territory which was given to the new Barony of Rittenour in the south, and the humanoid (Glantrian) territories to the east.
Food:
Sufficient
Trails:
The SHFP has only one trail of note within its boundaries. The trail between Eriadna and Erendyl runs along the Red River through the northern part of the SHFP. It is rated a good quality trail by Glantrian AAA (GAAA) and is heavily traveled as well as taxed.
A fair trials exists between Eriadna and the village of Huledain and onward to Huledain Camp. Numerous poor quality trails run through the SHFP connecting the dominions and small villages to the regional hubs of Huledain Village, Huledain Camp,and Mylissis in the north of the SHFP.
The Red River is navigable to river traffic in the northern SHFP and many ships can be found going up and down the Red River to and from Caurenze and Blackhill further up river. The Huledain River is navigable only to rivers boats between Eriadna and Silverston and is not navigable upriver from Silverston to any river transport.
Economics:
AC 1000 – Throughout its history the SHFP has been more of a militarily rather than economically orientated free province due to constant threat of raids or even invasion by the humanoids of the adjacent Broken Lands. Much of the economics of the SHFP was dominated by inter-province trade of livestock and agriculture as only limited areas of the northern parts of the province produced a surplus of food. Any surplus of food was stored for regional use in cases of draught or a regional emergency. The wealth of the province was in the eastern fringes of the Silver Sierra Mountains that lay within the borders of the SHFP. Rich in precious metals and gems they provided the Council of Princes the vast majority of taxable income as well as valuable commodities for export and trade.
AC 1014 – With the extensive depopulation of the province in the aftermath of Thar’s invasion and the Great Plague the SHFP has become even more a military dominated administration. Instead of having a new Propraetor, an official of the Glantrian bureaucracy, appointed to replace Propraetor Bayarmaa the Council appointed a military governor, a respected Glantrian Brigadier General, to administer the SHFP. Military and security issues were of primary concern, some say the only, of the governor. Repopulation and rebuilding of the shattered province have progressed very slowly. The reopening of the mines in the mountains has really been the only tangible sign of rebuilding and life getting back to normal in the years since the SHFP was fully retaken by Glantrian forces in AC 1009. However since the last 2 years have seen relative peace, as Prince Kol finally reigned in his subjects, the Council will likely appoint a new Propraetor this year, one more suited and experienced to tend to the economic and social rebuilding of the SHFP. It will be aconstruction project likely to need many years to complete as it will be one done from the ground up in all but the very northern, untouched, sections of the SHFP.
Notable People:
Nergüi Bayarmaa was the Propraetor of the SHFP in AC 1000. She was the only child of a rich Krondaharian merchant and grew up pampered and spoiled by her father. She showed exceptional intelligence, though regrettably no latent talent for magic, and received the best non-arcane schooling money could buy. She gained acceptance into the famed University of Al-Azrad in Selencia, Darokin where she graduated with a double degree in economics and administration. Upon graduation she returned to Glantri and immediately took a position in the Glantrian government as an aide to the Propraetor of the Hiboux Free Province. Over the years she worked her up the career ladder and finally at the relatively young age of 40 was tapped for promotion to civil grade E-8, second highest possible grade possible, and was appointed to administer her first province, the Southern Hills. In the short time of her tenure she has proven to be a caring, passionate, and above all, a fearsomely intelligent administrator of her province. Prince Jherek has high hopes for her and keeps close eye on her growth and progress as an administrator and is grooming her for eventual promotion to that final step in the Glantrian Government bureaucracy, an E-9 position where she would help shape and implement national policy.
Jericho (Action) Jackson is a tradesman of Fen decent who owned, prior to the Great War, a shoe cobbling shop in the village of Shallander which primarily serviced the troops of nearby Camp Huledain. What few know was the quiet and gruff cobbler had quite the life of adventure prior to retiring back to Glantri. An accomplished adventurer (F21) who travelled all over the known world prior to retiring, he would have been happy to live out the rest of his days indulging his passion for men’s footwear but fate intervened when Thar’s thousands invaded Glantri in AC 1007. While many lost their heads, and often their lives with them. Jackson organized a civilian force of guerilla fighters than instead of retreating to the mountains as the Glantrian army did, waged a near 2 year guerilla war against the occupying humainoid forces. Soon earned both a honorary rank in the Glantrian army as a Leutinent of Scouts and the nickname of ‘action’, Action Jackson became a folk hero in the region, and later throughout Glantri, as he led darling raid after darling raid against the occupying humanoids and freed no fewer than 200 captured Glantrians from either forced slavery or the cook-pots. Today Action Jackson, as he is still known, has returned to his normal life, rebuilt his shop and gone back to his first love, men’s shoes, and has even secured the patronage of one of the most discriminating patrons of men’s fashion, General Erewan himself. It is rumored that the footwear crafted from the hands of Action Jackson are becoming cult favorites among those with shoe fetishes, even as far away as at the capital.
Notable Sites:
Huledain (village of) is the primarily settlement of the SHFP. It is a thriving community and the center of commercial, political, and social life in the territory. The main attraction of the village is the administrative building which is on the Mystera World Hertitage List as an example of a culturally significant Glantrian contribution to the field of magically aided architecture.
Today the village of Huledain is a nothing but ruins. Razed by the humanoid invaders prior to their withdraw back to the Broken Lands. It served as Thar’s headquarters during the attack on and sacking of the Principality of Blackhill. Today several hundred workers live outside the ruins in a makeshift village as they clear the ruins in preparation for a new village to be built upon the site.
Camp Huledain is a Glantrian army post guarding the very southern areas of Glantri from humanoid raids from the Broken Lands. Consisting of a small wooden palisade and several buildings for the Banners stationed at the camp, it is the least imposing and defensible of Glantri’s outer defensive works. The village of Shalander lies just to the west of the camp and provides support and services for the troops as well as homes for families of the soldiers stationed there.
Overrun after a valiant defense in AC 1007 the ruins of the camp were retaken in AC 1009 and immediately rebuilt and strengthened with makeshift stone walls and wooden siege towers. Renamed Fort Huledain it provided a stout defense and effective against Thar’s attacks in AC 1010. Today with the relative peace in the region due to Kol taking and exercising firm command over the humanoids, the status of the fort is being reevaluated by the Council of Princes. Rumor has it that General Erewan, will retire when his services as Governor General of The Southern Hills are no longer required, and will petition the Council to grant him a fief for his services to Glantri. Many think he will choose to make Fort Huledain his Siege.
The Southern Hills are pockmarked with old volcanic tunnels and caves. It makes finding humanoid infiltrators and raiders very difficult but it also gives the residents of the SHFP wondrous places to visit and explore. Cave exploring is a regional passion and hobby of many residents of the Southern Hills. Most famous of all of them would be the Mystaran renowned Sierra Lava Tubes located approximately 16 miles west of Camp Huledain.
During Thar’s invasion the already renowned Sierra Lava Tubes became a national historical site (designated AC 1012) when Action Jackson’s band of guerrilla fighters used these caves as a base of operations against Thar’s rear areas.
Useful Links:
none...as of now
Future New Kolland atlas entry by Michael Berry for more details on the humanoids and the attack in AC 1007 and occupation AC 1008-1009.
Future Qenildor Erewan biography by Michael Berry