Nordling, Free Province of
by Michael BerryAC1000
AC 1014
Area:
AC 1000 - 4,312 sq. miles
AC 1014 - 3,920 sq. miles
Population:
AC 1000 - 33,384
AC 1014 - 29,980
Ethnic Groups:
Aalbanese (mixed Hattian-Alphatian) 45%, Flaems 30%, Hattian 7%, Lupins 5%, Kaelics 5%, Boldavian 5%, Alphatian 2%, Other 1%
Towns: (population values are given for AC 1000 and AC 1014)
Vorstadt (1500/1300)
Ostbruck (1400/1800)
Fort Nordling (1000 civilians/1100 civilians)
Selected Villages:
Faber: (985): a large village along Aalban River half way between Vorstadt and Fort Nordling.
Hoofddorp: (860): a large farming village located south of Fort Nordling near the border with Bergdhoven.
Regensberg: (445) is located in the hills 16 miles north of Fort Nordling.
Noordeen: (625) is located around old Fort Noordeen, its population consists mainly of goatherders.
Steinschweiger: (435) is located some 20 miles northeast of Vorstadt and is the largest community of Lupins in Glantri.
Skipferry (455): a small village located on the border of the Barony of Adlerturm.
Government:
Propraetor appointed by the Council of Princes, for seven year renewable terms. Seat at Ft. Nording.
Administrator:
AC 1000
Propraetor Claudio Faggoli (born AC 956, F7, AL-C) Appointed in AC 994. Assigned to NFP in AC 1001, KIA north of Nyra AC 1008
AC 1014
Propraetor Brunhilda Metzler (born AC 951, M11, AL-N) Appointed in AC1001
House:
Ritterburg
The Nordling Free Province (NOFP) is very much under the control and subject to the desires of the Viceroy of Fort Nordling, Prince Jaggar von Drachenfels. Though the position of Propraetor is a prestigious appointment as the NOFP is a very important free province it comes with the caveat that one has to be willing to work directly under Prince Jagger, and be found to be acceptable to him.
Territory:
The NOFP consists generally of the lands extending north from the borders of the Principalities of Aalban and Bergdhoven to the border of the Central Wendarian Free Province. The N.F.P runs from the Aalban River in the west to the Principality of Boldavia in the east. The territory is prime territory for the creation of new dominions, so far only one has been created recently, the Barony of Dovehold, but it is suspected that others may soon be carved from the territory of the NOFP.
Food:
Sufficient
Trails:
Fort Nordling is a nexus of many trails in the area, befitting its purpose of bastion of the north to allow troops to move quickly and efficiently. All trails in the NOFP are rated fair by Glantria AAA. Five trails emanate from Ft. Nordling. The most important is the Dragon road which leads southwest from the fort to the Aalban River and the ferry crossing into Aalban. Others lead to the Principality of Bergdhoven, through Hoofddorp ; to the Viscounty of Bergen; to Vorstadt, and one to Ostbruck.
Two rivers can be found within or bordering the NOFP. The Aalban River to the west is completely navigable up to Leenz in Aalban and is navigable to river boats only up river to Vorstadt. The Til River in the eastern half of the NOFP is completely navigable to river traffic to Glenmoorlock but no river traffic is capable of going upriver from there.
Economics:
The main resources of the NOFP are wool, dyes, and textile products. The latter two are produced in Ostbruck and are exported to every bordering territory, while wool is exported to Aalban only. The province is currently producing food at a level to meet its needs.
Notable People:
Propraetor Brunhilda Metzler is a cold, aloof, demanding and insensitive woman. She was a natural for promotion to Propraetor for the NOFP after the previous Propreator was promoted to adminster the Nyra Free Province. Metzler was no stranger here as she had been the long serving Quaestor Provinciae Thules of Nordling. Brunhilda is Aalbanese, of mixed Hattian and Alphatian, ancestory. She has the pale skin and purple eyes of her mother and is quite gifted with magic. Metzler is unmarried having always been career and goal orientated and never making time for hearth and family.
Metzler graduated from the Great School and went directly into employ of the massive Glantrian Bureaucracy. Her first assignment in 970 was as an assistant to the Legatus of the Noordeen region. Over the years she has remained in the Nordling Free Province and worked her way up through the ranks. She became Legatus of the Vorstadt region in 984, and after high praise for her superiors was promoted to Quaestor Provinciae Thules in 998. She is intimitately familiar with the region have been born in Leenz, and having served in various positions in every region of the Province over the years.
Her primary missions, as she sees them, are the protection of the population against the Dragons known to inhabit the Wendarian Ranges to the north, timely and accurate collection of the regions taxes, and first and foremost maintaining law and order. Many is the criminal who has regretted their decision to turn to a life of crime when standing before her, receiving her judgement and sentences, in the forbidding courtroom at Fort Nordling while serving as Quaestor Provinciae Thules. She is acutely worried about the monthly shortfalls in food and the need to import food into the province. She is considering instituted a ‘back to nature’ program to get more people to take up farming and produce more food so the province would not be so dependent on other areas.
Brigadier General Hans Gruber is the commander of the Glantrian 14th Infantry division. A proud graduate of the Fuhrburg Military Academy he worked his way up the ranks from private and become an officer via a battlefield commission during the Battle of Long Bridge against Thar’s troll legion. He steadily moved up the ranks and recently became commander of the new pride and experimental division in the Glantrian Army, the all-Aalbanese 14th Division. General Gruber is a well respected and well liked commander by his troops and even Propraetor Metzler finds him acceptable. He is being groomed for the next step in his career and assignment at the Army HQ at the Citadel and is considered one of the brightest tactical minds, and best fighters the Glantrian Army has.
Notable Sites:
Fort Noordeen is just to the northeast of Ostbruck and rises upon a hill, backed by the mountains and protected by river’s bent. Early Flaemish settlers built the keep to protect borderland areas of the Duchy. It served as Flaemish watching outpost against Kaelics and Traladarans settlers, and against Halzunthram troops during the forty years war. It actually serves as a training outpost for Aalbanese and Flaemish militias.
The Traagen ruins are in reality represented by the statue of a man fighting a dragon located just outside the village of Regensburg. Soon after the Flaems arrived on Mystara, they founded a borderland village, named Traagen, and probably located at the intersection of Aalban and Jeervel Rivers. Around the end of 5th century AC, a Red Dragon named Wohrdar devastated the village slaughtering every villager found, without any apparent reason. Believing the place cursed survivors and other Flaems moved elsewhere, removing any trace of Traagen from their memories, (the exact location of that village proves to be difficult to determine still today). Last century a lone stranger fought a red dragon, forcing it to retreat North, to the Wendarian Ranges. The dragon was probably going to harass the towns further South, without any apparent reason, as 4 centuries before. The stranger disappeared and from then on, nobody saw the dragon anymore. Prinz von Drachenfels had a statue built in his honour. Another oddity is represented by the fact that the statue seems impervious to time and weather. Members of the von Drachenfels family are eager to learn more about this, and Jaggar himself secretly hopes to find where that red dragon went.
Skip's Ferry is a prodigy of Aalbanese mechanic, it moves exploiting the river’s draft, and following a metallic rope tightened on both sides of the River. The Ferry holds up to thirty men with horses! Passage fee is 1 penny per person and 5 per horse.
Fort Nordling is the most important location in the province. The fort is a large one, stoutly contructed of stone capable of holdings almost 4,000 soldiers in times of war. Today it mainly is used for training of Glantri’s newly raised troops and is home to the Glantrian 14th Division which sends occasional patrols into the Wendarians in search of humanoids.
One of the most beautiful sights to be seen in Glantrian is nearly the headway of the Til river up in the Wendarian Ranges. The Van Dkye waterfall, named for the explorer who found it, falls almost 300 hundred feet and is a favorite destination for adventurers and explorerers into the Wendarian Ranges.
Useful Links:
Free Province of Fort Nordling by Thibault Sarlat, Giovanni Porpora, and Agathokles.
The Grand Army of Glantri by Michael Berry for details on the Glantrian 14th Infantry Division.